Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Learning management systems'

An interoperability gap exists between Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and Learning Object Repositories (LORs). Learning Objects (LOs) and the associated Learning Object Metadata (LOM) that is stored within LORs adhere to a variety of LOM standards. A common LOM standard found in LORs is the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) Content Aggregation Model (CAM). In contrast, LMSs are independent computer systems that manage and deliver course content to students via a web interface. This research addressed three important issues related to the interoperability gap: (a) a lack of a metadata standard that defined the format of how student assessment data should be communicated from LMSs to LORs, (b) a lack of an architectural standard for the movement of data from LMSs to LORs, and (c) a lack of middleware that facilitated the movement of the student assessment data from the LMSs to LORs. This research achieved the following objectives: (a) the SCORM CAM LOM standard was extended to facilitate the storage of student assessment data, (b) Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) was identified as the best architecture to resolve the interoperability gap between LMSs and LORs, (c) a panel of Computer Information Systems (CIS) experts participated in a five-stage, web-based, anonymous Delphi process that approved and ranked 28 functional requirements for a proposed middleware application, and (d) the functional requirements were verified via the development of a prototype that transferred student assessment data from a LMSs into the LOM of LOs that are stored within a LOR. In conclusion, the research demonstrated that there are three acceptable approaches to extending the SCORM LOM standard: (a) new metadata elements, (b) new vocabulary values, and (c) the reference of an internal or external XML file using a location element. The main accomplishments of the research were the gathering of SOA functional requirements and the development of a prototype that provided an approach for the resolution of the interoperability gap that exists between LMSs and LORs.

This paper addresses a new conceptual framework for a communitybased project management learning model that aims to support learning within a project and enhance the distribution of knowledge within a particular virtual community. This model also aims to develop a virtual community of doctoral students, who can manage their own projects online with other community members who have the same interest. In order to develop that model, a checklist of community-based project management process has been developed in the light of the literature review and the needs of stakeholders (doctoral students and researchers). Within this model, community-based project management includes three main elements: community, project and management. In relation to project, there are two main sub elements. First is projectbased learning (PBL), which is based on constructivist perspective of learning that make students construct their knowledge when they work together to accomplish specific goals. Second is the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK), which is a project management guide, and an internationally recognized standard [PMBOK Guide, 2004], that provides the fundamentals of project management as they apply to a wide range of projects, including construction, software, engineering, automotive, so the study deploy this approach to scaffold based project management learning model. In the terms of the community element, this study adopted the community of inquiry model, which defines a good e-learning environment through three major aspects: cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence. The last element which is addressed in this study called knowledge management. After identifying these elements, this study investigates a range of tools in the light of this model. The study analyses six different learning and content management systems (OPAL, Moodle, Joomla, e107, ZMS and TUDWCMS) in order to find out tool(s) that is/are sufficient for implementing the suggested study model.

This paper addresses a new conceptual framework for a communitybased project management learning model that aims to support learning within a project and enhance the distribution of knowledge within a particular virtual community. This model also aims to develop a virtual community of doctoral students, who can manage their own projects online with other community members who have the same interest. In order to develop that model, a checklist of community-based project management process has been developed in the light of the literature review and the needs of stakeholders (doctoral students and researchers). Within this model, community-based project management includes three main elements: community, project and management. In relation to project, there are two main sub elements. First is projectbased learning (PBL), which is based on constructivist perspective of learning that make students construct their knowledge when they work together to accomplish specific goals. Second is the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK), which is a project management guide, and an internationally recognized standard [PMBOK Guide, 2004], that provides the fundamentals of project management as they apply to a wide range of projects, including construction, software, engineering, automotive, so the study deploy this approach to scaffold based project management learning model. In the terms of the community element, this study adopted the community of inquiry model, which defines a good e-learning environment through three major aspects: cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence. The last element which is addressed in this study called knowledge management. After identifying these elements, this study investigates a range of tools in the light of this model. The study analyses six different learning and content management systems (OPAL, Moodle, Joomla, e107, ZMS and TUDWCMS) in order to find out tool(s) that is/are sufficient for implementing the suggested study model.

In this work we present a system for information extraction from Learning Management Systems. This system is ontology-based. It retrieves information according to the structure of the ontology to populate the ontology. We graphically present statistics about the ontology data. These statistics present latent knowledge which is difficult to see in the traditional Learning Management System. To answer questions about the ontology, a question answering system was developed using Natural Language Processing in the conversion of the natural language question into an ontology query language; Sumário: Extração de Informação de Sistemas de Gestão para Educação Usando Ontologias Neste dissertação apresentamos um sistema de extracção de informação de sistemas de gestão para educação (Learning Management Systems). Este sistema é baseado em ontologias e extrai informação de acordo com a estrutura da ontologia para a popular. Também permite apresentar graficamente algumas estatísticas sobre os dados da ontologia. Estas estatísticas revelam o conhecimento latente que é difícil de ver num sistema tradicional de gestão para a educação. Para poder responder a perguntas sobre os dados da ontologia, um sistema de resposta automática a perguntas em língua natural foi desenvolvido usando Processamento de Língua Natural para converter as perguntas para linguagem de interrogação de ontologias.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
Com o uso generalizado das tecnologias de informação no apoio ao ensino, é comum disponibilizar conteúdos digitais, seja através de Sistemas de Bibliotecas Digitais (DLMS) ou de Sistemas de Gerência de Aprendizagem (LMS). No entanto, estes sistemas funcionam de forma independente, têm características diferentes e manipulam tipos diferentes de materiais, sendo seus repositórios com dados e metadados heterogêneos e distribuídos. Os conteúdos destes repositórios seriam melhor aproveitados se estivessem integrados a um ambiente comum, ou fossem acessados de modo integrado a partir dos ambientes de de DLMS e LMS. Nesta tese é apresentada uma visão homogênea dos conteúdos de DLMS e LMS. Para esta homogeneização utilizou-se uma extensão da arquitetura de mediadores e tradutores que trata a integração de metadados, assim como ontologias para tratamento semântico. Foram consideradas ontologias locais para descrever os metadados de cada repositório e uma ontologia global para a integração. No entanto, os documentos dos repositórios dos DLMS tendem a ser monolíticos e não têm um enfoque na reutilização( reuso). Assim, foram definidas regras para extração dos conteúdos mais importantes destes documentos, o que possibilita a reutilização. Esta extração envolve técnicas de mineração de texto e utiliza regras para descobrir as definições contidas nos documentos. Foi desenvolvido um protótipo que demonstra a viabilidade do processo. Para facilitar o entendimento do trabalho, é apresentado um estudo de caso que utiliza a técnica proposta e o protótipo desenvolvido. O trabalho facilita e enriquece o desenvolvimento de materiais de aprendizagem, uma vez que torna os conteúdos de documentos das bibliotecas digitais reutilizáveis e integrados aos Objetos de Aprendizagem (LO) existentes.
With the widespread use of Information Technology for teaching support, it is usual to made digital content available through Digital Library Systems (DLMS) or Learning Management Systems (LMS).These systems, however, work independently, have different characteristics and manipulate different types of materials, and their data and metadata repositories are heterogeneous and distributed. The content of repositories would be better used if it was integrated in the same environment or accessed in an integrated way from DLMS and LMS. This thesis presents a homogeneous view of DLMS and LMS content. In order to provide such homogenization, it is proposed an extension of the mediator and wrapper architecture for dealing with metadata integration and ontologies for treating semantics. Local ontologies are used for describing each metadata repository, and a global ontology for the integration. As documents of DLMS repositories tend to be monolithic and not to follow a reuse approach, rules for extracting the most important content from these documents were developed in order to make them reusable. This extraction includes text mining techniques as well as rules for discovering definitions embedded in the documents. A prototype was developed which implements the extraction and proves the feasibility of this approach. In order to make the work easier to understand, it is presented a case study that uses the proposed technique and the prototype. The work described in this thesis facilitates and enriches the development of learning material by making the content of digital library documents reusable and integrated to existing learning objects.

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, System Design and Management Program, 2014.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 48-50).
As interest for adopting machine learning as a core component of a business strategy increases, business owners face the challenge of integrating an uncertain and rapidly evolving technology into their organization, and depending on this for the success of their strategy. The field of Machine learning has a rich set of literature for modeling of technical systems that implement machine learning. This thesis attempts to connect the literature for business and technology and for evolution and adoption of technology to the emergent properties of machine learning systems. This thesis provides high-level levers and frameworks to better prepare business owners to adopt machine learning to satisfy their strategic goals.
by Ritesh Shukla.
S.M. in Engineering and Management

Autonomic Computing is a Computer Science and Technologies research area, originated during mid 2000's. It focuses on optimization and improvement of complex distributed computing systems through self-control and self-management. As distributed computing systems grow in complexity, like multi-datacenter systems in cloud computing, the system operators and architects need more help to understand, design and optimize manually these systems, even more when these systems are distributed along the world and belong to different entities and authorities. Self-management lets these distributed computing systems improve their resource and energy management, a very important issue when resources have a cost, by obtaining, running or maintaining them. Here we propose to improve Autonomic Computing techniques for resource management by applying modeling and prediction methods from Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Machine Learning methods can find accurate models from system behaviors and often intelligible explanations to them, also predict and infer system states and values. These models obtained from automatic learning have the advantage of being easily updated to workload or configuration changes by re-taking examples and re-training the predictors. So employing automatic modeling and predictive abilities, we can find new methods for making "intelligent" decisions and discovering new information and knowledge from systems. This thesis departs from the state of the art, where management is based on administrators expertise, well known data, ad-hoc studied algorithms and models, and elements to be studied from computing machine point of view; to a novel state of the art where management is driven by models learned from the same system, providing useful feedback, making up for incomplete, missing or uncertain data, from a global network of datacenters point of view. - First of all, we cover the scenario where the decision maker works knowing all pieces of information from the system: how much will each job consume, how is and will be the desired quality of service, what are the deadlines for the workload, etc. All of this focusing on each component and policy of each element involved in executing these jobs. -Then we focus on the scenario where instead of fixed oracles that provide us information from an expert formula or set of conditions, machine learning is used to create these oracles. Here we look at components and specific details while some part of the information is not known and must be learned and predicted. - We reduce the problem of optimizing resource allocations and requirements for virtualized web-services to a mathematical problem, indicating each factor, variable and element involved, also all the constraints the scheduling process must attend to. The scheduling problem can be modeled as a Mixed Integer Linear Program. Here we face an scenario of a full datacenter, further we introduce some information prediction. - We complement the model by expanding the predicted elements, studying the main resources (this is CPU, Memory and IO) that can suffer from noise, inaccuracy or unavailability. Once learning predictors for certain components let the decision making improve, the system can become more ¿expert-knowledge independent¿ and research can focus on an scenario where all the elements provide noisy, uncertainty or private information. Also we introduce to the management optimization new factors as for each datacenter context and costs may change, turning the model as "multi-datacenter" - Finally, we review of the cost of placing datacenters depending on green energy sources, and distribute the load according to green energy availability.

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Operations Research Center, 2018.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-186).
Many problems in revenue management and operations management more generally can be framed as problems of resource allocation. This thesis focuses on developing policies and guarantees for resource allocation problems with reusable resources and on learning models for personalized resource allocation. First, we address the problem of pricing and assortment optimization for reusable resources under time-homogeneous demand. We demonstrate that a simple randomized policy achieves at least one half of the optimal revenue in both the pricing and assortment settings. Further, when prices are fixed a priori, we develop a method to compute the optimal randomized state-independent assortment policy. The performance of our policies is evaluated in numerical experiments based on arrival rate and parking time data from a municipal parking system. Though our algorithms perform well, our computational results suggest that dynamic pricing strategies are of limited value in the face of a consistent demand stream. Motivated in part by the computational results of the previous section, in the second section, we consider the problem of pricing and assortment optimization for reusable resource under time-varying demand. We develop a time-discretization strategy that yields a constant-factor performance guarantee relative to the optimal policy continuous-time policy. Additionally, we develop heuristic methods that implement a bid-price strategy between available resources based on pre-computed statistics that is computable in real-time. These methods effectively account for the future value of resources that in turn depend on the future patterns of demand. We validate our methods on arrival patterns derived from real arrival rate patterns in a parking context. In the third part, we consider the problem of learning contextual pricing policies more generally. We propose a framework for making personalized pricing decisions based on a multinomial logit model with features based on both customer attributes, item attributes, and their interactions. We demonstrate that our modeling procedure is coherent and in the well specified setting we demonstrate finite sample bounds on the performance of our strategy based on the size of the training data.
by Zachary Davis Owen.
Ph. D.

Bibliography: leaves 255-258.
The thesis as a whole concerns the identification and resolution organisational issues and details research that was undertaken in a manufacturing company producing light access equipment, Castor & Ladder incorporating Forlezer (C&L inc. rorlezer). The content itself is based on 'systems thinking' which endorses a holistic approach to problem solving - as opposed to the traditional reductionist or mechanistic approaches - and it is hoped to demonstrate the value of adopting a Systems Approach in resolving problems of an organisational nature. Particularly, the aim is to incorporate the consideration of underlying issues i.e. 'soft' problems pertinent to organisational dynamics, into a coherent and rigorous problem solving approach. In this regard, the approach taken focuses primarily on generating a holistic perception of the contextual 'problem situation' faced by the organisation. The view held is that in order to achieve effective solutions, a critical requirement is to first gain comprehensive understanding of the situation and its complexity. From a research perspective, the intention is to first enrich the perceived problem situation and then only to develop a concern (or hypothesis) that adequately presents the true issues at hand. Next, the aim is to develop the relevant theory applicable and necessary to the understanding and resolution of the situation, and to subsequently apply this theory to the context. In observing the outcome, the validity of the concern, as well as the theory is verified.

Bibliography: pages 150-158.
Health care systems all over the world are in crisis. The presenting symptom is a cost spiral that is out of control. Money supply is finite, and if this problem continues the system will eventually collapse. There are a number of causes associated with the problem that are usually analysed by reduction, an approach based upon an assumption of simple linear causal relations. This study shows the problem to be the dialectic opposite, in other words these problems are all interrelated through complex causal interactions. Therefore, the health care system is a complex social system and solutions to its problems may be found in terms of the interactions in such a system. An investigation into the history of the health care system shows that the system started with a simple one on one interaction between patients and physicians. At the time of its initiation, very little empirical knowledge was available about illness. After the renaissance, this changed dramatically with a subsequent increase in the ability to diagnose, but also in the complexity to treat illness. However, modern beliefs about illness and illness processes do not reflect the complexity of this knowledge. Beliefs about both illness and knowledge contribute to the process of diagnosis (medical decision making, or problem solving). Furthermore, the expectations, wants, and needs of patients and physicians, as well as the decision environment, increases the complexity and difficulty of this decision making process. These decisions initiate treatment processes that are ultimately represented in the health care system as cost. Therefore, the patient-physician system as the simplest initial interaction is an event that ultimately affects cost. This system is not functioning efficiently at present and a system of inquiry that can improve it may make a contribution to an improved system, and therefore a saving in cost. Altering the diagnostic system from a linear into a circular process, in other words into a learning system, improves both decision making and the use of knowledge. However, an inquiring system is needed in addition that can enhance the rigour of this process. Charles West Churchman devoted a large part of his work to knowledge and the way we acquire knowledge, in other words inquiring systems. His belief is that problem solving ought to be approached in a comprehensive way in order to minimise the risk for making incorrect decisions. Furthermore, because decisions are made upon incomplete information, the solutions will be the cause of new problems. Therefore, problem solving is a never ending cycle of learning. In order to have as complete information as possible about the problem, we have to: know the history of the problem, take a broad view that includes the environment of the problem (use a systems approach), and consider all the alternative solutions to the problem. Virtually all of our knowledge is based upon underlying assumptions. In order to test the validity of the knowledge we use for inquiry and decision making, it is important to test the assumptions upon which the knowledge is based. This is valid in regard to empirical knowledge as well. Finally, according to Churchman, decision making has to be ethical. Therefore, we have to do all we can to ensure that the implementation of the decision will improve the situation, not only now, but also in the future. The application of Churchman's approach to the patient-physician interaction, assists in the synthesis of a more comprehensive world view of health care and illness. This study shows that this leads to important changes in the negative interactions identified as contributing to the health care crisis. In terms of Churchman's approach, the role of physicians can be seen as managers of illness. Their purpose is therefore to plan for the improvement of illness (the problem) in an ethical way. Such planning should include the values of patients in deciding upon appropriate treatment. It is the submission of this study that only a methodology that is able to address complex human systems, such as a systems approach, and a comprehensive philosophy of inquiry, such as that of C West Churchman is appropriate to address the current problems of the health care system.

L’educació va ser marcada a l’any 2000 per les Nacions Unides com un dels Objectius del Mil·lenni pel desenvolupament. Amb aquest objectiu, també conegut com “educació per a tothom”, es pretén que per l’any 2015, tots els nens i nenes del planeta puguin acabar l’educació primària. Per donar prioritat a aquest objectiu, les Nacions Unides van declarar el període entre 2005 i 2015 com el Decenni de l’Educació pel Desenvolupament Sostenible. El decenni promou l’educació com a element bàsic per aconseguir transformar la societat cap a una societat més sostenible. Transformar l’educació no és una tasca fàcil. Per aquest motiu, l’Informe Delors encarregat per la UNESCO proposa una direcció per fer la transformació cap a l’aprenentatge durant tota la vida (lifelong learning). Els coneixements i habilitats que hom aprèn han de permetre’l afrontar els reptes i problemes durant tota la vida. Cal prendre noves habilitats i actituds, en lloc de coneixements que caduquen. En la Societat de la Informació cal aprendre competències digitals, per poder desenvoluparse a la societat. Les competències digitals son tanmateix una eina vehicular de tot tipus d’aprenentatge. Per tant, les Tecnologies de la Informació i la Comunicació (TIC) no es poden aplicar de qualsevol manera a l’educació, ni tots els usos de les TIC aplicades a l’educació fomenten el mateix tipus d’aprenentatge. Cal buscar aquells usos de les TIC aplicades a l’educació que fomenten el desenvolupament sostenible i que ajuden a combatre la fractura digital (la diferència en l’accés a les TIC entre països, regions o grups de persones). Les TIC mòbils i la seva ràpida adopció arreu del món, tenen un gran potencial per facilitar una transformació en l’educació cap al lifelong learning. El sector de les TIC mòbils és l’únic sector o grup de TIC on la fractura digital entre països rics i pobres es redueix. Com que molts d’aquests dispositius mòbils tenen la capacitat d’accedir a Internet (el que es coneix com Internet mòbil), es planteja usar aquests dispositius com una eina perquè els més pobres puguin accedir a la Societat de la Informació. Un cop garantit l’accés a la Xarxa, existeixen a Internet moltes eines de software lliure per aquestes plataformes mòbils. Aquestes eines poden ser emprades perquè tothom pugui difondre el seu missatge. En el context de les TIC mòbils aplicades a l’educació (m-learning) per fomentar l’aprenentatge durant tota la vida, són moltes les problemàtiques que existeixen. En concret, com introduir el m-learning a les pràctiques de les institucions educatives, de forma relativament simple i produint projectes de m-learning que tinguin una durabilitat a llarg termini. Per ajudar a aconseguir la durabilitat a llarg termini dels projectes de m-learning, el treball present proposa una sèrie de guies o aspectes a tenir en compte. Una manera d’introduir l’m-learning a les pràctiques de les institucions educatives, és a través de la integració amb altres tecnologies educatives més madures i implantades. En concret, amb els Learning Management Systems (LMS), que són les plataformes de elearning que sovint empren les institucions educatives actuals. Els LMS actuals han sigut font d’innovació en educació durant molt de temps. Els LMS acostumen a tenir el curs com a element central a partir d’on organitzen lliçons que contenen recursos i eines educatives. Aquesta estructura mimetitza l’estructura de les classes tradicionals on el professor imparteix uns continguts establerts en un pla d’estudis a un grup d’estudiants i a un ritme uniforme. Per aquest motiu, molts estudiants consideren aquestes plataformes poc flexibles i poc adaptables a un ritme d’aprenentatge més personal. A més, els LMS tenen nombroses limitacions per interactuar amb altres aplicacions externes com les xarxes socials, blogs o aplicacions mòbils. Aquests darrers tipus d’aplicacions són aplicacions que molts estudiants acostumen a emprar per aprendre. Per la seva part, el m-learning ofereix 1) uns entorns d’aprenentatge més personalitzats, 2) un aprenentatge més centrat en l’estudiant i 3) un canal alternatiu per accedir a materials o serveis. La contrapartida és que, sovint, hi ha manca de suport per part de les institucions educatives per introduir el m-learning, donat que implica canviar maneres de treballar ja establertes. També cal formació al professorat per poder introduir l’m-lerning i finalment existeixen problemes d’interoperabilitat amb les plataformes de e-learning. Aquesta separació o dicotomia entre el món de les plataformes de e-learning i el m-learning es podria solucionar integrant les aplicacions de m-learning en els processos o activitats de e-learning. Per aquest motiu, es planteja estudiar el problema de com es poden integrar les aplicacions de m-learning amb els LMS actuals. Amb la finalitat d’estudiar aquest problema sorgeix el projecte Moodbile. Aquest projecte pretén 1) estendre un LMS concret, Moodle, al món dels dispositius mòbils, per poder definir aplicacions mòbils que repliquin alguns dels serveis oferts per l’LMS des de dispositius mòbils i 2) proporcionar un marc perquè les aplicacions mòbils tinguin contra partida a l’LMS en forma d’activitats especials. El present treball es centra en estendre un LMS concret, Moodle, al món dels dispositius mòbils, per poder definir aplicacions mòbils que repliquin alguns dels serveis oferts per l’LMS des de dispositius mòbils.
La educación fue marcada en el año 2000 por las Naciones Unidas como uno de los Objetivos del Milenio para el desarrollo. Con este objetivo, también conocido como "educación para todos", se pretende que para el año 2015, todos los niños y niñas del planeta puedan terminar la educación primaria. Para dar prioridad a este objetivo, las Naciones Unidas declararon el período entre 2005 y 2015 como el Decenio de la Educación para el Desarrollo Sostenible. El decenio promueve la educación como elemento básico para lograr transformar la sociedad hacia una sociedad más sostenible. Transformar la educación no es una tarea fácil. Por este motivo, el Informe Delors encargado por la UNESCO propone una dirección para hacer la transformación hacia el aprendizaje durante toda la vida (lifelong learning). Los conocimientos y habilidades que se aprende deben permitirle afrontar los retos y problemas durante toda la vida. Hay que aprender nuevas habilidades y actitudes, en lugar de conocimientos que caducan. En la Sociedad de la Información hay que aprender competencias digitales, para poder desarrollarse en la sociedad. Las competencias digitales son una herramienta vehicular de todo tipo de aprendizaje. Por tanto, las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) no se pueden aplicar de cualquier manera al educación, ni todos los usos de las TIC aplicadas a la educación fomentan el mismo tipo de aprendizaje. Hay que buscar aquellos usos de las TIC aplicadas a la educación que fomentan el desarrollo sostenible y que ayudan a combatir la brecha digital (la diferencia en el acceso a las TIC entre países, regiones o grupos de personas). Las TIC móviles y su rápida adopción en todo el mundo, tienen un gran potencial para facilitar una transformación en la educación hacia el lifelong learning. El sector de las TIC móviles es el único sector o grupo de TIC donde la brecha digital entre países ricos y pobres se reduce. Como muchos de estos dispositivos móviles tienen la capacidad de acceder a Internet (lo que se conoce como Internet móvil), se plantea usar estos dispositivos como una herramienta para que los más pobres puedan acceder a la Sociedad de la Información. Una vez garantizado el acceso a la Red, existen en Internet muchas herramientas de software libre para estas plataformas móviles. Estas herramientas pueden ser utilizadas para que todos puedan difundir su mensaje. En el contexto de las TIC móviles aplicadas a la educación (m-learning) para fomentar el aprendizaje durante toda la vida, son muchas las problemáticas existentes. En concreto, como introducir el m-learning en las prácticas de las instituciones educativas, de forma relativamente simple y produciendo proyectos de m-learning que tengan una durabilidad a largo plazo. Para ayudar a conseguir la durabilidad a largo plazo de los proyectos de m-learning, el trabajo presente propone una serie de guías o aspectos a tener en cuenta. Una manera de introducir el m-learning en las prácticas de las instituciones educativas, es a través de la integración con otras tecnologías educativas más maduras e implantadas. En concreto, con los Learning Management Systems (LMS), que son las plataformas de elearning que a menudo utilizan las instituciones educativas actuales. Los LMS actuales han sido fuente de innovación en educación durante mucho tiempo. Los LMS suelen ofrecer el curso como elemento central a partir de donde organizan lecciones que contienen recursos y herramientas educativas. Esta estructura mimetiza la estructura de las clases tradicionales, donde el profesor imparte unos contenidos preestablecidos en un plan de estudios a un grupo de estudiantes y a un ritmo uniforme. Por este motivo, muchos estudiantes consideran estas plataformas poco flexibles y poco adaptables a un ritmo de aprendizaje más personal. Además, los LMS tienen numerosas limitaciones para interactuar con otras aplicaciones externas como las redes sociales, blogs o aplicaciones móviles. Estos últimos tipos de aplicaciones son aplicaciones que muchos estudiantes suelen emplear para aprender. Por su parte, el m-learning ofrece 1) unos entornos de aprendizaje más personalizados, 2) un aprendizaje más centrado en el estudiante y 3) un canal alternativo para acceder a materiales o servicios. La contrapartida es que a menudo, hay falta de apoyo por parte de las instituciones educativas para introducir el m-learning, dado que implica cambiar formas de trabajar ya establecidas. También es necesaria la formación al profesorado para poder introducir el m-lerning y finalmente existen problemas de interoperabilidad con las plataformas de e-learning. Esta separación o dicotomía entre el mundo de las plataformas de e-learning y el m-learning se podría solucionar integrando las aplicaciones de m-learning en los procesos o actividades de e-learning. Por este motivo, se plantea estudiar el problema de cómo se pueden integrar las aplicaciones de m-learning con los LMS actuales. Con el fin de estudiar este problema surge el proyecto Moodbile. Este proyecto pretende 1) extender un LMS concreto, Moodle, al mundo de los dispositivos móviles, para poder definir aplicaciones móviles que repliquen algunos de los servicios ofrecidos por el LMS desde dispositivos móviles y 2) proporcionar un marco para que las aplicaciones móviles tengan contra partida al LMS en forma de actividades especiales. El presente trabajo se centra en extender un LMS concreto, Moodle, al mundo de los dispositivos móviles, para poder definir aplicaciones móviles que repliquen algunos de los servicios ofrecidos por el LMS desde dispositivos móviles.
Education is an engine for change. United Nations (UN) stated in 2000 that education is one of the Millennium Goals for Development. With this goal in mind, the United Nations wanted to ensure that all the children might be able to complete primary education by 2015. UN declared the period 2005-2015 Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, because education is a key element to transform society into a more sustainable one. That is why the Delors Report proposes a transformation of society towards lifelong learning; the abilities and knowledge that a person learns has to help him overcome challenges all his life. It is necessary to learn new abilities and aptitudes, instead of perishable knowledge. It is necessary to learn digital competences to develop further in the society. Digital competences are tools used in all kind of learning. Not all uses of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for education encourage the same type of learning. We must find those uses of ICT for education that promote sustainable development and help bridge the digital divide. Mobile ICT has great potential to transform education towards lifelong learning. Mobiles are the only ICT sector where the digital divide between rich and poor is decreasing. Mobile Internet may be a tool for the poorest to access the Information Society. Once granted access to the Internet, there are many free online software tools for mobile platforms. These tools can be used for everyone to spread their message. In the context of mobile ICT for education (m-learning) to promote lifelong learning, many problems need to be addressed. For example, how to introduce m-learning practices in educational institutions, in a relatively simple way, producing m-learning projects that have a long-term sustainability. To help achieve long-term sustainability of m-learning projects, this work proposes a series of guidelines. One way to introduce m-learning in the practices of educational institutions, is through integration with other educational technologies. This is the case of Learning Management Systems (LMS), which are the most used e-learning platforms in current educational institutions. LMS usually present the course as an organizational unit divided into lessons that contain resources and educational tools. This structure mimics the structure of the traditional classroom where the teacher teaches a predetermined content in a curriculum to a group of students. LMS have several limitations to interact with external applications such as social networks, blogs or mobile applications. These external applications are often used by students to learn. In contrast to LMS, m-learning offers 1) a more personalized learning environment, 2) more student-centered learning and 3) an alternative channel to access content or services. The downside is that often there is lack of support from educational institutions to introduce m-learning, because it means changing established ways of working. It is also necessary to train teachers in order to introduce the m-learning and finally there are interoperability problems with e-learning platforms. This dichotomy between the world of e-learning platforms and m-learning could be solved by integrating the m-learning applications with current e-learning platforms. For this reason, this work studies the problem of how to integrate m-learning applications with existing LMS. To study this problem the Moodbile project was initiated. This project aims to 1) extend a particular LMS, Moodle, to the world of mobile devices. The goal is to create mobile applications that replicate some of the services offered by the LMS and 2) provide a framework for mobile applications in the LMS side in the form of special activities. The present work focuses on extending a particular LMS, Moodle, to the world of mobile devices in order to define mobile applications that replicate some of the services offered by the LMS.

This study investigates existing learning management systems practices, in this case Canvas and Moodle in relation to user personalization and students’ learning styles as both factors are closely contribute to the design of a meaningful learning experience for learners. With the expansion of these teaching tools and methods, it seems crucial to determine to what extent they actually serve the learner and what role is really given to the student using these online platforms. Factors such as instructors’ feedback, peer communication, learning objects and follow-up will be examined. This study is anchored in a Swedish academic setting, and aims to provide a comprehensive overview of learners' needs, expectations, and preferences to benefit educational institutions as well as LMS developers. The goal is to assess how such factors play an essential role in the personalization of learning tools and to suggest that their consideration can lead to the development of more intuitive LMS platforms that do not solely rely on content uploaded by teachers, but that can in turn potentially offer relevant content tailored to each user.
Den här uppsatsen undersöker befintliga praxis för lärande hanteringssystem, i detta fall Canvas och Moodle, i förhållande till användaranpassning och studenternas inlärningsstilar, eftersom båda faktorerna bidrar till utformningen av en meningsfull inlärningsupplevelse för studenterna. På grund av expansionen av dessa undervisningsverktyg verkar det avgörande att bestämma i vilken utsträckning de faktiskt tjänar inläraren och vilken roll studenten verkligen får när hen använder dessa plattformar. Faktorer som lärarnas återkoppling, kommunikation med andra elever, lärandeobjekt och uppföljning kommer att undersökas noggrant. Studien är förankrad i en svensk akademisk miljö och syftar att ge en heltäckande översikt av inlärarnas behov, förväntningar och preferenser. Målet är att förstå hur dessa faktorer spelar en väsentlig roll i personaliseringen av lärverktyg och att föreslå att deras beaktande kan leda till utveckling av mer intuitiva LMS-plattformar som inte enbart förlitar sig på innehåll som laddas upp av lärare, utan som i sin tur potentiellt kan erbjuda relevant innehåll som är skräddarsytt för varje användare.

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, February 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 50-51).
Machine learning algorithms used for natural language processing (NLP) currently take too long to complete their learning function. This slow learning performance tends to make the model ineffective for an increasing requirement for real time applications such as voice transcription, language translation, text summarization topic extraction and sentiment analysis. Moreover, current implementations are run in an offline batch-mode operation and are unfit for real time needs. Newer machine learning algorithms are being designed that make better use of sampling and distributed methods to speed up the learning performance. In my thesis, I identify unmet market opportunities where machine learning is not employed in an optimum fashion. I will provide system level suggestions and analyses that could improve the performance, accuracy and relevance.
by Sabin M. Thomas.
S.M. in Engineering and Management

This study addresses faculty perceptions of how the features of existing learning management systems (LMS) currently and potentially enhance their assessment of student work. Within this type of technology, a selection of a couple of main systems, namely Blackboard and Moodle, was examined. A critical analysis of the exiting literature on the adoption of assessment features within the classrooms for formative purposes is presented. A mixed methods research design was used in order to evaluate the effectiveness of formative assessment tools in LMS. A survey was electronically distributed to professors in two mid-sized universities in Eastern Ontario, Canada to gather data in the first phase. The second phase of data collection entailed interviewing a subset of the professors after analysing the first set of data. Additional analysis was conducted in order to identify the factors that can elevate the perception and use of LMS as major tools for formative assessment. Results revealed that professors are generally struggling with the existing tools in LMS and perceive them to be only marginally effective to conduct formative assessment to the extent that they desire, especially at higher order level. They also consider the existing number of tools as being limited. Recommendations were made to improve the design of assessment tools in LMS for formative purposes. Training was identified as the main factor to increase the use of these tools along with receiving institutional support, extra time and technical help in integrating the new tools in their teaching.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008.
Rogers, Juan D., Committee Chair ; Klein, Hans K., Committee Member ; Bolter, Jay David, Committee Member ; Nelson-Palmer, Mike, Committee Member ; Kingsley, Gordon, Committee Member.

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-136).
The aim of this research is to understand how emerging rotorcraft companies in various countries accomplished technological learning over the last sixty years. Owing to its unique products and growing market demand, rotorcraft industry is one of the most globalized and dynamic sectors of the aerospace industry. Understanding technological learning in the rotorcraft industry is important to industrial policy makers and corporate managers who are seeking more clarity in the relationship between rotorcraft companies and the global social-political environment. Although there has already been extensive research on technological learning in various industries, evidence of technological learning in the rotorcraft industry has been lacking. This research aims to fill this gap in the field of technological learning by unveiling the learning dynamic and technological evolution of emerging rotorcraft companies. This thesis will analyze these developments by research on emerging rotorcraft companies' National Innovation Systems (NIS) and their different modes of cooperation with foreign companies. The analysis on the companies' NIS is an important element of the research framework as it defines the national innovation environment for the industry. NIS represents the unique system of institutional, private and foreign stakeholders and their interaction in the country. The analysis on the different modes of cooperation with foreign companies is the second key element of the research framework as mode of cooperation is an important technological indicator for emerging rotorcraft companies. To substantiate the findings of technological learning in the rotorcraft industry, three case studies of emerging rotorcraft companies - Agusta (Italy), Avicopter (China) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Aerospace (Japan) were made. Each case provides both holistic and detailed view of the unique technological learning system of the company by analyzing both national-level and company-level factors. This thesis synthesizes and compares the three companies' technological learning systems and draws conclusion in relationship to their respective NIS. This thesis has identified that concurrent internal learning, a history of cooperation, favorable national learning environment and production scale are essential for emerging rotorcraft companies to succeed. Moreover, it has also found that denial of technology access only slows down but does not prevent technological learning completely. This thesis will not only provide industrial policy makers and corporate managers with greater insight into the technological learning systems of emerging rotorcraft companies, but also a different perspective regarding technological transfer and cooperation. Finally, this thesis contributes to the research on technological learning through its original case studies from the rotorcraft industry.
by Thiam Soon Gan.
S.M.in Engineering and Management

Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are making huge investments in infrastructure, equipment, technology, and professional development programmes of instructors in order to improve their educational effectiveness. However, the decisions regarding investments in technology implementation are generally made without understanding the factors that may affect the actual users of the technology. A lack of understanding of these factors often results in poor adoption of the technology due to users’ unwillingness to accept it; hence the new technology does not meet its anticipated benefits. Learning Management Systems such as Blackboard and Moodle are widely adopted for both on-campus and off-campus students in major universities around the world. The Learning Management System (LMS) has become an essential package for instructors and students in teaching and learning environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the determining factors (i.e., effort expectancy, performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influence, hedonic motivation, and habit) of instructors’ behavioural intentions to use an LMS in Saudi HEIs, by applying a modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model – UTAUT2. Most technology adoption models have been developed and tested in Western countries. It would be naïve to assume that such technology adoption models could be equally applicable across all cultural settings, especially in developing countries. The UTAUT2 model does not address cultural factors and lacks cross-cultural study in non-Western countries. This study extends the UTAUT2 model by including Hofstede's (1980a) cultural dimensions, technology awareness, and racial groups as the moderators of the model. A sequential explanatory mixed method approach is employed to collect quantitative data via a Google survey questionnaire, followed by the qualitative data collection via three focus group discussions from multinational instructors of HEIs in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The quantitative data were analysed with structural equation modelling using SPSS/Amos software, whereas the qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis procedure. The findings revealed that facilitating conditions were the strongest predictor of behavioural intention to adopt an LMS, followed by performance expectancy and hedonic motivation. Effort expectancy and social influence have positive effects on behavioural intention. In addition, the relationship between behavioural intention and use behaviour was also significant. The moderating variables were assessed by running an overall model and then a path-by-path test. Technology awareness, racial groups, and cultural dimensions exerted a moderating impact on instructors’ behavioural intension to use an LMS in their teaching. This study attempted to address limitations of the original UTAUT2 model by incorporating new variables in the context of Saudi HEIs. Hence, the novel model provides a new methodology, fills gaps in the literature, and thus reflects an effort to expand the UTAUT2 model. The inclusion of new constructs makes this the first study of its kind in exploring instructors’ behavioural intention and usage of LMS in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, and is expected to be applicable to other educational institutions of the country. This study is limited to onetime data collection from male and full-time instructors at HEIs in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. For greater generalizability, future research could be extended to a longitudinal study including male and female populations in other institutions and regions.

A learning management system (LMS) is a tool ostensibly designed to better manage, and therefore improve, the learning process. Much previous research has indicated the potential benefits for learning and pedagogy that an LMS affords (Heirdsfield, Walker, Tambyah, & Beutel, 2011; Lonn & Teasley, 2009; Morgan, 2003). This study aimed to examine the impact of LMS on teaching and learning in traditional classroom environments. More specifically, it sought to explore the experience and perceptions of faculty in the use of LMS for learning and teaching in Saudi higher education. A mixed method approach consisting of a questionnaire and in-depth interviews was used to implement the research investigation. In the first phase, quantitative data were collected, via the questionnaire, from 132 faculty members to investigate the nature of their use of the LMS, and to identify which features they used most frequently as well as their reasons. In the second phase, in-depth semi-structured interviews with eleven faculty members were conducted to explore the impact of using the LMS on teaching and learning practices from the perspective of faculty members, and to identify the challenges and/or benefits that they encountered while using this system. Generally, the study found that although the LMS was not used to its full potential by faculty, it was perceived as a useful educational tool that had a positive effect on their classes in terms of promoting communication with students, improving the quality of teaching, supporting student engagement in learning, maintaining transparency, protecting students’ privacy, and clarifying students’ responsibility. However, the study revealed some difficulties that might limit the achievement of these benefits such as the students' reluctance to use the system, the complexity of LMS interface and its reliability, as well as the lack of administrative support in terms of inadequate training programmes to meet the needs of faculty members and a lack of a system of incentives and rewards. The study suggests that the identified benefits are expected to increase when faculty become more familiar with the LMS and when the difficulties they face are resolved.

This thesis seeks to contribute to the field of learning management system (LMS) development in tertiary educational institutions, particularly to advance the adoption of learning management systems (LMSes) by exploring the incorporation of sociallymotivated discussion forum models. This study proposes a Web-based application, which includes four different discussion forum models for LMSes, in order to test usability and student preferences. The purpose of this study was to compare two non-social discussion forums and two social discussion forums, to determine their appropriateness in terms of attributes or features and general functionality for LMSes. The design processes led to the creation of a Web-based application called 4DFs, which includes four different discussion forum models. Two of these models are non-social discussion forums: the chat room unstructured model and the traditional general threaded discussion. The other two types are social discussion forums, where users can choose who they converse with: the Twitter-style short comment feed and the Facebook-style. The chat room and the traditional general threaded discussion forums' features are based on those of Sakai, since the research sample was comprised of students from the University of Cape Town (UCT). The Twitter-style and Facebook-style elements, such as retweets, hashtags, likes and reposts, are based on Twitter and Facebook. A pilot study was conducted to discover any errors or issues with the experimental procedure. A controlled experiment was then conducted with 31 students from the institution. Participants had to fill out a background information survey to gather some demographic information and to understand more about participants' previous experiences using chat rooms, discussion forums, and social media applications for university related purposes and for non-university related purposes. Following that, participants were given tasks to test all the features of the different discussion forum models. To avoid bias in the participants' choosing of discussion forum models, the research was conducted with a Counterbalanced Measures Design. Participants had to fill in the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire in conjunction with their use of the Web-based application. Then, after using all discussion forums, they had to fill out a preferences questionnaire that asked about their preferences of the discussion forums and the features. The Twitter-style short comment feed model was preferred in terms of the ease of use and since participants were familiar with this forum. This was followed by the chat room unstructured model and the traditional general threaded discussion in terms of these forums' ease of use and students' preference for the layout. The Facebook-style was less preferable. Also, participants indicated that the post button, reply button, edit, delete, and search button were more beneficial features. Participants mention that the layout of the chat room unstructured model was not optimal, since the massive amount of text made it confusing and unclear to decipher. Participants suggested that including the uploading of media, allowing private chat, adding extra features for important posts, and using a repost button in the discussion forums would be more useful. The study found that students preferred that the learning forum include certain characteristics; they prioritised ease of use, less complexity, less interaction and a user-friendly interface over their familiarity with the forum. For learning, there is a need to use the features for a specific purpose so users do not necessarily want extra fancy features (like emojis), instead they want systems that help them to learn efficiently.

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, System Design and Management Program, Engineering and Management Program, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 93-97).
Machine Learning (ML) is an emerging business capability that have transformed many organizations by enabling them to learn from past data and helping them predict or make decisions on unknown future events. While ML is no longer the preserve of large IT companies, there are abundant opportunities for mid-sized organizations who do not have the resources of the larger IT companies to exploit their data through ML so as to gain deeper insights. This thesis outlines these opportunities and provide guidance for the adoption of ML by these organizations. This thesis examines available literature on current state of adoption of ML by organizations which highlight the gaps that motivate the thesis in providing a guiding framework for applying ML. To achieve this, the thesis provides the practitioner with an overview of ML from both technology and business perspectives that are integrated from multiple sources, categorized for ease of reference and communicated at the decision making level without delving into the mathematics behind ML. The thesis thereafter proposes the ML Integration framework for the System Architect to review the enterprise model, identify opportunities, evaluate technology adoption and architect the ML System. In this framework, system architecting methodologies as well as Object-Process Diagrams are used to illustrate the concepts and the architecture. The ML Integration framework is subsequently applied in the context of a hypothetical mid-sized hospital to illustrate how an architect would go about utilizing this framework. Future work is needed to validate the ML Integration framework, as well as improve the overview of ML specific to application domains such as recommender systems and speech/image recognition.
by Alan Tham.
S.M. in Engineering and Management

Thesis (M.S. in Product Development)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2002.
Thesis advisor(s): Keith Snider, Bob Schultz. Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-130). Also available online.

Grounded in the Design Science Research Approach in Information Systems, the goal of this research project was to conceptualise, design, and develop, an innovative framework for Programme Alignment, Implementation, and Reporting (PAIR) in order to facilitate student success at a South African higher education institution (University ABC) . For this study, the researcher applied PAIR to two academic departments at University ABC. Construction of the framework was interpretively considered and informed by the Diffusion of Innovations Theory of Everett Rogers (1995). The Blackboard Learn® Goals Area (BbGA), a feature embedded in the official Learning Management System (LMS) of University ABC, was incorporated into PAIR as it afforded the two departments mentioned above the opportunity to provide proof of evidence that programme outcomes were constructively aligned with course content, course assessment, student digital activities, the tracking of students’ performance, and the monitoring of students’ progress. It was argued that PAIR could also provide a basis for professional programme outcomes in the departments mentioned above when aligned to their respective Professional Boards’ accreditation criteria requirements. It was found that, within a decentralised higher education institution (such as University ABC) where an annual quality review of programme and module outcomes alignment and reporting in departments is not compulsory, that PAIR could facilitate such a process as part of a faculty’s and a department’s teaching goals. It was also concluded that PAIR could afford South African higher education institutions in general the opportunity to contextualise outcomes coverage and achievement reporting to improve programme quality and to inform intervention strategies to advance effective student learning and student success.
Thesis (PhD (Information Systems))--University of Pretoria, 2020.
Informatics
PhD (Information Systems)
Unrestricted

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-112).
Disruptive innovations in network systems are forcing mobile carriers to manage difficult network software development. Within the limited development time, mobile carriers are required to develop large scale, high quality and robust network software, and accomplish smooth transition/upgrading. In the drastic transition of the network architecture, network carriers often fail to develop platform network software. Compared with KDDI, NTT DoCoMo (DoCoMo) has been coping with network migration problems. The critical difference in both mobile carriers is whether the platform-based approach was applied sufficiently in the network software development. DoCoMo's insufficient platform-based approach led to migration difficulties. On the other hand, the consistent platform-based approach allowed KDDI to enjoy successful migration. In order to identify the critical factors in network software development related to this problem, this thesis (1) explores the characteristics of network innovations and (2) analyzes the platform innovations in mobile network software. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to (3) suggest how incumbent mobile carriers can avoid the potential threats and develop the platform network software in future disruptive network innovations. In the future, management of telecommunication systems design and development will face more challenging and more complicated migration because the network concepts and architecture will be completely different from those in the existing 3G networks. The lessons learned from the case studies DoCoMo and KDDI suggest ideas that mobile carriers can utilize to address tough situations.
(cont.) The platform-based approach definitely will help the migration strategies of mobile carriers and reduce the potential threats in current and future network systems.
by Yujiro Mochizuki.
S.M.M.O.T.

Limited research exists on the factors that influence an instructor’s choice to use a learning management system. The purpose of the current study is to explore how task technology fit constructs relate to the other constructs that comprise Davis’ Technology Acceptance mode. The technology acceptance model is widely used as an indicator of actual use of a technology system. A sample of 284 instructors completed a survey consisting of demographic questions, open ended questions about their reasons for choosing to choose to utilize a learning management system, and Likert scale questions about six constructs of the research model including task technology fit, ease of use, usefulness, attitude, intent to use, and actual use. The relationships between TAM model constructs and Task Technology Fit were analyzed using a partial least squares structural equation model method with SMART- PLS. The relationship between task technology fit and actual use was mediated by ease of use, usefulness, attitude, and intent to use. To evaluate the constructs in the model, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted and the factor structure for online and face-to-face instructors were different. Two models were developed, one for face-to-face instructors, and one for online instructors to account for this difference. The research models were evaluated for face-to-face instructors and online instructors. The study found significant relationships between all the TAM constructs and Task Technology Fit for face-to-face instructors. The relationship between attitude and intent to use was not significant for online instructors. This research supports the need for more research into the differences between online and face-to-face instructor’s perceptions of technology use. The differing instructional needs of face-to-face and online instructors have implications on the training and support an institution should provide to increase usage of learning management systems.

Includes bibliographical references
Although learning management systems (LMSs) have been widely adopted by universities in developing countries, their potential to support students' learning has not been fully exploited due to several factors. Some of the factors limiting the more successful implementation of LMSs in developing country universities have been identified and reported in this study. Most importantly, LMS implementation in developing country universities is constrained by limited institutional ICT infrastructures, Internet bandwidth and electricity outages that affect the accessibility of LMS services by the students. The main research question addressed in this study is: How can we better use the available ICTs and ICT infrastructure in developing country universities to enhance the accessibility of the LMS services by students to better support the implementation of LMSs? The research question was addressed through surveys and experimentation. Two surveys were carried out, and the findings of these surveys were useful in: understanding the current state of practice in LMS implementation in developing country universities; defining the problem; understanding the students' LMS expectations and needs; and deciding the nature of the intervention to be implemented. Through the surveys, it was established that the majority of students in the surveyed universities possessed mobile phones, most of which being internet enabled phones. The study therefore explored the possibility of enabling and enhancing mobile access for LMS services so as to enhance students' LMS accessibility through their mobile phones. The design, development, implementation and evaluation of the intervention (the mobile LMS) were achieved through a user-centred development approach that included participatory design, prototyping and user experience evaluation. An impact evaluation of the mobile LMS intervention indicated that: mobile LMS interfaces can lead to students' increased access and use of the LMS through mobile phones; students prefer streamlined mobile LMS interfaces with fewer and block-based services; with streamlined mobile LMS interfaces, students are able to get the LMS services they need on their mobile phones without the need for desktop and laptop computers and without the need for the full desktop LMS interfaces. While the streamlined mobile LMS allows the students an opportunity to more satisfactorily access the LMS services through their mobile phones, it also takes away the pressure from the constrained institutional ICT infrastructure and facilities such as computer laboratories. The design and development process of the mobile LMS intervention highlighted that students' involvement leads to creation of more usable and useful mobile LMS interfaces and that most of the students' mobile LMS needs can be achieved through a cross-platform mobile Web application.

The development of software and communication technologies in education has led the majority of universities worldwide to integrate the functions of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) into their learning environments. LMSs offers several features that encourage their use by universities and other educational institutions, such as unlimited access to course content, easy tracking of learners’ progress and performance, and reduced costs in terms of both money and time. Most existing LMS studies have been focused on experienced LMS users who are familiar with its functions, with little consideration given to new users. Furthermore, although previous researchers have identified various means of enhancing the effectiveness of LMS use, no consensus has yet been reached on which of these features most successfully improve the learning outcomes of new learners enrolled in programming courses. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the usability of particular LMS features and their impact on learning outcomes for freshman students enrolled in programming courses. Through the Virtual Programming Lab (VPL) and discussion forums, particular LMS features have been considered. For this study, a quantitative quasi-experimental design was employed, including experimental and control groups of new students enrolled in an introductory programming course that involved different LMS features. These features have been considered in the place of treatment in this experiment, in which the level of difference between participants in the two groups was compared. This study involved two main dependent variables: LMS features’ usability and learning achievement. For the first dependent variable, LMS usability, the participants completed a survey, based on the components of Shackel’s usability model (1991), to evaluate the effectiveness of the LMS features’ usability. Four constructs underpin this model: effectiveness, learnability, flexibility, a¬¬nd attitude. For the second dependent variable, learning achievement, the final grade was used to measure the impact of these two LMS features on learning achievement between the two groups. The results revealed significance differences related to LMS features’ usability and learning achievement between the experimental group and the control group. Participants in the experimental group reported greater LMS usability than did those in the control group, and overall course scores indicated improved learning performance in members of the experimental group who applied the VPL and discussion forms features of programming courses.

Despite recommendations by the Association of American Medical Colleges regarding the adoption of technology in medical universities, faculty are still reluctant to adopt new learning technologies. The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to determine the factors existing in the adoption of learning management technology among late adopters within the faculty of colleges labeled as comprehensive academic medical centers. Using the Everett Rogers diffusion of innovations theory as its framework, this study sought to ascertain the factors late adopters identify as preventing them from adopting technology and to determine what measures they suggest to increase technology adoption among their peers. This qualitative study used interviews of participants identified as "late adopters" and subsequent document analysis to provide evidence for the factors identified. Using in vivo coding, data were organized into 5 themes: factors, learning management systems, demographics, general technology, and solutions. Results showed that late adopters avoided adopting learning management technology for several reasons including training, time, ease of use, system changes, lack of technical support, disinterest, and the sense that the technology does not meet their needs. Recommended solutions offered by faculty included varied times for trainings, peer mentoring, and modeling learning management system use among faculty. Understanding these factors may contribute to social change by leading to more rapid adoption and thus introducing efficiencies such that faculty can dedicate more time to medical instruction. It also may aid other universities when considering the adoption of a learning management system.

Sociotechnical systems (STSs) rely on the collaboration between humans and autonomous decision-making units to fulfill their objectives. Highly intertwined social and technical contextual factors influence the collaboration between these human and engineered elements, and consequently the performance characteristics of the STS. In the next two decades, the role allocated to STSs in our society will drastically increase. Thus, the effective design of STSs requires an improved understanding of the human-autonomy interdependency. This dissertation brings together management science along with systems thinking and uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate the interdependencies between people and the autonomous systems they collaborate within complex socio-technical enterprises. The dissertation is organized in three mutually exclusive essays, each investigating a distinct facet of STSs: safe management, collaboration, and efficiency measurement. The first essay investigates the amount of work allocated to safety-critical decision makers and quantifies Rasmussen's workload boundary that represents the limit of attainable workload. The major contribution of this study is to quantify the qualitative theoretical construct of the workload boundary through a Pareto-Koopmans frontier. This frontier allows one to capture the aggregate impact of the social and technical factors that originate from operational conditions on workload. The second essay studies how teams of humans and their autonomous partners share work, given their subjective preferences and contextual operational conditions. This study presents a novel integration of machine learning algorithms in an efficiency measurement framework to understand the influence of contextual factors. The results demonstrate that autonomous units successfully handle relatively simple operational conditions, while complex operational conditions require both workers and their autonomous counterparts to collaborate towards common objectives. The third essay explores the complementary and contrasting roles of efficiency measurement approaches that deal with the influence of contextual factors and their sensitivity to sample size. The results are organized in a structured taxonomy of their fundamental assumptions, limitations, mathematical structure, sensitivity to sample size, and their practical usefulness. To summarize, this dissertation provides an interdisciplinary and pragmatic research approach that benefits from the strengths of both theoretical and data-driven empirical approaches. Broader impacts of this dissertation are disseminated among the literatures of systems engineering, operations research, management science, and mechanical design.
Doctor of Philosophy
A system is an integrated set of elements that achieve a purpose or goal. An autonomous system (ADS) is an engineered element that often substitutes for a human decision-maker, such as in the case of an autonomous vehicle. Sociotechnical systems (STSs) are systems that involve the collaboration of a human decision-maker with an ADS to fulfill their objectives. Historically, STSs have been used primarily for handling safety critical tasks, such as management of nuclear power plants. By design, STSs rely heavily on a collaboration between humans and ADS decision-makers. Therefore, the overall characteristics of a STS, such as system safety, performance, or reliability; is fully dependent on human decisions. The problem with that is that people are independent entities, who can be influenced by operational conditions. Unlike their engineered counterparts, people can be cognitively challenged, tired, or distracted, and consequently make mistakes. The current dependency on human decisions, incentivize business owners and engineers alike to increase the level of automation in engineered systems. This allows them to reduce operational costs, increase performance, and minimize human errors. However, the recent commercial aircraft accidents (e.g., Boeing 737-MAX) have indicated that increasing the level of automation is not always the best strategy. Given that increasing technological capabilities will spread the adoption of STSs, vast majority of existing jobs will either be fully replaced by an ADS or will change from a manual set-up into a STS. Therefore, we need a better understanding of the relationships between social (human) and engineered elements. This dissertation, brings together management science with systems thinking to investigate the dependencies between people and the autonomous systems they collaborate within complex socio-technical enterprises. The dissertation is organized in three mutually exclusive essays, each investigating a distinct facet of STSs: safe management, collaboration, and efficiency measurement. The first essay investigates the amount of work handled by safety-critical decision makers in STSs. Primary contribution of this study is to use an analytic method to quantify the amount of work a person could safely handle within a STSs. This method also allows to capture the aggregate impact of the social and technical factors that originate from operational conditions on workload. The second essay studies how teams of humans and their autonomous partners share work, given their preferences and operational conditions. This study presents a novel integration of machine learning algorithms to understand operational influences that propel a human-decision maker to handle the work manually or delegate it to ADSs. The results demonstrate that autonomous units successfully handle simple operational conditions. More complex conditions require both workers and their autonomous counterparts to collaborate towards common objectives. The third essay explores the complementary and contrasting roles of data-driven analytical management approaches that deal with the operational factors and investigates their sensitivity to sample size. The results are organized based on their fundamental assumptions, limitations, mathematical structure, sensitivity to sample size, and their practical usefulness. To summarize, this dissertation provides an interdisciplinary and pragmatic research approach that benefits from the strengths of both theoretical and data-driven empirical approaches. Broader impacts of this dissertation are disseminated among the literatures of systems engineering, operations research, management science, and mechanical design.

In this thesis an overarching analysis is made of four articles published in refereed international journals. The articles are describing the development and implementation of learning support systems/learning support applications. The text which summarizes and retrospectively analyzes the projects described in the articles has been condensed into yet another article, which has been placed at the end of the thesis. This makes a total of five articles. In the analysis that is made of learning support applications the following questions are in focus: What results have the projects achieved and how have the experiences gained been utilized? What factors in the described projects have facilitated or hindered the idea, vision, design and implementation of the learning support systems? How have university intentions of supporting entrepreneurship and the commercialization of ideas and products benefited the projects? The results show that there are a great many similarities in the ideas and visions that have initiated and affected the learning support work. Improved communication and availability are expected from all the applications, as well as coordination, creating order and an overarching view. In spite of a large number of positive users, it has been difficult for the applications described to become integrated into the organizations. One possible reason for this is the bad anchoring of the projects in the management organization. Further, there was a lack of funding in the final phases of the projects, which considerably reduced the chances of establishing and continuing operating them. In the gap arising between the end of the implementation phase and the possible application for and granting of new funding, the project dies out of itself. One way of reversing this trend is to grant means for continued work and to get the organization and administration to upgrade the value of a learning application that has become established in the organization.

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, System Design and Management Program, Engineering and Management Program, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 76-79).
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing universe is buzzing again. Recent significant events are special. There is also talk about beginning of a general purpose "Smart Machine Age" Advances in computing power, storage capacity and machine learning / cognitive computing technologies have a gained critical mass. This combination is driving significant growth and heavy investments. Cognitive computing is coming of age, the market is experiencing exponential growth and there are literally thousands of startups competing to seize the opportunities and hundreds of products hitting the market every quarter. Businesses definitely need to pay attention. But for a business professional, there is so much happening out there that, it is extremely hard to decide which way to turn. CC/ML opportunities may have huge potential to improve business performance or there may be opportunities to waste money. This is a major concern for large businesses and business professionals. This thesis aims to develop an end to end framework to navigate CC/ML opportunities. The framework will guide a business professional to navigate the complex landscape of CC/ML and arrive at a solution approach recommendation.
by Ajay Bhilegaonkar.
S.M. in Engineering and Management

Using Learning Management Systems (LMSs) in educational environmentshas facilitated the communication between students and teachers, and raisednew challenges as well. The aim of this research is to investigate the role ofLMS in the learning and teaching processes from students and teachersperspectives. We adopted a social constructivist worldview. We used aninductive qualitative approach, a single case study design and hermeneuticalapproach for analyzing the interviews and observations. We used Garrison etal. (2000) community of inquiry framework as a theoretical guide for thestudy. The research took place at the School of Computer Science, Physicsand mathematics department at Linnaeus University, Växjö campus. Theparticipants of this research were students and teachers from two masterlevels within the program of Information Systems. The study results indicatedthat students and teachers were content with the usage of Blackboard inorganizing courses materials. Although, most teachers didn’t encourageinteractive and discussion activities on Blackboard, students expressed theneed for such activities to help them in constructing and building newmeanings.

In Finance, the use of Automated Trading Systems (ATS) on markets is growing every year and the trades generated by an algorithm now account for most of orders that arrive at stock exchanges (Kissell, 2020). Historically, these systems were based on advanced statistical methods and signal processing designed to extract trading signals from financial data. The recent success of Machine Learning has attracted the interest of the financial community. Reinforcement Learning is a subcategory of machine learning and has been broadly applied by investors and researchers in building trading systems (Kissell, 2020). In this thesis, we address the issue that deep reinforcement learning may be susceptible to sampling errors and over-fitting and propose a robust deep reinforcement learning method that integrates techniques from reinforcement learning and robust optimization. We back-test and compare the performance of the developed algorithm, Robust DDPG, with UBAH (Uniform Buy and Hold) benchmark and other RL algorithms and show that the robust algorithm of this research can reduce the downside risk of an investment strategy significantly and can ensure a safer path for the investor’s portfolio value.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Environmental Systems Design)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology, Management, and Policy Program, 2002.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-150).
This thesis develops an approximate, analytically based environmental assessment method that provides fast evaluations of product concepts. Traditional life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies and their streamlined analytical versions are costly, time-consuming, and data intensive. Thus, they are not practical to apply during early concept design phases where little information is available and ideas change quickly. Alternatives currently used are mostly qualitative, ad-hoc approaches that often provide overly simplistic assessments difficult to trade-off with other design objectives. The Learning Surrogate LCA method is an alternative approach that uses simple, high-level, and accessible descriptive information about a product to provide approximate, yet useful, analytical LCA results during early concept design stages. The method relies on a general artificial neural network (ANN) trained on high-level product descriptors and environmental performance data from pre-existing detailed life-cycle assessment studies or related data. To quickly obtain an approximate environmental impact assessment for a product concept, the design team queries the trained artificial model with new set of descriptors, without requiring the development of a new model. The predicted environmental performance, along with other key performance measures, can be used in tradeoff analysis and concept selection. Foundations for the approach were established by investigating: (1) model inputs in the form of a compact, and meaningful set of product concept descriptors; (2) ability to gather data and appropriately train an ANN-based surrogate LCA model.
(cont.) Proof-of-concept tests on life-cycle energy consumption showed that ANN-based surrogate models were able to: (a) match detailed LCA results within the accuracy of typical LCA studies; (b) predict relative differences of distinct product concepts; (c) correctly predict and generalize trends associated with changes for a given product concept. A product classification system based upon concept descriptors was developed to improve performance. The method was then applied to a case study with a heavy truck manufacturing company. A demonstration example was used to illustrate application scenarios for tradeoff analysis within DOME (Distributed Object-based Modeling Environment). The study suggested that high-level, customizable simulation interfaces of learning surrogate LCA models are likely to have a significant practical impact in the early decision making process.
by Inês Sousa.
Ph.D.in Environmental Systems Design

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, System Design and Management Program, Engineering and Management Program, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 53-54).
Rich data sets exist in Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Football League (NFL) that track players and equipment (i.e. the ball) in space and time. Using machine learning and other analytical techniques, this research explores the various data sets in each sport, providing advanced insights for team decision makers. Additionally, a framework will be presented on how the results can impact organizational decision-making. Qualitative research methods (e.g. interviews with front office personnel) are used to provide the analysis with both context and breadth; whereas various quantitative analyses supply depth to the research. For example, the reader will be exposed to mathematical/computer science terms such as Kohonen Networks and Voronoi Tessellations. However, they are presented with great care to simplify the concepts, allowing an understanding for most readers. As this research is jointly supported by the engineering and management schools, certain topics are kept at a higher level for readability. For any questions, contact the author for further discussion. Part I will address the distinction between performance and production, followed briefly by a decomposition of a typical MLB organizational structure, and finally display how the results of this analyses can directly impact areas such as player evaluation, advance scouting, and in-game strategy. Part II will similarly present how machine learning analyses can impact opponent scouting and personnel evaluation in the NFL.
by Jeremy H. Hochstedler.
S.M. in Engineering and Management

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, System Design and Management Program, Engineering and Management Program, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 81-84).
While the dominant lesson delivery style in Republic Polytechnic in Singapore is its unique One- Day-One-Problem approach using the Problem-Based Learning pedagogy, there have been other lesson delivery methods adopted by Republic Polytechnic in recent years. While the case study method has not yet been adopted by School of Engineering in the polytechnic, the school is keen to explore its effectiveness in enhancing students' learning in engineering modules. This thesis is a study of the effectiveness of a trial implementation of the case study method for E206 Microcontroller Systems module in the school. The cohort taking the Microcontroller Systems module in semester one in 2016 wrote and submitted a case study as part of lesson four in the module. A random sample of 30 students from the cohort were selected to participate in the analysis on the effectiveness of the trial implementation. Assessment using a rubric and content analysis are performed on the papers submitted. The submitted papers are crossreferenced to students' reflection journals for consistency in quality. The reflections journals are designed to help students write their Case Study Paper. While the findings show positive results, the effectiveness of the case study method in an engineering module is not conclusive due to the limitations of the study. It is recommended that the Case Study Paper be implemented for a few more runs of the Microcontroller Systems module to collect more data for future follow-up studies.
by Yew Hua Tham.
S.M. in Engineering and Management

This thesis is an exploratory case study researching the benefits of integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) in the process of cooperative education placement (CEP) learning. For the purposes of this study, CEP is defined as a working partnership between the learner-employee, the college, and the employer which enables learners to earn college credit for learning on the job. The main aims of this research were to establish: • How effective is the current ICT and teaching approaches being utilised in coordinating cooperative education learners and facilitating their learning? • What are the issues for the cooperative education learners and coordinators using Blackboard7 as an online learning and management tool? • What are the pedagogical principles that enhance cooperative education learning through the use of modern ICT? • What are the forms of ICT that could support these pedagogical principles? Two types of literature have been reviewed and analysed in this thesis. The first related to cooperative learning as it is integrated into academic study, including its historical foundation, pedagogy and delivery. The second focussed on the use of ICT in various disciplines, and the functions and tools that are successful in providing academic learning. The literature review undertaken of cooperative education placement revealed that the placement is an informal type of learning that aligns with Kolb’s theory of experiential learning. The program creates a working-learning environment which is not normally possible in a college classroom. Furthermore, the literature review examined the different learning theories with particular reference to experiential, workplace learning, and also highlighted the similarities and differences between traditional and non-traditional types of learning with a focus on relevant current research in this area. The extensive literature review found that there has been little research into the types of ICT that could benefit cooperative education learners while they are out on placements. In particular, research relevant to the use of Blackboard7 was found to be very limited. The gap in the current academic knowledge provided impetus for this thesis and findings. The research on ICT in different discipline areas supported the notion that learners will participate and engage more with the technology if they are able to acknowledge perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness with an intention to use, as indicated in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The great upsurge in flexible, online and blended delivery courses has also added to the ICT options available to learners generally. However, limited previous research has suggested that the common response from the learners was that they still like some face to face delivery. That research had been confined to case studies in reference to ICT which have explored issues of learner learning, connectivity, reflection, perceptions, and optional modes of delivery. The literature review highlighted some of the gaps in current research regarding how effective the ICT is in reference to individual learning and indicates possible options to improve this situation. The literature review has supported the pedagogical principles of communities of practice, reflective practice linked to critical thinking and learning, connectivism and also the educational relevance of blended, online and flexible learning. Therefore, this study brings research in ICT and on cooperative learning together, looking at the ways ICT (and Blackboard7, in particular) can enhance learning that has occurred during cooperative placement. The participants in this research included a cohort of twenty learners in their third and final year of study in the Bachelor of Applied Management program, and their course coordinator. The cooperative education placement took place in the final semester. Data were gathered through the use of survey, interview and documentation analysis. Although, through the theoretical analysis, a close link between cooperative learning and Kolb’s theory has been identified, the findings of the research reveal that learners’ perception of this link is weak, and only some learners related to the model, and their individual learning style matched with this. Another gap occurred in the way the learners interacted with the ICT and their use of the various ICT functions, and the principles of effective learning identified in the literature. The analysis and findings also revealed a lack of ‘sense of community’ within the group. While communities of practice can be established in learning groups, this cohort did not have a sense of this. The participants indicated that there was a need for more seminars which would have brought the group together, but the lack of use of the Blackboard7 discussion boards meant that learners did not correspond with each other as a group. This translated to a general lack of connectivity in reference to the use of the ICT implemented in the cooperative education placement which this study investigated. The learners and the coordinator agreed that, currently, the technology analysed performed mainly as an information site rather than an interactive, engaging site. The findings revealed that there was also a lack of reflection, and, thus, deeper level learning which needs to be addressed. This could involve introducing online reflective journals which are a functionality of Blackboard7. Learners noted that, while the functionalities are available, explicit functionalities, such as discussion boards, were never used. This remains an issue as learners therefore do not interact or discuss any course issues with any of the other participants on the course. Implications were identified for the design, implementation and management of the Bachelor of Applied Management program in the future, to enable a more robust link between experiential learning, the use of the technology for these learners, and stimulating interaction by active involvement of supervisors and coordinator. With reference to these issues, this thesis proposes a new model of reflective learning for cooperative education learners as detailed in Figure 5.1. Kolb’s experiential learning model was the underpinning pedagogy examined in this thesis. The findings from this thesis supported an addendum to the current model of learning to include reflective practice through the functionalities of ICT. Proposed model of reflective learning for students on cooperative education placement (Figure 5.1) incorporates reflection into a three stage model, rather than provided in Kolb’s four stage model. This is primarily due to the gap identified in this research between the need for adequate reflective practice during students’ placement and the current situation. The inclusion of functionalities such as online journals, and more prominent use of discussion boards available on Blackboard7 would encourage more reflection. To achieve deeper learning participants need to be engaged in reflective practice, so there needs to be more interactive discussion online coupled with regular contact by supervisors and the coordinator through ICT to strengthen the learners’ cooperative learning experience. This would assist in supporting an environment of engagement, reflection and deeper learning...............
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 75-81).
A design negotiation game based on a stakeholder salience framework was created by the APACE research team to explore negotiation dynamics between stakeholders with individual attributes and agendas. Experimental data was collected anonymously during games played by groups of human participants through a web interface. It was found that the negotiation process takes a non-zero number of iterations even under conditions that strongly favor agreement. A realistic scenario was created based on extensive interviews with the major stakeholders involved in a real negotiation of a plan for a new government information technology system. Solution space exploration of this scenario demonstrated that the experimentally obtained solutions lie far from the optimality frontier. Performance differed significantly in two groups of participants with dissimilar professional experience; games played by interns achieved higher scores than those played by senior staff. An agent-based model was built to simulate multi-stage design negotiation. Utility functions of individual players were based on their private agendas. Players voted for a design according to the relative attractiveness of the design as established by the individual utility function. The negotiation process helps players discover other players' agendas. It was hypothesized that knowledge of each other's private objectives would enable groups of players to achieve design solutions that are closer to optimal. Effects of learning were introduced into the model by adding a fraction of the sum of all players' utility function to each individual utility function. Simulated games with learning effects yielded solutions with higher total player scores than simulated games without learning did. Results of simulated games with a substantial level of learning effects were similar to average experimental results from groups of interns. Results of simulated games without learning were close to the average results of games played by senior staff.
by Aleksandra Markina-Khusid.
S.M. in Engineering and Management

The efficacy of the energy management systems at dealing with energy consumption in buildings has been a topic with a growing interest in recent years due to the ever-increasing global energy demand and the large percentage of energy being currently used by buildings. The scale of this sector has attracted research effort with the objective of uncovering potential improvement avenues and materializing them with the help of recent technological advances that could be exploited to lower the energetic footprint of buildings. Specifically, in the area of heating, ventilating and air conditioning installations, the availability of large amounts of historical data in building management software suites makes possible the study of how resource-efficient these systems really are when entrusted with ensuring occupant comfort. Actually, recent reports have shown that there is a gap between the ideal operating performance and the performance achieved in practice. Accordingly, this thesis considers the research of novel energy management strategies for heating, ventilating and air conditioning installations in buildings, aimed at narrowing the performance gap by employing data-driven methods to increase their context awareness, allowing management systems to steer the operation towards higher efficiency. This includes the advancement of modeling methodologies capable of extracting actionable knowledge from historical building behavior databases, through load forecasting and equipment operational performance estimation supporting the identification of a building’s context and energetic needs, and the development of a generalizable multi-objective optimization strategy aimed at meeting these needs while minimizing the consumption of energy. The experimental results obtained from the implementation of the developed methodologies show a significant potential for increasing energy efficiency of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems while being sufficiently generic to support their usage in different installations having diverse equipment. In conclusion, a complete analysis and actuation framework was developed, implemented and validated by means of an experimental database acquired from a pilot plant during the research period of this thesis. The obtained results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed standalone contributions, and as a whole represent a suitable solution for helping to increase the performance of heating, ventilating and air conditioning installations without affecting the comfort of their occupants.
L’eficàcia dels sistemes de gestió d’energia per afrontar el consum d’energia en edificis és un tema que ha rebut un interès en augment durant els darrers anys a causa de la creixent demanda global d’energia i del gran percentatge d’energia que n’utilitzen actualment els edificis. L’escala d’aquest sector ha atret l'atenció de nombrosa investigació amb l’objectiu de descobrir possibles vies de millora i materialitzar-les amb l’ajuda de recents avenços tecnològics que es podrien aprofitar per disminuir les necessitats energètiques dels edificis. Concretament, en l’àrea d’instal·lacions de calefacció, ventilació i climatització, la disponibilitat de grans bases de dades històriques als sistemes de gestió d’edificis fa possible l’estudi de com d'eficients són realment aquests sistemes quan s’encarreguen d'assegurar el confort dels seus ocupants. En realitat, informes recents indiquen que hi ha una diferència entre el rendiment operatiu ideal i el rendiment generalment assolit a la pràctica. En conseqüència, aquesta tesi considera la investigació de noves estratègies de gestió de l’energia per a instal·lacions de calefacció, ventilació i climatització en edificis, destinades a reduir la diferència de rendiment mitjançant l’ús de mètodes basats en dades per tal d'augmentar el seu coneixement contextual, permetent als sistemes de gestió dirigir l’operació cap a zones de treball amb un rendiment superior. Això inclou tant l’avanç de metodologies de modelat capaces d’extreure coneixement de bases de dades de comportaments històrics d’edificis a través de la previsió de càrregues de consum i l’estimació del rendiment operatiu dels equips que recolzin la identificació del context operatiu i de les necessitats energètiques d’un edifici, tant com del desenvolupament d’una estratègia d’optimització multi-objectiu generalitzable per tal de minimitzar el consum d’energia mentre es satisfan aquestes necessitats energètiques. Els resultats experimentals obtinguts a partir de la implementació de les metodologies desenvolupades mostren un potencial important per augmentar l'eficiència energètica dels sistemes de climatització, mentre que són prou genèrics com per permetre el seu ús en diferents instal·lacions i suportant equips diversos. En conclusió, durant aquesta tesi es va desenvolupar, implementar i validar un marc d’anàlisi i actuació complet mitjançant una base de dades experimental adquirida en una planta pilot durant el període d’investigació de la tesi. Els resultats obtinguts demostren l’eficàcia de les contribucions de manera individual i, en conjunt, representen una solució idònia per ajudar a augmentar el rendiment de les instal·lacions de climatització sense afectar el confort dels seus ocupants

Higher education institutions are embracing the Internet as a means of offering distance education programs and augmenting face-to-face on-campus courses. Consequently, there is a surge in technology-mediated Web-based learning products, in particular, Instructional Management Systems (IMSs). Notwithstanding the growth in IMS usage, the quality and effectiveness of online teaching and learning still lie with faculty. Their perceptions of this technology will ultimately determine whether its implementation meets with success. Increasingly, faculty are encouraged and/or required to use electronic technology in their teaching. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to utilize a research design employing a quantitative survey instrument to establish faculty perceptions of the effectiveness of using IMSs in the teaching and learning environment. The target population consisted of full-time and adjunct faculty using Blackboard CourseInfo version 4, Level I as their chosen IMS at seven of the 10 colleges that constitute the Maricopa Community College District (MCCD), Arizona. MCCD is the largest community college system in the United States, with a student population over 243,000 enrolled in credit and non-credit courses. Data were collected with a survey instrument designed by the researcher entitled "Faculty Perceptions of Blackboard as an Effective Instructional Management System", and validated by a panel of knowledgeable Blackboard Course Info version 4, Level I users within the MCCD. This instrument identified: a) faculty Blackboard usage, training, and support; b) faculty release time and compensation; c) faculty personal opinions relating to Blackboard usage; d) Blackboard tools faculty utilize the most; and e) what features faculty believe would enhance Blackboard. Analysis and synthesis of the survey results, together with the literature review, provided answers to the research questions and enabled the development of a set of guidelines to enable deans, division chairs, information technology directors, and faculty to clarify goals and objectives for effective IMS selection, deployment, and utilization in their own institutions.

Choosing suitable enterprise level systems is an important and complicated decision in any domain. The difficulty in selecting suitable Learning Management Systems (LMSs) is compounded by the sheer number of available products from which to choose. The decision process is further complicated by the large number of features and functions contained in these products and the heterogeneous groups of intended audiences (faculty, staff, and students) that will be using these features. The problem addressed by this researcher is the lack of a multi-criteria decision analysis framework for selecting Learning Management Systems (LMSs). Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) provides decision makers with a set of theories, methodologies and techniques that can provide structure and manageability to complex decisions. In developing and testing the MCDA framework for selecting suitable LMSs, a number of steps were taken. First, a set of criteria that could be used in the evaluation of these systems was identified. A panel of experts reviewed the criteria set to ensure that it was essentially complete, and yet small enough to be manageable by an evaluation committee. In addition, the panel reviewed the criteria for scoring independence, operability, and non-redundancy. Then, the criteria set was incorporated into a step-by step model of a multi-criteria decision analysis framework for selecting suitable LMSs. In addition to the master set of criteria, the framework provided techniques for weighting criteria and aggregating scores, as well as an Excel spreadsheet tool for managing this information. A university LMS selection committee then successfully implemented this MCDA framework to evaluate three systems for possible use. As a result, the committee found that the system that was selected through this process satisfactorily represented their preferences with regards to selecting a suitable LMS for their unique environment.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have become a common feature in contemporary Higher Education institutions worldwide. LMS literature shows that the level of interest and/or knowledge among academics towards the importance and usefulness of these systems, and the opportunities they can bring to the teaching process are key factors affecting the degree of use of LMS in HE. To date, most of these studies have taken place in the context of developed countries, and there is only limited research in other areas. In recent years, LMS have been adopted widely in Saudi Arabia’s Higher Education sector, however, there are no strong and detailed data regarding the subject in this context, which could impede future developments. On the other hand, academics were chosen as the main focus of this investigation because studies have revealed that they have the most vital role in promoting and enhancing the use of LMS. Therefore, this research investigates academics’ adoption and usage of LMS in Saudi Arabia’s universities; it aims to understand the adoption conditions and identify what factors truly affect the adoption process and to what level are the systems being used and why. The investigation was guided by Grounded Theory research principles. Initially, a review of the literature identified the nature of LMS along with the issues confronting academics when they are trying to use it to its full potential in supporting the delivery of their courses. Afterwards, questionnaires were employed to further explore the phenomenon in its examined context, i.e. Saudi higher education. The generated data and concepts were then used to guide the research process and to develop interview questions. The interviews were carried out at three Saudi universities with a range of stakeholders, which signified the primary data source in this investigation. Analysis revealed that LMS did not emerge as a well-established component of academics’ activities in Saudi universities despite the positive view respondents expressed towards it. Findings also explained why LMS was either considered a secondary method to support face-to-face teaching, or under-utilised in fully online courses. Furthermore, findings revealed the primary factors influencing academics’ level of use of LMS. Moreover, there were issues identified in relation to the academics’ development and training for LMS, which had a significant effect on the academics’ level of use of LMS. Findings were then integrated into a substantive theory and a theoretical model, which represents the research primary outcome. The theoretical outcomes offer abstract explanation of the phenomenon about adopting innovatory systems in Saudi universities, LMS in this instance. In conclusion, suggestions for improving the current provision of LMS in Saudi Universities are made. Overall, this study provided an insight into the environment surrounding the early adoption phases of LMS in Saudi universities, which offers a better understanding of the phenomenon. Subsequently, this will help enhance the adoption process in current contexts and assist in the better future utilisation of these systems in similar situations.

Dynamic Power Management (DPM) refers to the strategies employed at system level to reduce energy expenditure (i.e. to prolong battery life) in embedded systems. The trade-off involved in DPM techniques is between the reductions of energy consumption and latency incurred by the jobs to be executed by the system. Such trade-offs need to be decided at runtime making DPM an on-line problem. In this context, the contributions of this thesis are two-fold. Firstly, we formulate the DPM problem as a hybrid automaton control problem. We model a timed hybrid automaton to mathematically analyze various opportunities in optimizing energy in a given system model. Secondly, stochastic control is added to the automata model, whose control strategy is learnt dynamically using stochastic learning automata (SLA). Several linear and non-linear feedback algorithms are incorporated in the final Stochastic Learning Hybrid Automata (SLHA) model. Simulation-based experiments show the expediency of the feedback systems in stationary environments. Further experiments are conducted using real trace data to compare stochastic learning strategies to the outcomes of several former predictive algorithms. These reveal that SLHA attains better trade-offs than the other studied methods under certain trace data. Advanced characterization of trace sequences, which allows a better performance of SLHA, is a subject of further study.
Master of Science