Authoring education resources has long been a serious problem and seems to be a bottleneck of many education systems. Attracted by the huge amount of Web resources that can be potentially useful for multiple educational purposes, we have applied Semantic Web technology, to design and develop an ontology-driven Personalized Instruction Planner (PIP) based on a Personalized Education Ontology called PEOnto. The PIP is used as an effective tool for instruction design and annotation of education resources. This paper will present the design and prototyping of PIP, demonstrate the applicability and usage of PEOnto to support several typical teaching or learning tasks. Sharing and discussions of our work also serves to highlight not only possible future extension of PEOnto, but also key research directions for Personalized Education.
In October 2007–January 2008, the InterLabs Research Instituteat Bradley University (Peoria, Illinois, USA), the internationaljournal on Advanced Technology for Learning (ATL Journal, ISSN:1710-2251), and the leaders of the annual international conferenceson Web-Based Education (WBE, 2002–2008) and Computers andAdvanced Technology in Education (CATE, 1998–2008) organizedand managed the 2008 World Survey in WBE area.
This paper presents an Internet-based laboratory, named as RemoteMonitored and Controlled Laboratory (RMCLab), aiming to providehigh-quality lab training in electrical engineering subjects to stu-dents all over the world.
E-learning applications combine content with learning technology systems to support the creation of content and its delivery to the learner.In the future, we can expect the distinction between learning content and its supporting infrastructure to become blurred.Content objects will interact with infrastructure services as independent objects.Our solution to the development of e-learning applicationscontent-driven design and architecture -is based on content-centric ontological modelling and development of architectures.Knowledge and modelling will play an important role in the development of content and architectures.Our approach integrates content with interaction (in technical and educational terms) and services (the principle organization for a system architecture), based on techniques from different fields, including software engineering, learning design, and knowledge engineering.
We have developed a teaching improvement support system utilizing a web-based teaching portfolio provided with a VOD-compatible animated video clip function. This system has been used by active teachers since last year. This teaching portfolio has recently been given a dual-screen synchronous playback function for video clips of classes, and has been distributed as an e-learning resource to enable students to observe classes prior to practical teacher training. As a result, in comparison with video clips on a single screen, this dual-screen synchronous playback has been suggested as being effective as an instructional resource since there are differences in the manner in which students perceive the three points consisting of the sense of presence of classroom observation, understanding the reactions of students in response to questions from the instructor, and understanding the preferences and interests of students.
S. Huttunen, J. Heikkila and O. Silven Machine Vision Group, Infotech Oulu Department of Electrical and Information Engineering P.O. Box 4500, FIN-90014 University of Oulu, Finland {samhut, jth, olli}@ee.oulu.fi Abstract Videoconferencing technology offers new possibilities for distance education, as it provides an interactive way to teach remote students. To provide proper interactivity and to ensure the students’ learning, it is important to transmit the correct view from the classroom to the remote sites. Traditionally the teacher has to take care of the source selection and control the equipment located in the classroom. From the teacher’s point of view, this means additional work and concentrating solely on teaching can be difficult. The goal of the automatic system described in this paper is to reduce the teacher’s workload in a videoconferencing situation. The system developed takes care of the video source switching without the teacher’s control. The system observes the teacher’s actions using the cameras installed in the classroom. A rule-based video source selection is made on the basis of both the teacher’s location and the document camera usage information. Actual video source switching is carried out by the equipment and auditorium control unit installed in the classroom. The results obtained indicate that the system implemented can clearly provide help for the teacher when using a distance education system.
As online college enrollments soar, the number of public, private,and for-profit e-campuses continues to grow, raising serious concernsabout the academic quality and integrity of Web-based educationboth in the US and abroad.
In this paper, we study the virtual reality technologies for developing a virtual astronomical museum, which can be applied in astronomy education. The museum contains four exhibition areas of the following topics: Astronomy Technologies, the Moon and Earth, the Solar System, and Observing Constellations. We developed the virtual scenes of astronomical museum, including the domed building, exhibition areas, displayed objects, and several models to simulate the motion of celestial bodies. Users can operate the models by setting time, position, and speed to observe the changes of astronomical phenomena. In virtual astronomical museum, we can see a lot of exhibits as if visiting a real astronomical museum. It is accessible through network and highly interactive with 3D visual effects. In addition, learning on the virtual website is not limited by time or space. Therefore, it is a very useful tool to enhance astronomical knowledge.
Mobile technologies offer the opportunity to embed learning in a natural environment. This paper describes the design of the Ubi-CrossWords prototype, a project built to explore the opportunities to support learning through an orientation game in a mixed reality environment. The paper first introduces the scenario and then describes the general architecture of the prototype. Then the paper explores how using mobile technologies in direct physical interaction with space and with other players can be combined with principles of engagement and self-motivation to create a powerful learning experience. Finally it presents the underlying architecture, Mobile WebTalk, a mixed collaborative virtual environment framework mainly used for collaborative educational aims, to support in a flexible way both stationary and mobile players. We explore the use of heterogeneous collaboration through a software architecture, running on mobile devices, able to configure itself on the basis of an XML declaration representing workspace and interaction rules shared with the 3D stationary users.
This paper discusses the assessment of an interactive computer simulation game used to teach energy-efficient strategies for cold-climate design in commercial buildings. The paper first provides an overview of the game and in doing so discusses the background, methodology, and concepts used in designing the game. The greater content of the paper addresses an assessment of the data collected during an experimental test of the effectiveness of this game versus traditional learning methods. It concludes with a section that reviews the results of the experiment and makes recommendations for future directions of research in this area.
This study explores the effects of technologies designed for whole class use on third grade students' engagement, using off-the-shelf tools including a document camera, wireless writing pads, and a wireless student response system. Data sources included classroom observations, student self-report ratings, teacher interviews, and student focus groups. Findings suggest that students felt more engaged when more personal participatory technology was used.
In conventional teaching there are three major goal structures: competitive learning, cooperative learning and individualistic learning. There has been much research into the effectiveness of these goal structures in conventional teaching. In regards to computer-aided learning, cooperative learning has been researched in game-based e-learning (GBEL), but competitive learning has mostly been overlooked. This research investigates the impact that competition has on the effectiveness of GBEL. The results of the experiment showed that when the e-learning game was played in a competitive context there was a lower learning improvement than if the game was played in a non-competitive, individualistic context.
Virtual learning environments supply us with new tools for learning. The conditions for communication are likely to affect the knowledge process. In this paper, we present the study of a collaborative knowledge process with the aim of identifying factors that can affect collaborative learning in a web-based environment . Underlining the study is an assumption that student teachers will be better equipped, if they have experienced and discussed methods of collaborative learning while in training. A tool for analysing the communication process in a knowledge production perspective was developed and used with a collaborative web-based method in a teacher-training programme. Results identified two critical factors affecting the level of collaboration connected to the knowledge process. Social interaction, to establish a group culture and the exchange of experiences, as a foundation for knowledge production is in this study a key factor for designing a web-based collaborative learning context. The insight into these processes is central for planning and choosing methods for collaborative courses, and the analysing tool can be used for evaluation of group work and assessments.
Although there is considerable interest in the idea of using games for learning, success in this area has proven elusive. Clearly it is challenging to take established curricula developed for other media types and attempt to fit them into open-ended game contexts where content is secondary to experience. Digital games are very effective for learning, but they represent a type of productive play that does not fit neatly within established educational paradigms. Furthermore, play and learning take on new dimensions within the context of an increasingly participatory culture that blurs traditional boundaries between producers and consumers, as well as teachers and learners. In participatory contexts, learning is a systemic activity where the contributions of the individual contribute to the larger collective intelligence, and learning is often a by-product of play or creativity. Attempts to use games for learning must take this broader context into account and acknowledge the shifting expectations and emerging literacies of learners steeped in a digital culture that introduces and reinforces new standards for play and participation.
Design and development of computer-supported collaborative learning systems is a complicated technological endeavour, as it involves tackling difficult distributed software design issues and adaptation to the continuously shifting technological background. This paper proposes a framework for the development of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) applications. The pedagogical value of the proposed framework is based on the fact that it allows the initiation of collaborative sessions with diverse settings, regarding the group size, floor control, and level of peer awareness, thus facilitating teachers to design a variety of collaborative learning activities. Various evaluation studies have been performed using applications built according to the proposed framework, and the obtained results are described.
In this paper we will first analyse what has happened in organizational decision-making during the last decades. We will concentrate on the open system view of organizations, which emphasizes the systemic and dynamic nature of the post-modern decision-making environment. This development will be considered from the point of view of business simulation gaming. Finally, we will describe experiences from training sessions carried out with a process-oriented learning environment. Our results clearly indicate that continuous simulation gaming is a relevant method for business education.
This paper describes the development of a web-based board game for teaching Internet peering as part of an Internet engineering class which forms the final taught course at an honours level. The game exposes students to a number of commercial-based aspects of broadband network provision strategy in which they need to negotiate contracts for network connectivity, set service prices and compete for customers. The game developed from a spreadsheet-based model in 2005 to a web-based game in 2006. This paper introduces the game facets, the positive learning outcomes and initial experiences with playing the web-based game.
