Developing SCORM-based Courses for Avicenna Virtual Campus
Avicenna Virtual Campus (AVC) is UNESCO-led, multi-cultural EUMEDIS pilot project. It involves partners from sixteen Euro-Mediterranean states. Each partner contributes through a node called Avicenna Knowledge Centre (AKC), which produces e-courses and e-learning objects. For seek of interoperability, partners setup a pedagogical standard to guide the production process of learning objects. Further more, researchers adopted and recommended SCORM as a standard model for structuring learning objec
Evaluation of educational software regarding its suitability to assist the laboratory teaching of el
The present research effort is aimed at investigating of students perceptions relating to the criteria they themselves would choose in order to select amongst various similar software packages, with the aim of selecting the one most suitable to assist them in their study of electric circuits. For the purpose of the present study, software simulating electrical circuits was deliberately selected. This was precisely because electricity experiments are simple enough to be constructed in a school-
Interactive Collaborative Books
Books are one of the most important tools to convey knowledge, they survived to be a convenient and portable source of information. On the other side, Electronic books (e-books) are playing a big role in attracting a huge number of readers, but still paper books are preferable by many people due to some drawbacks in e-books. Yet, Interactive books combines all positive features in ordinary books as well as e-books, the author is introducing a new Interactive Collaborative book that might change
The role of animated pedagogical agents in scenario-based language e-learning: a case-study
Scenario-based language e-learning (SBeL) is focused on contextual learning, since it uses authentic activities that can improve communication skills. This paper reports a case-study that proposes the use of animated pedagogical agents (APAs) in a Brazilian Portuguese web-based course built under a mix of task- and scenario-based approaches. Its main purpose is to discuss how APAs can be used to improve students communicative skills, cultural awareness and level of interaction with courses c
Modelling the Requirements of an Animated Pedagogical Agent for a Web-Based Learning Environment thr
This paper describes and discusses the importance of having a representation which models the key factors associated to the requirements of an animated pedagogical agent for an interactive learning environment, in particularly, for school students. The IPO (Input-Process-Output) relationships are proposed to address this issue. The formulation of IPO relationship are described in detail and the application of IPO relationship is shown through the case study of specifying the requirements of an a
A New Analytical Approach on Continuous Improvement Evaluation: A National Presentation Case
This paper demonstrates a new approach on how to analyze evaluation data to find a teams (sometimes called circle) improvement ability and the characteristics of evaluators by using the data from the national Quality Control Circle (QCC) presentations in Taiwan. Most evaluations on the QCC presentation use the itemized rating method or the duplex-pole evaluation method. The former has the negative effects of canceling out the higher and lower while the latter cannot distinguish the ability typ
ePortfolios in Education - Learning Tools or Means of Assessment?
ePortfolios are collections of electronic evidence which capture the idea of lifelong learning ePortfolios at school can support the documentation of competences better than normal tests and assessments. The acquired competences may further be transfered from school to the world of work. On the other hand ePortfolios are powerful tools for learning and reflecting.
Partners in Learning in Australian Schools
Elevating teachers Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) skills to integrate technology into the curriculum is of crucial importance. It helps educators align technology with students learning goals, and to more actively engage students in the learning process. Charles Sturt University (CSU) has developed a Graduate Certificate course aimed at enhancing the ICT skills of teachers for this purpose. A substantial part of the program is based on the Microsoft Partners in Learning (Pi
A Tool Set Combining Learning Styles Prediction, a Blended Learning Methodology and Facilitator Guid
One of the challenges in the development in blended learning is to facilitate the individual learning styles of the learners. The alignment of a learning styles assessment with a learning methodology, a mapping between learning styles and social media, recommendations in a guidebook for facilitators and a checklist provide a tool set for a sustainable approach for a responsive learning environment. This paper analyzes how the different approaches, methods and studies interact to form an overall
Virtual Pedagogical Agents as Aids for High School Physics Teachers
The Pathway project is improving the quality of physics teaching and the number of available physics teachers by providing virtual expert help on issues of pedagogy and content. The project combines Carnegie Mellons Synthetic Interviews and state-ofthe- art digital video library technology with pedagogical advances developed at Kansas State University, and materials contributed by master teachers. The Synthetic Interview is a technology and technique that creates an anthropomorphic interface i
Design and architecture of an online system for Vocational Education and Training
E-learning and tele-training have been evolved over time from a newborn trend for complementing the learning process to a major form of education and training for supporting mainly geographically scattered users. Learning and training, can be applied to a wide variety of fields and areas, each of which is accompanied by some special characteristics related to the field of learning/training, to the tools needed for the realization of the training process as well as to the familiarization of the t
DRAC (Distributed Remote ACess system) An On-line Open Source Project-based Learning Tool
Project Based Learning is an essential component in modern engineering education. However, it is difficult to implement in a virtual simulation-based approach, and the need of expensive or specialized equipment can make difficult to use this PBL approach in remote learning. In this paper, a web-based portal is presented; it allows remote access to the resources of several PBL laboratories on Electronics, with a significant emphasis on real-time digital and analog processing and multidisciplinary
The Influence of Game Features on Collaborative Gaming: A Process-oriented approach
Game technology and design are creating powerful collaborative gaming experiences that can be exploited pedagogically. Building on a research trends from various fields, a process-oriented model is adopted to evaluate the instructional potential of games, considering both their surface and deep structure. Two experimental approaches are adopted. Through reflective evaluation the Neurocognitive skills employed, Perceived Competence Facilitation and Perceived usefulness of games are determ
Streaming media as an alternative to direct student instruction for performing science experiments
In the present paper a comparison between the ideas of two groups of students, both of which were taught the same physics laboratory curriculum but using two different instruction approaches is presented. The experimental group was asked to watch some videos including the associated links to Physics theory explaining the phenomena to be observed, gather the information needed and then perform the experiments involved, while the control group followed the traditional lab teaching practice. The ai
Awareness of the capabilities and use of social software attributes within and outside the education
This paper reports early findings of an ongoing study to determine the use and impact of social educational software at undergraduate level. It summarizes the theoretical background to the educational use of social software and suggests directions for future research. The primary aim of the study was to capture and describe the extent and patterns of use of educational software and Web 2.0 technologies among first year undergraduate technology students taking the Web Development module. Results
Reusing Streaming Contents in Engineering and Education Courses
Bolognas process and the opening of university teaching to new educational scenarios provide an opportunity for the implementation of innovative and active methodologies.
This paper describes a practice implemented by the share and reuse of learning contents using streaming technology. Streaming technology was used since it promotes the support of pedagogical activity as a dynamic resource and oriented to a model of shared learning.
The motivation beyond this idea was the share of teachers e
Providing feedback in web-based learning
In distance learning supported by LMS, it is extremely important to provide automated or partially automated feedback about learning outcomes to students as well as feedback about the efficiency and quality of teaching and learning to teachers and to management of the institution that provides web-based learning courses. In this article, we present the solutions implemented in the LMS eCampus that are theoretically grounded and have been proved in praxis.
To set up pedagogical experiments in a virtual lab: methodology and first results
This paper concerns a methodology for setting up web based experiments by distinguishing two perspectives: the learning perspective (which tasks will be scheduled for pupils and tutors, how they are planned and what learning objectives they may attempt), and separately, the experiment perspective (how teachers or researchers may use trails of this experiment, the first to improve their teaching, the last to various research objectives). The both are described by computable scenarios expresse
Measuring the responsiveness of e-learning materials to varying learning styles using EDUSA method
The strength of the acceptance by a particular e-learner for a particular e-learning material depends on two main factors: 1) the ability of the e-learner to vary his or her learning style, especially in terms of pace, and 2) the ability of the e-learning material to offer a sufficient responsiveness in adaptation to the corresponding learning style of the particular e-learner. E-learning materials that better adapt to the varying learning styles of e-learners have a larger "contact area" than t
Investigating mental representations in children interacting with small mobile robots
This research aimed at investigating the acquisition of comprehension of a robotic system in school age children by using two different methods: concept maps and interviews. We demonstrated that concept maps are an important instrument of verification of knowledge, offering the possibility to graphically re-examine the expressed knowledge, and training children to decompose a problem (analysis) and re-compose it in a more structured way (synthesis). The interviews confirmed the subjects abilit
