This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's ve... more This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version BEER, M., HUANG, W. and HILL, R. (2003). Designing community care systems
Mobile devices are getting more powerful and affordable with a variety of useful tools to support... more Mobile devices are getting more powerful and affordable with a variety of useful tools to support students in their learning. With these advantages, many researchers have considered it very important to integrate the pedagogical and technological strengths of mobile devices into learning especially for higher education. However, the challenge for academic institutions is to understand which applications are suitable to support their learning activities and how best they might use them in and beyond formal classroom. This case study focuses on the evaluation of basic components that make up the MOBIlearn2 application for supporting students attending a one hour seminar or workshop of their choice. We conclude that the application is highly suitable for the students to collect data for their learning and it is essential to include them in the design stage in effort to reveal hidden errors unknown to developer.
The research reported in this paper is work-in-progress, exploring the use of cyber campuses to s... more The research reported in this paper is work-in-progress, exploring the use of cyber campuses to support students facing barriers accessing education. A cyber campus is designed and initially evaluated, and the results are presented here
In this paper we use the case study of a successful innovative e-government project, iSAC6+, to e... more In this paper we use the case study of a successful innovative e-government project, iSAC6+, to examine some of the key factors in the project's success with the aim of contributing to the general understanding of the challenges associated with managing e-government projects. We make observations, identify areas for deeper consideration and draw conclusions as to how lessons learned might be applied to other e-government projects. There has been considerable analysis into the success and failure of e-government projects. We analyse some of the literature to identify the unique features which might add additional challenge and risk to e-government projects and then focus on the case study, specifically on individual participants and stakeholders rather than on the project as a whole. The discussion looks at the vulnerability of e-gov projects resulting from one of their defining characteristics, their collaborative and multi-organisational nature. A collaborative project which me...
Purpose This study aims to examine managers’ perceptions of digital banking’s (DB) effect on cust... more Purpose This study aims to examine managers’ perceptions of digital banking’s (DB) effect on customer experience and banks’ financial performance. Design/methodology/approach The research uses interviews from the senior UK bank managers to gather their views on DB’s impact on customer experience and financial performance. The interviews were thematically analysed to produce results and a model. Findings The attributes affecting DB experience are as follows: service quality, functional quality, perceived value, service customisation, service speed, employee–customer engagement, brand trust, DB innovation, perceived usability and perceived risk. They affect customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty and financial performance. The research revealed relationships amongst these attributes (e.g. brand trust and loyalty). Research limitations/implications The study is a UK bank specific and can be replicated in other developed countries’ banks, helping in further comparison. However, DB...
EAI Endorsed Transactions on Future Intelligent Educational Environments, 2016
Attendance and participation in education are important for students to obtain the experiences ne... more Attendance and participation in education are important for students to obtain the experiences necessary to develop their knowledge. However, there are some students who experience challenges hindering their access and participation in Higher Education. To support students, Universities utilise E-Learning. One of the many E-Learning tools is the use of virtual worlds in the form of cyber campuses. This paper investigates the extent to which cyber campuses can help to mitigate barriers and support students experiencing them. A prototype has been developed and a series of empirical studies have been performed. The results of this research suggest that a cyber campus environment can be used as an alternative learning support tool that can enhance online learning experiences, and help to mitigate some of the barriers that hinder access and participation to education. The associated limitations of this research and the future work planned out are also presented.
Many colleagues have assisted the IEEE MultiMedia Editorial Board in the article review and selec... more Many colleagues have assisted the IEEE MultiMedia Editorial Board in the article review and selection process. By offering their time and talent, reviewers provide a valuable service to this publication. The editor in chief realizes that this type of professional service, while absolutely necessary, doesn't receive much recognition. Whereas reviewers' efforts on individual articles are performed under the cover of confidentiality, I publicly thank them here for their efforts during 2007.���Sethuraman Panchanathan, editor in chief, 2007
This paper describes the development of the learning environment for the Occupational Therapy Int... more This paper describes the development of the learning environment for the Occupational Therapy Internet School (OTIS). The OTIS project is a feasibility study for providing Internet based courses in health care disciplines. Courses use a problem based learning approach to promote ...
The increasing use of networking, coupled with an increasing distribution in the operations of or... more The increasing use of networking, coupled with an increasing distribution in the operations of organizations, has resulted in increasing problems of administration, management and control of information and co-ordination of work. With the aim of providing solutions to such problems, research into Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is concerned with investigating approaches and technologies for the support of group work, both within and among organizations, in which the group members may be distributed geographically.
Over the last two decades the use of E-learning technology increased to such an extent that the r... more Over the last two decades the use of E-learning technology increased to such an extent that the role of the traditional academic has been forced to change. Focusing on academics' views, this study examines their interactions in the E-learning environment and whether online learning applications have increased academic workload (Eynon, 2005; Olaniran, 2006). This study also identifies how their role has changed and the underlying factors which may cause negativity in their working environment. Based on a literature review and twelve interviews with academics the work suggests that online learning applications have increased workload. For some academics the use of E-learning technology in UK higher education can be a full time occupation. It is evident from the data that the drawbacks to current E-learning technology outweigh the number of benefits. A key concern is the high number of working hours spent on E-learning systems by academics. This research states unequivocally that the level of complexity for some academics is daunting as well as frustrating. A key finding from this research is a wish list made by academics that can help in their role as teachers in utilising E-learning technology. Managing expectations of academics is vital to the success of E-learning technology in higher education institutions.
KRAFT is an agent architecture for the integration of heterogeneous information systems. The focu... more KRAFT is an agent architecture for the integration of heterogeneous information systems. The focus in KRAFT is on the integration of knowledge in the form of constraints. In this article we describe the architecture from an ontological perspective. We start by introducing the agent architecture and illustrate its application in the telecommunication-network design.
Database and Expert Systems Applications. 8th International Conference, DEXA '97. Proceedings, 1997
The KRAFT project aims to investigate how a distributed architecture can support the transformati... more The KRAFT project aims to investigate how a distributed architecture can support the transformation and reuse of a particular class of knowledge, namely constraints, and to fuse this knowledge so as to gain added value, by using it for constraint solving or data retrieval.
We describe an approach to the development of a complex social care system that defines specific ... more We describe an approach to the development of a complex social care system that defines specific steps along the path to MAS implementation. In particular we explore the use of conceptual knowledge modelling techniques by means of conceptual graphs and a transactions-based architecture for model verification during requirements gathering, together with a translation to AUML for design specification, and propose a rigorous framework to enrich and extend existing AOSE methodologies. The resulting output from Transaction Agent Modelling (TrAM) can then be developed further using the agent development toolkit of choice.
This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's ve... more This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version BEER, M., HUANG, W. and HILL, R. (2003). Designing community care systems
Mobile devices are getting more powerful and affordable with a variety of useful tools to support... more Mobile devices are getting more powerful and affordable with a variety of useful tools to support students in their learning. With these advantages, many researchers have considered it very important to integrate the pedagogical and technological strengths of mobile devices into learning especially for higher education. However, the challenge for academic institutions is to understand which applications are suitable to support their learning activities and how best they might use them in and beyond formal classroom. This case study focuses on the evaluation of basic components that make up the MOBIlearn2 application for supporting students attending a one hour seminar or workshop of their choice. We conclude that the application is highly suitable for the students to collect data for their learning and it is essential to include them in the design stage in effort to reveal hidden errors unknown to developer.
The research reported in this paper is work-in-progress, exploring the use of cyber campuses to s... more The research reported in this paper is work-in-progress, exploring the use of cyber campuses to support students facing barriers accessing education. A cyber campus is designed and initially evaluated, and the results are presented here
In this paper we use the case study of a successful innovative e-government project, iSAC6+, to e... more In this paper we use the case study of a successful innovative e-government project, iSAC6+, to examine some of the key factors in the project's success with the aim of contributing to the general understanding of the challenges associated with managing e-government projects. We make observations, identify areas for deeper consideration and draw conclusions as to how lessons learned might be applied to other e-government projects. There has been considerable analysis into the success and failure of e-government projects. We analyse some of the literature to identify the unique features which might add additional challenge and risk to e-government projects and then focus on the case study, specifically on individual participants and stakeholders rather than on the project as a whole. The discussion looks at the vulnerability of e-gov projects resulting from one of their defining characteristics, their collaborative and multi-organisational nature. A collaborative project which me...
Purpose This study aims to examine managers’ perceptions of digital banking’s (DB) effect on cust... more Purpose This study aims to examine managers’ perceptions of digital banking’s (DB) effect on customer experience and banks’ financial performance. Design/methodology/approach The research uses interviews from the senior UK bank managers to gather their views on DB’s impact on customer experience and financial performance. The interviews were thematically analysed to produce results and a model. Findings The attributes affecting DB experience are as follows: service quality, functional quality, perceived value, service customisation, service speed, employee–customer engagement, brand trust, DB innovation, perceived usability and perceived risk. They affect customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty and financial performance. The research revealed relationships amongst these attributes (e.g. brand trust and loyalty). Research limitations/implications The study is a UK bank specific and can be replicated in other developed countries’ banks, helping in further comparison. However, DB...
EAI Endorsed Transactions on Future Intelligent Educational Environments, 2016
Attendance and participation in education are important for students to obtain the experiences ne... more Attendance and participation in education are important for students to obtain the experiences necessary to develop their knowledge. However, there are some students who experience challenges hindering their access and participation in Higher Education. To support students, Universities utilise E-Learning. One of the many E-Learning tools is the use of virtual worlds in the form of cyber campuses. This paper investigates the extent to which cyber campuses can help to mitigate barriers and support students experiencing them. A prototype has been developed and a series of empirical studies have been performed. The results of this research suggest that a cyber campus environment can be used as an alternative learning support tool that can enhance online learning experiences, and help to mitigate some of the barriers that hinder access and participation to education. The associated limitations of this research and the future work planned out are also presented.
Many colleagues have assisted the IEEE MultiMedia Editorial Board in the article review and selec... more Many colleagues have assisted the IEEE MultiMedia Editorial Board in the article review and selection process. By offering their time and talent, reviewers provide a valuable service to this publication. The editor in chief realizes that this type of professional service, while absolutely necessary, doesn't receive much recognition. Whereas reviewers' efforts on individual articles are performed under the cover of confidentiality, I publicly thank them here for their efforts during 2007.���Sethuraman Panchanathan, editor in chief, 2007
This paper describes the development of the learning environment for the Occupational Therapy Int... more This paper describes the development of the learning environment for the Occupational Therapy Internet School (OTIS). The OTIS project is a feasibility study for providing Internet based courses in health care disciplines. Courses use a problem based learning approach to promote ...
The increasing use of networking, coupled with an increasing distribution in the operations of or... more The increasing use of networking, coupled with an increasing distribution in the operations of organizations, has resulted in increasing problems of administration, management and control of information and co-ordination of work. With the aim of providing solutions to such problems, research into Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is concerned with investigating approaches and technologies for the support of group work, both within and among organizations, in which the group members may be distributed geographically.
Over the last two decades the use of E-learning technology increased to such an extent that the r... more Over the last two decades the use of E-learning technology increased to such an extent that the role of the traditional academic has been forced to change. Focusing on academics' views, this study examines their interactions in the E-learning environment and whether online learning applications have increased academic workload (Eynon, 2005; Olaniran, 2006). This study also identifies how their role has changed and the underlying factors which may cause negativity in their working environment. Based on a literature review and twelve interviews with academics the work suggests that online learning applications have increased workload. For some academics the use of E-learning technology in UK higher education can be a full time occupation. It is evident from the data that the drawbacks to current E-learning technology outweigh the number of benefits. A key concern is the high number of working hours spent on E-learning systems by academics. This research states unequivocally that the level of complexity for some academics is daunting as well as frustrating. A key finding from this research is a wish list made by academics that can help in their role as teachers in utilising E-learning technology. Managing expectations of academics is vital to the success of E-learning technology in higher education institutions.
KRAFT is an agent architecture for the integration of heterogeneous information systems. The focu... more KRAFT is an agent architecture for the integration of heterogeneous information systems. The focus in KRAFT is on the integration of knowledge in the form of constraints. In this article we describe the architecture from an ontological perspective. We start by introducing the agent architecture and illustrate its application in the telecommunication-network design.
Database and Expert Systems Applications. 8th International Conference, DEXA '97. Proceedings, 1997
The KRAFT project aims to investigate how a distributed architecture can support the transformati... more The KRAFT project aims to investigate how a distributed architecture can support the transformation and reuse of a particular class of knowledge, namely constraints, and to fuse this knowledge so as to gain added value, by using it for constraint solving or data retrieval.
We describe an approach to the development of a complex social care system that defines specific ... more We describe an approach to the development of a complex social care system that defines specific steps along the path to MAS implementation. In particular we explore the use of conceptual knowledge modelling techniques by means of conceptual graphs and a transactions-based architecture for model verification during requirements gathering, together with a translation to AUML for design specification, and propose a rigorous framework to enrich and extend existing AOSE methodologies. The resulting output from Transaction Agent Modelling (TrAM) can then be developed further using the agent development toolkit of choice.
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