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This study aims to analyze the engagement of community members in an English as a second language (ESL) live broadcast. A platform for encouraging language and culture learning in ESL was planned and implemented. Research purposes were to explore the following aspects for engaging students’ participation: operation-monitoring, planning and implementation, incentives and motives, interactions with multiple formats and challenges.

The platform used for the ESL live broadcast was Open Broadcaster Software Studio. Through the live videos and instant messages delivered by the network, real-time interactions from different virtual sites were achieved. Observations and operation documentation were recorded. Interviews with the teacher, the library administrator and the students were carried out for collecting data. Inductive analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data from the different sources.

It was observed that the ESL broadcast reached a great number of users weekly. To engage the ESL broadcast community, efforts to monitor and plan for implementation were made. Students were encouraged by both external incentives and internal motivation. Managing the connectivity problems was essential for guaranteeing the quality of the real-time interactions. From their experiences, the participants were positive about the broadcast approach to learning ESL. More diverse topics and alternatives for oral interactions in the class are suggested in future implementations.

The implementation of the ESL live broadcast provides a model for inviting members within the university community to engage in the language and culture learning. The research is preliminary and is limited to a specific university. Future research on diverse learning settings is needed.

The findings of this study will contribute to the research in streaming media interactions. The case might be applied to other settings and other subject domains.

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the use of a library mobile website at a university library. This paper aims to present the approach adopted to investigate users’ reactions to the new mobile platform. A usability test was also conducted to examine its effectiveness.

Mobile websites for academic libraries were first reviewed prior to identifying the functions and elements to be included. To assess the intended design purpose, the usability of the design was examined through a comparison of the mobile website and the full PC website used by 50 students to accomplish a set of search tasks. A questionnaire survey was used to assess 336 students’ responses regarding various criteria including learnability, control, presentation and efficiency.

The usability test that was conducted before the mobile Web was formally released indicated that the students using it finished more search tasks (p < 0.001), and were more efficient in completing search tasks than they were using the PC website (p < 0.001). Data from 336 questionnaire responses also indicated the students’ positive reactions to the developed mobile system in four defined facets (mean >= 4.0).

The difficulty of recruiting volunteers and the small number of subjects who participated was also a major limitation experienced in this study. Replications or use of different measurements might be needed in future research to confirm the result.

In this study, a library mobile website was developed, tested and evaluated by users. Currently, the library mobile website is being implemented in the university. On-going revisions will continue to improve its effectiveness and efficiency for information retrieval.

It is expected that through the library mobile services, a ubiquitous learning environment can be provided to students to fulfil their academic and leisure needs.

Summative evaluation of the mobile system revealed the students’ positive reactions to a set of predetermined criteria in various dimensions, including: learnability, control, presentation and efficiency.

This study aims to investigate whether epistemological assessment is a suitable approach to evaluate students’ learning of dietary knowledge via the use of an augmented reality (AR) information system. Students’ perceived dietary knowledge was compared before and after learning with the AR system. Two major questions were addressed: Did students improve their understanding of dietary knowledge after the use of AR information system? Did students gain more appropriate understanding of dietary knowledge after the use of AR information system?

A mixed-methods approach was used in the study. The mobile AR system was used among 65 volunteered non-nutrition-major college students recruited in campus. For promoting epistemological development of personal dietary knowledge, students practiced with life experiences to access daily dietary information. Pre- and post-tests of students’ understanding of dietary knowledge were compared. Interviews with 20 students were used for gathering in-depth research data to analyse students’ epistemological understanding of dietary knowledge.

The epistemological assessment indicated an improvement in learning after the use of the AR system. Students gradually gained awareness of dietary knowledge and changed their perceptions of their dietary behaviours. Epistemological approaches to the analysis of students’ conceptual change in dietary knowledge revealed a significant increase in the mean nutritional concepts (p < 0.01) and a decrease in their mean misconceptions (p < 0.001) after learning via the mobile nutrition monitoring system. Learning assessment of 65 students also indicated a significant increase from the post-test after learning with the system (p < 0.0001).

This study might have its limitations, as it only assessed learning using a pretest-posttest design for a specific learning context over a short period of learning time. The use of interviews based on the epistemological approach might have its limitations in the interpretations of the phenomenon. Future implementations can also be extended to different populations to promote self-monitoring dietary behaviours.

The findings of this study will contribute to the application of AR in learning about dietary knowledge. The research involving in-depth observation of students’ learning relevant to personal nutritional information needs via mobile AR might provide potential contributions to dietitian professionals and health education.

The purpose of this paper is to explore college students' use of electronic reading strategies in reading e‐books and the features provided by e‐book systems. Both academic reading and leisure reading are evaluated from students' responses.

Both qualitative and quantitative data are collected. In total, eight college students volunteered for in‐depth interview to express their strategy in reading e‐books. Reading strategies employed by college students are summarized. A set of questionnaire items to assess electronic reading strategies and e‐book features for both academic and leisure reading is used for collecting quantitative data. To determine differences between academic reading and leisure reading, pair‐t is used among 201 respondents.

Interview data reveal that students use various strategies in reading e‐books. These reading strategies are categorized into “Use of prior experiences”, “Comprehension and decision making”, and “Self‐regulation and self‐monitoring”. From 26 questionnaire items for assessing students' need of reading strategies, 16 are found significantly different between academic reading and leisure reading (p<0.05). The necessity level of many e‐book features is significantly higher for academic reading than for leisure reading (p < 0.05).

Research on students' use of strategies in electronic reading is needed in the rich information world. In this study, the assessment of necessity level of using various electronic reading strategies and features provided by e‐book systems assessed from students' responses might be helpful for design of e‐book systems. However, further research on different reading audiences and specific domains may shed light on more guidelines for implementation and application.

It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide suggestions for the innovation of reading supports embedded in e‐book systems.