Technology-Enhanced Learning in Higher Education

© 2014 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. This chapter explores issues that affect the uptake and integration of Technology in Higher Education, developing a framework to overcome some of the barriers. Technological adoption varies across disciplines. The authors consider disciplines as tribes, where some find technology acceptable and an enabler, whilst for others it is alien and deemed inappropriate. Some territories reflect technology as an area to defend and expand, whilst for others the imposition of technology and associated practices are considered a hostile intrusion into discipline practice. Within the framework, the authors reflect on various perspectives: practitioners', students', and support teams' perspectives within the wider ecosystems and structures. Practitioner concerns reflect discipline traditions and practices, from teaching through to assessment and how to manage the Wikipedia generation. Students' needs in a technological age reflect the demands of the Netizen as student, and the rise and challenge of MOOCs to the teacher and the learner. Institutional mechanisms provide the situation for the use of technology. The authors provide a framework within which to explore the above concerns and describe mechanisms to unite the academic tribes, to see the territorial boundaries as artificial and counter-productive, and to enable the utilisation of E-Learning in current and future Higher Education settings

Everyday experience of front-line professionals and in/formal carers: long term care of older people in England, the Netherlands and Taiwan

To address the risks to families of the availability of care for their older family members, this paper explores the impact of different care systems on the way that relevant care actors contribute to the long-term care of older people. It is based on an empirical study of the care needs assessment and care provision in England, the Netherlands and Taiwan. The participants in the study include 143 care actors at national, regional and local levels across the countries. It found that the objective of providing care needs is similar in each of the countries studied. However, the everyday life of professionals and in/formal carers differs based on the care culture and care policy in each country. Overall, care professionals and formal carers experience satisfaction in their caring role when sufficient time is available for them to work with individuals. Face-to-face contact with older people is important to care professionals if adequate needs assessment could be performed. Helping informal carers extend their ability to carry out their role may improve their well-being as carers and reduce the demand for formal care service

Digital Evidence

Digital evidence, now more commonly relied upon in legal cases, requires an understanding of the processes used in its identification, preservation, analysis and validation. Business managers relying on digital evidence in the corporate environment need a greater understanding of its true nature and difficulties affecting its usefulness in criminal, civil and disciplinary proceedings. This chapter describes digital evidence collection and analysis, and the implications of common challenges diminishing its admissibility. It looks at determining the evidentiary weight of digital evidence that can be perplexing and confusing because of the complexity of the technical domain. Digital evidence present on computer networks is easily replaced, altered, destroyed or concealed and requires special protection to preserve its evidentiary integrity. Consequently, business managers seeking the truth of a matter can find it a vexing experience, unless provided with a clear appraisal and interpretation of the relevant evidence. Validating evidence, that is often complex and incomplete, requires expert analysis to determine its value in legal cases to provide timely guidance to business managers and their legal advisers. While soundly configured security systems and procedures enhance data protection and recovery, they are often limited in the way they preserve digital evidence. Unprepared personnel can also contaminate evidence unless procedural guidelines and training are provided. The chapter looks at the benefits for prudent organisations, who may wish to include cyber forensic strategies as part of their security risk contingency, planning to minimise loss or degradation of digital evidence which, if overlooked, may have adverse legal repercussions