Purpose: To explore the influence of competitive strategy in entrepreneur-led SMEs and the effects on e-learning HRD. Design/methodology/approach: Performance consulting company reviews provide holistic information on nine case studies on small and medium sized enterprises drawn from the printing, agri-foods and media industries. Findings:…

Life-long learning is a key issue for our knowledge society. With social software systems new heterogeneous kinds of technology enhanced informal learning are now available to the life-long learner. Learners outside of learning institutions now have access to powerful social communities of experts and peers who are together forging a new web 2.0.…

Recent empirical evidence suggests that the updated DeLone and McLean's information systems (D&M IS) model can identify the determinants of success of online communities in terms of member loyalty (Lin and Lee 2006). This study is similarly concerned with the challenge of identifying the determinants of success of online communities, but it…

A major obstacle to the diffusion of management development learning technologies from Higher Education Institutions to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) is a lack of understanding about how SME learners learn. This article examines the nature of learning in SMEs and considers the incidence of informal support for informal learning.…

Research suggests that technology use among adult literacy students has positive effects on learning outcomes, with the majority of these studies focused on traditional classroom environments where technology is used as a supplement to existing instruction. Adult literacy students are affected in many ways by technology use within less structured…

Learning is a changing phenomenon, depending on the advances in theory and research. This book presents a relatively new approach to learning, based on meaningful human activities in cultural practices and in collaboration with others. It draws extensively from the ideas of Lev Vygotsky and his recent followers. The book presents ideas that…

Recent research suggests that there is a general lack of a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) presence in teacher preparation programs. There is also evidence that teachers obtain a majority of their CALL knowledge from informal sources and personal experience rather than through formalized preparation. Further, graduates of these programs…

Since the start of the current millennium, experience and expertise in the development and delivery of mobile learning have blossomed and a community of practice has evolved that is distinct from the established communities of "tethered" e-Learning. This community is currently visible mainly through dedicated international conference…

There has been interest recently in how mobile devices may be motivating forces in the right contexts: for example, one of the themes for the IADIS International Conference on Mobile Learning in 2007 was "Affective Factors in Learning with Mobile Devices" (http://www.mlearning-conf.org). The authors have previously proposed six aspects…

This explores the constructivist understanding that shared practitioner research in collaborative online spaces leads to deeper learning. The research was developed within the context of building the National College of School Leaderships (NCSLs) online learning communities. A community and a learning scale, both emerging through grounded…

This paper illustrates the intensified engagement that youth are having with digital technologies and introduces a framework for examining "digital fluency"--the competencies, new representational practises, design sensibilities, ownership, and strategic expertise that a learner gains or demonstrates by using digital tools to gather, design,…

One of the major challenges in second and foreign language education, is to create links between formal and informal learning environments. Mobile City and Language Guides present examples of theoretical and practical reflections on such links. This paper presents and discusses the first considerations of Mobile City and Language Guides in…

This paper explores the varied use of information technologies (ITs) such as the computer and Internet for self-education, highlighting how these technologies can facilitate and suppress such learning opportunities throughout the adult population. Based on data drawn from a large-scale study of adults in the West of England and South Wales, the…

This paper focuses on "digital inequality"--a key mediating issue within the education technology debate. In particular, it examines how the social and cultural resources of young people relate to their usage behaviour within the informal space of the Internet and what options are available to counter this digital inequality in terms of…

A look at the role technology plays in helping a student learn and develop his own individuality. (AK)