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Student Perceptions of Microblogging: Integrating Twitter with Blogging to Support Learning and Interaction




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Re-purposing Google Maps Visualisation for Teaching Logistics Systems




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Incorporating Knowledge of Legal and Ethical Aspects into Computing Curricula of South African Universities




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A Cross-Case Analysis of the Use of Web-Based ePortfolios in Higher Education




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Using Student e-Portfolios to Facilitate Learning Objective Achievements in an Outcome-Based University




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Examining the Efficacy of Personal Response Devices in Army Training




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Facilitating Exposure to Sign Languages of the World: The Case for Mobile Assisted Language Learning




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Introducing E-portfolio Use to Primary School Pupils: Response, Benefits and Challenges

Electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) have a positive impact on the learning process in a broad range of educational sectors and on learners of all ages. Yet because most e-portfolio-related studies are about their implementation in higher education, this type of research is less usual in the early childhood context, and there is no available research for Greek schools. This study aims to investigate the impact of e-portfolios on learning in a Greek primary school and to provide a resource regarding the educational benefits of e-portfolio in primary education. To do that, it employs the qualitative naturalistic method to collect data, along with mixed methods which were used to achieve triangulation and strengthen confidence in the outcomes. Participants in the research were fourteen 8-year-old pupils, and one of the researchers was their regular teacher. Data evaluation revealed that the e-portfolio added value in pupils’ learning, acted as a medium to involve parents, promoted pupils’ self-esteem, and was acknowledged as a valuable assessment tool and a challenge for the school community. Based on the experience of the e-portfolio implementation, the authors provide some suggestions that would possibly help researchers and primary school teachers adopt and develop e-portfolio systems in their particular settings.




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MOOC Success Factors: Proposal of an Analysis Framework

Aim/Purpose: From an idea of lifelong-learning-for-all to a phenomenon affecting higher education, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can be the next step to a truly universal education. Indeed, MOOC enrolment rates can be astoundingly high; still, their completion rates are frequently disappointingly low. Nevertheless, as courses, the participants’ enrolment and learning within the MOOCs must be considered when assessing their success. In this paper, the authors’ aim is to reflect on what makes a MOOC successful to propose an analysis framework of MOOC success factors. Background: A literature review was conducted to identify reported MOOC success factors and to propose an analysis framework. Methodology: This literature-based framework was tested against data of a specific MOOC and refined, within a qualitative interpretivist methodology. The data were collected from the ‘As alterações climáticas nos média escolares - Clima@EduMedia’ course, which was developed by the project Clima@EduMedia and was submitted to content analysis. This MOOC aimed to support science and school media teachers in the use of media to teach climate change Contribution: By proposing a MOOC success factors framework the authors are attempting to contribute to fill in a literature gap regarding what concerns criteria to consider a specific MOOC successful. Findings: This work major finding is a literature-based and empirically-refined MOOC success factors analysis framework. Recommendations for Practitioners: The proposed framework is also a set of best practices relevant to MOOC developers, particularly when targeting teachers as potential participants. Recommendation for Researchers: This work’s relevance is also based on its contribution to increasing empirical research on MOOCs. Impact on Society: By providing a proposal of a framework on factors to make a MOOC successful, the authors hope to contribute to the quality of MOOCs. Future Research: Future work should refine further the proposed framework, by in testing it against data collected in other MOOCs.




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Evaluating the Acceptability and Usability of EASEL: A Mobile Application that Supports Guided Reflection for Experiential Learning Activities

Aim/Purpose: To examine the early perceptions (acceptability) and usability of EASEL (Education through Application-Supported Experiential Learning), a mobile platform that delivers reflection prompts and content before, during, and after an experiential learning activity. Background: Experiential learning is an active learning approach in which students learn by doing and by reflecting on the experience. This approach to teaching is often used in disciplines such as humanities, business, and medicine. Reflection before, during, and after an experience allows the student to analyze what they learn and why it is important, which is vital in helping them to understand the relevance of the experience. A just-in-time tool (EASEL) was needed to facilitate this. Methodology: To inform the development of a mobile application that facilitates real-time guided reflection and to determine the relevant feature set, we conducted a needs analysis with both students and faculty members. Data collected during this stage of the evaluation helped guide the creation of a prototype. The user experience of the prototype and interface interactions were evaluated during the usability phase of the evaluation study. Contribution: Both the needs analysis and usability assessment provided justification for continued development of EASEL as well as insight that guides current development. Findings: The interaction design of EASEL is understandable and usable. Both students and teachers value an application that facilitates real-time guided reflection. Recommendations for Practitioners: The use of a system such as EASEL can leverage time and location-based services to support students in field experiences. This technology aligns with evidence that guided reflection provides opportunities for metacognition. Recommendation for Researchers: Iterative prototyping, testing, and refinement can lead to a deliberate and effective app development process. Impact on Society: The EASEL platform leverages inherent functionality of mobile devices, such as GPS and persistent network connectivity, to adapt reflection tasks based on lo-cation or time. Students using EASEL will engage in guided reflection, which leads to metacognition and can help instructors scaffold learning Future Research: We will continue to advance the application through iterative testing and development. When ready, the application will be vetted in larger studies across varied disciplines and contexts.




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Activity Oriented Teaching Strategy for Software Engineering Course: An Experience Report

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents the findings of an Activity-Oriented Teaching Strategy (AOTS) conducted for a postgraduate level Software Engineering (SE) course with the aim of imparting meaningful software development experience for the students. The research question is framed as whether the activity-oriented teaching strategy helps students to acquire practical knowledge of Software Engineering and thus bridge the gap between academia and software industry. Background: Software Engineering Education (SEE) in India is mainly focused on teaching theoretical concepts rather than emphasizing on practical knowledge in software development process. It has been noticed that many students of CS/IT background are struggling when they start their career in the software industry due to inadequate familiarity with the software development process. In the current context of SE education, there is a knowledge gap between the theory learned in the classroom and the actual requirement demanded by the software industry. Methodology: The methodology opted for in this study was action research since the teachers are trying to solve the practical problems and deficiencies encountered while teaching SE. There are four pedagogies in AOTS for fulfilling the requirements of the desired teaching strategy. They are flipped classroom, project role-play for developing project artifacts, teaching by example, and student seminars. The study was conducted among a set of Postgraduate students of the Software Engineering programme at Cochin University of Science and Technology, India. Contribution: AOTS can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the learning process and thus helping them develop their professional skills. Findings: AOTS can be molded as a promising teaching strategy for learning Software Engineering. It focuses on the essential skill sets demanded by the software industry such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and understanding of the software development processes. Impact on Society: Activity-oriented teaching strategies can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the SE learning process and thus helping them in developing their professional skills. Future Research: AOTS can be refined by adding/modifying pedagogies and including different features like an online evaluation system, virtual classroom etc.




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A Fully Online Research Portal for Research Students and Researchers

Aim/Purpose: This paper describes the context, development, implementation, and the potential transferability of an integrated online research environment that allows its users to conduct all aspects of research online. Background: While the content of most traditional courses can be delivered online and learning outcomes can be achieved by adopting equivalents to face-to-face pedagogic approaches, certain courses, such as those that require a substantial research component, present significant constraints for delivery online. To overcome these limitations, Australia’s largest university developed and implemented a Research Portal. Methodology: The development team conducted a functional requirements analysis, identified the components that would be necessary to meet user needs, and reviewed existing solutions. The Monash University Psychology Research Portal was designed, tested, developed, tested for user experience, implemented, and reviewed. The Research Portal is structured according to the usual research sequence and provides users with access to supporting information and integrated capacities including research supervision, participant acquisition, and data collection, analysis, and storage. Contribution: This integrated online research environment is equivalent to and, in some ways, superior to an on campus/non-online research capacity. Findings: The usage of the Research Portal has grown rapidly and has satisfied the requirements and met the research needs of students of an online course that includes a research project, providing a common, ubiquitously accessible, and integrated online research environment. Recommendations for Practitioners: Further refinement, personalization, and expanded implementation and dissemination of the Research Portal components are required. The formation of networks and working partnerships to operate, maintain, and promote Research Portal initiatives is recommended to reduce operational costs, increase access, and create an impact. Impact on Society: The Research Portal is an efficient resource that provides easy access to a standard interface at any time and from anywhere and can potentially be used by other online research courses, as well as by online and non-online researchers.




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Delving into the Specificity of Instructional Guidance in Social Media-supported Learning Environments

Aim/Purpose: This study investigates the variations in student participation patterns across different types of instructional activities, learning modes, and with different instructional guidance approaches. In the current study, different variables, modes of learning (guided versus unguided), and types of guidance (social versus cognitive) were manipulated in a series of microblogging-supported collaborative learning tasks to examine to what extent and in which aspects instructional guidance affects the effectiveness and student perception of microblogging-supported learning. Background: Despite the overwhelming agreement on the importance of instructional guidance in microblogging-supported learning environments, very few studies have been done to examine the specificity of guidance, such as how to structure and support microblogging activities, as well as what types of guidance are appropriate in what learning contexts. Methodology: This semester-long study utilized a case-study research design via a multi-dimensional approach in a hybrid classroom with both face-to-face and online environments. Tweets were collected from four types of activities and coded based on content within their contextual setting. Twenty-four college students participated in the study. Contribution: In response to the call to improve social media learning environments under-scored in contemporary education, the current case study took an initial step aiming at deepening the understanding of the role of instructional guidance in microblogging-supported learning environments. Findings: This study showcases that with instructor facilitation, students succeeded in being engaged in a highly participatory and interactive learning experience across a variety of tasks and activities. This study indicates that students’ perspectives of social media tools rely heavily on what instructors do with the tool and how the instructional activities are structured and supported. Instructors’ scaffolding and support is instrumental in keeping students on task and engaging students with meaningful events, thus ensuring the success of microblogging-based learning activities. Meanwhile, students’ perception of usefulness of instructional guidance is closely related to their own pre-perception and experience. Recommendations for Practitioners: When incorporating social media tools, it is important to examine learner’s prior knowledge and comfort level with these tools and tailor the design of instructional activities to their attributes. It is also vital to monitor student progress, adjust the type and amount of guidance and scaffolding provided as they progress, and eventually remove the scaffolding until students can demonstrate that they can perform the task successfully without assistance. Recommendation for Researchers: Due to many other potential factors in place that could potentially influence student learning, no conclusive remarks can be made regarding the superiority of either one type of guidance approach. Future researchers should continue to develop robust research methodologies to seek ways to better operationalize this variable and strive to understand its effect. Future Research: Future replication studies in other settings, with a larger sample size, and different populations will certainly provide further insights on the effects of instructional guidance in microblogging-based learning. Alternative coding methods may also shed light on differences in student interaction in terms of content diversity and depth of learning when analyzing the tweets. Advanced data collection techniques may be explored to ascertain the completeness of data collection.




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Constructed Response or Multiple-Choice Questions for Assessing Declarative Programming Knowledge? That is the Question!

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents a data mining approach for analyzing responses to advanced declarative programming questions. The goal of this research is to find a model that can explain the results obtained by students when they perform exams with Constructed Response questions and with equivalent Multiple-Choice Questions. Background: The assessment of acquired knowledge is a fundamental role in the teaching-learning process. It helps to identify the factors that can contribute to the teacher in the developing of pedagogical methods and evaluation tools and it also contributes to the self-regulation process of learning. However, better format of questions to assess declarative programming knowledge is still a subject of ongoing debate. While some research advocates the use of constructed responses, others emphasize the potential of multiple-choice questions. Methodology: A sensitivity analysis was applied to extract useful knowledge from the relevance of the characteristics (i.e., the input variables) used for the data mining process to compute the score. Contribution: Such knowledge helps the teachers to decide which format they must consider with respect to the objectives and expected students results. Findings: The results shown a set of factors that influence the discrepancy between answers in both formats. Recommendations for Practitioners: Teachers can make an informed decision about whether to choose multiple-choice questions or constructed-response taking into account the results of this study. Recommendation for Researchers: In this study a block of exams with CR questions is verified to complement the area of learning, returning greater performance in the evaluation of students and improving the teaching-learning process. Impact on Society: The results of this research confirm the findings of several other researchers that the use of ICT and the application of MCQ is an added value in the evaluation process. In most cases the student is more likely to succeed with MCQ, however if the teacher prefers to evaluate with CR other research approaches are needed. Future Research: Future research must include other question formats.




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Incorporating Kinesthetic Learning into University Classrooms: An Example from Management Information Systems

Aim/Purpose: Students tend to learn best when an array of learning styles is used by instructors. The purpose of this paper is to add, to introduce, and to apply the concepts of kinesthetic learning and learning structures to university and STEM education. Background: The study applies the concept of kinesthetic learning and a learning structure called Think-Pair-Share to an experiential exercise about Moore’s Law in an introductory MIS classroom. The paper details the exercise and each of its components. Methodology: Students in two classes were asked to complete a short survey about their conceptual understanding of the course material before and after the experiential exercise. Contribution: The paper details the benefits of kinesthetic learning and learning structures and discusses how to apply these concepts through an experiential exercise used in an introductory MIS course. Findings: Results indicate that the kinesthetic learning activity had a positive impact on student learning outcomes. Recommendations for Practitioners: University educators can use this example to structure several other learning activities that apply kinesthetic learning principles. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can use this paper to study more about how to incorporate kinesthetic learning into education, and about teaching technology concepts to undergraduate students through kinesthetic learning. Impact on Society: The results of this study may be extremely beneficial for the university and STEM community and overall academic business community. Future Research: Researchers should consider longitudinal studies and other ways to incorporate kinesthetic learning activities into education.




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Playable Experiences Through Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges for Teaching Simulation Learning and Extended Reality Solution Creation

Aim/Purpose: This paper describes a technologies education model for introducing Simulation Learning and Extended Reality (XR) solution creation skills and knowledge to students at the tertiary education level, which is broadly applicable to higher education-based contexts of teaching and learning. Background: This work is made possible via the model’s focus on advancing knowledge and understanding of a range of digital resources, and the processes and production skills to teach and produce playable educational digital content, including classroom practice and applications. Methodology: Through practice-based learning and technology as an enabler, to inform the development of this model, we proposed a mixed-mode project-based approach of study within a transdisciplinary course for Higher Education students from the first year through to the post-graduate level. Contribution: An argument is also presented for the utility of this model for upskilling Pre-service Teachers’ (PSTs) pedagogical content knowledge in Technologies, which is especially relevant to the Australian curriculum context and will be broadly applicable to various educative and non-Australian settings. Findings: Supported by practice-based research, work samples and digital projects of Simulation Learning and XR developed by the authors are demonstrated to ground the discussion in examples; the discussion that is based around some of the challenges and the technical considerations, and the scope of teaching digital solutions creation is provided. Recommendations for Practitioners: We provide a flexible technologies teaching and learning model for determining content for inclusion in a course designed to provide introductory Simulation Learning and XR solution creation skills and knowledge. Recommendation for Researchers: The goal was to provide key criteria and an outline that can be adapted by academic researchers and learning designers in various higher education-based contexts of teaching and inclusive learning design focused on XR. Impact on Society: We explore how educators work with entities in various settings and contexts with different priorities, and how we recognise expertise beyond the institutional interests, beyond discipline, and explore ‘what is possible’ through digital technologies for social good and inclusivity. Future Research: The next step for this research is to investigate and explore how XR and Simulation Learning could be utilised to accelerate student learning in STEM and HASS disciplines, to promote knowledge retention and a higher level of technology-enhanced learning engagement.




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A novel IoT-enabled portable, secure automatic self-lecture attendance system: design, development and comparison

This study focuses on the importance of monitoring student attendance in education and the challenges faced by educators in doing so. Existing methods for attendance tracking have drawbacks, including high costs, long processing times, and inaccuracies, while security and privacy concerns have often been overlooked. To address these issues, the authors present a novel internet of things (IoT)-based self-lecture attendance system (SLAS) that leverages smartphones and QR codes. This system effectively addresses security and privacy concerns while providing streamlined attendance tracking. It offers several advantages such as compact size, affordability, scalability, and flexible features for teachers and students. Empirical research conducted in a live lecture setting demonstrates the efficacy and precision of the SLAS system. The authors believe that their system will be valuable for educational institutions aiming to streamline attendance tracking while ensuring security and privacy.




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E-service quality subdimensions and their effects upon users' behavioural and praising intentions in internet banking services

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of electronic service quality subdimensions upon the behavioural and praising intentions of users engaged in internet banking. Using the survey method, 203 responses were collected from users of online banking in Turkey. A partial least square structural equation model was constructed to test both the reliability and validity of the measurement, as well as the structural model. The results indicated that emotional benefits, ease of use, and control subdimensions, which are influenced through graphical quality and layout clarity, have a significant and positive impact upon the behavioural and praising intentions of users of online banking. The study did not find support for the direct effect of layout clarity upon behavioural and praising intentions.




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Exploring the impact of monetary policy on sustainable development with mediation of e-banking services and moderation of financial risk awareness

Monetary policy is essential for sustainable growth where effective monetary policies can improve investment, employment, and consumption by fostering a balanced and resilient economy. However, sustainable development is vital for harmonising economic growth, social equity, and environmental preservation. A number of factors have been discussed in the literature that impact sustainable development. However, this study explicitly tries to investigate the nexus among the monetary policy (MP) toward sustainable development (SD) with the mediation of e-banking services (e-BS) and moderation of financial risk management (FRM) from China drawing on stakeholder theory. It discovered a significant connection between monetary policy and sustainable development along with sub-dimensions of SD. Likewise, this study confirmed a positive mediating influence of e-BS between monetary policy and sustainable development. Finally, the study additionally ensured a positive moderation of financial risk between monetary policy and sustainable development, respectively. These outcomes bestow several interesting insights into monetary policy, e-banking services, financial risk management, and sustainable development.




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Bi-LSTM GRU-based deep learning architecture for export trade forecasting

To assess a country's economic outlook and achieve higher economic growth, econometric models and prediction techniques are significant tools. Policymakers are always concerned with the correct future estimates of economic variables to take the right economic decisions, design better policies and effectively implement them. Therefore, there is a need to improve the predictive accuracy of the existing models and to use more sophisticated and superior algorithms for accurate forecasting. Deep learning models like recurrent neural networks are considered superior for forecasting as they provide better predictive results as compared to many of the econometric models. Against this backdrop, this paper presents the feasibility of using different deep-learning neural network architectures for trade forecasting. It predicts export trade using different recurrent neural architectures such as 'vanilla recurrent neural network (VRNN)', 'bi-directional long short-term memory network (Bi-LSTM)', 'bi-directional gated recurrent unit (Bi-GRU)' and a hybrid 'bi-directional LSTM and GRU neural network'. The performances of these models are evaluated and compared using different performance metrics such as Mean Square Error (MSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Root Mean Squared Logarithmic Error (RMSLE) and coefficient of determination <em>R</em>-squared (<em>R</em>²). The results validated the effective export prediction for India.




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Research on construction of police online teaching platform based on blockchain and IPFS technology

Under the current framework of police online teaching, in order to effectively solve the lack of high-quality resources of the traditional platform, backward sharing technology, poor performance of the digital platform and the privacy problems faced by each subject in sharing. This paper designs and implements the online teaching platform based on blockchain and interplanetary file system (IPFS). Based on the architecture of a 'decentralised' police online teaching platform, the platform uses blockchain to store hashes of encrypted private information and user-set access control policies, while the real private information is stored in IPFS after encryption. In the realisation of privacy information security storage at the same time to ensure the effective control of the user's own information. In order to achieve flexible rights management, the system classifies private information. In addition, the difficulties of police online teaching and training reform in the era of big data are solved one by one from the aspects of communication mode, storage facilities, incentive mechanism and confidentiality system, which effectively improves the stability and security of police online teaching.




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Quantitative evaluation method of ideological and political teaching achievements based on collaborative filtering algorithm

In order to overcome the problems of large error, low evaluation accuracy and long evaluation time in traditional evaluation methods of ideological and political education, this paper designs a quantitative evaluation method of ideological and political education achievements based on collaborative filtering algorithm. First, the evaluation index system is constructed to divide the teaching achievement evaluation index data in a small scale; then, the quantised dataset is determined and the quantised index weight is calculated; finally, the collaborative filtering algorithm is used to generate a set with high similarity, construct a target index recommendation list, construct a quantitative evaluation function and solve the function value to complete the quantitative evaluation of teaching achievements. The results show that the evaluation error of this method is only 1.75%, the accuracy can reach 98%, and the time consumption is only 2.0 s, which shows that this method can improve the quantitative evaluation effect.




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Online allocation of teaching resources for ideological and political courses in colleges and universities based on differential search algorithm

In order to improve the classification accuracy and online allocation accuracy of teaching resources and shorten the allocation time, this paper proposes a new online allocation method of college ideological and political curriculum teaching resources based on differential search algorithm. Firstly, the feedback parameter model of teaching resources cleaning is constructed to complete the cleaning of teaching resources. Secondly, according to the results of anti-interference consideration, the linear feature extraction of ideological and political curriculum teaching resources is carried out. Finally, the online allocation objective function of teaching resources for ideological and political courses is constructed, and the differential search algorithm is used to optimise the objective function to complete the online allocation of resources. The experimental results show that this method can accurately classify the teaching resources of ideological and political courses, and can shorten the allocation time, with the highest allocation accuracy of 97%.




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Risk assessment method of power grid construction project investment based on grey relational analysis

In view of the problems of low accuracy, long time consuming and low efficiency of the existing engineering investment risk assessment method; this paper puts forward the investment risk assessment method of power grid construction project based on grey correlation analysis. Firstly, classify the risks of power grid construction project; secondly, determine the primary index and secondary index of investment risk assessment of power grid construction project; then construct the correlation coefficient matrix of power grid project investment risk to calculate the correlation degree and weight of investment risk index; finally, adopt the grey correlation analysis method to construct investment risk assessment function to realise investment risk assessment. The experimental results show that the average accuracy of evaluating the investment risk of power grid construction projects using the method is 95.08%, and the maximum time consuming is 49 s, which proves that the method has high accuracy, short time consuming and high evaluation efficiency.




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National ICT policy challenges for developing countries: a grounded theory informed literature review

This paper presents a review of the literature on the challenges of national information and communication technology (ICT) policies in the context of African countries. National ICT policies have been aligned with socio-development agendas of African countries. However, the policies have not delivered the expected outcomes due to many challenges. Studies have been conducted in isolation to highlight the challenges in the policy process. The study used grounded theory informed literature review to holistically analyse the problems in the context of African countries. The results were categorised in the typology of the policy process to understand the challenges from a broad perspective. The problems were categorised into agenda setting, policy formulation, legal frameworks, implementation and evaluation. In addition, there were constraints related to policy monitoring in the policy phases and imbalance of power among the policy stakeholders. The review suggests areas of further research.




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International Journal of Technology Policy and Law




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Transformative advances in volatility prediction: unveiling an innovative model selection method using exponentially weighted information criteria

Using information criteria is a common method for making a decision about which model to use for forecasting. There are many different methods for evaluating forecasting models, such as MAE, RMSE, MAPE, and Theil-U, among others. After the creation of AIC, AICc, HQ, BIC, and BICc, the two criteria that have become the most popular and commonly utilised are Bayesian IC and Akaike's IC. In this investigation, we are innovative in our use of exponential weighting to get the log-likelihood of the information criteria for model selection, which means that we propose assigning greater weight to more recent data in order to reflect their increased precision. All research data is from the major stock markets' daily observations, which include the USA (GSPC, DJI), Europe (FTSE 100, AEX, and FCHI), and Asia (Nikkei).




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Stock market response to mergers and acquisitions: comparison between China and India

This research delves into the wealth effect of shareholders from bidding firms created by mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in China and India, two of the world's most populous nations. The study reveals that on average, M&A deals create wealth for shareholders of the acquiring firms, as determined by abnormal percentage returns in a five-day event window. Regarding the further classification of acquiring firms based on industry, the abnormal percentage returns vary in different sectors in both countries. In China, shareholders benefit in seven out of ten industries, while in India, they gain in five out of nine industries. Moreover, the stock markets' responses vary depending on the type of M&A in each country. Cross-industry M&A deals in China generate higher gains for shareholders than within-industry deals, whereas, in India, within-industry M&A deals generate higher gains.




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A study on value chain of mushroom for value addition: challenges, opportunities and prospects of cultivation of mushroom

This research was carried out with an objective of studying the existing mushroom value chain, identifying demand-supply gap, carrying out SWOT analysis to explore challenges, proposing action plan and presenting finally standard operating procedure for enhancing value chain effectiveness. Data was collected from 71 actors identified in the oyster mushroom value chain in Tumakuru Taluk, Karnataka State, India and analysed. Analysis showed that there were five different models of value chain, and the shortest value chain was the most profitable one. Based on the respondents' perceptions, mushroom cultivation offers many opportunities such as creating employment, improving economic condition and diet. Meanwhile they face challenges like, pest attack, hike in input materials' prices, lack of technical guidance during farming, finance support, inefficient marketing system. There is a need to address demand-supply gap, invest more in facilities and related research, integrate all the actors in value chain to enhance productivity.




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Building the Hydra Together: Enhancing Repository Provision through Multi-Institution Collaboration

In 2008 the University of Hull, Stanford University and University of Virginia decided to collaborate with Fedora Commons (now DuraSpace) on the Hydra project. This project has sought to define and develop repository-enabled solutions for the management of multiple digital content management needs that are multi-purpose and multi-functional in such a way as to allow their use across multiple institutions. This article describes the evolution of Hydra as a project, but most importantly as a community that can sustain the outcomes from Hydra and develop them further. The data modelling and technical implementation are touched on in this context, and examples of the Hydra heads in development or production are highlighted. Finally, the benefits of working together, and having worked together, are explored as a key element in establishing a sustainable open source solution.




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Kindura: Repository services for researchers based on hybrid clouds

The paper describes the investigations and outcomes of the JISC-funded Kindura project, which is piloting the use of hybrid cloud infrastructure to provide repository-focused services to researchers. The hybrid cloud services integrate external commercial cloud services with internal IT infrastructure, which has been adapted to provide cloud-like interfaces. The system provides services to manage and process research outputs, primarily focusing on research data. These services include both repository services, based on use of the Fedora Commons repository, as well as common services such as preservation operations that are provided by cloud compute services. Kindura is piloting the use of the DuraCloud2, open source software developed by DuraSpace, to provide a common interface to interact with cloud storage and compute providers. A storage broker integrates with DuraCloud to optimise the usage of available resources, taking into account such factors as cost, reliability, security and performance. The development is focused on the requirements of target groups of researchers.




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CLIF: Moving repositories upstream in the content lifecycle

The UK JISC-funded Content Lifecycle Integration Framework (CLIF) project has explored the management of digital content throughout its lifecycle from creation through to preservation or disposal. Whilst many individual systems offer the capability of carrying out lifecycle stages to varying degrees, CLIF recognised that only by facilitating the movement of content between systems could the full lifecycle take advantage of systems specifically geared towards different stages of the digital lifecycle. The project has also placed the digital repository at the heart of this movement and has explored this through carrying out integrations between Fedora and Sakai, and Fedora and SharePoint. This article will describe these integrations in the context of lifecycle management and highlight the issues discovered in enabling the smooth movement of content as required.




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Chempound - a Web 2.0-inspired repository for physical science data

Chempound is a new generation repository architecture based on RDF, semantic dictionaries and linked data. It has been developed to hold any type of chemical object expressible in CML and is exemplified by crystallographic experiments and computational chemistry calculations. In both examples, the repository can hold >50k entries which can be searched by SPARQL endpoints and pre-indexing of key fields. The Chempound architecture is general and adaptable to other fields of data-rich science.




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Repository as a Service (RaaS)

In his oft-quoted seminal paper ‘Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure For Scholarship In The Digital Age’ Clifford Lynch (2003) described the Institutional Repository as “a set of services that a university offers to the members of its community for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community members.” This paper seeks instead to define the repository service at a more primitive level, without the specialism of being an ‘Institutional Repository’, and looks at how it can viewed as providing a service within appropriate boundaries, and what that could mean for the future development of repositories, our expectations of what repositories should be, and how they could fit into the set of services required to deliver an Institutional Repository service as describe by Lynch.




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DAR: A Modern Institutional Repository with a Scalability Twist

The Digital Assets Repository (DAR) is an Institutional Repository developed at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to manage the full lifecycle of a digital asset: its creation and ingestion, its metadata management, storage and archival in addition to the necessary mechanisms for publishing and dissemination. DAR was designed with a focus on integrating DAR with different sources of digital objects and metadata in addition to integration with applications built on top of the repository. As a modern repository, the system architecture demonstrates a modular design relying on components that are best of the breed, a flexible content model for digital objects based on current standards and heavily relying on RDF triples to define relations. In this paper we will demonstrate the building blocks of DAR as an example of a modern repository, discussing how the system addresses the challenges that face an institution in consolidating its assets and a focus on solving scalability issues.




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Agricultural informatics: emphasising potentiality and proposed model on innovative and emerging Doctor of Education in Agricultural Informatics program for smart agricultural systems

International universities are changing with their style of operation, mode of teaching and learning operations. This change is noticeable rapidly in India and also in international contexts due to healthy and innovative methods, educational strategies, and nomenclature throughout the world. Technologies are changing rapidly, including ICT. Different subjects are developed in the fields of IT and computing with the interaction or applications to other fields, viz. health informatics, bio informatics, agriculture informatics, and so on. Agricultural informatics is an interdisciplinary subject dedicated to combining information technology and information science utilisation in agricultural sciences. The digital agriculture is powered by agriculture informatics practice. For teaching, research and development of any subject educational methods is considered as important and various educational programs are there in this regard viz. Bachelor of Education, Master of Education, PhD in Education, etc. Degrees are also available to deal with the subjects and agricultural informatics should not be an exception of this. In this context, Doctor of Education (EdD or DEd) is an emerging degree having features of skill sets, courses and research work. This paper proposed on EdD program with agricultural informatics specialisation for improving healthy agriculture system. Here, a proposed model core curriculum is also presented.




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Cognitive biases in decision making during the pandemic: insights and viewpoint from people's behaviour

In this article, we have attempted to study the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has gradually increased and impacted the world. The authors integrate the knowledge from cognitive psychology literature to illustrate how the limitations of the human mind might have a critical role in the decisions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors show the correlation between different biases in various contexts involved in the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the ways in which we can nudge ourselves and various stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. This study uses a typology of biases to examine how different patterns of biases affect the decision-making behaviour of people during the pandemic. The presented model investigates the potential interrelations among environmental transformations, cognitive biases, and strategic decisions. By referring to cognitive biases, our model also helps to understand why the same performance improvement practices might incite different opinions among decision-makers.




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Towards Egocentric Way-Finding Appliances Supporting Navigation in Unfamiliar Terrain




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The Usage of E-Learning Material to Support Good Communication with Learners




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Exploring Change and Innovation by ICT Teaching Staff in the New Zealand Polytechnic Sector




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Enterprise Applications Portfolio Management Utilizing COTS




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Creation of Anticipatory Information Support for Virtual Organizations between System(S) Theory and System Thinking




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Do Project Manager’s Utilise Potential Customers in E-Commerce Developments?




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Project-Based Learning in Online Postgraduate Education




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Exploring the Research Ethics Domain for Postgraduate Students in Computing




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Web Based vs. Web Supported Learning Environment – A Distinction of Course Organizing or Learning Style?




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Web Supported Group Learning




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An Actor Network Approach to Informing Clients through Portals




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Software Quality Management supported by Software Agent




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Performance Analysis of Double Buffer Technique (DBT) Model for Mobility Support in Wireless IP Networks