Assessing The Academic Networked Environment

Many people in higher education are looking to networked resources and services when formulating strategies for addressing the pursuits of learning, teaching, research, and community service. Sometimes it may be difficult to determine if users are seeing the same things or the "right" things. This manual provides a set of tools for assessing the academic networked environment, not necessarily a strict blueprint for evaluation. It discusses benchmarking, focus groups, site visits, and other techniques for collecting and using qualitative data. Ways in which network activity can be measured are also discussed; assessment can involve counting registered users, costs, telecommunications "traffic," and use of computers and applications. Costs and usage of network services--online public library catalogs, campuswide information services, and distance education--as well as support services are also typical targets for assessment. A sample user survey related to these topics is provided, along with appendixes that offer self-assessment tools, data collection forms, information on software that measures network services and applications, and information technology surveys. (Contains 39 references.) (BEW)

Contains thirteen essays in which attendees at the American Society for Information Science's May 1999 mid-year meeting present a number of perspectives on evaluating networked information services and resources.

In the dynamic and interactive academic learning environment, students are required to have qualified information literacy competencies while critically reviewing print and electronic information. However, many undergraduates encounter difficulties in searching peer-reviewed information resources. Scholarly Information Discovery in the Networked Academic Learning Environment is a practical guide for students determined to improve their academic performance and career development in the digital age. Also written with academic instructors and librarians in mind who need to show their students how to access and search academic information resources and services, the book serves as a reference to promote information literacy instructions. This title consists of four parts, with chapters on the search for online and printed information via current academic information resources and services: part one examines understanding information and information literacy; part two looks at academic information delivery in the networked world; part three covers searching for information in the academic learning environment; and part four discusses searching and utilizing needed information in the future in order to be more successful beyond the academic world. Provides a reference guide for motivated students who want to improve their academic performance and career development in the digital age Lays out a roadmap for searching peer-reviewed scholarly information in dynamic and interactive cademic learning environments Explains how to access and utilize academic information ethically, legally, and safely in public-accessed computing environments Provides brainstorming and discussion, case studies, mini-tests, and real-world examples for instructors and students to promote skills in critical thinking, decision making, and problem solving

Examines the next phase of schooling - the development of networked school communities. Already, there are pathfinding schools that have moved from the traditional paperbased form to become digital schools.

This book provides state-of-the-art e-learning networked environments and architectures carried out over the last few years from a knowledge management perspective. It contains a comprehensive discussion of e-learning concepts, models, experiments and best practices. Presenting a wide-ranging survey of methods and applications from contributors from around the world, this book will be a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners and graduates.

This book presents original research on analytics and context awareness with regard to providing sophisticated learning services for all stakeholders in the eLearning context. It offers essential information on the definition, modeling, development and deployment of services for these stakeholders. Data analysis has long-since been a cornerstone of eLearning, supplying learners, teachers, researchers, managers and policymakers with valuable information on learning activities and design. With the rapid development of Internet technologies and sophisticated online learning environments, increasing volumes and varieties of data are being generated, and data analysis has moved on to more complex analysis techniques, such as educational data mining and learning analytics. Now powered by cloud technologies, online learning environments are capable of gathering and storing massive amounts of data in various formats, of tracking user-system and user-user interactions, and of delivering rich contextual information.

This book is related to the educational networking (EN) domain, an incipient but disrupting trend engaged in extending and improving formal and informal academic practices by means of the support given by online social networks (OSNs) and Web 2.0 technologies. With the aim of contributing to spread the knowledge and development of the arena, this volume introduces ten recent works, whose content meets the quality criteria of formal scientific labor that is worthy to be published according to following five categories: · Reviews: gather three overviews that focus on K-12 EN practice, mixed methods approaches using social network analysis for learning and education, and a broad landscape of the recent accomplished labor. · Conceptual: presents a work where a theoretical framework is proposed to overcome barriers that constrain the use of OSNs for educational purposes by means of a Platform Adoption Model. · Projects: inform a couple of initiatives, where one fosters groups and networks for teachers involved in distance education, and the other encourages students the author academic videos to improve motivation and engagement. · Approaches: offer three experiences related to: Wiki and Blog usage for assessment affairs, application of a method that encourages OSNs users to actively post and repost valuable information for the learning community, and the recreation of learning spaces in context–aware to boost EN. · Study: applies an own method to ranking Mexican universities based on maximal clique, giving as a result a series of complex visual networks that characterize the tides among diverse features that describe academic institutions practice. In resume, this volume offers a fresh reference of an emergent field that contributes to spreading and enhancing the provision of education in classrooms and online settings through social constructivism and collaboration policy. Thus, it is expected the published content encourages researchers, practitioners, professors, and postgraduate students to consider their future contribution to extent the scope and impact of EN in formal and informal teaching and learning endeavors.