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This paper aims to focus on how the e‐library interoperates with the e‐learning process within the academic computing environment (ACE) at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU).

This paper is inspired by the existing findings of a questionnaire survey conducted by the Laptop Project at the UAEU (2002‐2003) and sequel research (2004‐2005) on the acceptance and adoption of the Blackboard, a web‐based instructional platform, by the students. Personal interviews were conducted with the instructors who were involved in the e‐learning initiative to find out the appropriate e‐information services that should be provided to support their respective Blackboard‐aided courses.

The paper finds that the instructors have viewed e‐learning as a sound instructional tool and an evolving genre capable of providing more than just textual information. According to their viewpoints, the e‐library could support e‐learning courses with a bundle of networked e‐information services such as development of course‐related electronic collections, virtual reference help, current awareness and SDI, online document delivery, etc. E‐literacy was found to play an essential role in fostering adoption and acceptance of e‐learning, whereas the language barrier has constrained e‐learning initiative in the colleges where Arabic is the teaching language, i.e. Blackboard does not support creation of Arabic contents and interface so far.

The capabilities of the e‐library in providing networked e‐information services have made the integration with the e‐learning process a highly urgent requirement.

A model representing the integration of the e‐library functions with the e‐learning process is presented in the paper. The proposed model could be applicable in learning settings within an academic computing environment.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a study into how a three‐dimensional (3D) virtual world (Second Life) can facilitate socialisation and team working among students working on a team project at a distance. This models the situation in many commercial sectors where work is increasingly being conducted across time zones and between multiple teams. Collaboration in these geographically distributed teams is virtual rather than through face‐to‐face interactions. The paper investigates how a virtual world such as Second Life compares to other collaboration tools such as instant messaging or Skype; and the challenges that students experience in becoming acquainted with and working in Second Life.

The paper has employed a qualitative research methodology involving data collection through group interviews, epistolary (email) interviews and semi‐structured individual interviews. The data have been analysed by applying the inductive analysis technique.

The analysis is presented through answers to questions which educators may have about the effectiveness of virtual worlds in supporting collaboration in virtual teams.

The paper highlights the pedagogical role of 3D virtual worlds in supporting communication, team working and community building. The methodology will be of interest to researchers in the area of virtual worlds as there is little guidance in the literature about how to evaluate student experiences of these environments.

The research reported in this paper is timely and significant in view of current business scenarios such as the challenges of a globally distributed work‐place, the need to offer training to develop employees' skills of working in distributed environments and to meet changing market needs. Furthermore, the research will support the development of a coordinated response to the Leitch review of skills in the UK, which identified issues of resource‐intensive travel, global warming and the need for businesses to be seen as “green” for customer attraction and retention.

The paper discusses the role of 3D virtual worlds in supporting student team projects involving students who are geographically dispersed. The sense of visual presence and of place in a 3D world can make socialising in a virtual world, a more “human” experience than in 2D environments such as web sites, e‐mail, wikis and blogs, and even phone or video‐conferencing. The research reported in this paper could enhance uptake of 3D virtual worlds by organisations facing the challenges of facilitating socialisation and knowledge sharing in a distributed workforce.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how women working in science, engineering and technology use online networking, for career and professional development purposes.

A combined qualitative and quantitative approach is taken, using interviews for the first phase of the research and online surveys for the second. The findings are discussed and presented with reference to theories on career development and in the context of recent work on women's networks and online social networking.

The paper defines a typology of online networks and identifies the motives women have for engaging with the different types. The data imply that women are successfully using online networks to find support, advice and collaboration from women working in similar environments. However, the data only identify a few examples where the use of online networks has led to a specific new job opportunity.

The findings are limited by the samples used, as they were self‐selected. In the first phase of the research, the sample was biased in favour of those using information and communication technologies. In the second phase, women using some form of online network were purposefully targeted in order to understand the motives and benefits associated with these activities.

The paper provides new insights into how professional women are networking online. It extends recent work into women's networks and networking strategies and presents a timely exploration into how these are being affected by the growth of online social networking.

The aim of this paper is to develop a metric that quantitatively measures the risk of knowledge drain associated with the departure of a member in communities of practice (CoP).

This paper considers two possible cases in which departure of a member has a high risk of causing knowledge drain: when the member is a network leader, and when the member is an isolated expert. Network analysis is used to identify network influence of each member. The proposed metric is designed considering network influence and knowledge level of individual members, and applied to a case study using real-world data from an online CoP.

This paper demonstrates that the proposed metric properly provides information about the members whose departure could cause serious damage to the CoP because of their strong influence or their inactivity in the network. The metric enables practitioners to identify critical members, and to enact precautions to reduce the vulnerability of the CoP.

Compared to the threat of knowledge drain, few studies have attempted to measure the risk associated with departure of a member. This study has developed a metric to measure the risk of knowledge drain in a CoP. The approach and methods of this paper offer a foundation for designing assessment methods for knowledge networks and provide new insights into quantitative research in knowledge management.

The higher education world around us is changing fast. Mobile learning (M-learning) and apps in education are new and exciting. However, this does not mean that the faculty is less relevant. On the contrary, the faculty are an ever-important factor that is needed to increase student engagement. Disengaged students are in fact more problematic than low achieving students. This is because of the disruption disengaged student bring in the classroom. Therefore, increasing student engagement is a key challenge in higher education today. Research suggests that active learning, value and expectations are important factors that determine student engagement. Some of these factors can be indirectly influenced by the faculty and course designers. Against this background, the objective of this chapter is to examine if dwindling student engagement in higher education can be addressed with CURPA, i.e. a CURriculum and course planning (CURP) App. CURPA is the result of our efforts at Utrecht University to help design courses and curricula by using cards to account for different activities, with the strategic aim being to stimulate student engagement in higher education. Our expert interviews resulted in a MoSCoW-prioritised list of requirements that can be implemented over time, structured in line with Becker's student engagement model.

This paper aims to examine the correlation between academic performance and attendance of e-learning, away from the conventional classroom setting.

The study investigates the impact of attendance in the final grades of 389 undergraduate first- and second-year undergraduates taking Business Management classes online for the first time over the span of three consecutive academic semesters during an academic year.

The results show that there was a negative correlation between attendance and grades. However, splitting the results by year provided some insightful information as there was a difference between the relationships for first- and second-year students. Therefore, it can be concluded that both attendance and the year of the students did have a statistically significant influence on grades.

Although the impact of students' attendance on their academic performance has not been the subject of extensive research, especially in the field of Management studies and in an online delivery medium, it is likely to be of interest to academics and policymakers as the pandemic continues to make e-learning more popular.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate performance of mobile communication system with reliability measures.

The mobile communication system consists of a mobile station (MS), base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC) and the mobile switching center. The MS is connected to BTS, BTS is connected to BSC and BSC is connected with the mobile switching system. With the help of these stations working, the authors have developed a mathematical model using Markovian approach.

Using the supplementary variable technique, the Laplace transformations and Markov process theory, the reliability indices of the mobile communication system are determined.

In the present work, the authors have developed a mathematical model based on a mobile communication system.

Reports the outcome of research conducted as part of a project funded by the Learning and Technology Support Network – Information and Computing Studies Group (LTSN‐ICS). The paper deals with the issues perceived as being important “barriers” to using technology in teaching and learning within the academic staff community working in higher education in the UK. Data were gathered from a critical analysis of the literature, the administration of a questionnaire survey and a series of interviews with academic staff. Empirical data are used to verify some of the contentions from the literature review and to contextualise these (mainly US‐based publications) in terms of the experience of UK academics. The overall picture which emerges when examining a range of initiatives currently being undertaken across a range of academic institutions is that developments are often led by the enthusiasm of individuals with little extrinsic reward structure to encourage these innovations.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine international students’ satisfaction on the quality of a private university in Turkey and the factors which influence their satisfaction. The study also investigated international students’ suggestions to improve their studies and life in Turkey. For these purposes, focus group interviews were conducted with 27 international students. Deductive coding was used to analyse collected data. The findings show that international students’ satisfaction is shaped by a number of different factors including, perceived quality of teaching, living and support service experiences and scholarships. Results also showed that participants considered extracurricular activities as an important part of their experiences when it comes to improving their campus life and learning experience.

The use of e‐learning is largely predicated upon the assumption that it can facilitate improvements in student learning and therefore can be more effective than conventional techniques. This assumption has been supported by some in the literature but has been questioned by a continuing body of contrary or indifferent evidence. The purpose of this paper is to improve the theoretical understanding of the variables influencing e‐learning effectiveness, the manner in which these variables have been studied to date, and to propose a suitable conceptual model of e‐learning effectiveness to aid its evaluation.

The paper revisits and critically reviews major contributions to the e‐learning effectiveness literature.

Owing to a variety of issues prevalent in the literature, it is clear that the variables influencing effectiveness are multifarious and few researchers impose adequate controls or factor them into research designs. Drawing on the work of Dewey, Englebart, and Kaplan, a conceptual framework of e‐learning effectiveness is proposed. This model maps out the key variables involved in the study of e‐learning effectiveness and the interactions between variables.

It is anticipated that such a model will assist researchers in developing future evaluative studies which are both sufficiently robust and holistic in design. It is also hypothesised that studies designed using the conceptual model will be more likely to yield results corroborating the ability of e‐learning to affect improvements in student learning.