Search results

Rooting in the literature on training and laying on Kirkpatrick model, this paper aims to explore key drivers of corporate training to identify how they can be combined into an integrated framework of learning for human capital development.

By adopting the constructivist grounded theory, this contribution analyzes the experience carried out in the last ten years by Virvelle, an Italian corporate training firm.

Results show the rise of five core categories, g1iving rise to an integrated model of Kirkpatrick. Their dynamic interplay led to a new orientation of Kirkpatrick model giving rise to a metalearning ecosystem.

Managerial implications have identified key factors on which building and implementing appropriate corporate training programmes capable of triggering co-generative processes of value creation. Particularly, the essential role of learning quality culture, digital technology and personalization are detected in integrating not only hard but furthermore soft shades of learning. Concerning theoretical implications, the emergence of key structural and systems enabling dimensions for learning, and contextual mechanisms involved in reshaping training effectiveness and achieving integrated learning outcomes are detected. The main limitation of this study lies in the need to generalize results: the conceptualized framework needs to be empirically tested.

The value of this research is built along three main points. The first is the integration among the core categories that an integrated learning system can be built on, promoting learning quality culture through positive feedback loops. The second is represented by the chance to enhance an integrated mutual knowledge development among engaged actors, thereby shaping a more holistic and multidimensional learning model. The third is related to the transversal role that digital technology plays in all phases of the training process as it integrates and enriches them.

The purpose of this paper is to present an e-learning system that integrates the use of concepts of virtual learning environments, personal learning environments, and social network sites. The system is based on a learning model which comprises and integrates three learning contexts for the adult learner: the formal, instructional context, the personal context for learning management, and the social peer context. The paper outlines how the Open University of the Netherlands (OUN) implemented this model in the OpenU system and has piloted this system within the field of a MSc Program in the learning sciences.

The paper describes the design and development of an integrated e-learning system following an ADDIE-based strategy and shows how the resulting system has been piloted.

The result of the design and development process is an integrated e-learning system that was piloted with the OUN.

The limitations of the paper are that the paper reports only on the learner perspective. The paper does not report on the implication for faculty and staff. Additionally, a key question that needs further research is how the integrated approach will affect learner dropout rates.

The value of the paper is that it provides an integrated e-learning approach, bringing together the personal, formal as well as informal context into one system.

This study was based on situated learning, by combining mobile learning and augmented reality, so that students could not only access information content in a real environment but also obtain such information via augmented reality, to support mobile learning.

The research included development of an augmented reality system combined with situational learning, used by students to learn about campus plants as part of the college life technology curriculum. Students took part in mobile learning, and an investigation was conducted into the computer learning behaviour of notebook users. College students were used as the experimental subjects. Data were collected using questionnaire surveys and were evaluated in order to identify the behavioural intentions of learners in outdoor learning activities.

The questionnaire survey covered environmental interactivity, system quality and textbook content. It was found that learners who used mobile learning augmented reality (MLAR) generally managed to browse all the contents of the textbook at each learning location, without spending too much time looking for information, and learners could quickly integrate this into the learning situation. Learners who used MLAR had a strong motivation to study plants at the learning site because they wanted to use the augmented reality technology to observe virtual plant models. Learners who used MLAR in their field learning liked using augmented reality for further learning, for example, using a magic wand to interact with the technology.

This study adopted a new approach to deliver elements of the life technology curriculum, integrating augmented reality into mobile learning. All participating students gave positive reviews of six aspects of the proposed system: their behavioural intentions, cognitive usefulness, cognitive ease of use, environmental interactivity, system quality and textbook content.

Due to the increasing size and complexity of construction projects, construction engineering and management involves the coordination of many complex and dynamic processes and relies on the analysis of uncertain, imprecise and incomplete information, including subjective and linguistically expressed information. Various modelling and computing techniques have been used by construction researchers and applied to practical construction problems in order to overcome these challenges, including fuzzy hybrid techniques. Fuzzy hybrid techniques combine the human-like reasoning capabilities of fuzzy logic with the capabilities of other techniques, such as optimization, machine learning, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) and simulation, to capitalise on their strengths and overcome their limitations. Based on a review of construction literature, this chapter identifies the most common types of fuzzy hybrid techniques applied to construction problems and reviews selected papers in each category of fuzzy hybrid technique to illustrate their capabilities for addressing construction challenges. Finally, this chapter discusses areas for future development of fuzzy hybrid techniques that will increase their capabilities for solving construction-related problems. The contributions of this chapter are threefold: (1) the limitations of some standard techniques for solving construction problems are discussed, as are the ways that fuzzy methods have been hybridized with these techniques in order to address their limitations; (2) a review of existing applications of fuzzy hybrid techniques in construction is provided in order to illustrate the capabilities of these techniques for solving a variety of construction problems and (3) potential improvements in each category of fuzzy hybrid technique in construction are provided, as areas for future research.

Since June 1995, the library automation company Fretwell‐Downing (FD) has been collaborating with a group of Further Education (FE) colleges on a project to explore the use of online distance learning techniques and how these might best be applied by this sector. Working under the name of the LE Club (Learning Environment Club), this initiative sits at the intersection of the administration, authoring, mediation, delivery, learning and tracking processes and as such raises a host of strategic, technological, political and implementation issues. Through integrating elements from previous (and ongoing) EU funded projects such as DALI (Document and Libraries Integration), RENAISSANCE (Integration of High Performance Services for Interactive Vocational Training for European Regeneration) and ICW (Integrated Co‐operative Workspace), together with components from FD's Library Automation package, OLIB, FD is in the process of defining an application framework for the Learning Environment. This paper reviews issues in delivering distance learning while outlining the specific architecture and methodologies employed in the LE project. The implications of such initiatives on libraries and library systems and the changing ‘learning environments’ in which they exist are also briefly considered.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the integration of digital library (DL) technologies with ontology‐based knowledge representation in providing semantic rich information access (IA) in e‐learning. DL technologies have powerful and flexible content management and access functionalities, whereas ontology helps teachers and students to link content materials to their learning objectives. This paper demonstrates that the integration provides a powerful and meaningful e‐learning environment.

DiLight is designed as an interactive e‐learning system that integrates DL and ontology technologies. By conducting comparative experiments involving DiLight in students' actual learning process, the authors examined the advantages and limitations of DiLight in e‐learning.

Compared to a widely used e‐learning environment, DiLight can provide significantly better support for students' complex IA tasks because DiLight is more useful for relationship discovery and problem solving. DiLight is also effective even when students were either less familiar with tasks or felt that they were more difficult. There is no single best access method for all learning situations. Therefore, multiple IA methods should be built into e‐learning systems. Although most of time the search was the first choice of the students, ontology‐based methods were useful in supporting them to complete their tasks too.

This is a comparative empirical study using an interactive e‐learning system called DiLight to explore the usage of integrated DL and ontology in e‐learning. The experiment results demonstrate the value of the multiple IA methods provided by DL, and the usefulness of integrating DL with ontology.

The objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive literature survey on dyslexic learners and to propose a model for integrated assistive technology of dyslexic learners.

The use of the proposed model through real-life scenarios categorized as “phonological, reading and writing scenarios”. We have also surveyed some systems for use with dyslexic learners currently in use and have compared them on the basis of number of barriers, technological innovation, age group and fostering.

Dyslexic learners are characterized by slow learning, poor handwriting, poor spelling skills and difficulties in planning, organizing, revising and editing texts; technology plays a major role in the educational environment; it has become crucial in impacting knowledge across the globe; and open research issues and challenges that have to be addressed in the design of the current dyslexic system have been presented in detail.

Full implementation of the proposed model and its application in developing countries.

The system improves the phonological awareness, reading and writing skills of dyslexic learners and it provides a solution for children as well as adults with dyslexia.

This survey can be used as a reference guide to understand learning barriers and intelligent systems for dyslexic learners and to promote the use of these in schools for those with learning disabilities who need assistive technologies.

Development of a newly proposed integrated intelligent assistive system for dyslexic learners; knowledge generation as a reference guide to understand dyslexic learning ability in general and an intelligent assistive dyslexic system in particular; and survey of open research issues and challenges to further research in intelligent dyslexic systems.

This paper proposes that knowledge management is a system that integrates people, process and technology for sustainable results by increasing performance through learning. Definitions of knowledge, knowledge management and performance serve as a foundation.

The model for the knowledge era proposed in this paper is that sustained results require learning to be integrated in every activity, and that event‐based training does not, by definition, result in integrated learning. As an equation, it is a multiplicative function: Results = Performance × Learning. In this model, if learning is eliminated over time, results will become zero. Alternatively, if direct effort is put into creating conditions for learning, results can increase exponentially, creating competitive advantage.

The paper concludes that knowledge management is not done. It proposes that for sustainable performance it is not sufficient to measure economic results. Performance seen through the lens of the triple bottom line (profit, people, and planet) will require significant investment in learning to create intellectual capital.

Theory is demonstrated in practice, describing a successful large‐scale/ high‐impact change initiative at Unilever that did contribute to Unilever's goals and results.

E-learning is one area of strategic application of information technology (IT) in the educational field. In the past, massive investments in e-learning systems have neither been necessarily effective nor created value for e-learners. As a result, e-learning systems’ evaluation has become critical. Although many researchers have studied e-learning’s performance evaluation, there is little research on e-learning assessment, which uses pedagogical principles and organizational issues along with information systems (ISs) assessment measures. Thus, the purpose of this study is to consolidate multi-dimensional aspects of e-learning evaluation by applying balanced scorecard (BSC) as a strategic performance measurement method. This study further seeks a solution for designing a systematic approach, in which three equally important considerations must be balanced: organization, pedagogy and technology.

This paper introduces a framework for assessing e-learning systems by using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and BSC. Owing to the growing use of BSC in strategic management, this study applies its four perspectives as a base for performance evaluation. To identify measures of each perspective, a comprehensive literature review has been conducted. Modifying the list of measures is completed in two phases: first by using a focus group consisting of six e-learning experts, and second, by using a survey analysis conducted among 256 Iranian e-learners. FAHP is applied to weigh and determine the rank-order of the measures.

The results propose integrating pedagogical, organizational and technical measures based on the BSC framework for evaluating e-learning systems. In the proposed framework, effective BSC perspectives and their rank-orders and weights are presented as a guideline for assessing e-learning systems in Iran.

In e-learning initiatives, organizational issues must be considered along with technological and pedagogical factors simultaneously. The proposed framework can assist educational institutions and organizations to identify weaknesses and strengths of e-learning projects and guide them to select appropriate strategies for progress.

A review of the e-learning literature shows that there are few substantive theoretical accounts, which adequately integrate multiple dimensions of e-learning evaluation; yet, most researchers view e-learning evaluation as the most difficult part in the e-learning implementation process. This study proposes a new conceptual framework to evaluate e-learning initiatives systematically. The main contribution of this study is to develop a new systematic approach for e-learning systems’ evaluation that integrates two well-established managerial methodologies (BSC and FAHP), and considers pedagogical, organizational and technological aspects synchronously.

This research aimed to examine the current status of artificial intelligence's (AI's) integration into Chinese adult education, by analyzing the influences that AI has had on current adult education practices in China and by discussing the opportunities and challenges that adult education in China is faced with under the rapid AI development in the past 12 years.

This research employed systematic literature analysis. CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) Chinese Journals Full-text Database was used to collect scholarly publications on the use of AI in adult education in China that was published in the past decade. Data analysis included the following steps: identifying key words and phrases, detecting underlying meanings, searching for logical connections and relationships, collecting and connecting evidence to the research questions, and drawing logical and credible conclusions.

The findings indicated that AI has been gradually integrated into Chinese adult education through innovations and explorations and AI's influence is broad and profound. More specifically, the following five main themes were identified. The field's understanding of AI technology and AI's influence on adult education has evolved and become more comprehensive; AI challenges traditional Chinese adult education practices by helping to actualize personalized learning and precision education; AI transforms adult learning resource development; AI helps to turn learning environment into an open intelligent learning system; and lastly, AI urges the shift of adult educator's role in adult learning.

This study is not without limitations. Contextualized in China, this study shares the limitations with other single country studies. One such limitation is “cumulation” issue. This study should be replicated in other country contexts to further validate the generalizability of the five main themes identified in this research.

The five themes identified in this study can help understand the promises and challenges that AI brings to the field of adult education in China. These five themes can also serve as an integrated lens through which one can make sense of AI's integration into other countries' adult education practices.

This paper fulfills an identified need of understanding the current status of AI's integration into and influence on the field of adult education in China.