Diverse approaches : a study of Australian journalism educators' use of web-based curriculum modules for reporting cultural difference

The Reporting Diversity website provides four curriculum modules to assist journalism educators to teach students about the issues and practice of reporting on cultural difference. The researchers co-ordinated the second round of trials of these resources in 2009, which involved the participation of academics and students from five Australian universities. A further 30 academics were surveyed to gauge their level of awareness of the materials. This paper reports on the educators’ evaluation of the resources and reveals the innovative ways in which the modules are being used and adapted in different classroom settings. The researchers argue that sharing different teaching approaches to the materials through the Reporting Diversity website would assist other academics to adapt the resources for their own use.

Improving nonwoven web quality with a new web scanning device

This thesis presents a novel web scanning device with high processing speed and optical sensitivity and a study of the interrelationships between dimensional parameters and functional properties of nonwovens using such a web scanning device.

Knowledge transfer in enterprise IT support provision using web-based self-service

This research identified critical success factors and a staged model of knowledge transfer in the provision of after-sales information technology support to enterprise customers when Web-based Self-service systems are used. The research highlights the need for a relational, stakeholder-oriented approach that considers stakeholder interactions, knowledge flows, needs and capabilities.

Web-based mathematics : student perspectives

This paper presents the results of a survey conducted with students (N=97) whose teachers have used the Web in their mathematics classes. The survey looked at students’ attitudes towards learning mathematics and their responses to the use of the Internet for learning mathematics. Factor analyses were used to determine the constructs that underlie the survey. Indices formed were used to explore their relationships with each other and with other variables. Interview findings were able to support and lend insight into some of these results.

Using web-based mathematical interactive exercises and exploratory investigations : the possibilities and pitfalls

This case study looks at how a teacher used interactive exercises and exploratory investigations to reinforce concepts that have been learnt in a Year 8 Mathematics class. It highlights the practical problems faced by the teacher in terms of technical issues such as slow download times and logging on problems as well as class management issues. The findings are discussed in the light of the teacher’s mediation with the affordances of the Internet.

Supporting knowledge transfer in web-based managed IT support

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance and complexities of the knowledge transfer process in the provision of effective managed after-sales IT support, when the web is used for service delivery.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper features an interpretive case study of a multinational Managed Service Provider (MSP) and a focus group of representatives from five comparable MSPs.

Findings – The paper finds that MSPs that use web-based channels for the provision of after-sales IT support services need to address a range of important social and organisational issues in order to realise cost and efficiency-based benefits.

Research limitations/implications – The paper provides a four stage processual model of knowledge transfer in the provision of web-based managed after-sales IT support services. The barriers and enablers of knowledge transfer at each stage are identified. The paper adopts a MSP perspective and suggests that further research from the customer perspective is required.

Practical implications – The paper highlights some important social and organisational enablers and barriers, which will guide MSPs when providing managed after-sales IT support using webbased channels.

Originality/value – The paper provides the first staged model of inter-organisational knowledge transfer in a complex multi-organisational and multi-channel web-based context.

Web-based mathematics : some 'dos' and 'don’ts'

This case study describes an “out of field” teacher’s use of the Internet to teach a range of mathematical topics in a modified Year 8 mathematics class. It highlights the importance of three factors for implementing a discernible web-based teaching strategy: appropriate choice of web objects,effective “virtual” pedagogy, and technical support and expertise. Based on these findings, a framework is suggested for constructing an effective teaching strategy to support the use of virtual resources in the actual mathematics classroom.

Reliable aggregation on network traffic for web based knowledge discovery

The web is a rich resource for information discovery, as a result web mining is a hot topic. However, a reliable mining result depends on the reliability of the data set. For every single second, the web generate huge amount of data, such as web page requests, file transportation. The data reflect human behavior in the cyber space and therefore valuable for our analysis in various disciplines, e.g. social science, network security. How to deposit the data is a challenge. An usual strategy is to save the abstract of the data, such as using aggregation functions to preserve the features of the original data with much smaller space. A key problem, however is that such information can be distorted by the presence of illegitimate traffic, e.g. botnet recruitment scanning, DDoS attack traffic, etc. An important consideration in web related knowledge discovery then is the robustness of the aggregation method , which in turn may be affected by the reliability of network traffic data. In this chapter, we first present the methods of aggregation functions, and then we employe information distances to filter out anomaly data as a preparation for web data mining.

Estimating non-response bias in a web-based survey of technology acceptance : a case study of unit guide information systems

Surveys are mostly challenged by response rates. Among the various types of survey research, web-based (internet-based/electronic/online) surveys are commonly used for data collection for a geographically diverse population. In surveys with high/low response rates, non-response bias can be a major concern. While it is not always possible to measure the actual bias due to non-response there are different approaches and techniques that help to identify reasons of non-response bias. The aims of this paper are twofold. (1) To provide an appropriate, interesting and important non-response bias case study for future web-based surveys that will provide guidance to other Information Systems researchers. The case-study concerns an online-survey to evaluate a technology acceptance model for Unit Guide Information systems (UGIS). (2) To discuss how nonresponse bias in a web-based technology acceptance study of an information system (UGIS in this case) can be contained and managed.

A comparative study of the effect of web-based versus in-class textbook ethics instruction on accounting students' propensity to whistle-blow

The authors examined whether accounting students’ propensity to whistle-blow differed between those instructed through a web-based teaching module and those exposed to a traditional in-class textbook-focused approach. A total of 156 students from a second-year financial accounting course participated in the study. Ninety students utilized the web-based module whereas 66 students were instructed through a traditional teaching approach based on ethical problems presented in the textbook. Subsequently, when presented with a whistle-blowing situation, it was found that students exposed to a web-based ethics instruction module were more likely to whistle-blow than those students exposed to a traditional in-class textbook ethics instruction approach.

Why web-based pseudo relevance feedback systems fail

 We review pseudo-relevance feedback as a mechanism for expanding short texts. Where short texts exhibit evolving concepts, topics and other characteristics, Web-based feedback systems were touted as the most ideal way of enriching the feature space of short texts. However, we note from a recent implementation of a Web-based pseudo-relevance feedback that it would only perform well under clinical situations. Further improvements to address fundamental noise in Web documents did not show significant improvements leading us to conclude that relevance feedback using Web documents directly are unsuitable for real-world conditions. In this paper, we present Eddi, which is a recent system that provides an exemplar of a typical pseudo-relevance feedback system. We first show the conditions in which Eddi will work and then discuss the situations where it would fail. We then present the variations to Eddi from our attempt to improve the robustness of Eddi's algorithm when dealing with complex Web documents. We then present the results from all variations to show the lack of robustness for pseudo-relevance feedback with Web documents.

Managing patient deterioration : a protocol for enhancing undergraduate nursing students’ competence through web-based simulation and feedback techniques

Aims: To describe a funded proposal for the development of an on-line evidence based educational program for the management of deteriorating patients.
Background: There are international concerns regarding the management of deteriorating patients with issues around the ‘failure to rescue’. The primary response to these issues has been the development of medical emergency teams with little focus on the education of primary first responders.
Design/Methods: A mixed methods triangulated convergent design. In this four phase proposal we plan to 1. examine nursing student team ability to manage deteriorating patients and based upon these findings 2. develop web based educational material, including interactive scenarios. This educational material will be tested and refined in the third Phase 3, prior to evaluation and dissemination in the final phase.
Conclusion: This project aims to enhance knowledge development for the management of deteriorating patients through rigorous assessment of team performance and to produce a contemporary evidence-based online training program.