ITC 525 – Commerce on the Information Superhighway
Assignment 2 – Part A
e-Learning Search Report
Name: Sue Moloney
Student ID: 99981205
Report Summary
The e-Learning Search Report provides information on eleven searches undertaken
on the Internet using a variety of search tools and the advanced features within the
tools.
e-Learning was selected as the topic to research because of the authors interest in
the area and its relevance to her current employment.
The report highlights that:
 The best results are obtained by using a variety of search tools including
search engines and online databases.

The number of results returned is not indicative of quality. For example, a very
broad Yahoo search delivered resources that were of immense value.
Similarly, an Ovid database search, while only returning one result led to a
resource that was of very high quality and use.

Refining searches using more advanced syntax does not always result in
better results and can lead to key resources being overlooked or omitted.

There is an immense number of resources relating to e-Learning on the
internet and therefore caution must be taken when assessing the quality and
reliability of the material.

It is difficult to say which tool produced the best results as each tool
contributed, or led to, resources that were of value to the e-Learning topic.
Many of the resources found via the search process have been included in the eLearning Virtual Library prepared as Part B of this assignment.
Search 1
Search tool used:
Google
http://www.google.com
Search syntax:
define: e-Learning
Number of results obtained:
15
View results
Results obtained:
This search was undertaken using Google’s advanced search syntax “define:”.
Inserting “define:” before the term you wish to define, delivers the results Google finds
in glossaries gathered from various online sources. This search feature is useful to assist
in quickly finding simple definitions of terms, without wading through the thousands of
search results a simple search syntax of “define e-Learning” would deliver.
The most useful definition sourced from this search was:
 Education via the Internet, network, or standalone computer.
Network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. e-Learning refers to
using electronic applications and processes to learn. e-Learning
applications and processes include Web-based learning, computerbased learning, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration. Content is
delivered via the Internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape,
satellite
TV,
and
CD-ROM.
www.learnframe.com/aboutelearning/glossary.asp
Another very simple but useful definition determine from this search was:
 Any technologically mediated learning using computers whether from
a distance or in face to face classroom setting (computer assisted
learning).
www.usd.edu/library/instruction/glossary.shtml
One result was valuable for highlighting the important point that the definition of eLearning is contentious:
 Electronic learning or learning via Information and Communication
technologies (ICTs) on the analogy with e-mail. But this interpretation
could be contested.
www.windeatt.f2s.com/ijet/glossary.htm
The quality of the search result was acceptable for finding a simple e-Learning
definition. It should be noted however, that because the “define:” syntax only
searches web glossary definitions the results were limited and may not have provided
results from sites that may be considered authoritative on the topic of e-Learning. For
this reason an additional search was subsequently undertaken without using the
“define:” syntax. It was expected that this search would deliver a large number of
results but was still worthwhile undertaking to broaden the scope of available
definitions. The results of that search are provided in Search 2.
Search 2
Search tool used:
Google
http://www.google.com
Search syntax:
define "e-Learning" –training
This search utilised Google’s advanced search features to find results that included
the word define, had the exact phrase e-Learning and did not include the word
training. In addition, the search was limited to only those pages which were written in
English.
Number of results obtained:
Over 40,900
View results
Results obtained:
As indicated in Search 1 it was expected that the use of this search criteria would
result in a large number of results.
This search provided a large range of result, many which were corporations with
involvement in delivering e-Learning products or consultancies. For example:
 e-Learning software for Business and Education provided by
Turbodemo.com
www.turbodemo.com/spa/News40.htm
Despite the abundance of corporate focused result the search did provide several
links in the first three pages which were of considerable value.
Of particular interest in the result were:
 The Learning Federation web site. This site has a large range of
information on the Australian and New Zealand Government initiative
to create online curriculum content and infrastructure to enhance
learning and teaching. Interestingly, a further search of the Learning
Federation Site was unable to locate a definition of e-Learning.
http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/tlf/newcms/view_page.asp
?page_id=9938&Men_Id=1

The Guide 2 e-Learning site. This site provided a quality definition of eLearning as :
e-Learning is defined as learning with the aid of information and
communications technology tools. These may include the
Internet, intranets, computer-based technology, or interactive
television. They may also include the use of e-technology to
support traditional methods of learning, for example using
electronic whiteboards or video conferencing.
http://www.senet.lsc.gov.uk/guide2/elearning/definition.cfm
This site also provided links to a very useful e-Learning strategy site
developed by the UK government e-Learning.
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/elearningstrategy/elearning.stm
Despite the large number of results that were returned via this broad search it was a
relatively simple exercise to review several pages of the search results to determine
which of these results were of greatest value. As a result of this some valuable eLearning resources were located.
Search 3
Search tool used:
Dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com/
Search syntax:
e-Learning
An advanced search was undertaken in Dogpile using the Boolean term function
and the domain filter. The Boolean term function was used to search on possible
variants in spelling or syntax. In this case e-Learning and ELearning were both used.
The domain filter was used to restrict the search to those sites from the .edu domain.
This domain is restricted to education providers and therefore eliminated results from
many corporate organisations whose sites are registered in the .com domain.
Only those pages which were written in English were requested.
Number of results obtained:
19
View results
Results obtained:
Dogpile is a search engine that returns the highest ranking results from each of the
leading search engines. These search engines include Google, Yahoo and Ask
Jeeves.
The domain filter significantly decreased the volume of search results. Unfortunately
while the number of results decreased the search did not return particularly useful
information. A number of the results related to presentations that had been made at
conferences on e-Learning. For example
http://horizon.unc.edu/conferences/disalvio.htm
There were also results for a number of educational institutions “selling” their eLearning courses.
http://www.iuhs.edu/
Three of the nineteen search results were for Harvard Business on line publications
which are in reality “shops” for Harvard publications. While these resources may be of
significant value and use if purchased they did not provide any immediately
accessible information on e-Learning.
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/elearning/elea
rning_how_to_purchase.jhtml
One result of interest was the abstract on developing an e-Learning strategy. This
resulted provided a link to the EDUCAUSE site which provides a wealth of information
on the use of technology to advance higher education.
http://www.educause.edu/asp/doclib/abstract.asp?ID=NEC0004
Search 4
Search tool used:
Dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com/
Search syntax:
e-Learning showcase
Number of results obtained:
77
View results
Results obtained:
The goal of this search was to begin to build some concrete examples of the use of eLearning for inclusion in the e-Learning Virtual Library. It was hoped that the search
would deliver a range of showcases of organisations that have used e-Learning to
deliver outstanding educational outcomes.
Some fantastic examples were found using this search. In particular was the
showcase provided by the e-Learning centre. This site was particularly useful as a
provided a short review and recommendation about each site included in the
showcase.
http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/showcase/ideas-schools.htm
The showcase included
 A virtual tour of Egypt.
http://www.eternalegypt.org/EternalEgyptWebsiteWeb/HomeServlet

An educational site following a polar expedition.
http://www.polarhusky.com/portal.html\

An art appreciation course for primary aged children.
http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/smartkids/

An additional site of interest was the corporate software developer
Macromedia site. The site provided examples of how their products have
been used to enhance learning.
http://www.macromedia.com/resources/elearning/

One of the best e-learning sites uncovered in this search is one that allows the
user to perform a virtual knee operation!
http://www.livingchildren.com/knee/
Search 5
Search tool used:
Eric (Ovid) via CSU Library database
http://gateway2.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi
Search syntax:
e-Learning strategy
Number of results obtained:
1
View results
Results obtained:
Access to the Eric (Ovid) database is provided by the CSU Library. This database is
presently the largest education database in the world, with in excess of one million
entries related to the field of education.
This search proved the age old adage that it is often quality not quantity that counts.
While the search only delivered one result it provided a gateway to an excellent
resource. While an online version of the item was not available from the database it
provided a link to the digital virtual library produced by the Associate for the
Advancement of Computing in Education.
http://www.aace.org/DL/
This site contained a wealth of information on e-Learning, e-Learning strategies,
conferences and publications. Of particular interest was the depth of information
provided by a journal available on the site title International Journal of e-Learning
(IJEL).
Articles of interest in the journal included:
 Assessing student in online courses.
http://www.aace.org/DL/index.cfm/fuseaction/ViewPaper/id/15323/t
oc/yes

Quality assurance for online teaching in higher education: considering
and identifying best practice for e-learning.
http://www.aace.org/DL/index.cfm/fuseaction/ViewPaper/id/15327/t
oc/yes

Key factors for determining student satisfaction in online courses.
http://www.aace.org/dl/index.cfm/fuseaction/ViewPaper/id/15289/to
c/yes
Search 6
Search tool used:
Proquest
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb
Search syntax:
-Learning AND NOT anonymous
This search utilised the advance search feature within the Proquest database search
tool. Firstly the search was limited to online education databases. Results were
further limited by requiring them to only be from scholarly journals. To further refine
the search only those sites or articles published since 1/1/2000, that had a full text
copy of the information available online were sought.
The AND NOT Boolean operator was used to eliminate from the results articles which
did not have an identifiable author.
Number of results obtained:
36
View results
Results obtained:
The Proquest database is available via the CSU Library. It provides a search function
across multiple databases on a variety of topics. One the key advantages of the
Proquest search is the ability to restrict a search to items that are considered
scholarly. This feature increases the reliability of the search results as the items will
have been authorised by an academic of had some form of academic review.
An article on e-Learning in higher education was the most interesting result, however
overall, the results were not of much interest or value.
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=000000152483911&SrchMod
e=5&Fmt=3&retrieveGroup=0&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=P
QD&TS=1088730726&clientId=20957
Note:

An additional search was undertaken using the AEI (Australian
Education Index (Informit) database also provided through the CSU
Library. The application however failed on multiple occasions and was
therefore abandoned as a search tool. This tool was initially selected
because it provided coverage of educational topics including
Australian journal articles, monographs, research reports, theses,
conference papers, legislation, parliamentary debates, newspaper
articles, tests and web sites.
http://search.informit.com.au

CSU’s Education Virtual Library was also searched for information on eLearning however the site continually malfunctioned delivering a series
of error messages when undertaking various functions, including
searching, within the library .
It was therefore unfortunately
abandoned
as
a
search
resource.
http://www.csu.edu.au/education/library.html
Search 7
Search tool used:
EdNA Online
http://www.edna.edu.au/
Search syntax:
e-Learning
Number of results obtained:
402
View results
Results obtained:
An earlier search provided a result that linked to the EdNA site. EdNA Online is a
service that aims to support and promote the benefits of the Internet for learning,
education and training in Australia. One of its key features is a database of web
resources useful for teaching and learning. This resource is a virtual library, with a
database providing a huge number of resources. Users are also able to complete a
form to submit resources to the library.
This search provided excellent quality results because the search was undertaken on
a site that specialises in educational resources. It delivered some of the most
valuable and relevant information of the searches undertaken to date.
A number of results were of particular interest. These included:
 A paper prepared by the Asia Pacific e-Learning Alliance (APEC) on
best practice in e-Learning in the Asia Pacific zone. The report
discussed benefits of the Internet for education and how this can
contribute to the development of economic and social fabric of the
region.
http://www.sun.com/products-nsolutions/edu/whitepapers/pdf/elearning_bestpractices.pdf

The e-Learning Centre web site. This web site is a private venture
developed by an e-Learning Consultant. The site has an enormous
amount of information including a e-Learning virtual library where
resources can be submitted for review.
http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/guide2elearning/

A paper prepared by the Flexible Learning Group. The Flexible
Learning Group is an Australian Government funded body whose goal
is to enhance the use of flexible delivery modes to enhance training
and education. The paper provided a very sounds overview of eLearning and the implications of its use.
The paper also provided an additional definition of e-Learning as :
E-learning is a wide set of applications and processes which use
all available electronic media to deliver vocational education
and training. The term covers computer-based learning, webbased learning, and the use of mobile technologies; it includes
virtual classrooms and digital collaboration and uses
http://flexiblelearning.net.au/research/2003/elearning250903final.pdf
Note:
Many search tools now provide functionality which offers spelling suggestions or
corrections for search terms which have been entered. Interestingly the EdNA Online
search tool offered some very odd suggestions. For example, for this search the
correction offered was :
Did you mean me-Lmearning trmends?
Search 8
Search tool used:
EdNA Online
http://www.edna.edu.au/
Search syntax:
e-Learning trends
Number of results obtained:
15
View results
Results obtained:
This search was undertaken to further explore the EdNA resources to investigate what
trends in e-Learning currently are.
A discussion paper was found that provided a useful overview of the topic.
http://resources.flexiblelearning.net.au/resources?14@@.ee80b3e
In addition a UK produced paper discussed the benefit of e-Learning and how it has
effected organisational change and policy in the higher education sector.
http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper78/paper78.htm
Search 9
Search tool used:
WebCrawler
http://www.webcrawler.com
Search syntax:
e-Learning not training, English, .edu Domain
The advanced search feature within the Web Crawler search tool was used to refine
the search. The terms defined were e-Learning, however the term “training” was
eliminated from the search request. Results were restricted to sites in English within the
.edu domain.
Number of results obtained:
19
View results
Results obtained:
The search results provided by Web Crawler were not of particular value or interest.
Most results were linked to university web sites which offer online courses. For
example :
 The first search result provided information on the University of
Maryland’s online study offerings.
http://www.onlinestudies.umd.edu/
Unlike other searches, Web Crawler did not provide results to central e-Learning
information repositories in the .edu domain such as EdNA or the UK Government
based Department for Education and Skills Government site:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/elearningstrategy/
Most results delivered from the WebCrawler search were from US based sites.
Further and more advanced searches using this search tool did not provide useful or
valuable resources and are therefore not detailed in this report.
Search 10 & 11
Search tool:
Yahoo
Search syntax:
Search 10 – e-Learning
The initial Yahoo search was purposefully undertaken to be very broad and an
awareness that this syntax would deliver a large number of results. Advanced search
was used to limit results to those sites written in English.
Search 11
This search was used to refine the results returned in search 10 to only include those
that did not include the term “training” and that were hosted within the .edu domain.
Number of results obtained:
Search 10 - 2,490,000 (see notes below for value in such a broad search)
View results
Search 11 - 52,200
View results
Results obtained:
Despite delivering over 2 million results, search 10 in fact proved to be a worthwhile
exercise of finding useful resources. While it would not be expected that all search
results would be reviewed, there were valuable resources found by reviewing the first
50 results.
The highest ranking search result was a site that had not been returned via other
search tools using similar syntax. The site, developed and maintained by the
European Commission, provides excellent resources on e-Learning and information
on a large number of e-Learning initiatives and projects being undertaken by the
Commission.
http://www.elearningeuropa.info/
Another interesting resource found from this very board search was the e-Learning
Gurus’s web site. While the site focused more on the use of e-Learning for training
and corporate purposes there are still a number of useful resources and papers
available on the site.
www.e-learningguru.com/
The refined search delivered fewer results but took more trawling through to find
resources of particular interest. A useful site was returned that discussed the “Post
Internet University”. A number of topics are found including case studies of effective
e-Learning application and provided design tips for these developing e-Learning
models. The site also provided topic on challenges faced when using e-Learning
including social, technical and organisational. The site also provided interesting data
on internet usage by University students.
http://cct.georgetown.edu/elearning/