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During the COVID-19 pandemic period, all the Sri Lankan universities delivered lectures in fully online mode using Virtual Learning Environments. In fully online mode, students cannot track their performance level, their progress in the course, and their performances compared to the rest of the class. This paper presents research work conducted at the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC), Sri Lanka, to solve the above problems and facilitate students learning in fully online and blended learning environments using Learning Analytics. The research objective is to design and create a Technology Enhanced Learning Analytics (TELA) dashboard for improving students' motivation, engagement, and grades. The Design Science research strategy was followed to achieve the objectives of the research. Initially, a literature survey was conducted analyzing features and limitations in current Learning Analytic dashboards. Then, current Learning Analytic plugins for Moodle were studied to identify their drawbacks. Two surveys with 136 undergraduate students and interviews with 12 lecturers were conducted to determine required features of the TELA system. The system was designed as a Moodle Plugin. Finally, an evaluation of the system was done with third-year undergraduate students of the UCSC. The results showed that the TELA dashboard can improve students' motivation, engagement, and grades. As a result of the system, students could track their current progress and performance compared to the peers, which helps to improve their motivation to engage more in the course. Also, the increased engagement in the course enhances the student's self-confidence since the student can see continuous improvement of his/her progress and performance which in turn improves the student's grades.

E-learning has acquired a prime place in many discussions recently. A number of research efforts around the world are trying to enhance education and training through improving e-learning facilities. This paper briefly explains one such attempt aimed at designing a system to support video clips in e-learning and explains how profiles of the presenters in video clips can be used to improve the usefulness of e-learning systems. The system proposed is capable of storing educational video clips with their semantics and retrieving required video clip segments efficiently on their semantics. The system creates profiles of presenters appearing in the video clips based on their facial features and uses these profiles to partition similar video clips into logical meaningful segments. The paper also discusses one of the main problems identified in profile construction and presents a novel algorithm to solve this problem.

The cognitive complexity of a software determines the comprehension effort of a particular individual faces when designing, developing and maintaining a software. The comprehension level tends to be varied with each human resulting the cognitive complexity a subjective measurement. Expressing the cognitive complexity as a form of metric quantifies the comprehensibility as a generic value, which does not imply the subjectivity of human factor. This study elaborates the significance of expressing the cognitive complexity as a form of a subjective rating. The cognitive complexity rating has been pioneered with respect to the human and programming dependent factors related to human cognition. The Divisive hierarchical clustering algorithm has been used to train and predict the cognition rating per user. It has been clearly elaborated the subjectivity of the cognitive ratings over the quantitative and static complexity values of current cognitive and software complexity metrics. Thereby, the concept of cognition rates has been proposed as a preliminary step of determining and expressing the cognitive complexity.

Discussion of digital libraries focuses on the need for personalization capabilities so users can create their own personalized information environments. Highlights include material personalization; collection personalization; active reading; personalized retrieving; personalized filtering; and a prototype system. (LRW)

Mobile devices have proven to be an appropriate tool which expands the horizons of learning beyond the classroom through means of flexibility and portability. Throughout this study, the authors have worked with a set of design guidelines which were derived from the literature. The artifact developed considering these design guidelines has been evaluated among various user groups for better understanding of m-learning as a tool to support English Language Learning. Findings of these evaluations have been used to improve the design guidelines. The authors also identify the effectiveness of mobile learning as a supporting medium of learning and as a primary medium of learning among different learner groups, which is another outcome of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current information society, the need for securing human resources acquired with ICT competency is becoming a significant factor. Information Communication Technology (ICT) competency describes more than awareness or driving license level of using computing facilities and networking services to carry out different tasks. Undergraduates of a university will become knowledge workers in the society and they should acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes using the modern ICT technology to carry out their job tasks effectively. This paper presents the current status of ICT Competency in Sri Lankan Universities with respect to both the knowledge and skill requirements of knowledge workers in the job market. However, there are several obstacles are affecting this development and the paper discuss the qualitative assessment of these obstacles in detail. In this study, we propose a new framework for enhancing the ICT Competency among a large number of undergraduates in the University system. This framework consists of two main components namely Infrastructure Development and Virtual Learning Environment. In the component, Infrastructure Development new facilities are provided such as computers, networks and Internet facilities, human resource management and other support services in order to solve the problems identified. Under the Virtual Learning Environment, we propose three levels for undergraduates to address the curriculums of ICT competency. The first two levels are declared with respect to the common ICT Competency Certification and level 3 is declared considering special requirements of curriculum or subject streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and Communication Technology has become a vital part in the non-traditional teaching and learning environment in primary education. There is an abundance of research work that describes success stories of the practical application of information technology in primary education. Even though it is easier to motivate these young learners in the developed world to use computers, it is an arduous task in developing countries like Sri Lanka due to reasons such as the applications not being suitable for the local context. This in turn has de-motivated learning facilitators to make use of computing aids in teaching programs. This paper highlights some of the issues that the primary school learners of developing countries are facing, the current educational systems and the potential contribution of technology and game based learning in primary education. It also discusses the use of computer games in teaching and learning with an analysis of different types of games such as simulations, serious games and edutainment systems. Furthermore the paper discusses the technological aspect of learning and the opportunities that arise with the introduction of tablets in teaching. Finally the paper discusses the possibility of establishing an ICT-enabled learning environment employing a Learning Management System and tablets to use games as learning modality in primary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an empirical study conducted with a set of students using an online learning environment (OLE) to follow a distance education program. The aim of the study was to find whether students could perform well in examinations using only the Learning Management System (LMS), whether they could use it in an efficient way and whether there was a relationship between students' learning styles, number of LMS hits and learning achievements. The students were given access to a specially designed course section. The students' learning achievements were evaluated in two tests at different intervals. The study data were gathered using questionnaires and LMS statistics. We found that once the students got acquainted with the environment they could use the LMS more efficiently and managed to get high scores by only using the LMS. Results associated with the learning style preferences imply that we have designed the learning content and the environment to satisfy and support the learners with different learning style preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]