This paper details the development of an educational chatbot designed to assist non-IT undergraduate students in a computer programming course. The chatbot, accessible through a LINE Bot interface, focuses conversations on course materials and activities, providing students with relevant learning support. Utilizing OpenAI’s API, the chatbot generates human-like conversational content. The paper includes preliminary evaluation results, emphasizing the chatbot’s ability to respond accurately to course-related student queries. This study highlights the potential of chatbots in enhancing educational experiences in specialized subjects.

The application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education in solving real-world problems is challenging. To tackle this challenge, a project-based learning approach that integrates robots with cost-effective self-made toys to problem-solving was adopted to assist rural primary school students to apply STEM skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the project-based learning approach which includes lecturing and hands-on activities on primary school students’ STEM learning outcomes and attitudes. An experiment was conducted with 25 primary school students who voluntarily participated in a STEM summer-camp programme. Students were asked to assemble a paper house equipped with an IoT control module and LED light switches, and write and edit robot scripts to produce a robot-based storytelling narrative using the paper house they made as a context. The results show that the project-based learning approach was an effective approach for cultivating primary school students’ STEM knowledge and skills as evidenced from the post-written test. The relationships between the students’ STEM learning outcomes and attitudes were also confirmed by a clustering analysis. Students who had higher learning attitudes also achieved higher STEM learning outcomes; the findings are also supported by the feedback from the open-ended questionnaire items. This study suggests that integrating low-cost self-made toys and robots in project-based learning activities is an effective and practical approach to enhance primary school students’ learning outcomes and learning attitudes in STEM education.

The International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT) is an annual conference organized by the IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Technical Community on Learning Technology. It aims to bring together people who are working on the design, development, use, and evaluation of technologies that will be the foundation of the next generation of e-learning systems and technology-enhanced learning environments. After its kick-off as IWALT in Palmerston North, New Zealand (2000), ICALT has been held in Madison, USA (2001), Kazan, Russia (2002), Athens, Greece (2003), Joensuu, Finland (2004), Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2005), Kerkade, The Netherlands (2006), Niigata, Japan (2007), Santander, Spain (2008), Riga, Latvia (2009), Sousse, Tunisia (2010), Athens, Georgia, USA (2011), Rome, Italy (2012), Beijing, China (2013), Athens, Greece (2014), Hualien, Taiwan (2015), Austin, USA (2016), Timisoara, Romania (2017), Mumbai, India (2018), Maceió, Brazil (2019), Tartu, Estonia (2020, Online), and Virtual (2023, Online) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bucharest, Romania (2022, Hybrid). The 23nd IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2023) is organized by IEEE TCLT and held in Orem, Utah, United States, in a hybrid model due to the pandemic.

The integration of educational robots and IoT-based tangible objects (R&T system) holds great potential for enhancing the learning outcome and providing scaffoldings for language learners. This study was focused on examining the learners' behaviors during language learning activities, to analyze the effectiveness of the scaffoldings provided by the R&T system. The aim was to assess the task completion and responsiveness to learners' learning states. A method called Lag sequential analysis was employed to identify significant sequential behavioral patterns. The results showed that, in addition to confirming the effectiveness of the scaffoldings, the sequential pattern analysis was useful in capturing the dynamics of interaction among learners, robots, teachers, and peers in real-life learning scenarios.

This study integrated robots and tangible objects (R&T) to realize content-based instruction, game-based learning, and embodied cognition in language education. The researchers developed a robot-facilitated board game (RFBG) to facilitate seventh-graders with learning chickens-and-eggs vocabulary and knowledge in English. The purpose was (a) to investigate target seventh-graders' knowledge acquisition, word acquisition, and word recognition, and (b) to examine their learning experience with the game play. This paper adopted mixed-methods research design through a single-group experiment at a private junior high school. By immersing in a game narrative with elements such as digital dice-rolling, answering leveled questions, using playing cards, and oral practice, the participants improved significantly in terms of word acquisition and recognition, and their overall feedback via RFBG was positive. The results inform EFL practitioners about how to better integrate educational robots and tangible objects into content-based language learning.

The new era of integrating robots with artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things has provided huge potential for service robots to play important roles in our daily lives. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate whether a robot should have a separate device to incorporate digital content or use its face to toggle between facial expressions and digital content. From the human–robot interface (HRI) design perspective, a robot with a tablet obviously is closer to a real human teacher using a tablet while teaching students in a classroom. However, limited research has been done to explore such HRI design and its impacts on human behaviours. A robot-facilitated storytelling learning system was developed in this study to evaluate the impact of HRI design on college students’ learning behaviours in two different conditions: ‘Robot with Tablet’ or ‘Robot only’. The results revealed that both learning conditions of HRI design benefited college students from knowledge acquisition of vocabulary and comprehension of story content. Furthermore, ‘Robot only’ which is more cost-effective was found to be as good as that of ‘Robot with Tablet’ for the students in terms of knowledge acquisition, cognitive load and learning fatigue.

This study used deep learning techniques with Moodle log data to predict student performance in introductory computer programming courses. Particularly, this study would like to use prediction results to identify potential low-performing students who may need assistance from teachers. The results suggested that deep learning models are promising to predict student performance and identify low-performing students in the researched context. What the prediction results provided by the models can inform teachers in learning settings was also further discussed in this paper.

Learning Chinese Numeral-Classifier-Noun (NCN) phrases is one of the most challenging tasks for Chinese language learners. In this study, we developed learning applications based on a multimodal robot and IoT tangible objects (R&T) learning system to help Chinese language learners, adopting technologies suiting language learning, and implementing instructional design by professional Chinese language teachers. This study adopted the ASSURE model to develop and investigate the effect of the learning system and applications. Participants were divided into two groups: learning after a human teacher and learning with the R&T learning system. Findings from Table 1 show that learning Chinese NCN Phrases with the R&T learning system is comparable to the human teacher. This study contributes to Chinese language teaching and learning by providing an alternative method for Chinese language learners learning Chinese NCN phrases or a teaching assistant system for Chinese language teachers.

This study conducted a cross-classified multilevel analysis of undergraduate students' peer-/self-assessment scores in a collaborative learning environment. The analysis intended to investigate group, rater and ratee effects on the peer-/self-assessment scores. The findings showed that group, rater and ratee effects were all statistically significant on peer-/self-assessment scores. The raters' and ratees' gender as well as the diversity in group members' majors influence peer-/self-assessment scores significantly. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference in students' self and peer ratings. The instructional implications of using cross-classified random effects model to analyze peer-/self-assessment ratings were also discussed in the paper.

The present study developed a cross-platform, online assessment, evaluating Chinese numeral-classifier-noun (NCN) competence levels of Chinese as an Additional Language beginners (CAL) before and after a robot assisted language learning system (RALL). The development process and the preliminary results are summarized.

Critical thinking and collaborative learning are both important 21stcentury skills. Through collaborative learning, students can discuss and work together with peers in reviewing a given scenario critically, reevaluate their initial thoughts and justify their decisions by combining the input from peers. With knowledge of the common difficulties faced in elementary school classrooms when using collaborative learning such as sharing a piece of worksheet, this study utilized the application Explain Everything Collaborate to design a series of critical thinking enhancement exercises that enables students to work simultaneously in real time. By using this application, this study designed a series of critical thinking enhancement exercise using collaborative learning. The study results found that when using the same critical thinking enhancement exercise in an individual learning situation and a collaborative learning situation, students in the collaborative learning groups performed better. Through discussions with peers, students could reexamine their answers through the exposure to different perspectives of the issue provided by their peers. Several observations and findings during the study had provided teachers with promising confidence in implementing collaborative learning in the elementary school classrooms.

This paper reports an analysis of elementary school students' learning process as they participate in English learning activities using educational robots and IoT-based toys. Grounded on Vygotsky's notion of zone of proximal development, the analysis is conducted through the lenses of obstacles learners encounter in real learning situations as well as the causes of and the solutions to the encountered obstacles. The techniques of video and qualitative analysis are adopted to conduct this naturalistic inquiry, extracting insight from real-world data for enhancing language learning with emerging technology.

Recent college students have been observed to be motivated and engaged in acquiring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills with robots and IoT objects. A sample of 13 master's students participated in the program. Data collected include the pre-and post- STEM and computational thinking (CT) written tests, and the pre- and post- surveys of learning perceptions toward the robots and IoT objects learning activities. The results show that the learning activities were an effective approach for the master's students' STEM learning outcome and CT as shown in the post-test. The differences between the master's students' STEM learning outcome, CT, and perceptions were also confirmed, particularly between the groups of computer programming-experienced learners and computer programming-novice learners. The results revealed that the learning activities with robots and IoT objects could improve the overall master's students' CT, STEM knowledge, and learning perceptions. Both programming-experienced and programming-novice learners' STEM learning outcome were improved.

Critical thinking is one of the core 21st century skills, and it is vital for individuals to start mastering this skill from a young age. Socratic questioning is a systematic and disciplined string of questioning that is used to support the enhancement of critical thinking skill through the exploration of complex ideas, understanding the facts, identifying issues, examine assumptions and more. This study proposed to design critical thinking enhancement exercises for elementary school students using Socratic questioning strategy. Throughout the enhancement exercise, the study introduced Socratic questioning strategy was designed as hints to support students in completing the exercise and have deeper thoughts prior to sharing their thoughts regarding a given issue or problem. The results of the study indicated that the designed critical thinking learning sessions were effective in enhancing students' critical thinking skill. More importantly, the results also indicated that Socratic questioning strategy had provided students with a positive and significant support in the enhancement of their critical thinking skill.

This study aims to create an interactive and immersive language learning environment for children with the support of robots and IoT sensors. In this paper, we first presented our key design principles for a system that integrates robots and IoT sensors into children’s learning of a language while playing. The intergraded system was developed following the procedure of requirement analysis, prototyping and system testing and evaluation. Following the identification of learning needs and system requirements, a prototype of the system was built and evaluated using the cognitive walkthrough method. Although some usability issues were reported by the participants, the overall results confirm that learning tasks were successfully completed using this integrated system, and it is an easy-to-use system in that non-technical professionals were able to design scripts to control the robot and the IoT sensors.

STEM education has received increasing attention in recent years. Thus, this study proposes a knowledge and skill enhancement framework by integrating TPACK for enhancing learners’ STEM knowledge and skills. The main idea of the proposed approach was to conduct a workshop for learners to make an electronic sound synthesizer. Related data were collected along the whole process, the results revealed that the proposed approach significantly helps learners improve their learning performance and fosters their positive attitudes toward STEM.

The purpose of this study was to use the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to engage elementary school children in English vocabulary learning through a pet-care game. An IoT system consisting of a three-dimensional (3D) pop-up book, a toy character, an educational robot, and a near-field communication wire network was developed. Based on this proposed IoT-based language learning environment, interactions among individual learners, an educational robot (accompanied by a tablet), and the 3D pop-up book augmented by a sensor network were induced. Two fourth graders followed the English robotic prompts, which were simple sentence structures embedded with target vocabulary, to interact with the 3D pop-up book so that each learner carried out daily life tasks under robotic guidance and human facilitation. A video analysis revealed that the IoT-augmented 3D pop-up book game effectively provided a learning environment for behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement. It is thus concluded that creating an IoT-based game environment for young learners and engaging them in interactions can enhance their performance in English vocabulary learning. Instructional designers may find the outcomes of this study useful for creating language learning opportunities with the support of IoT-based technology.

Designing an educational game can be a difficult task for individuals who do not have appropriate background towards game developments. Several game genres exist in the literature which can make beginners confused about which are the appropriate or required game elements and functionalities for a particular game genre. At the same time, many studies highlighted the effectiveness of mind-mapping techniques in enhancing learning and thinking task. Therefore, this study deploys the powerful graphical representation of Unified Modeling Language (UML) class diagram to present a mind-mapping guide for people who are developing educational role-playing games. A total of 1 13 students used the developed mind-mapping guide in a public Tunisian University, and the obtained results showed that the guide can: (1) significantly enhance beginner students’ level of knowledge regarding developing role-playing educational games; and, (2) promote the creative thinking when it comes to imagining educational role-playing game scenarios. Also, these results showed that students have a favorable attitude towards using the mind-mapping guide to learn and design their games.

Previous studies have shown that trait emotional intelligence (EI) is an important factor affecting children’s learning performance in physical instruction settings. However, there have been very few studies exploring the effects of children’s high- or low-trait EI levels on both gaming performance and learning performance in digital game-based learning environments. Therefore, in this study, we developed a game-based English learning environment to investigate how different levels of trait EI would affect children’s gaming performance and learning performance. A total of 51 third-grade elementary school students participated in this study. The students’ trait EI was measured by a modified version of the Trait EI Questionnaire-Child Form. The students’ gaming performance was evaluated by the achievement of badges, and their learning performance was assessed by a paper-based examination after playing the game. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis and independent samples t tests. The results showed that there were significant correlations between trait EI, gaming performance, and learning performance; this implies that trait EI had a significant relationship with both gaming performance and learning performance. Moreover, the results showed that there was a significant correlation between the gaming performance and learning performance for those students with low-trait EI. However, the results showed that gaming performance and learning performance were not significantly correlated for the high-trait EI students. A subsequent analysis showed that the high-trait EI students’ gaming performance and learning performance were significantly better than those with low-trait EI.

Mastering English as a second language had been challenging for Taiwanese students, to top it up with understanding English idioms just adds fuel to the fire. Without the awareness and knowledge about idioms, students would be prone to take the idioms as its literal meaning, which most often would not be accurate. This would lead to students misunderstanding the true meaning of the context. Past research had shown that situated learning could ease the learning process for students and form beneficial knowledge. Augmented reality (AR) is useful in facilitating situated learning, not only it engages students in the learning context, but it was also proven to be effective in improving students' performance. Furthermore, scaffolding strategy, a specific type of mediational tool used for learning, had been proven to effectively assist students in overcome challenges during the learning process. Therefore, this research designed a learning application to improve learners' learning performance in learning English idioms, using the assistance of scaffolding strategy in a situated learning settings which is supported by AR. The research results had shown that the learning application is effective in assisting university students in learning about English idioms.

Robot has been receiving increasing attention and robot in education is considered a promising aid for teaching and learning in many ways. This study attempts to investigate the need of the educational robot among six different user groups (pre-school user, primary school user, high school user, college user, adult user and elderly user). A triangulation technique was applied for cross validation, including systematic literature review, experts' interview and instructors' survey. It is expected that through this research the need of educational robot for six user groups can be clearly identified and to propose future directions for the development of educational robots.

Critical thinking is among the few important skills in the 21st century, hence it is crucial that the skill is cultivated in students. Before cultivating the skill, one needs to be able to measure the level of student's critical thinking skills. Existing critical thinking skill assessments do not cater for elementary school students and are usually close-ended questions. The research's objective was to design a computer application to assess students' level of critical thinking skill by using a storytelling approach with two folk stories, with questions inserted in between to measure students' critical thinking skills. Students were required to answer these questions through voice recordings instead of writing their answers on paper. The assessment mostly consisted of open-ended questions, requiring students to share their thoughts and provide reasoning for their answers. The research also identified schools' environmental factors and students' background that affect their critical thinking skills. The results showed that schools with a different focus, students' preference in reading books and comic books, and time spent on reading comic books could affect the students' level of critical thinking.

This study conducted a preliminary investigation on the correlations between learners' EEG-based workload and their self-reported cognitive load in a multimedia learning context. An experiment including two learning tasks was conducted with 15 graduate students. The NeuroSky brainwave headset was used to collect participants' electroencephalography (EEG) data and using the theta/alpha ratio as brain workload during the learning tasks. On the other hand, a questionnaire was used to assess participants' self-reported cognitive load after the learning tasks. A paired samples t-test was used to test if there are any differences between the two learning tasks. The results show that cognitive load was significant, but the EEG-based theta/alpha ratio was not significant. In terms of the preliminary correlations, there are no significant results between the EEG-based theta/alpha ratio and cognitive load found. Future studies require more analyses of the EEG-based data, for example nonlinear approaches with a larger sample size.

This study is a pilot for future research on building an automated predictive model in order to assist students' learning process in a real-time adaptive learning system. The goal of this study is to understand the relationship between individual brainwave patterns and their cognitive states (i.e. relaxation, attention, meditations and anxiety) when providing adaptive learning systems. This study conducted panel regression model to analyze the relationship between individual brainwave signals in association with the three different tasks. The results of this study first shown that the participants' tension, alertness or agitation under the Listening to Music, Gaming and Learning cannot be identified differently in this study. Secondly, it shown that the participants' the slower frequencies range of brainwave and low-level alertness states under the listening to the alpha (α) music video or heavy metal/rock music video are different from playing an exciting game, learning a subject, or taking a quiz. Thirdly, their emotional states when the playing a game that required to solve a puzzle is also different from Listening to Music. Fourth, their feeling of relaxation states under the activities of the listening relax music video and having a quiz are different. Finally, when they are playing a game that require them to think or solve a puzzle has different brainwave signals from higher mental activities when learning a subject. The limitation and future study of this study is also discussed.

English is a world recognized global language. Different methods used in teaching and learning English is widely discussed and researched in the education field. Due to the language's importance, the learning age of English is beginning at a younger age in Taiwan, some even started from toddlers. In our study, we are exploring the effects of preschoolers learning English using a gesture-based system compared to learning English using word cards. The system is designed to enhance and improve the preschooler's learning performance of the language. Our target subjects do not have basic knowledge of the language. The results of the study showed that there are no significant difference between the two learning groups. However, it was found that the participant's age and those having past experience of using gesture-based systems had shown to have significant effect on their learning performance. The limitation and future study of this study is also discussed.

The study examined the effects of embodied interaction on reading comprehension in a multimodal environment. Specifically, this study compared how textual, visual or gestural modes affect young children’s reading comprehension. 91 Chinese EFL learners were assigned to one of the three modes to complete a reading task. During the reading task, they made several predictions by selecting a text description, selecting a picture or doing gestures that best match their predictions. Results showed that the three modes led to comparable level of reading comprehension. However, when reading ability was taken into account, the high level readers’ comprehension was negatively affected by the gesture mode while the low level readers’ comprehension was not. The findings suggest that visuals and gestures can be integrated into a multimodal reading environment to make reading an active learning experience. However, in designing an interactive digital storybook involving gestures, it is recommended that individual differences in reading ability be addressed to maximize its effect. Suggestions for future studies are discussed.

The study aims at investigating how the fitness between learners' learning styles and adopted learning modalities influences the learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) by elementary school students. A quantitative research was adopted. 87 fifth graders participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to three groups of learning modalities: video, gesture-based, and 3D virtual. They learned 18 English phrases related to motions for 3 times, once a week. Both performance test and learning style questionnaire were administered after the treatment completed. The analysis results of the current study show that the EFL learners' performances did not differ among the three learning modalities. However, EFL learners' learning styles also influence their performance. Implications of this study for language education and teaching are discussed.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of using a smartphone application in a Communicative Language Teaching context. Specifically, a web-based application called Let's Talk was designed to facilitate an Information Gap activity in an English language class. Participants were assigned to an experiment group using Let's Talk or a control group using textbooks to practice English conversation. Communication performance, including vocabulary, sentence structure and comprehension, was measured. Their Willingness to Communicate, including self-perceived Language Learning Anxiety and Communicative Competence, was also collected through questionnaires. Results showed that Let's Talk-facilitated Information Gap activities led to better performance in vocabulary and structure but not comprehension. Also, a lower level of state anxiety was reported when mobile devices were used. There was no significant difference in Willingness to Communicate and Communicative Competence between the two groups. Implications for the use of smartphones in Communicative Language Teaching are also discussed.

This paper describes the evaluation of a Kinect/Motion-based game designed for the purpose of promoting physical activity among older adults. Using a convenience sample, this study followed participants in a four week exercise program which incorporated the fitness game. The effect of the system on overall functional fitness and user acceptance of the gesture-based technology were studied. Ten participants, aged 62-81, were recruited from a community activity center for the study. The Senior Functional Fitness Test developed by Ricki and Jones was used to measure overall functional fitness levels both prior to and after the intervention phase. Mann-Whitney U Test and Wilcox on Signed Ranks Test were used to analyze the results. Both tests showed that there is no significant difference in overall functional fitness between the control group and the study group. However, significant improvement was found in upper body flexibility, reaction time, and game performance. The overall results and feedback showed great potential of using gesture-based fitness system with game design.

Blogs are one of the most widely used Internet applications; however, there is a lack of attention paid to understanding blog adoption with respect to individual reading/writing habits. This paper, therefore, investigates how individual reading and writing habits contribute to blog adoption. A survey was conducted in order to understand the relationship between an individual's reading and writing habits, in terms of reading/writing attitude and reading/writing behavioural patterns, and the adoption of blogs. A total of 210 blog users participated in the study. Hypotheses were tested and data were analysed using multiple regression analysis and logistic regression analysis. The results revealed that reading and writing habits are a significant predictor of blog adoption. Furthermore, based on Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory, this study also investigated whether people's habitual characteristics (i.e. heavy and light) have some sort of relationship with the stage of blog adoption (i.e. earlier and later). A subsequent analysis showed that people with a heavier reading habit group tended to adopt at an earlier stage, while this consequence was absent in those with heavier writing habits groups.

There has been a paradigm shift in the modern classroom from teacher-centered, in-class lecture in a physical classroom, to student-centered, blended learning in a flipped classroom. However, many university teachers are having difficulties in designing effective learning instructions or activities for a flipped course. Aiming to explore the validity of the flipped learning concept in a higher education context, an innovative flipped course was designed and implemented using an advanced learning platform to create a holistic flipped classroom environment. A survey, an interview, and computer system logs were used to evaluate the effectiveness of such a pedagogical method. It was found that the "Holistic Flipped Classroom" approach was effective: students reported that they were satisfied with the course, their attendance improved, and their study efforts increased. It was also found that the transactional distance changed during the learning process: highly motivated students performed much better comparatively than less motivated ones. Although this approach has shown positive results, some students retained their former passive learning habits, and this became the main obstruction to full adoption. Finally, for the practitioner, case examples and suggestions are provided to address the design, implementation and adoption issues.

Gesture-based computing has recently received great attention in educational technology. Increasing studies have attempted to integrate its major features-gestures and body motions-into learning activities ranging from physical-related domain to cognitive domain. Despite the rise of gesture-based computing, studies in psychology have long shown that gestures influence the way we learn, think and perceive the world, suggesting learning can be less sedentary. Theories of embodied cognition have been the basis to explain the effect of body on our mind. Thus, this talk attempts to explore the relationship between these theories and technologies by presenting: (1) the overview of the findings from psychology and education and the implementation of gestures/body motions in our own study cases, and (2) potential research frameworks for future studies. It is hoped that this talk could promote more researchers to do study on making learning kinesthetic and designing pedagogically meaningful gesture-based learning systems.

In this paper, we analyze the co-authorship network of researchers who have published their joint work in Educational Technology & Society (ETS) Journal. The results of our analysis provided us with evidence that the ETS Journal co-authorship network is highly fragmented with a large number of non-connected subgroups of authors. Additionally, authors and collaborations of the ETS network have been polynomially increasing during the past 15 years.

With an experience in the development of web-based learning, mobile learning, and web 2.0-based learning, we have seen an emerging trend in the integration of web 2.0 technology into mobile learning, so called Mobile 2.0 Learning. By analyzing previous studies with the model of social cognitive theory, we reveal that their integration is not in conflict with each other; in contrast, Mobile 2.0 Learning may reframe the relationship between environments inside and outside of school. The social interactivity of Web 2.0 can improve students’ sense of community and collaboration in mobile learning. Mobility and context capturing facilities can support learners to exchange information in daily life and further develop context-specific competences in an informal social community. This study first introduces the components of Mobile 2.0 learning and its unique characteristics. Next, the key elements driving Mobile 2.0 were illustrated by an example to show their processing flow. Finally, further research issues of Mobile 2.0 learning were proposed. It is hoped to provide readers a potential research blueprint by this study.

Based on theories of embodied cognition, this study applied technologies of natural user interface to design gamification activities for learning fundamental projectile motion. The embodiment-based design facilitates elementary learners to learn the abstract concept of fundamental projectile motion through their body-moving experience. When the learners perform gamification activities with their body movements, they can construct their knowledge schema through external perceptions. This study recruited 60 fourth to sixth grade students to participate the experiment. The participants were randomly and equally divided into bodymoving learning group and finger-touching learning group. The learners in the body-moving learning group directly use their body movements to accomplish the gamification learning activities. On the other hand, the learners in the finger-touching learning group have to hold a tablet PC and use only their fingers for all operations. Participants’ learning performance was evaluated through tests of factual knowledge and procedural knowledge. The result shows that the body-moving learning group outperformed the finger-touching learning group on speed in the factual knowledge test and projectile angle in procedure knowledge test. No significant difference was found in the rest of test items.

Affective computing techniques have become increasingly important as advanced education technologies. By applying these techniques to education, this work designs and evaluates a novel Affective Tutoring System for the Digital Arts (ATSDAs). By semantically analysing a text with ontological references, the emotions induced by a text when input by a user are identified. Inference of emotions is accomplished using OMCSNet and WordNet, two engines commonly used in computational linguistics research. The proposed system has a visual agent that provides text feedback based on inferred emotions from textual analysis. The proposed system has a conscientious design flow that includes concept modelling, prototype design, expert-based evaluation (which consists of a cognitive walkthrough and heuristic evaluation), final system design and a series of evaluations from a learner's perspective. The System Usability Scale (SUS) evaluation results show that this system achieves positive usability and learners enjoy interacting with the proposed system.

Theories of embodied cognition argue that mental modal simulations in the brain, body, environment and situated actions are composed of central representations in cognition. Based on embodied cognition, body movements of performing natural science experiments can provide learners with external perceptions for better knowledge construction. At present, the way of using a keyboard/mouse to conduct simulation exercises just reproduces physical experimental procedures on a computer. However, it lacks for utilizing environmental factors and bodily states as external information to help brain constructing knowledge during the experiment simulation processes. For example, learners interact with the multimedia content of fundamental optics simulation exercises by using conventional controller-based methods such as moving a mouse or pressing a hot key. Using a controller as a routine interaction device while learners associate their external bodily perceptions with internal knowledge schema does not benefit cognitive processing. To cope with this problem, an embodiment-based learning strategy is designed to provide simulated practices by learners' gestures so that they can interact with the digital content directly. Through the learning system, fundamental optics knowledge can be constructed using holistic schematization of mental modal simulations in the brain, body, environment and situated actions. A total of 51 fifth-year students were divided into ‘embodiment-based learning group’ and ‘keyboard–mouse learning group’ for a quasi-experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. This study designed an embodiment-based learning strategy to help learners perform optics simulation exercises and improve their learning performance. The result shows that the embodiment-based learning group outperformed the keyboard–mouse learning group on learning performance. Besides, learners usually need to invest additional mental effort before they overcome the run-in period to getting used to a new technology. No significant difference in cognitive load between the two groups was found, which implies the embodiment-based learning strategy is an effective learning design.

Insight problems are the problems that require discoveries of novel solutions. To come up with novel solutions, the correct mental representations will need to be activated. Spatial insight problems, for example, require activation of spatial representations. To explore the potential use of a motion-sensing technology for facilitating spatial insight problem solving, a Body-based system using natural user interfaces (NUIs) and a Mouse-based system using graphical user interfaces (GUIs) were developed. An experiment was conducted using these two systems for seeking possible solutions to a hands-on problem and then solving that problem in physical environment using real objects. Results showed that there was no difference in the completion rate between the two conditions. However, there was a tendency of more uses of spatial strategies by the Body-based group. Those in the Body-based condition did not significantly lose their confidence in solving the problem during the solution-seeking stage.

In order to better meet the needs of classes with Ebooks being involved in, Ebooks must be designed with a lot of special functions, which is called eTextbooks by the authors. The functions of eTextbooks, the class preparations and responsive teaching by incorporating formative assessment would help to transforming learning and instruction. Note-taking, bookmarking, annotating, and highlighting, working on assignments are the key functions of eTextbooks to follow students' study habits and to meet the requirement of instruction. The relevant management is the key issues to keep eTextbook running smoothly in class. Such as assignment distribution, note management, assignment management, searching, dictionary, synchronizing functions, copy contents or notes, print contents or notes, Internet connection, communicating with parents via Internet, eTextbook control by teachers, and contents transmission between teachers and students. If the teachers had more experiences with instructional design, they would be able to conduct better class preparation. Through integrating materials, devices and software compositely, learning outcomes would optimally meet the instructional objectives. Responsive teaching through Ebooks/eTextbooks, which meet the individual needs and strengths of diverse learners, takes the stance that curriculum developers in general and Ebook designers in particular must play a larger role in rendering the burden of customization manageable for teachers.

With the advancement of information and communication technologies, a great deal of learning resources can be easily accessed over the Internet, especially video-based materials. Most of them are recordings of speeches and instructions. Learners can also provide their feedback on a specific website or a learning management system. Besides, natural user interface (NUI) has become affordable which sheds a light on the new form of human-computer interaction. A new research issue regarding how to effectively use the large amount of existing video-based learning resources and related feedback by leveraging the NUI interface is worth of exploration. This study aims to explore and propose a new effective scaffolding strategy to facilitate video-based learning by applying NUI-based technologies with an integration of existing constructive feedback generated by the crowd. In this paper, a preliminary design and corresponding examples of this idea will be delineated.

The ability for teachers to support students in an online learning environment has proven to be very challenging due to the limitations caused by physical distance and asynchronous communication methods. To this end, an educational decision support system is proposed in the form of an interactive dashboard to empower teachers with the ability to access student learning process information along with system's recommendations, in order for them to undertake well-informed educational decisions. This research focuses on a potential design and the tools available to construct such a dashboard.

The purpose of this study was to gain greater insights into the habit factors that contribute to one's learning effectiveness. Therefore, present study developed the "Learner's Digest" blog (i.e., a learning blog) with relevant features including information retrieval, user friendly context and learner-learner interaction. It was designed to provide interesting blog posts to facilitate meaningful learning. In "Learner's Digest" blog learners were participated as blog readers. This paper investigated how one's reading habit contributes to his/her learning effectiveness participating towards Learner's Digest blog. A survey was conducted for understanding the relationship between individual's reading habit, in terms of the reading attitude / behavioral pattern, and the learning effectiveness of participation towards a learning blog, in terms of learning performance and satisfaction. A total of 73 blog readers from "Learner's Digest" participated in the study. Hypotheses were tested and data was analyzed using simple linear regression and logistic regression analysis. The result revealed that reading habit is a significant predictor of learning effectiveness. A subsequent analysis showed that people with a stronger reading habit is a significant predictor to greater learning effectiveness. Discussions and implications of this study are also presented.

This study used content analysis to explore characteristics and trends of research on gesture-based computing in education based on journal articles from 2001-2012. This study revealed the distribution and trends in research methods, discipline of the study, learning content, technology used and intended setting of the gesture-based learning system. Experimental design research is the most used method (50%) followed by design-based research (30.8%). The findings indicate that Nintendo Wii is the most used gesture-based device (44%). The largest percentage of the domain is in special education (40%). The same trend is also found in a further analysis that the largest percentage of domain using Wii is special education (70%). Among all identified learning topics, motor skill learning has the highest percentage (20%). When grouping these topics into three domains of knowledge (procedural, conceptual, and both), the result demonstrates that procedural type knowledge dominates gesture-based learning studies. Not surprisingly, data shows the highest percentage of intended setting is classroom setting.

This paper is about the use of a long- distance controlled robot system (LDCR) by learners working in a blended learning setting. We describe an interactive robotic project that was the result of an international collaboration between an Australian school of distance education and a Japanese technical college. After citing research findings about the use of the system across multiple curriculum areas we identify the technological and pedagogical challenges encountered during the project and quantify significant gains for students, teachers and the wider school community. The paper concludes that long-distance controlled robot systems can be successfully integrated into blended teaching and learning paradigms and that this is a potential educational imperative for 21st Century students and teachers.

This article reviews the 43 research articles of the past decade on gesture-based computing in education. The focus is on the primary question: how is GBC used pedagogically in education? Content analysis is used as primary method. A comparison of instructional intervention (of GBC) in different sub-education domains is reported.

In recent years, the term Open Educational Resources (OER) has emerged, aiming to promote open access to digital educational resources that are available online for everyone at a global level. This panel presents views from different countries on the development of open educational resource initiatives.

E-book readers have the inherent advantage of affording learners both mobility and convenience. They can be considered ideal pedagogical tools for supporting learners' reading activities. In this study, the reading strategies SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review) with the guidance mechanism were integrated into the e-book reading environment for assisting learners in their reading processes. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of the reading guidance mechanism on the performance of English reading comprehension. The results show that learners who received reading guidance achieved better reading comprehension than those who didn't. Learners can get real benefits from the reading strategies only when they do carry through the strategies.

Literature has shown that reflection is one of the important factors in learning, and u-learning can enhance learning performance, motivation and efficiency. This study applied reflection prompts to improve learners' reflection levels and learning satisfaction for a plant species observation activity in a context-aware u-learning environment. Due to the complexity of the plant species observation and the screen size limitation of mobile devices, the use of text-based reflection prompts, which was wildly adopted by previous research, is rather insufficient. This study therefore designed a video-based reflection prompt strategy in which the QR Code technique was used to locate learners' locations for providing a timely and adequate guidance. An experiment was conducted for evaluating the effectiveness of the developed learning system with 70 participants. Experimental results showed that learners' reflection levels were significantly improved with the use of video-based reflection prompt strategy, but there was no significant difference in learning satisfaction.

This study aimed to apply Speech to Text Recognition (STR) for individual oral presentations and group discussions of students in a synchronous cyber classroom. An experiment was conducted to analyze the effectiveness of applying STR on learning performance. Students' perceptions and behavioral intentions toward using STR were also investigated. The results revealed students of the experimental group performed significantly better compared to students of the control group in writing essays, intermediate test and post-test. In addition, students perceived the STR was easy to use and useful for learning. Most of the students expressed that they are willing to use the STR for learning in the future. The results of this study showed that the STR is beneficial to students' oral presentations and group discussions in a synchronous cyber classroom so as to improve their overall learning achievement.

This paper presents an augmented paper-based reading system which incorporated digital materials and the reading strategy of scaffolded questioning into printed materials to enhance students' English reading comprehension. QR codes were printed on paper prints to provide direct access to digital resources and scaffolded questions; smartphones were used to scan the QR codes and display digital learning materials. The results showed that the reading strategy of scaffolded questioning significantly improved students' English reading comprehension, but direct access to digital materials using QR codes did not. Implications of the study shed light on the future development of the system.

This study develops a model to examine the key drivers of users' continuance intention of e-learning, based on negative critical incidents (NCIs) standpoints. The developed research model is tested empirically using a field survey of 230 users. This study finds that users' past service encounters (NCIs), belief (perceived ease of use and usefulness), satisfaction (quality attributes cumulative satisfaction and overall satisfaction) and attitude are key antecedents of continued usage intention. Four dimensions of both NCIs and quality attributes in e-learning (administration procedures, e-learning system functionality, instructional process and human interaction) are explored in this study. Results indicate that NCIs in teaching and administration are comparatively more important in determining user satisfaction and continuance intention. Further analysis finds that the recorded lecture content and the response time to users are the most critical problems in teaching and administration. In practice, this model can identify the key problems of satisfaction and continuance intention to help managers and teachers react promptly or make right decisions about how to better achieve higher user retention rates.

Reflection plays an important role in improving learning performance. Hence, this study attempts to explore whether learners' reflection levels can be improved when reflection teaching strategies fit with learners' thinking styles in a web-based learning environment. Three reflection teaching strategies, namely constructive, guiding, and inductive, were designed to match with three thinking styles, namely legislative, executive, and judicial respectively. A web-based reflection learning system was subsequently developed for this purpose. An experiment was then conducted where the learners were classified into fit or non-fit group according to analyze whether there was a good fit between the given reflection teaching strategies and learners' thinking styles. A total of 223 graduate and undergraduate students participated in the experiment. The results revealed that the reflection levels of the fit group had better improvement of reflection levels than the non-fit group.

This paper aims to devise an integrated model of synchronous cyber assessment into a blended learning environment, to be targeted for university foreign language learners, to make the impact on learning meaningful.

In order to better facilitate the social presence in an online classroom, this study attempted to build a model for measuring social presence and its relationships with other factors in online learning based on the social cognitive theory. A total of 535 valid samples were collected and analyzed from three schools in Taiwan. The results show that user interface and mediated communication have significant influences on social presence. User interface also has positive impact on mediated communication. Moreover, this study provided evidence that social presence has significant effects on interaction performance, and then interaction performance has significant effects on learning performance.

Social presence is considered as an essential element to promote social interaction. With the development of online synchronous learning, learners can conduct cyber face-to-face communication with other participants. When social cues are delivered by computer devices in real-time, it becomes a real possibility for students to experience actual learning atmosphere while still retaining the flexibility and convenience of online learning. However, the perceived social presence among learners is not the same for everyone. In order to better facilitate social interaction in a synchronous cyber classroom, this study explored what factors would affect social presence and verified if social presence has positive effects on learner participation and interactivity satisfaction. The results revealed that the major factors affecting social presence are intimacy, user friendliness, responsiveness, extroversion, and cue richness in a synchronous cyber classroom. Moreover, social presence was found to have positive effects on both learner participation and interactivity satisfaction.

This study proposed the concepts, architecture, and kernel of a GroupNet system to construct a more flexible ubiquitous learning environment. GroupNet is aiming to support small-group face-to-face learning activities anywhere and anytime without sticking in traditional classroom settings and additional infrastructures. We have also implemented the application programming interface (API) for accessing the core functions supported by GroupNet Kernel such that developers can develop GroupNet applications with fewer efforts. A GroupNet application has been developed using the APIs for conducting an experiment on how to reduce groupthink phenomenon in collaborative learning setting using mobile devices to evaluate the usability of GroupNet Kernel and illustrate the effectiveness of GroupNet applications.

Reflection is important for learners because it helps them develop critical thinking skills, thereby enhancing their learning performance. A Web based learning system was developed to investigate whether the use of different types of prompts and peer assessments would help learners to improve their reflection levels. One hundred and fifty seven students from the university were involved. The students were randomly selected to carry out one of fourteen scenarios using the different levels of reflection. The results revealed that the main factor affecting reflection level is high level prompt followed by high quality peer observation that has a moderating effect on studentspsila reflection levels. However, peer feedback has no significant influence on reflection levels.

This study explores essential processes for developing a pedagogically meaningful e-tutor training program for online synchronous language teaching. The pedagogical values of synchronous cyber classroom for language teaching are addressed and detailed descriptions of an online training program conducted for language teachers in a synchronous classroom teaching environment are presented. Forum postings regarding how teacher participants engaged with these processes and reflections on their own experience are categorized and analyzed to provide evidences for their professional development and competence acquirement. Findings suggest that following the e-tutor training program, all the participants were able to apply the online classroom management skills and online pedagogy learnt to real online teaching practices. Furthermore, they expressed a positive attitude towards the promising future of online synchronous language teaching.

This paper describes the use of the synchronous cyber classroom with multiple participants from multiple locations and time-zones in socially networked learning communities around the world. It reports enhanced cognitive function, higher participation and lower attrition rates, and collaborative teaching and learning during facilitated synchronous sessions. Data was drawn from a seven year trial of synchronous teaching and learning with participants including students from early childhood to tertiary, teacher and parent groups, and educators in developing nations. The paper provides a guide for educators who want to use the synchronous cyber classroom with multiple participants from multiple locations and time-zones.

This paper presents an infrastructure for developing problem-based pervasive learning environments. Building such environments necessitates having many autonomous components dealing with various tasks and heterogeneous distributed resources. Our proposed infrastructure is based on a multi-agent system architecture to integrate various components of the environments. The infrastructure includes a location- and context-awareness service, a question and answer service, an adaptive mechanism; problem based ubiquitous learning models, social networking issues, and the evaluation of multimedia inputs. Furthermore, student modeling issues among components are considered. The design of the infrastructure as well as its components is discussed. This paves the way towards the development of pervasive learning applications.

A holistic-blended learning environment has been developed in which physical face-to-face, cyber face-to-face and cyber asynchronous blended models are synthesized into one holistic-blended learning model. Such a model enables teachers and learners to do two-way interaction asynchronously and synchronously no matter whether they are in physical space or cyber space. The aim of this research is to explore whether significant differences exist in terms of effects on classroom climate and learning effectiveness between physical face-to-face group and cyber face-to-face group. The research methodology includes surveys, interviews, and content analyses. The results show that although cyber face-to-face group has a larger change on classroom climate and learning effectiveness before mid-term and after final exam than physical face-to-face group there was no significant difference in learning effectiveness between the cyber face-to-face and physical face-to-face student groups. Furthermore, results show a positive correlation between classroom climate and learning satisfaction. This study validates the positive potential of implementing holistic-blended learning for higher education.

The purpose of this research is to develop a Web-based learning environment where teachers can provide subject content using SCORM simple sequence specification (SSS) mechanism with guided learning paths to cultivate learners' goal setting skills. This research investigates the difference in learning performance between the process goal and the outcome goal. The subject of the study is "division of decimals" in elementary school curriculum. The results show that there are no significantly difference in the aspects of learning scores and satisfaction between the process goal group and outcome goal group. Furthermore, the process goal group is more efficient than the outcome goal group in time spent for completing the learning objectives. Moreover, the learners who had a higher post-test score in the process goal group spent significantly less time to achieve the learning objectives than those who had a lower post-test score. However, there is no such finding for the outcome goal group.

This paper investigates the correlation between the quality of instructional design and learning outcomes for early childhood students in the online synchronous cyber classroom. The synchronous cyber classroom outperforms all other modes of instruction in enabling students to integrate visual, auditory and kinaesthetic processes simultaneously. This can be equated with higher levels of cognitive function. During 2001-2007 a group of students aged 5 to 8 years collaborated with their teacher at Brisbane School of Distance Education, Australia in a trial of online synchronous learning. The trial identified 'bestpractice' in the instructional design of synchronous lessons delivered using the learning platform of Youth Knowledge Network at the National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan. A guideline for 'best practice' in the instructional design of online synchronous cyber lessons for early childhood students has been developed and discussed.

In the new era of information technology, teachers will have to keep learning to offer students with proper directions. The K12 digital school (K12-DS) is just for teachers' training through the Internet using digital school. The Kaohsiung city K12-DS is founded in 2001 by Prof. Nian-Shing Chen. It has already opened teachers' training courses for 10 semesters, and its excellent achievement has obtained an honor of wining the third place for the competition held by the Executive Yuan in Taiwan in 2002. It certainly exhibited its excellent model in implementation and operation. Therefore, exploring the critical success factors of K12- DS will be able to advance its strength to the digital school operators, and to helping them to operate the digital school continuously, and extend to the other cities and counties around Taiwan. All the teachers from the elementary and secondary schools will be able to have a more innovated and convenient digital learning environment.

Due to the rapid advancement of mobile communication technologies, many educators believed that these new technologies will have a great impact on the way of learning. By effectively applying shortmessage services as Learning Content Delivery (LCD) methods provided by mobile phone system to deliver content using different Learning Content Representation (LCR) types, M-learning can be implemented accordingly. However, the most important issue is whether this way can really achieve good Learning Outcomes (LOs) and be accepted by learners. This paper will explore the restraint of Short- Term Memory (STM) of psychological learning process through technology-mediated learning theory on assessing LOs. The finding of this study is to match different LCR types with different LCD methods to fit with learners’ different STM abilities would result higher LOs in M-learning environment.

Blended learning (BL) is a hybrid of classroom learning and online learning that includes the conveniences of online courses without the complete loss of face-to-face (F2F) contact. Advancements in communication technologies now allow us to have synchronous distributed interactions that occur in realtime with close to the same levels of fidelity as in the F2F environment. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand how to create effective BL experiences that incorporate both traditional instruction and online instruction. This article uses mathematics model to formulate the transactional distance to compare the interaction distance of traditional centralized F2F and synchronous distributed F2F. Transactional distance is then used to know about the communication gap between learner and instructor, content, and other learners. Finally, the paper verifies the validity of the transactional distance calculated through the mathematical model with the help of survey that elicits students’ perception towards those two environments.

Recent research has demonstrated the important of ontology and its applications. For example, while designing adaptive learning materials, designers need to refer to the ontology of a subject domain. Moreover, ontology can show the whole picture and core knowledge about a subject domain. Research from literature also suggested that graphical representation of ontology can reduce the problems of information overload and learning disorientation for learners. However, ontology constructions used to rely on domain experts in the past; it is a time consuming and high cost task. Ontology creation for emerging new domains like e-Learning is even more challenging. The aim of this paper is to construct e-Learning domain concept maps, an alternative form of ontology, from academic articles. We adopt some relevant journal articles and conferences papers in e-Learning domain as data sources, and apply text-mining techniques to automatically construct concept maps for e-Learning domain. The constructed concept maps can provide a useful reference for researchers, who are new to e- Leaning field, to study related issues, for teachers to design adaptive courses, and for learners to understand the whole picture of e-Learning domain knowledge.

With increasing use of Internet in interacting with e-learning resources anytime and anywhere, and interaction possibilities among teachers and students from different parts of the world, it is becoming increasingly important that we exploit the Internet technologies to achieve the most benefits in the education. This paper describes the Cyber Schooling framework that has been created to identify different scenarios in which the technology is able to serve the learning process. The framework takes the much-familiar traditional school structure as the basis and attempts to enhance it by the use of technology to overcome shortcomings of traditional education and study without time and space restriction. The Cyber Schooling framework includes four elements: Cyber School, Cyber Classroom, Cyber Teacher Desk and Cyber Student Desk. This framework provides scenarios to overcome shortcomings of traditional education and enables learners to study in a familiar school-oriented environment.

Formal logic has been considered as one of the advanced topics in computing that students do not grasp easily. But the inherent nature of formal logic makes itself a natural choice for forming an overbearing organizing structure, which can be utilized in providing scaffolding during instructional process. This paper discusses the role of formal logic in teaching information science and information systems. We claim that formal logic can be used to realize the modern instruction design principles by ensuring activation of relevant prior knowledge and experiences when learner moves from one topic to another. The paper also describes the successful implementation and evaluation of an on-line teaching tool utilizing predicate logic notation to assist learners in mastering a difficult to learn Unix/Linux system administration command.

With the improvement in technology and increasing bandwidth, synchronous solutions for instruction are becoming popular. They do not only provide savings in terms of time and cost, but also outperform asynchronous on-line instruction and even traditional face-to-face education in many circumstances. But the lack of pedagogical framework for synchronous instruction has till now affected the effective use of this medium. This paper describes an on-line synchronous learning model that aims to provide guidelines for teachers and students to conduct synchronous instruction. The model provides a broad range of scenarios to suit individual requirements and covers both synchronous lecturing and 'office hours' modes.

In traditional Chinese culture, failure or making a mistake would not be allowed and possibly incur blame or taunts. Students, therefore, are afraid of taking risks or challenges and lose a lot of good opportunities for learning. We have advanced a new learning model, called mission-based learning (MBL) model, to solve the problem. Particularly mission-based learning model is intended to help students for developing good attitude and ability to accomplish some critical tasks. Even though they know they may fail but by accepting task risk that students could learn how to be responsible, willing to take risk, and persistent in completing a task. We propound a theory of mission-based learning model. The theory we proposed would combine Keller's ARCS model, Clifford's constructive failure, Yerkes-Dodson Law, and job characteristics model.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the related factors that affect usage of Web-based teacher training in elementary and high school, adopting the theories of motivational orientations and technology acceptance model as foundations. This study depends on literature analysis and uses the questionnaire to collect data. A total of 658 subjects attending teachers' training courses are from the K12 Digital School. The main findings show that there are eight kinds of motivational orientations for Web-based teacher training and motivational orientations are significant differences among subjects in different age, school level and teaching year. Furthermore, attitude toward using and two kinds of motivational orientations including computer self-efficacy and social relationships will significantly affect the usage of Web-based teacher training positively. Finally, based on the research findings, this study proposes conclusions and suggestions for the related organizations to be a reference of conducting Web-based teacher training in the future.

A task-based learning model defines the process whereby students organize teams to accomplish some tasks by using and integrating what they have learnt in a creative way through access to the resources available on the network. The task-based learning model can be further broken down into sub-divisions to address different perspectives. The mission-based learning model is one of those. The mission-based learning model particularly helps students develop attitude and ability to accomplish some special task accepting the risk that they may fail. The main characteristics of a mission-based learning model are commitment, risk-taking, persistence and learning by error. In this study, we develop a typical instructional activity, named "Telling Story about Paper Bill", as mission-based learning model. The activity we propose is intended to help students integrate knowledge such as history, geography, environment, animal-care and computer skill. During this process of integration, students should develop attitudes of commitment, risk-taking and persistence, and the ability to accomplish tasks collaboratively.

Web based learning courses lack the explanation and interpretation of teaching materials which comes from the teacher. The authors implement a stream based lecturing system, named Media Master, which can fully integrate with Web based teaching materials and recurring traditional lecturing situations in limited network bandwidth. We not only adopt this system for teacher lecturing but also for other instructional activities like collaboration/peer learning, term project report and topic discussion. We also conducted many courses by adopting this system for three years, and the result is sound.

The aims of the research presented are to examine learning problems behind cyber universities in depth and try to draw out some concrete suggestions. The effort should aid understanding in this field so that people pay more attention to these issues, so that they efficiently set up and develop cyber universities. The study adopts a literature analysis and qualitative exploration methods to analyze the problems in many aspects from a well-recognized cyber university in Taiwan. The results showed that problems of cyber universities could be classified into six categories: infrastructure, system, administration, curriculum, interaction and learner. Concrete suggestions for each category of problems are also proposed.

The authors present an efficient routing algorithm for realizing any permutation in LIN (linear-permutation-class) on single-stage shuffle-exchange networks with k*k switching elements, where k=p is a prime number. For any positive integer number n there are N=k/sup n/ processors connected by the network. The proposed algorithm can realize LIN in 2n-1 passes; it can be implemented by using Nn processors in O(n) time. It can also be extended to the shuffle-exchange networks with (p/sup t/*p/sup t/) switching elements, where t is a positive integer number. In addition, the routing of any arbitrary permutations on the networks with any integer k>2 is discussed. Further, by using the techniques developed here, the authors present an optimal O(log n) parallel algorithm for solving a set of linear equations with a nonsingular coefficient matrix when the arithmetic is over the finite field GF(p/sup t/).>