Web sites that allow borrowers to compare student loans proliferated in the wake of last year's scandals that exposed conflicts of interest in the lending industry. Now the credit crunch is shifting demand for loan-comparison sites again, providing both new challenges and opportunities. More financial-aid officers are also pointing their students…

Built on the foundation of four years of research and implementation of mobile learning projects (m-learning), this paper provides an overview of the potential of the integration of mobile Web 2.0 tools (based around smartphones) to facilitate social constructivist pedagogies and engage students in tertiary education. Pedagogical affordances of…

A thorough review of the research relating to Human-Computer Interface (HCI) form and content factors in the education, communication and computer science disciplines reveals strong associations of meaningful perceptual "illusions" with enhanced learning and satisfaction in the evolving classroom. Specifically, associations emerge…

Like anything else, there are good fundraising campaign Web sites and bad fundraising campaign Web sites. The author took a closer look at fundraising campaign sites to see if her intuitive judgments about these could be translated into a logical, research-supported set of best practices. She set up a study that gauged the ease of use and…

Waves of enthusiasm for technological innovations that promise to revitalize teaching and learning are at least a century old. Unfortunately, the record of accomplishment for the many varieties of hardware and software introduced into schools over the decades is remarkably thin. Today's promoters of technology in education tend to forget similar…

This is a report of one case of a design and development research study that aimed to validate an overlay instructional design model incorporating the theory of multiple intelligences into instructional systems design. After design and expert review model validation, The Multiple Intelligence (MI) Design Model, used with an Instructional Systems…

Information systems strategy is an increasingly important component of overall business strategy in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The need for readily available and consistent management information, drawn from integrated systems based on sound and upgradeable technologies, has led many senior company managers to review the business…

This article discusses different types of literacy software and provides an annotated list of recommended software packages. Guidelines for previewing and selecting software are given, and short reviews of 17 programs are included along with contact information for their publishers, suggested age and ability levels, and details of hardware…

Addresses questions concerning the selection and use of specialized child care administrative software packages. Examines the timing of the purchase, uniqueness of packages, selection considerations, long-term features, indicators of flexibility, cautions, technological change, and future trends. (SD)

Ideas are presented for identifying, evaluating, and selecting instructional software for children with special needs. The article notes several library research tools as sources of information and lists specific questions to consider when evaluating software. (JDD)

Suggests that, in reviewing software, educators should apply the following criteria within the context of their objectives and the students' needs: content; instructional presentation; demands placed on the learner; technical features; and documentation and management features. Concludes that integration of computer software with traditional means…

This article illustrates that not all statistical software packages are correctly calculating a "p"-value for the classical "F" test comparison of two independent Normal variances. This is illustrated with a simple example, and the reasons why are discussed. Eight different software packages are considered.

In the last two decades, there has been a proliferation of Web-based course-management systems designed to facilitate postsecondary teaching (for example, WebCT, Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodle). In general, these systems provide analogs for delivering lectures, holding class discussions, giving quizzes and examinations (typically multiple…

This paper reports on the development of a tool that generates randomised, non-multiple choice assessment within the BlackBoard Learning Management System interface. An accepted weakness of multiple-choice assessment is that it cannot elicit learning outcomes from upper levels of Biggs' SOLO taxonomy. However, written assessment items require…

This article presents an innovative project in the context of remote experimentation applied to control engineering education. Specifically, the authors describe their experience regarding the analysis, design, development, and exploitation of web-based technologies within the scope of automatic control. This work is part of an inter-university…