The Development and Evaluation of a Network for Producing and Sharing Video Presentations
Alaa
Sadik
author
text
article
2016
eng
This paper describes the technology and methodology used in the development and evaluation of an online network to help instructors produce and share video presentations in a new and innovative way. The network offers an application and platform for recording and sharing video presentations. The application allows instructors to narrate and annotate PowerPoint slides and synchronize a variety of visual aids, including webcam footage, whiteboard, drawing board, and web browser. The platform uses YouTube API to upload and integrate videos with scrollable slide thumbnails. Quantitative and qualitative techniques were implemented to collect data and report on the usability of the network and effectiveness of video presentations. The results of usability evaluation showed that the network was perceived by instructors and students as effective, efficient, and relevance for self- production and sharing of video presentations. In addition, video presentations produced by participants met the criteria of quality of video presentations.
International Journal of Internet Education
Human and Technology Development Foundation
1687-6482
15
v.
1
no.
2016
1
29
https://ijie.journals.ekb.eg/article_3680_020dff1d414de2462aefe0f4834be618.pdf
dx.doi.org/10.21608/ijie.2016.3680
Use of smartphone apps among library and information science students at South Valley University, Egypt
Essam
Mansour
DLIS, SVU Egypt
author
text
article
2016
eng
The purpose of this study is to investigate the use patterns and ownership of smartphone apps among students at the Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS) at the South Valley University (SVU), Egypt. This study may help faculty members and students, as well as DLISs in general and SVU’s DLIS, in particular, to understand the nature and purpose of such use. Design/methodology/approach This study used quantitative research methodology in the form of a survey, which was undertaken from February to March 2015. The survey instrument was a self-administrated questionnaire, with a response rate 82.7 per cent (441/533). Findings The findings of this study showed that smartphone users (82.7 per cent) at SVU’s DLIS tended to be junior females. Smartphone non-users (17.3 per cent) tended to be also young females but primarily sophomores. The highest percentage of smartphone users had been using smartphones for four to five years, and the largest number of students was described to be advanced users who heard first about these mobile devices through friends and the Web. Most users had 21 to 25 apps. Social apps were the most popular and included Facebook, e-mail and Twitter. For professional purposes, students used smartphones more for communication purposes than learning purposes. Apps related to educational purposes included Google Mobile, Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, YouTube and Wikipedia Mobile. Students perceived most apps to be easy to use and useful to them. There were a number of uses for socializing including messaging, following the news and playing games. Students had mainly positive attitudes towards apps with a few negative concerns. Almost all students confirmed that they trust most apps. Barriers related to the use of apps included training and lack of awareness. Further research may be needed to specify the relationship between the students’ use of these apps and their academic performance. The main tasks done on smartphone devices were mainly for socializing. Students indicated that popular tasks and activities, such as sending and receiving messages, following the news, making communications, making chat, making friends, finding specific information, finding general information, making discussion groups, playing games, completing class assignments, checking materials related to courses, doing business, seeking jobs, watching movies, listening to music and accessing library services are important tasks accomplished by them through the use of these devices. The current study indicated very positive attitudes towards the use of these apps. Student at least agree with the statement that smartphone apps allow for easy dissemination of information, provide too much information, increase the speed of finding information, help communication, convenient, secure, build confident and reduce paper use. However, a large number of students also at least agree with the statement that these apps are time consuming, intimidating, addictive, violate privacy, require high language and technical skills, harmful and frustrating. Almost all students confirmed that they are at least trustful in some apps, such as WhatsApp, e-mail, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Viber. A large number of smartphone users surveyed in this study have been described to make excessive usage of social apps, such as communication apps, messaging/texting apps and social networking sites, which were at the forefront of use. Additionally, a large number of them adopted these devices, especially for communication purposes. The most used apps were Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube and Viber. For professional purposes, students used smartphones more for communication purposes than learning purposes. However, some of the students were using some of apps related to educational purposes, such as Google mobile, Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, YouTube and Wikipedia mobile but not on a regular basis. Students perceived the use of e-mail app, Google mobile, Facebook app WhatsApp, Kik, Twitter, YouTube, Google maps, Viber, Line, Skype, Tango, Instagram, Flickr and Wikipedia mobile as at least fairly easy to them. Additionally, they perceived the use of e-mail app Google mobile, WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Viber, Instagram, Wikipedia mobile, Google maps, Kik, Skype, Line, Tango and Flickr as at least fairly useful to them, especially for the purpose socialization more than learning. Research limitations/implications This study focuses only on undergraduate library and information science students belonging to SVU’s DLIS, Egypt. Any findings and conclusions resulting from this study are limited in scope to only SVU’s DLIS’s undergraduate students. The study does not contain a significantly large sample of a population from across Egypt to draw meaningful widespread conclusions indicative of such a larger population. Practical implications This study provides valuable insight into the use pattern of smartphones among a very important client group. It may serve as useful input to researchers who are interested in the study of mobile internet technologies (MITs), particularly in the education society. Originality/value Being the first study of its kind about university students in Egypt, it is considered a pioneering and a unique study among studies conducted in the field of ICTs and MITs, especially with this category of information users.
International Journal of Internet Education
Human and Technology Development Foundation
1687-6482
15
v.
1
no.
2016
30
62
https://ijie.journals.ekb.eg/article_3681_7c080a2aed4cfff2bd5edf3e764f7ffa.pdf
dx.doi.org/10.21608/ijie.2016.3681
Designing an Adaptive Learning Environment to Improve Writing Skills and Usability for EFL Students at the Faculty of Education
Rehab
Gohar
Lecturer of Curriculum & Instruction: TEFL
Faculty of Education -Mansoura University
author
Reham
El-Ghool
Lecturer of Instructional Technology
Faculty of Education- Mansoura University
drreham80@gmail.com
author
text
article
2016
eng
Learning characteristics vary for each individual learner. Research suggests that knowledge is processed and represented in different ways and that students prefer to use different types of resources in distinct ways. Adapting learning to meet the various individual differences of the students is a real challenge. Thus, the present study aimed at investigating the effect of designing an adaptive learning environment on developing EFL undergraduate students' writing skills and usability. A design standards checklist was prepared for guiding the process of designing the proposed online adaptive environment. The multiple intelligences (MI) theory was used as a basis for conducting the adaptation process since the students were divided according to their strong intelligences into three groups (analytic, introspective and interactive groups). Different types of multiple intelligences-based activities were presented to each group. Those activities were also adapted according to the writing level of the students (beginning, intermediate and advanced). Consequently, each student proceeded in the adaptive environment in an individualized learning path which was pre-determined through the student MI profile (including a student's personal data, EFL writing level and multiple intelligences).Various online tools (hangouts, Google drive, Facebook and WhatsApp) were employed in the adaptive environment. The experimental design was adopted using 60 students of the 2nd year English major at Mansoura Faculty of Education. Those participants were divided into two groups: one experimental and one control. Instruments used in the present study were: 1) an EFL writing skills test, 2) an analytic rubric for scoring the writing skills, and 3) a usability scale to evaluate the easiness of students' learning through the adaptive environment. The results indicated that the adaptive online learning environment led to developing EFL students' writing skills and that the students found the environment usable for learning and interacting with fellows and instructor.
International Journal of Internet Education
Human and Technology Development Foundation
1687-6482
15
v.
1
no.
2016
63
93
https://ijie.journals.ekb.eg/article_3682_b47f69bfe627cf239c5955e15aa7c766.pdf
dx.doi.org/10.21608/ijie.2016.3682
Convergence Rate in a Destructive Neural Network With /Without Thresholds in The Output Layer
Yasmeen
Mahmoud
Faculty of Science
Department of Computer Science
Assiut University
author
text
article
2016
eng
Neural networks are a practicable solution for the extraction of accurate knowledge, where the data being mined can be so noisy, due to their relatively good tolerance to noisy and generalization ability and the performance of a neural network is directly related to its parameters and architecture. The degree of complexity of ANN increases exponentially as a factor of the numbers of input and hidden nodes. The complexity problem can be improved by constructing the structure of the network based on constructive learning and destructive learning. So, the objective of the network is to learn or to discover some involvement between input and output patterns to find the structure of the input patterns. The learning process is achieved through the modification of the connection weights between units. It is known as the network’s topology which determines the network’s final behavior. The goal of finding an optimal topology is to minimize an error function while conserving generalization capabilities. In our work, the destructive topology is used: first the algorithm trains a big size of neural network on the data, and then prunes it to increase its generalization capability while preserving its accuracy. The present paper introduces destructive neural network learning techniques and presents the analysis of the convergence rate of the error in a neural network with and without threshold in the output layer. The present paper introduces destructive neural network learning techniques and presents the analysis of the convergence rate of the error in a neural network with and without threshold.
International Journal of Internet Education
Human and Technology Development Foundation
1687-6482
15
v.
1
no.
2016
94
108
https://ijie.journals.ekb.eg/article_3683_cc278cbaf739c6fc315a10e7ae376bae.pdf
dx.doi.org/10.21608/ijie.2016.3683
Cloud-Based E-Learning Platform
Mohsen
El-Shawarby
Academic Dean
Alexandria Language School
author
text
article
2016
eng
The benefits of using cloud computing with the integration of Web 2.0 Collaboration technologies for supporting educational performance in eLearning environment. This presentation presents a cloud computing based solution for building a virtual which combines a wide range of technology, and tools to create an interactive tool for science education. The proposed application is for a fully integrated educational content as well as creating a platform for exploring ideas. The system allows exchange of educational content and integrate different pedagogical approaches to learning and teaching under the same environment. It also offers a module for global classrooms where you can enroll students form different countries and allows collaboration using the web 2.0. Quick overview of the cloud architect. Benefits of cloud computing E-learning environment and its architecture. Benefits from applying the E-learning systems in the cloud as a fully-integrated system. E-Learning Model Design for dual system: a) School/University Management – management of educational services. b) Enterprise Resource Planning ERP. Demo a real application offering all these features.
International Journal of Internet Education
Human and Technology Development Foundation
1687-6482
15
v.
1
no.
2016
109
130
https://ijie.journals.ekb.eg/article_3684_5fb67879ff36732549ec1a2cf59263ce.pdf
dx.doi.org/10.21608/ijie.2016.3684
Impact of using the flipped instruction strategy on the academic achievement for basic education students & their attitudes towards the courses
text
article
2016
eng
The present study aims to identify the impact of using the flipped instruction strategy on the academic achievement of sixth grade students in the course of Information Technology, and their attitude towards the course. The current study followed the semi-experimental approach, and consisted of 66 students who had been randomly chosen from one of the public schools, so that a division of the sixth grade was adopted as a control group, and another division was adopted as an experimental group, and two tools were used for the study, namely, the achievement test and the attitudes test so as to be sure of their validity and reliability.
Results showed statistically significant differences at (0.05=α) in the students’ achievement in the Information Technology course. Results also indicated that the attitudes of the students towards the IT course were highly significant, but there are no differences in the students’ attitudes towards the course that can be attributed to the used teaching method.
International Journal of Internet Education
Human and Technology Development Foundation
1687-6482
15
v.
1
no.
2016
131
147
https://ijie.journals.ekb.eg/article_5706_2d7b11f72caf34ee64f397b6358f7415.pdf
dx.doi.org/10.21608/ijie.2016.5706