Shantha Fernando | University of Moratuwa (original) (raw)

Papers by Shantha Fernando

International Journal of ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES, 2022

Forensic investigations on cloud platforms are an oft-discussed topic in current digital forensic... more Forensic investigations on cloud platforms are an oft-discussed topic in current digital forensics. Significant growth in cloud platforms is expected in the coming decade. With such growth, cloud forensic investigations may require substantial changes in their approach. The paper surveys the most mentioned issues in cloud forensic literature. It is followed by a description of some of our current work aimed at solving those issues. The first issue that we tried to analyze was the issue of the trustworthiness of the evidence. We identified that the trustworthiness of the Cloud Service Providers is hardly discussed in the literature. Based on previous publications on similar issues on standalone computers, we provided an algorithm as an initial answer to the issue. The algorithm checks for the integrity of the evidence which will be affected in a tampering attempt. The next issue that we considered was time-taken for analysis (time complexity of forensic tools). While the issue has be...

2017 International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC), 2017

Use of E-learning techniques for education enhancement among the students is popular all over the... more Use of E-learning techniques for education enhancement among the students is popular all over the world. Automation of the pedagogical approaches to deliver the education process remotely, providing interactivity in the learning environment and attaching the students continuously with the learning process are the major objectives of E-learning. Although the interactive mechanisms are presented with modern E-learning solutions, mechanisms on paying concentration on the individual students separately to equal knowledge distribution are very rarely applied in such applications. Since the learners are in different knowledge levels according to the capacities of their mind, for most of them, there is a difficulty of understanding and ensuring the concepts they learn and performing well in the learning environment. Each learner shows different level of aptitude for different subjects, different prior knowledge, different learning styles, different kind of memory, different motivation to learning, different family backgrounds, different habits etc. These variations influence in their patterns and the preferences of learning. Therefore, personalizing the e-learning approaches has become a major research area aimed at knowledge enhancement of the individual students alike by customizing the learning environment according to the individuals' preferences. This paper presents a model of identifying the dynamic and the static learning behavior of the students to personalize the learning environment according to the individuals' learning preferences and the styles of learning. For the extraction of learning styles and the preferences, this research uses the models such as Felder Silverman's model, VAK model, Kolb's' model and Howard Garners Multiple Intelligence model.

International Journal of ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

When the learners are truly interested in learning, they learn faster, participate actively, and ... more When the learners are truly interested in learning, they learn faster, participate actively, and they pull knowledge. Unlike school education, adult learning mostly occurs with the initiation of the adult learner, and they then pull the relevant knowledge. Vocational education is the master key that opens the door to the economic and social development of a country and it provides an opportunity for Bottom of Pyramid people (BOP) to acquire a sustainable livelihood. Due to many difficulties and commitments of their lives, BOP people are not engaging in a continuous learning process. Since there are many adaptive mobile learning systems available, there is no proper mechanism to achieve the sustainable livelihood of BOP people through vocational education which is tightly coupled with their lifestyle and motivates them to get in learning activities. The context aware adaptive mobile learning framework is an attempt to push vocational knowledge for Bottom of Pyramid (BOP) people, who are not ready to pull knowledge. In this paper, we present mobile learning content design, concept design, system architecture, Adaptivity components, the system implementation and evaluation of the system This system guides BOP people in their vocations through adaptive content delivery mechanisms using mobile technology together with vocational and motivational factors to educate the user in a transparent and non-resistive manner. Social science based models integrated into systems to carry out adaptive delivery of content based on the end user learning behavior, vocation, social and psychological factors.

Proceedings of the Fourth (2017) ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale - L@S '17, 2017

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) use peer assessment to grade open ended questions at scale, a... more Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) use peer assessment to grade open ended questions at scale, allowing students to provide feedback. Relative to teacher based grading, peer assessment on MOOCs traditionally delivers lower quality feedback and fewer learner interactions. We present the identified peer review (IPR) framework, which provides non-blind peer assessment and incentives driving high quality feedback. We show that, compared to traditional peer assessment methods, IPR leads to significantly longer and more useful feedback as well as more discussion between peers.

Revolutionizing Modern Education through Meaningful E-Learning Implementation, 2000

MOOCs are found to be next disruption for online education. It provides many avenues to students ... more MOOCs are found to be next disruption for online education. It provides many avenues to students to who could not be access to world class education. xMOOCs have been experiencing by students since 2012 and courses keep adding every day in many MOOC platforms. However, it was found that not all the courses in MOOC platforms provide student satisfactions and quality. In other words, effectiveness of the courses in MOOCs varies significantly. Many MOOCs fail to meet the user goals. This concerns the MOOC consumers that there is no quality standard followed by the MOOC producers. In this chapter, authors evaluate 20 courses in MOOC platforms by actively participating and experiencing the behaviors. Evaluation is processed using 8 dimensional eLearning framework to explore the quality and readiness on the technology for future. Results expressed that MOOCs need thorough attention in designing so that it meets user goals and be effective to continue keeping the users interest.

INTED2016 Proceedings, 2016

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are trending and became the " buzz word " i... more Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are trending and became the " buzz word " in online learning since 2012. Although cMOOC (Connectivist MOOC) was existed since 2008, xMOOC becoming more popular while attracting many online students. xMOOCs in particular has common pedagogical features such as small chucked videos, quizzes, peer and self-assessments and forums. Although the design may vary with in the MOOC platform and also among the MOOCs platforms, researchers claim that it provide a sound pedagogical model and at some point reach higher gains in learning than in a face to face class room. However, it is still sceptical for some researchers, whether the model delivers the knowledge and the skills required to meet the challenges in 21st century. 21st Century skills are defined by many organizations yet commonly agreed upon skills, such as Collaboration, Communication, Creativity and Innovation. Timely we are moving from industrial society to information base society. It is important that students equip with the skills need in the information base society. At a massive number of enrolments in MOOCs, it is even vital to understand whether participants are gaining the skills required for future challenges. However, currently with the higher rate of emerging MOOCs into the field, it is facing quality challenges. Meeting the 21st century skill requirement is one of the challenges and research works lack towards this direction due to the fact that MOOC is still an emerging phenomena. Nevertheless, our research focused to identify whether the MOOCs are providing the 21st century skills from participants perspective. We conducted a survey using 391 MOOC participants and found that overall 78% of participants believe that MOOCs are lacking to provide the 21st skills. At the same time we conducted 30 semi structured interviews in order to deepen the analysis. While analysing qualitative and qualitative statistics, we empathize the requirement of designing MOOCs where it will result participants with the not just mastery base skills but with well-timed skills to meet the challenges in 21st century.

2015 8th International Conference on Ubi-Media Computing (UMEDIA), 2015

2009 Innovative Technologies in Intelligent Systems and Industrial Applications, 2009

Abstract The electronic identity (eID) is being positioned to be a basic tool for identification,... more Abstract The electronic identity (eID) is being positioned to be a basic tool for identification, authentication and authorization in application domains ranging from eCommerce in private sector to eGovernance in public sector. A practical and flexible eID should be usable in both a network-connected online setting as well as in conventional offline situations. While improving security of communication and enhancing access control to resources, eID schemes also have the potential to become a serious negative factor on user privacy ...

International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions (ICTer2012), 2012

This paper discusses the results of a tutor mentor development program that utilized a community ... more This paper discusses the results of a tutor mentor development program that utilized a community building model to train online tutors and mentors in higher education institutions and professional organizations in Sri Lanka. Based on WisCom; an instructional design model for developing online wisdom communities, this tutor mentor development program which utilized a blended format of face-to-face and online activities in MOODLE, attempted to build a learning community between trainees, both academics and professionals who represented diverse disciplines and organizations. A regression model examined predictors of learner satisfaction, using four independent variables: Community Building, Interaction, Course Design, and Leamer Support. Interaction emerged as a strong predictor of Learner Satisfaction explaining 50.2% of the variance in Leamer Satisfaction. This finding shows the importance of designing interactive learning activities to support learning online, and contradicts the general belief that Sri Lankan participants would be less likely to interact online because they come from a traditional education system that encourages passivity and reception of ideas from a more learned teacher. Qualitative analysis showed evidence of several types of learning online as a result of collaborative group interaction, as well as issues that contributed to non-participation. Factors that motivated participants to stay engaged in learning could be classified into three categories: (1) general enjoyment, interest and motivation; (2) collaborative learning and community building; and (3) knowledge building. These results suggest that the online learning design based on Wi sCorn led to learner satisfaction and supported interaction and collaborative learning in the Sri Lankan socio-cultural context.

Emerging Organizational, Ethical, and Human Issues, 2009

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET)

MOOC user behavior is generally studied using the data collected within platform interactions in ... more MOOC user behavior is generally studied using the data collected within platform interactions in the learning system or via outside social media platforms. It is important to understand the root causes of anomalies in MOOCs, such as the 80% attrition, less interactions within platforms and what causing the reflected behaviors beyond platforms. We study MOOC student behaviors outside the platform using ethnographic methods, mainly focusing on diary study and interviews. Two groups, 11 extreme users who have completed many MOOCs and 10 who never completed MOOC have been used to collect data. The log sheets data and interviews were analyzed using the Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) method to explore if there is a significance between these 2 groups and other qualitative comparisons to explore behavioral patterns. Our results indicated 4 behavioral patterns with insights into a significant level of learner's habits between extreme and novice users’ behaviors leading to completion o...

International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy (iJEP)

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have considered to be a potential to disseminate engineering ... more Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have considered to be a potential to disseminate engineering education at scale. However, the pedagogical requirement demanded engineering student to equip with specific skillsets such as communication, interactivity, and collaboration. Yet, MOOCs are skeptical of facilitating those skills. Generally, MOOCs evaluated against accessibility and usability. These evaluations may not perceive whether the platform designs in MOOCs support to much-needed interactions and collaboration required in engineering education. We evaluated 6 MOOC platform designs under the lens of collaboration and types of interactions which occur as learner to learner, learner to instructor, learner to platform and learner to content. Evaluation criteria were derived us-ing previous frameworks and evaluations were conducted using 10 participants. Based on each criterion a matrix was formed with a weight to compare results. We found overall collaboration opportunities in platfo...

Proceedings of IEEE TALE, 2018

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) use peer grading which enables to offer open ended questions ... more Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) use peer grading which enables to offer open ended questions in assignments at scale. Offering open ended questions enhance students’ creativity skills while improving cognitive skills. However, this technique face drawback such as lack of feedback or blank feedback, lack of quality in given feedback and confusion or mismatch in expected results between peers. In design studios and connected MOOCs often practice open feedback. Drawing inspirations from it, we hypothesize that introducing peers and allowing to communicate with each other at peer assessment in structured open learning environment will increase the quality of feedback. We prototyped a design reﬂecting these goals and tested using two groups of students under control and treatment condition. Our results reﬂect a signiﬁcance in treatment condition. We discuss implications of opening up identities in learning environments feedback stages which provide a stimuli for students to interact more than blind state.

eLearning is a method of delivering education via electronic means. Timely it is online learning ... more eLearning is a method of delivering education via electronic means. Timely it is online learning as education or learning happens via world wide web. Effectiveness in eLearning with reference to the learner is whether he/she could meet the learning goals while learning online. In this research it has tried to identify the meaning of learning effectiveness with regard to users’ perspective and the factors affecting the effectiveness of eLearning. In order to conduct the research 121 active online eLearning participants have been interviewed and observed. Qualitative method of Ground theory and Quantitative analysis methods of Principle Component Analysis were used in order to process data and the results provide 10 factors that affect effectiveness in eLearning. At the same time it highlights and ranks the 10 important dimensions which any eLearning provider should attempt to address in providing a successful eLearning practice. Among all, the top 5 ranks were 1.Interactivity, 2.Coll...

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are found to be the latest disruption in online education. Si... more Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are found to be the latest disruption in online education. Since 2012 up to day, there are many MOOCs introduced in many platforms. Some of the platforms are namely Coursera, edX, NovoEd, FutureLearn, Open2Study. For an instance Coursera has more than 700 courses in their platform. Although there is increase demand for online courses, very less percentage of participants complete the courses. Some researchers claim this is due to lack of self discipline, yet it is still sceptic on the reasons for higher dropout rates. However, examining reviews of the courses by participants and experiencing by ourselves as active MOOC participants it is understood that not all the courses meet the user goals or effective to the users. In this empirical research we tried to evaluate the effectiveness of MOOCs. We enrolled in 22 courses from 5 different platforms and evaluated the courses while actively participating. We used 2 evaluation frameworks based on empirical research in this process. Evaluation results indicated a quality variation in the platforms and in between courses within the same platform as well. Our conclusion strongly emphasize the requirement of quality control in designing and implementing of any MOOC course as many courses lacks to meet the user goals proving a quality learning experience.

Information Technology (IT) education, when adaptive to the market demand, can contribute towards... more Information Technology (IT) education, when adaptive to the market demand, can contribute towards the development of IT in a country. The contribution of IT education to the economic growth and sustainable development of a country is seen in the quality and spread of IT industries. It has been observed that there is a gap between the IT knowledge provided by universities and the knowledge required by IT industries to improve the level of IT in many countries. Adaptive Course Development (ACD) using IT-aligned learning objects was proposed as a solution to this. A framework is required to help such a process. Proposed framework for ACD takes into account the IT capabilities of a university in IT education, the specific attributes of academic subjects demanded by the IT industries and the availability of experts in IT industry and the universities.

The contribution of Information Technology (IT) to the economic growth and sustainable developmen... more The contribution of Information Technology (IT) to the economic growth and sustainable development of a country is indicated by the quality and spread of IT industries and IT education in universities. The gap between the knowledge provided by the university and the knowledge required by the IT industry is a concern. As a solution, Adaptive Course Development (ACD) that could result from the collaboration of IT companies with the universities conducting IT courses was proposed. In our former work, a framework was proposed to develop IT aligned learning objects that are to be deployed on an e-learning platform to implement ACD. This process takes into account relevant subject areas, availability of experts, openness of IT companies, IT course curriculum, etc. The survey described in this paper reveals the potential for ACD in a transitional country. Similar situations may exist in developed countries as well.

International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, 2000

International Journal of Engineering and Technology, 2013