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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Nie, Peng; Nimrod, Galit; Sousa-Poza, Alfonso |
| Abstract: | Using data from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies, we analyze the association between Internet use and various measures of subjective well-being (SWB) in a sample of 16- to 60- year-old Chinese. Our analysis shows that although intensive Internet use is significantly associated with lower levels of SWB, we hardly observe any associations when the focus is on participation in specific online activities. Nevertheless, SWB depends on perceptions of Internet use; that is, the importance that different individuals ascribe to different purposes for using the Internet and how much they believe that their Internet use is displacing other activities. Our results suggest that, contrary to previous findings, differences in beneficial outcomes (the third level digital divide) do not necessarily arise from individuals' actual Internet use (the second level digital divide) but rather may result from their subjective perceptions of such usage. Our findings also point to a possible cultural factor that puts Chinese Internet users at psychological risk. |
| Keywords: | China,digital divides,depression,happiness,Internet use,life satisfaction |
| JEL: | I10 D10 J10 Q53 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:072015&r=all |
| By: | Anna O. Daviy (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Vera A. Rebiazina (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The evolution of e-commerce positively affects the development of business in different areas, especially in developing countries. Also the development of e-commerce assists in creating new business models that are in certain cases results of overcoming existing barriers of the e-commerce market. However, there is little research on e-commerce market development and it hinders our understanding of the e-commerce market potential. The internet audience in Russia is 66.5 million people – the largest online audience in Europe. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the barriers and drivers for e-commerce market development in Russia. It gives an overview of the current Russian internet market development and trends. To identify the obstacles to and opportunities for the Russian e-commerce market, 25 in-depth interviews with representatives of Russian internet businesses were conducted. The empirical research reveals that the most significant barriers for the Russian market are barriers concerning market, infrastructure, and institutional issues |
| Keywords: | marketing, e-commerce, qualitative study, emerging markets |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:40man2015&r=all |
| By: | M. Rehm; D. Levy; F. Olga |
| Abstract: | Over the past several years the University of Auckland Business School’s Department of Property has redesigned several of its core papers to embrace online learning and other technologies in order to challenge and create an exciting learning environment for our undergraduate students. Three courses have adopted a blended learning model with purpose-made online lectures coupled with regular interactive face-to-face tutorial sessions featuring the online Top Hat student response system. These and other papers have also embraced two free Internet tools developed by the University of Auckland. Aropa enables students to peer review classmates’ assignments while Peerwise invites students to draft their own practice questions and share them with their peers. Lastly, the no-cost online Q&A platform Piazza is being incorporated into the Department’s courses to allow students to crowdsource answers to their questions from peers with academics and teaching assistants monitoring and contributing when needed. Being digital natives, university students are enamoured by these innovative teaching methods and are taking full advantage of the flexibility and enriched learning that these tools offer. |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2014–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2014_edu_109&r=all |
| By: | B. Martens |
| Abstract: | A shift in the provision and delivery of accompanying learning entities became recently apparent in the framework of real estate education. So far, scripts, syllabi etc., were delivered in printed form to the postgraduate students. Paper-based media have been serving for a long time and especially the feature of handwritten annotations by the students has to be highlighted. However, some shortcomings have been on the agenda as well, such as the issue of colour images. Also the handling had certain constraints in the timeline of delivery. Digital file distribution allows to delay to a certain extent the handover of materials from the lecturer to the students. On top of this the searchability of PDF-files is for example striking. Real estate students in the area of continuing education at Vienna University of Technology do since 2013 not receive any longer paper-based media. At the very beginning of a study course a tablet is handed over, which belongs to the student. By way of preinstalled apps for example annotations can be performed. On top of this coloured images are contained. All in all the ease-of-handling has to be highlighted as neither a tutorial is needed, nor the tablet requires perpetual maintenance. The iPads are connected to the existing Virtual Learning Environment and the delivery takes place via a standard internet browser. Though also smartphones could be connected, these screens are in general too small to support learning activities for a long time. It is expected that in 3-5 years tablets will be widely used by students already before the Start of their studies and therefore any commitment of the course provider in terms of hardware delivery will not be any longer required. |
| Keywords: | Distribution; Learning Environment; Tablet; Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2014–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2014_edu_105&r=all |
| By: | B. Thomson; B. Martens |
| Abstract: | Blended learning is to regarded a didactical meaningful combination of traditional face-to-face instruction and state-of-the-art e-learning formats. The efficiency and flexibility of computer-mediated forms of learning are combined with the social aspects of face-to-face communication. In other words a useful learning arrangement which combines modern-day means of networking through the internet and ‘classical’ learning methods and media. At the time of writing, blended learning has been operational for some fifteen years. Normally this would be long enough for optimal models to have evolved and regimes to be established to measure the effectiveness of the techniques employed. However, blended learning involves the use of technology – at least in part – and fifteen years is a long time in technology terms. Early online learning developed as an asynchronous process – especially outside the traditional University environment. As a student-centred teaching method it uses different resources to facilitate information sharing among a network of people. It is not constrained by time or place but was constrained by technology, particularly low bandwidth, that restricted the complexity of course material and effectively prevented the construction of synchronous interaction. More recently, with the effective removal of bandwidth constraints, synchronous online learning has been developed as a way of addressing the issues of transactional distance experienced with asynchronous learning. It must be noted that real estate education is not at all unified. Major differences may exist concerning (blended) learning. In order to verify this assumption, a survey about the use of blended learning in real estate education has been conducted. Survey results have been triangulated with a number of in-depth interviews with course directors and leaders. In addition case studies of blended learning practice are presented to add context to the study. |
| Keywords: | Computer Mediation; Content Management System (CMS); Learning Models; Teaching Methods; Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2015–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2015_72&r=all |
| By: | Chia-Lin Chang (Department of Applied Economics, Department of Finance, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan); Michael McAleer (Econometric Institute, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands, Department of Quantitative Economics, Complutense University of Madrid, and Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University.); Yu-Chieh Wu (Department of Applied Economics. National Chung Hsing University Taichung, Taiwan) |
| Abstract: | Taiwan has been hailed as a world leader in the development of global innovation and industrial clusters for the past decade. This paper investigates the effects of industrial agglomeration on the use of the internet and internet intensity for Taiwan manufacturing firms, and analyses whether the relationships between industrial agglomeration and total expenditure on internet usage for industries are substitutes or complements. The sample observations are based on 153,081 manufacturing plants, and covers 26 2-digit industry categories and 358 geographical townships in Taiwan. The Heckman selection model is used to adjust for sample selectivity for unobservable data for firms that use the internet. The empirical results from two-stage estimation show that: (1) for the industry overall, a higher degree of industrial agglomeration will not affect the probability that firms will use the internet, but will affect the total expenditure on internet usage; and (2) for 2-digit industries, industrial agglomeration generally decreases the total expenditure on internet usage, which suggests that industrial agglomeration and total expenditure on internet usage are substitutes. |
| Keywords: | Industrial agglomeration and clusters, Global innovation, Internet penetration, Manufacturing firms, Sample selection, Incidental truncation. |
| JEL: | D22 L60 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucm:doicae:1509&r=all |
| By: | P. Das |
| Abstract: | We examine if online information search trends reflect public interest in purchasing hotel rooms. We introduce the trends into univariate forecasting models and conventional structural models of room night stays and occupancy rates. We find that on a monthly frequency, search trends are significantly reflective of future room night stays and occupancy rates after controlling for known determinants of these variables. Inclusion the trends significantly improve the weekly forecasts of the performance fundamentals. |
| Keywords: | Forecasting; Google Searches; Hotel; Rents |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2015–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2015_232&r=all |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | The top-performing country in the PISA assessment of digital reading was Singapore, followed by Korea, Hong Kong-China, Japan, Canada and Shanghai-China. Students in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Korea, Singapore and the United States show the most advanced web-browsing skills. More often than students elsewhere, they carefully select links to follow before clicking on them, and follow relevant links for as long as is needed to answer a question. There is a strong association between countries’ digital reading performance and the quality of students’ navigation across digital texts. |
| Date: | 2015–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:55-en&r=all |
| By: | K. Bammel |
| Abstract: | Since over 15 years RICS is establishing profound and trusted relationships with universities running accredited courses. Even before the online learning revolution and the emerging MOOC, RICS started its online learning initiative. Today the RICS Online Academy provides members and professionals working in land, property and the built environment with convenient, flexible, online study options outside of the traditional classroom. Since its launch in 2011, RICS training has been very successful in the UK. This year demand has become more international therefore, our efforts in the future months will focus on introducing online training in continental Europe, Russia & CIS. At the same time we want to intensify the co-operation with the industry and academic world on the further development of training and education. We follow our vision to be recognised as the premier provider of training services in the land, property and construction sectors and we will be working on a suitable training offer for our stakeholders in continental Europe, Russia and CIS. |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2014–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2014_edu_106&r=all |