The virtual learning environment (VLE) is of great importance in Higher Education as a repository for course content, communication and student support. Students' satisfaction with the VLE may impact greatly on their engagement with the VLE itself, and, consequently, module content and learning more widely. In moving to a new VLE we wished to…

Over the past decade we have seen a rise in the adoption and proliferation of social technologies, and along with these a move to build on the capacity to embrace new pedagogies and practices that can open our boundaries for both teaching and learning. How do we determine what we mean by space specifically in online environments and how can we…

With the unprecedented growth of e-learning, more and more new IT technologies are used to develop e-learning tools. As one of the most common forms of social computing, Wiki technology has been used to develop the collaborative and cooperative learning platform to support multiple users learning online effectively. In this paper, we propose a new…

Currently the challenges in e-Learning are converging the learning content from various sources and managing them within e-learning practices. Data mining learning algorithms can be used and the contents can be converged based on the Metadata of the objects. Ensemble methods use multiple learning algorithms and it can be used to converge the…

The new Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science (CS) Principles course increases the need for quality CS teachers and thus the need for professional development (PD). This article presents the results of a 2-year study investigating how teachers teaching the AP CS Principles course for the first time used online PD material. Our results showed…

Using new technologies in the academic field has become more and more visible in Poland in the recent years. In the past, digital learning resources were used as supplementary materials helping to support face-to-face instruction. Nowadays, we have the opportunity not only to apply "traditional" methods but also to use more sophisticated…

Advances in technology offer a vast array of opportunities for facilitating elearning. However, difficulties may arise if elearning research and design, including the use of emerging technologies, are based primarily on past practices, fads, or political agendas. This article describes refinements made to a framework for designing and sequencing…

Within recent years, there is an increasing need to train students, from biology and beyond, in quantitative methods that are relevant to cope with data-driven biology. Systems Biology is such a field that places a particular focus on the functional aspect of biology and molecular interacting processes. This paper deals with the conceptual design…

The design of online learning environments is a complicated process because it entails the use of technological tools to mediate the various forms of interaction situated in the learning process. One possible way to help reduce such complication inherent in various forms of interaction is to look at design as a problem-solving activity. This means…

The growing need for intercultural literacy in an increasingly interconnected and computer-mediated world contrasts with the dearth of investigation in best practices when designing simulations aimed at improving intercultural communication. Synthetic cultures inspired by real-world cultural traits, problem-based learning, and a social…

A WebQuest is an inquiry-based online learning technique. This technique has been widely adopted in K-16 education. Therefore, it is important that conditions of effective WebQuest design are defined. Through this article the author presents techniques for improving WebQuest design based on current research. More specifically, the author analyzes…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to outline the critical success factors for crafting a strategic architecture for e-learning at HP University. Design/methodology/approach: A descriptive survey type of research design was used. An empirical study was conducted on students enrolled with the International Centre for Distance and Open Learning…

The integration of game playing with online education has recently become one of the most discussed issues in the e-learning field for its potentially positive impact on the development of related industries and on the social lives of young people. In this article, the authors propose a set of design considerations to assist game-based learning…

Purpose: The current literature examining the design of effective online learning opportunities recommends an array of best practices but no agreed upon and unifying model. The purpose of this paper is to survey the existing research of effective design models for online learning in an attempt to identify best practices and present a new model.…

The present study examined students' first impressions of different aesthetic treatments for the same web-based lesson about the experiences of British soldiers during World War I as expressed through examples of trench poetry. Holding site content and functionality constant, the interface design's visual presentation was manipulated along two…