Courseware Tool Research Articles

“A chimera of sorts”: Rethinking educational technology grant programs, courseware innovation, and the language of educational change

How do we know when an educational organization, process, or courseware tool is innovative? How do we define the processes that encourage change or the ways in which faculty develop new courseware innovations? The terms innovation, change, and development have been overused in so many contexts that they now seem to have lost their meanings. A review of the literature on innovation and educational change offered no agreed up definitions or models. Prior studies that have considered innovations in educational technology have focused on the innovations themselves or the potential barriers to faculty adoptions of externally developed innovations. In this study of an educational technology services program that provides competitive grants for faculty-developed technology courseware projects at a large state research university, I shifted the focus to consider: what current and future higher education faculty consider to be an innovative courseware project, and how they conceive of processes for developing such innovations. Results suggested that when it is not reduced to a rhetorical device in a marketing campaign or department instructional technology vision plan, innovation that is defined locally by a community of practice can effectively transform teaching, learning, and the organizations that support these activities.

WEBCT USAGE: ARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS FACULTY USING E-LEARNING COURSEWARE TOOLS MORE THAN OTHERS ON CAMPUS?

The development of e-learning courseware tools such as WebCT and Blackboard, have allowed faculty of all disciplines the opportunity to move their course curriculum to the Internet. Prior to these tools, faculty could use the Web for teaching, but had to have a certain level of HTML and web programming skills to do so. Information Systems faculty and those in other computing disciplines have traditionally been the leaders in usage of new technology and this paper explores whether this remains true with the usage of the online courseware tool called WebCT. In particular this research will analyze the usage of this tool on one particular regional campus in the southeastern United States.

Simulation and video software development for soil consolidation testing

The development techniques and file structures of CTM, a novel multi-media (computer simulation and video) package on consolidation and laboratory consolidation testing, are presented in this paper. A courseware tool called Authorware proved to be versatile for building the package and the paper shows in details how the file structure of CTM is implemented within Authorware. In the audio–visual parts of the package background information, animations on consolidation theory and practice as well as standard and large-scale model consolidation tests, are shown. Running the package in a multi-user examination-type setting proved to be effective for learning and control of the learning process. Content-oriented multiple-choice questions on the theoretical and professional aspects of the test are posed, and users response is evaluated and reported on log files. Student users have responded positively to this development indicating minor future improvements.

User Acceptance of E-Collaboration Technology: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

This study investigates the applicability of Davis' Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in the user acceptance of electronic collaboration technology. A courseware management tool is used to test the various findings of TAM. Perceived usefulness of the technology emerges as a positive impact on perceived usefulness, and usefulness, in turn, has a negative relationship with system usage. Additionally, certain aspects of system usage influenced student performance in the course. Prior use of the system also affected system use.

Experience from using information technology in the training of managers

In this paper the problem of training project managers in Greece is tackled, together with the training practices and methods currently used. A solution is proposed in the form of METHODMAN I, an intelligent courseware tool for basic methodology training. Some functional and pedagogical aspects of the tool are presented, together with experience gained from its usage to date. The need for such a training tool is established from the results of a survey among project managers in the Greek information technology sector showing the difficulties of training managers quickly and efficiently. METHODMAN I requires a number of adaptations for the Greek market for it to be useful as a training program for Greek managers. Several expected adaptation problems are noted and, finally, the next version of the tool is briefly described.