An e-learning environment for enterprise resource planning systems
- Authors: Whale, Alyssa Morgan
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Blended learning Computer-assisted instruction Information storage and retrieval systems -- Business
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/13182 , vital:27159
- Description: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) education can positively impact the success of an ERP implementation. Incorporating new tools and technologies into the learning process can potentially alleviate the evident problems with ERP education. Blended learning and e-learning environments both offer opportunities for improvement in education. However, there are various factors and components that need to be in place for such an environment to be successful. The aim of this research is to provide an ERP e-Learning Environment (ERPeL) that can assist with ERP education in terms of creating an integrated and comprehensive learning environment for novice ERP users. In order to achieve this aim, this study followed the Design-Based Research (DBR) methodology which is specific to educational technology research and was applied in iterative cycles where various components of the environment were evaluated by different participants. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected by means of field studies (interviews, focus groups and questionnaires). The proposed ERPeL underwent several iterations of feedback and improvement. In order to determine the success of e-learning, various critical success factors and evaluation criteria were investigated. Field studies were conducted in order to validate the theory in a real-world context. An initial field study was conducted with third year Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) students who were enrolled in the 2014 ERP systems’ module in the Department of Computing Sciences. Many of the problems identified in theory were found to be prevalent in the real-world context. One of the DBR process cycles involved the implementation of specific components of the ERPeL at the Developing and Strengthening Industry-driven Knowledge-transfer between developing Countries (DASIK) introduction to ERP systems course. Participants were either NMMU students, academic staff or industry delegates. The components evaluated included videos, learning content, badges, assessment and the SYSPRO Latte m-learning application. Additional components of a leader board, live chats, peer reviewing, expert reviews, user generated content, consultancy with experts and SYSPRO ERP certification were implemented in the subsequent cycle where participants were 2015 third year NMMU ERP systems students. The criteria used to evaluate the success of the ERPeL and its e-learning components were adapted from literature and a new set of evaluation criteria for e-learning was proposed. The ERPeL is made up of Moodle, the SYSPRO ERP System, the SYSPRO e-Learning System, the SYSPRO Latte m-learning application, learning content and components. Overall the ERPeL was positively received by the various sample groups. The research results indicate that the use of an e-learning environment for ERP systems was positively received. The most positive aspects reported were the implementation of e-learning components such as the interactive videos, simulations and m-learning. In support of this Masters dissertation, the following three papers have been published and presented at two local conferences and one international conference: 1. SACLA 2014, Port Elizabeth (South Africa); 2. SAICSIT 2015, Stellenbosch (South Africa); and 3. IDIA 2015, Zanzibar (Tanzania).
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- Date Issued: 2016
Utility of the cognitive assessment system (CAS) to predict reading proficiency in grade 1
- Authors: Hüttenrauch, Maria Eleonore
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System , Intelligence tests for preliterates , Cognition in children , Reading disability
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9839 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/965 , Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System , Intelligence tests for preliterates , Cognition in children , Reading disability
- Description: Reading disability, as the most commonly diagnosed learning disability, continues to pose a tenacious problem to teachers, practitioners and researchers. In an effort to understand the causes of reading disability, voluminous research has been undertaken over the past decades to pinpoint its causes or developmental stumbling blocks. One approach, the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive processing (PASS) model, combines neuropsychological theory with elements from cognitive psychology. Based on this model, the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS), as well as methods of intervention for reading disability were developed. Although many studies have been conducted that investigated reading disability in terms of PASS cognitive processes, the final version of the CAS and its predictive utility with respect to reading disability has not been explored to date. The present study aimed to investigate the utility of the CAS, administered at the beginning of grade 1, to predict reading proficiency at the end of grade 1. The sample was comprised of 119 “average” (i.e., belonging to the general population) grade 1 students from schools of the Calgary Board of Education (CBE). The Basic Battery of the CAS was administered to the children in the sample at the beginning of grade 1, as well as four reading subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement – Third Edition (WJ-III ACH) at the end of grade 1. The WJ-III ACH yielded a cluster score for basic reading and one for reading comprehension. Correlational and regression analyses were used to address the first aim of this study, namely to explore the relationship between students’ scores on the CAS and their later reading proficiency. To this end, the children’s CAS Full Scale scores and WJ-III ACH cluster scores were subjected to a hierarchical regression analysis, whereby age, gender, and - xviii - SES were kept constant by entering them first in the equation. Next, the relationship between students’ PASS scale scores and the CAS subtest scores respectively and scores on the WJ-III ACH Basic Reading and Reading Comprehension Cluster scores was explored by means of stepwise regression analysis. To improve on the generalizability of results, the regression analyses were conducted on a randomly drawn analysis sample consisting of 80% of the sample, and cross-validated on the remaining 20% of the sample. The second aim of the present study was to ascertain whether clusters could be identified on the basis of CAS performance as well as levels of reading proficiency. To this end, the children’s CAS FS scores, PASS scale scores, and CAS subtest scores were subjected to cluster analyses. The investigation of aim 1 yielded some encouraging results, in that it was found that, together with the covariates: • The CAS FS emerged as a moderately strong predictor of both basic reading and reading comprehension; • Successive processing, in particular the Word Series subtest, significantly predicted basic reading skills; • Successive and simultaneous processing, particularly the Nonverbal Matrices and Sentence Repetition subtests, were significant predictors of reading comprehension; The second aim, which explored the relationship between patterns of CAS cognitive processes and their relationship with reading proficiency, yielded: • Two clusters with distinctly different PASS scale scores and with significant differences between their levels of reading proficiency. Higher PASS scales scores, particularly on the Attention and Planning scales, were associated with higher reading proficiency scores. • Four clusters with distinctly different CAS subtest scores that were also associated with distinctly different levels of reading performance. Good - xix - reading proficiency was associated with good CAS performance, whereas weaker reading proficiency was linked to weaker CAS performance. Biographical variables, such as age and SES were found to be related to performance on the CAS and reading proficiency, while gender did not emerge as an important predictor variable. The present study demonstrated the usefulness of the CAS, particularly its Successive and Simultaneous scales, as potential early predictor of reading disability. An exploration of the relationship between patterns of CAS cognitive processes and later reading proficiency also yielded encouraging and interesting results.
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- Date Issued: 2008