Applicability and Necessity of E-Learning Courses Based onParticipants’ Viewpoints in a Summer School

With the growing awareness to learn deeper about Islam and Quran, there is an increasing trend to learn the Arabic language in Indonesia. While many institutions offer onsite learning platform to learn Arabic, the need for technology-based e-learning Arabic course is increasing as technology in Indonesia advances. The e-learning approach has to be based upon the needs of users to ensure the learning is effective. This study aims to design an online e-learning basic Arabic course using user-centered design (UCD) approach. The methodology employed in this study is mixed methods. The study covers requirements gathering, create design solution, prototyping, and evaluation. Gagne's nine instructional events are used as a theoretical basis for designing Instructional design. Evaluation is done by referring to usability testing method. This study results in an e-learning Arabic course interface that stemmed from user needs and instructional design. The final output has 17 features out of 34 identified user needs.

In the context of e-learning courses, personalization is a more and more studied issue, being its advantage in terms of time and motivations widely proved. Course personalization basically means to understand student’s needs: to this aim several Artificial Intelligence methodologies have been used to model students for tailoring e-learning courses and to provide didactic strategies, such as planning, case based reasoning, or fuzzy logic, just to cite some of them. Moreover, in order to disseminate personalised e-learning courses, the use of known and available Learning Management System is mandatory.In this paper we propose a fine-grained student model, embedded into an Adaptive Educational Hypermedia, LS_Plan provided as plug-in for Moodle. In this way we satisfy the two most important requirements: a fine-grained personalization and a large diffusion. In particular, the substantial modification proposed in this contribution regards the methodology to evaluate the knowledge of the single student which currently has a low granularity level. The experiments showed that the new system has improved the evaluation mechanism by adding information that students and teachers can use to keep track of learning progress.

A Learning Management System (LMS) is nowadays a pivotal element in the education environment of a modern university. However, though it generally has a beneficial and positive impact on the education, a part of the teachers is sometimes reluctant to adopt a LMS because of the perceived usage difficulty. Therefore, it is clear that a key step in order to spread the use of a LMS is to teach to the teachers how to use it and which benefits their teaching activities can gain. In this paper, we report and analyze the experience we had at University of Perugia. An e-learning course has been released to the (approximately) 1000 teachers of the university with the aim of introducing them to the basic tools provided by the LMS. Importantly, the course has been created and delivered by means of UniStudium, i.e., the Moodle-based LMS deployed in our university. This allowed us to collect interesting quantitative and qualitative data that have been elaborated and analyzed. The analysis shows that the activities carried out reached a prominent percentage of teachers, by also providing us important suggestions and hints to guide our future activities in this direction.

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the relationship between the students’ digital activities and their academic performance through two stages. In the first stage, students’ digital activities were studied and clustered based on the attributes of their activity log of learning management system (LMS) data set. In the second stage, the significance of the relationship between these profiles and the associated academic performance was tested statistically.Design/methodology/approachThe LMS delivers E-learning courses and keeps track of the students’ activities. Investigating these students’ digital activities became a real challenge. The diversity of students’ involvement in the learning process was proven through the LMS which characterize students’ specific profiles. The Educational Data Mining (EDM) approach was used to discover students’ learning profiles and associated academic performances, where the activity log file exemplified their activities hosted in the LMS. The sample study data is from an undergraduate e-course hosted on the platform of Blackboard LMS offered at a Saudi University during the first semester of the 2019–2020 academic year. The chosen undergraduate course had 25 sections, and the students attending came from science, technology, engineering and math background.FindingsResults show three clusters based on the digital activities of the students. The correlation test shows the statistical significance and proves the effect of the student’s profile on his academic performance. The data analysis shows that students with different profiles can still get similar academic performance using LMS.Originality/valueThis empirical study emphasizes the importance of the EDM approach using clustering techniques which can help the instructor understand how students use the provided LMS content to learn and then can deliver them the best educational experience.

This paper is aimed at analysing case studies of the use of concept maps as tools in the development of eLearning courses or when teaching eLearning courses. Teachers discovered the advantages of concept mapping and learners have come to like it to such an extent that they use it when writing their seminar papers or in their theses. We present papers in which learners develop ICT-supported courses - eLearning courses. The authors of such papers usually follow instructional system design (ISD) principles. Usually, they create a map of all stages of the system design life cycle and go from the low level of distinction to the more detailed levels. Mapping can also be used when explaining the curriculum in an eLearning course. Concept maps can be used in different ways by students because each of them has a different learning style. The authors of theses, which have been selected as examples in this paper, are distant learners who used the paper results in business practice.

Statement of the problem. The task of predicting student learning success is one of the most developed in educational analytics. At the same time, experience in the field of pedagogical design of e-learning courses, which are the main sources of students’ digital footprint data, is extremely limited. In these conditions, understanding what it should be like and what design elements are most important for it is becoming relevant. The purpose of the study is to determine the design elements of an e-learning course for effective prediction of educational results and to develop its generalized criteria-content model. Methodology . A comparative analysis of scientific, pedagogical, and methodological sources was applied. Verbal and communicative methods, comparative and statistical analysis of empirical data using a generative model of artificial intelligence were used. Results . The paper substantiates the need to develop high-precision e-learning courses for effective forecasting of students’ learning success based on such design elements as: content availability, structuring, discipline study schedule, assessment system, timely feedback, relevance and completeness of information, aesthetics and ergonomics. A generalized criteria-content model for constructing a high-precision e-learning course is proposed. Conclusion . The prospects for further development of the research and development of methodological recommendations for the design of pedagogical design of high-precision e-learning courses are outlined.

We are currently experiencing the rapid growth of technology-based distance learning courses and programs in higher education, K-12 education, training, and other non-traditional learning contexts. With the proliferation of e-Learning courses and programs, it is important that instructional designers, instructional technologists, and others think critically about the nature of their research and practice. A number of questions and issues need to be addressed. For example, many individuals use the terms virtual space, virtual learning, and virtual learning communities when discussing e-Learning design and development. Do we all attach the same meaning to these terms? Probably not. As we design Web-based courses, should we try and use the structure of the traditional classroom as the metaphor for the “online” classroom? This is certainly an open question, given the criticisms that many students and trainees voice concerning traditional classroom instruction and training. Are the relevant instructional design, development, and policy issues the same for higher education, K-12 education, and training in the private sector? What are the implications and effects of using templates and various server software including WebCT, Blackboard, and other programs when designing and developing e-Learning programs? Finally, what can be learned from those individuals who have made pioneering efforts to design and develop online courses? The contributors to this issue of the Quarterly Review of Distance Education directly address many of these questions.Richard Schwier discusses the concept of learning communities in general and virtual learning communities in particular. Schwier describes three aspects of virtual learning communities including the elements, purposes, and the catalysts of virtual learning communities. The catalysts discussed include alignment, engagement, and interaction. In addition, a number of research issues concerning virtual learning communities are presented.The implications of the rapid growth of e-Learning in training, academic education, and non-traditional learning environments for instructional designers are discussed by Wellesley (“Rob”) Foshay, who argues that each context will place different demands on instructional designers. In particular, Foshay discusses the issues and events that are affecting academic organizations, training organizations, and non-traditional educational settings, and the implications for instructional design research and practice in each of the three environments.The implications of using various server-based courseware tools for developing Web-based courses are discussed by Douglas Harvey and Jung Lee. Certainly, courseware tools can help instructional designers and developers be more efficient when developing online courses. But at what cost? Harvey and Lee provide a critical discussion of how effective template-based approaches are for the development of online learning courses. In particular, some of the specific issues discussed include the pedagogical impact of courseware tools, the visual interface, navigation layout, and interaction implications for online courses. Finally, the instructional design implications when using online development tools and server software are discussed.In the final two articles in this issue, the authors identify some lessons learned from the development and delivery of online courses. Barbara Bichelmeyer, Melanie Misanchuk, and Larissa Malopinsky discuss the adaptation of an existing residential course to a Web-based course. Lessons learned from three different literature bases and results of the adaptation, design, and development processes are also analyzed. Tiffany Koszalka and Mary Beth Bianco focus on the importance of instructors in online learning courses. Specific issues and lessons learned by instructors who have “taught” online courses are described and specific areas and questions for research in online learning environments are presented.Critical issues, both for research and development, that instructional designers and instructional technologists will need to think about as they transition their work to e-Learning environments are identified and discussed in this issue of the Quarterly Review of Distance Education. Much potential as well as problems exist for the design of instruction in an e-Learning environment. Critically important is that individuals in the field of instructional design and technology be actively involved in theory development, research, and the design and development of online learning courses and programs.

The knowledge representation framework – Ontology has an important role in instructional design and the development of courses in e-Learning. Ontology can be used to represent knowledge about content. Instructors can utilise this in creating content of the courses in e-Learning and learners can avail this in accessing content in a knowledge guided way. The application of ontology for the educational context is still unclear. For numerous subjects, ontology does not exist. We have taken the course software engineering as the case study in this regard. The domain experts are mainly focused here to develop ontology to use in the delivery of course content. The relationship types are mainly concentrated here which helps us to model the domain more efficiently. The implementation of the work is done using protege 4.1 beta version.

The post-pandemic era has seen a surge in the popularity of Virtual Learning Management Systems (VLMS). However, there is a noticeable lack of tools to measure the usability of these systems. As technology evolves, user needs change, necessitating updated tools for system evaluation. This study aims to develop and validate a VLMS usability questionnaire, specifically designed to assess the usability of a university learning management systemMETHODS:The VLMS usability tool was systematically developed based on relevant domains identified in existing literature and expert opinions. It was then tested for face validity, content validity, and reliability. In a case study, the tool was distributed among 200 students from a Medical Sciences university who had used the Navid VLMS system. Semi-structured interviews with experts were analyzed using directed content analysis, resulting in 21 items categorized into four domains: effectiveness, reliability, learnability, and security. The content validity index and ratio were 0.939 and 0.976, respectively. The Intra Class Correlation (ICC) estimates for each section of the questionnaire ranged from 0.8-0.9, indicating high reliability. Cronbach's alpha was 0.97, suggesting excellent internal consistency. The case study results showed that the Navid platform achieved an average usability score of 70.36, with a standard deviation of 10.6, indicating moderate to high usability. The VLMS usability tool is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the usability of the Navid learning management system. It can be used to improve the usability of the Navid system and serve as a benchmark for assessing the usability of other similar VLMSs.

The emergence of the Learning Management System (LMS) has significantly enhanced the teaching and learning process by centralising the management, organisation, delivery, and reporting of educational content and student outcomes. Moving towards outcome-based education (OBE), a LMS that is capable of supporting the delivery of OBE courses can facilitate more effective engagement with students, thereby improving students' learning outcomes and accelerating the process of continuous quality improvement. However, there is no well-rounded LMS framework for supporting the implementation of the OBE learning process to the best of our knowledge. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to investigate how well the OBE elements are integrated into the LMS framework and what research gaps exist at the delivery and assessment stages of the OBE course in the context of an LMS. The methodology entails a review of related works on LMS in terms of user management and administration, pedagogy style, usability and learning outcomes, support for learner behaviours and actions, design specification, clear and user-friendly graphical interface, course schedule creation, course administration capability, course content creation tools, rich content types, well-designed course repository, a student's profile, assessment, score, and transcript, learning and instructional design, the ability of users to interact, collaborate, evaluate, and provide feedback, reporting, technical specification and support, and finally, security. A selection of articles is analysed to identify areas for further investigation as well as the limitations of the current LMS. In summary, the findings indicate that none of the currently available LMSs effectively support and capture OBE knowledge during the delivery and assessment stages. As a result, the outcomes are unfavourable and conform to OBE requirements. Additionally, one of the significant challenges that must be addressed is designing and developing the ideal OBE-based LMS to close the gap.

An e-learning course entitled "E-learning education in Management of Biomedical Technology" has been designed, developed, and delivered in Greece. The course was addressing a mixed group of attendees including biomedical engineers and technicians, as well as medical doctors and nurses. It has been delivered on the basis of blended Distance Learning Education, utilizing the Moodle open source platform. The course designed as a pilot case, aiming to assist the future implementation of similar courses in the field of Biomedical Technology in Greece. A three phase evaluation procedure has been conducted in order to be examined (a)the appropriateness of the asynchronous e-learning approaches for the dissemination of biomedical topics targeted to biomedical, technical and medical staff of the Greek hospitals (b)the maturity of potential users in the adaptation of distance e-learning courses (c)the design and delivery parameters of e-learning courses for university and continuous education purposes. The results of the evaluation activity are presented in this article.

Background:E-learning provides an alternative way for higher educational institutes to deliver knowledge to learners at a distance, rather than the traditional way. The aim of this study is to identify the barrier factors of e-learning programs in Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS) in respect of the students and lecturers’ point of view.Methods:A cross-sectional study based on a questionnaire was conducted among 286 of students and lecturers in the nursing, midwifery and paramedic schools of HUMS. Two hundred and eighty-six participants filled in the questionnaire: 256 students, and 30 lecturers.Results:Results of the study showed a lack of proper training in e-learning courses of the university 182 (69.1%), limited communication with the instructor 174 (68%) and the learners dominance of English language 174 (68%) showed the greatest importance for the students. The awareness about e-learning program was 80% and 43% among lecturers and students respectively.The dominance of English language 26 (86.7%) and lack of research grants for e-learning 23 (76.6%) and lack of proper training on e-learning courses from the university 20 (66.7 %) were the most important barrier factors of implementing e-learning for lecturers. E-learning courses to supplement classroom teaching was a solution that mentioned by the majority of students 240 (93.8%) and lecturers 29 (96.7%) in this study.Conclusions:The positive perception of e-learning is an important consequence effect in the future, educational development of nursing, midwifery and paramedic schools.

Providing regular access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for a growing population without depleting natural resources is one of the key challenges of the twenty-first century. Universities can play an important role in educating future decisions-makers to be able to design sustainable food value chains (FVCs) that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN Agenda 2030. We present the ‘Geography of Food’ educational programme as an example for sustainability education through intercultural exchange. The programme not only focusses on knowledge transfer and participatory problem-solving approaches, but also acknowledges the importance of international exchange to facilitate joint learning and experience capitalization. For this purpose, the programme has been realized as a blended learning course including e-learning, individual case studies and an international summer school. Each year, the summer school took place at one of the three participating universities in India, Slovenia and Switzerland and was dedicated to one specific SDG with special relevance to the food system. From 2017 to 2019, a total of 87 students from 20 different countries participated in the programme. The evaluation showed that participants highly appreciated the e-learning course and the programme of the study period. The opportunity for international and intercultural exchange during the study week period was especially highlighted. The blended learning course design therefore proved to be very suitable. However, room for improvement could still be identified. Opportunities may arise from (i) a better integration of students’ backgrounds into the programme to benefit more from their interdisciplinarity, (ii) more directly addressing cultural differences to improve cross-cultural education and (iii) a more methodological problem-solving approach to find more creative and elaborated solutions.

Learning management system (LMS) optimization has been one of the core issues in the face of increasing learning content supply and the rising number of online-course participants. This optimization is mostly based on LMS logs data analysis and revealing the users’ behavior patterns linked to the content. This article focuses on the approach to LMS users’ behavior pattern simulation that stems from the fuzzy cognitive maps-featuring approach. The proposed model describes the user-content interaction within the system and can be applied to predict users’ reactions to its learning, testing and practical elements. The obtained cognitive map has been tested with the INFOMEPHIST system data. This system has been used to assist leaning process in a number of National Research Nuclear University MEPhI departments for more than nine years. The current and further research is supported by the NRNU MEPhI development program.

Background: The evolution and application of digital didactic tests for the evaluation of the knowledge and skills of pupils has become a major element in the academic training of students who opted for pedagogical specialties. This reflects the strong propensity for the optimization and improvement of the efficacy of teaching. This article puts forward a scientific research as well as a case study on first-hand experience in training students from pedagogical specialties in academic diagnostics and examination, together with practical tasks geared towards the formation of professional digital competence with regard to the employment of ICT in diagnostic procedures through classical, face-to-face, and mixed-form training.
 Objectives: The main aim of the study is to examine particular characteristics and opportunities, and to analyze the efficiency of the training provided for the development and design of electronic tests by future teachers in the course of the scholastic training.
 Methods: The experiment involved qualitative and quantitative research. The following techniques were applied: observation, content analysis, and mathematical and statistical methods of data processing. The statistical methods employed were the non-parametric Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.
 Results: The survey included 150 students from three specialties in the Faculty of Pedagogy at Trakia University of Stara Zagora. The framework and composition of the e-learning course and the details of the face-to-face follow-up training are explained briefly. Aggregated data from the learning management system’s, Moodle’s, logs is also provided alongside representative observation data, and a summary with remarks on the findings from the practical classes with the students is also presented.
 Conclusion: A comparative scrutiny of the learning outcomes was conducted and the principal dependencies and typical merits and demerits of the two forms of training were identified and portrayed in the article. The variation in the end results was found to be statistically significant.