PurposeThis study aims to examine university students’ acceptance of e-learning systems in Pakistan. A Web-based learning system is a new form of utilizing technological features. Although, developed countries have initiated and established the concept for e-learning, developing countries require empirical support to implement e-learning.Design/methodology/approachThis paper further explains a conceptual model that is based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). Earlier theories such as the theory of reasoned action (TRA), theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and decomposed theory of planned behaviour (DTPB) have been conducted on user behavioural intention (BI). TAM is considered as the most relevant framework in a Web-based context. To analyse the present study’s hypothesized model, structural equation modelling (SEM) has been used to statistically analyse self-reported sample data from 424 university students.FindingsThe results revealed that TAM, with the combination of new constructs, explains university students’ acceptance of the e-learning system reasonably well. Additionally, work life quality (WLQ) and facilitating conditions (FC) have a greater influence on the BI and the actual use (AU) of the e-learning system, respectively.Originality/valueThe study has also provided valuable implications for academics and practitioners for ways to enhance the acceptance of the e-learning system in the higher education of Pakistan.

PurposeThis paper narrates a case study on design thinking-based education work in an industrial design honours program. Student projects were developed in a multi-disciplinary setting across a Computing and Engineering faculty that allowed promoting technologically and user-driven innovation strategies.Design/methodology/approachA renewed culture and environment for industrial design (ID) students emphasised seeking functionality and fidelity, user and society value over beauty and form factors alone. The pedagogical approach sought to determine the new industrial products reality with an increasing contribution by design thinking, and its associated methodologies that are currently advancing typical ID.FindingsIn conclusion, the authors propose a number of reflections as recommendations, which may be useful for educational institutions contemplating similar curriculum makeovers to their design degrees.Originality/valueOur research provides valuable lessons to other design courses that wish to invigorate their curriculum with technical and design thinking-based advances.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate contemporary mobile learning practices in teacher education, exploring the following research question: how are teacher educators exploiting the pedagogical features of mobile learning?Design/methodology/approachThe study uses data from an online survey that elicited information about how 46 teacher educator participants were using distinctive mobile pedagogical features (Personalisation, Authenticity and Collaboration) in their mobile learning practices. It uses the iPAC theoretical framework to analyse the data collected.FindingsFindings indicated high self-ratings of authenticity, and positive perceptions of collaborative sharing (Collaboration construct), often involving generative tasks that required use of creative, media production mobile applications. There were weaker perceptions of personalisation and online conversation (Collaboration construct). In light of these findings, we discuss implications for teacher education and recommend future directions for research and development.Research limitations/implicationsThis study underlines our contention that teacher educators struggle to exploit the entire range of mobile pedagogical approaches. The findings suggest that teacher educators are cautiously exploring the potential for online collaboration mediated through mobile devices, but have not yet fully grasped the opportunities to design tasks which exploit (and model) the personalised nature of m-learning. The limitations of the study include the size of the sample (46), its self-selected nature and its bias towards Australian and the UK respondents.Practical implicationsIn response to the issues raised in this paper, the authors are developing a mobile learning toolkit (www.mobilelearningtoolkit.com) for teacher educators.Originality/valueThere is a scarcity of m-learning studies in teacher education exploring pedagogical insights, and the views of teacher educators themselves are often absent.

PurposeThe purpose of this research was to evaluate whether ontology integrated in an organizational learning environment may support the automatic learning material classification in a specific knowledge area.Design/methodology/approachAn ontology for recommending learning material was integrated in the organizational learning environment based on ontology. An experiment was performed with 15 experts and 84 learners. Experts and learners were asked to classify 30 learning material related to Software Engineering area. The results obtained from experts and learners were compared with the ontology results.FindingsAmong 30 learning materials evaluated, 24 learning materials got closer to the expert classification using the ontology than using the learners’ manual classification. The learners had difficulties in correctly classifying the learning materials according to the knowledge area applied.Originality/valueIn an autonomous collaborative environment without a tutor responsible for organizing the learning materials shared by collaborators, an ontology may be an auxiliary mechanism to support automatic learning material classification. The proposed ontology uses recommendations given by the collaborators to get the correct knowledge area classification. The correct classification may support retrieval of appropriate learning materials according to the learners’ needs.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the process of analysing online discussion and argue for the merits of mixed methods. Much research of online participation and e-learning has been either message-focused or person-focused. The former covers methodologies such as content and discourse analysis, the latter interviewing and surveys. The paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches in the context of a study of an online social educational network for gifted students. Design/methodology/approach The design of this study included the use of content analysis, visualisation diagrams, interviews and questionnaire survey to understand the nature of online discussion and the experience of taking part. Findings It was found that the message-focused analysis provided insight into participation and interaction patterns, whereas the surveys and interviews enabled access to members’ preferences and attitudes. Originality/value The contribution of the paper is to argue for a mixed approach in which different types of data can be compared and contrasted. While the use of mixed methods in social research in general has long been suggested, its adoption in the field of online learning is yet to be widely established, possibly because of its time-consuming and demanding nature. Despite these constraints, a mixed-methods approach is advocated, as it allows for a comprehensive picture of the use of the network and the experience of online participation.

Purpose The emergence of Education 2.0 enabled technology-enhanced learning, necessitating new pedagogical approaches, while e-learning has evolved into an instrumental pedagogy of collaboration through affordances of social media. Social learning networks and ubiquitous learning enabled individual and group learning through social engagement and social distribution of knowledge. Nevertheless, these developments have not been supported with extensive studies focusing on quantifying the impact of technology-enhanced learning on students’ progress and achievement. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a quantitative overview of Facebook’s influence on students’ progress can be incorporated in a proposed e-moderation model of teaching and learning. Design/methodology/approach The approach is based on extending Salmon’s (2003) e-moderation model, which provides an emphasis on the theoretical perspectives that support socially situated learning environments of social networks such as Facebook. The findings revealed that students’ grades were positively influenced by the complementary use of Facebook on their courses of study. Findings The use of a social learning network also triggered a significant increase in student participation in learning activities delivered over Facebook. Research limitations/implications The main research limitations were due to the fact that a single social network was chosen for conducting the experiments. Furthermore, the investigation was narrowed down to a selected range of sessions offered to college and university students as part of their course. Originality/value The paper’s contribution is twofold, as it offers an original set of guidelines for conducting social learning network experiments and provides valuable quantifiable findings on the educational value of such networks.

Purpose Evacuation drills should be more realistic and interactive. Focusing on situational and audio-visual realities and scenario-based interactivity, the authors have developed a game-based evacuation drill (GBED) system that presents augmented reality (AR) materials on tablet computers. The paper's current research purpose is to improve visual reality (AR materials) in our GBED system. Design/methodology/approach The author's approach is to develop a new GBED system that superimposes digital objects [e.g. three-dimensional computer graphics (3DCG) elements] onto real-time vision using a marker-based AR library, a binocular opaque head-mounted display (HMD) and other current easily available technologies. Findings The findings from a trial experiment are that the new GBED system can improve visual reality and is appropriate for disaster education. However, a few problems remain for practical use. Research limitations/implications When using the GBED system, participants (i.e. HMD wearers) can suffer from 3D sickness and have difficulty in moving. These are important safety problems in HMD-based systems. Social implications The combination of AR and HMDs for GBEDs (i.e. integrating virtual and real worlds) will raise questions about its merits (pros and cons). Originality/value The originality of the research is the combination of AR and an HMD to a GBED, which has previously been realized primarily as simulation games in virtual worlds. The authors believe that our research has the potential to expand disaster education.

Purpose This paper aims to present a teaching approach to achieve the most personal support for students with different backgrounds and preferences in studying an Informatics course. Design/methodology/approach The presented methodology is based on the main principles of flexible and blended learning. The authors considered three main aspects: student’s background, the level of knowledge and the most suitable style of learning. At the beginning of the course, students were randomly divided into reference and test group. The test group students were continuously supported by different tools within an e-learning environment. The learning process for the reference group students was held in a traditional form. Findings The success of the experiment presented in this paper is demonstrated by comparing the results of the test group who were taught using the new strategy with the reference group who were taught in a common way. The statistical analysis shows that the test group students had better achievements compared to the reference group. Research Limitations/implications This presented study was carried out with non-IT first-year university students from social sciences, economics and technical faculties. Each year the number of students varied from 150 to 300. Originality/value Based on developed methodology, the model of individualization of the educational process in an e-environment was created and implemented in the course of Informatics in Tallinn University of Technology.

Purpose – This paper aims to argue that the process of making an original game develops digital literacy skills and provides an authentic learning experience as students create, publish and deploy interactive games. Teaching students to create computer games has become common in both K-12 and tertiary education to introducing programming concepts, increase student engagement and recruit majors and minors in technology fields. This study describes a project where first-year college students in an introductory technology concepts course use a visual game creation tool to develop original games to play on their computers and mobile devices. Design/methodology/approach – The author created a game development exercise which was implemented in three different sections of an introductory technology course. Students who participated were surveyed about their experiences. In addition, the author considers information technology (IT) skills and aspects of authentic learning which are achieved through this assignment. Findings – Initial findings suggest that students found the gaming assignment offers an opportunity for students with no prior programming skills to create software within a controlled and supportive environment. It allows them to demonstrate their understanding of coding principles, including identifying objects and interactions, and that creating software requires a developer to specify exact instructions for the computer to follow. Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to results from one semester and a small number of students participating. In addition, student frustration with the complicated process of publishing games online may have influenced student attitudes toward the assignment. Practical implications – Challenges of implementing this study on a larger scale are discussed. Social implications – Creating games encourages collaborative learning through trial and error, and students who share their games with friends to play on their devices achieve a sense of pride. Originality/value – While most studies of game development emphasize the programming skills that are developed through creating computer games, this paper looks at a larger scope of digital literacy and IT skills achieved, as well as opportunities to perform tasks often completed by IT professionals.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a software for stereo visualization of geometric solids, applied to the teaching/learning of Descriptive Geometry. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents the traditional method commonly used in computer graphic stereoscopic vision (implemented in C language) and the proposed method (implemented in GeoGebra software). The proposed method is a new methodology for stereo spatial visualization. It uses the orthogonal axonometric perspective obtained from the mongean projections of the object, both concepts studied in Descriptive Geometry course. Findings – The use of stereoscopic techniques has great potential for the improvement of spatial visualization ability, because they allow the understanding of spatial situations presented in complex exercises. The students who tested the proposed method said that it offered a superior stereo vision depth in relation to the traditional matrix method. Research limitations/implications – For future work, the paper suggests to carry out a statistical study to evaluate the educational benefit of the tool, and to investigate the proposed method using the conical axonometric perspective. Practical implications – Create a virtual environment to support the process of teaching/learning Descriptive Geometry and contribute to the development of students ' spatial visualization skills. The software will be available on the Internet, in the GeoGebra libraries. The objective is to increase e-learning, where a greater number of students will study. Social implications – The current goal in Brazil universities is to greatly increase the number of poor students entering as a social inclusion strategy. University courses need more efficient teaching techniques to attend the students, so the e-learning techniques are recommended. Originality/value – This paper’s innovative characteristic comes from the implementation of stereoscopic vision from traditional methods used in Descriptive Geometry, so the proposed method improves both the visualization ability and the Descriptive Geometry basic concepts, which points out to its educational role.