JeCo: Combining Program Visualization and Story Weaving
We present a collaborative learning tool for programming, Jeliot Collaboratively or JeCo. Jeliot Collaboratively is a combination of a program visualization tool for Java programs, called Jeliot 3, and a collaborative authoring tool, Woven Stories. We introduce these systems and explain how they can be used in learning. Furthermore, we present future directions in order to support a wider range of use cases with JeCo.
SelMa - Self-guided Learning in Teaching Mathematics
In the project ``Self-guided Learning in Teaching Mathematics - SEC II'' (SelMa), five authoring schools are working out scenarios, media and materials for phases of self-guided learning, which will be tested systematically by 10 trial schools with regard to their everyday suitability. In this paper three approaches to such learning arrangements (independent learning centre, jigsaw classroom and learning at stations) are being outlined and relevant experiences are being made available. Learning
Learning Objects Need Badly Instructional Digital Libraries Support
In this paper, we present a standard definition for learning objects, a controversy around it, and the resulted working definition, along with features to be held by learning objects, benefits of the object-oriented approach for learning, some pros and cons for using learning objects, and finally some quality standard guidelines for these objects. In addition, we introduce shortly a taxonomy of learning object types and the metadata standards that can be used for learning objects and the way the
Virtual Learning Environments as a Supplement to Traditional Teaching
Many factors influence teaching nowadays. Numbers of students are increasing, some students pay for studies and require more flexible teaching, more students have access to Internet, the learning material is changing rapidly (especially of subjects, related to information technologies), publishing industry is slow and expensive. All that stimulates usage of modern technologies in education. Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) is one of the forms of e-learning. They open new ways of teaching and
Mathematical Reasoning in a Technological Environment
Dynamic geometry software has been accused of contributing to an empirical approach to school geometry. However, used appropriately it can provide students with a visually rich environment for conjecturing and proving. Year 8 students who were novices with regard to geometric proof were able to exploit the features of Cabri Geometry II to assist them in formulating and proving in the context of Cabri simulations of mechanical linkages.
Student-Centered Support Systems to Sustain Logo-Like Learning
Conventional wisdom attributes the lack of effective technology use in classrooms to a shortage of professional development or poorly run professional development. At the same time, logo-like learning environments require teachers to develop more expertise not only in technology but also in pedagogy.
This paper proposes that the perceived lack of technology professional development is a myth and that traditional professional development is ill-suited to teaching teachers how to create logo-like
Turtle's Navigation and Manipulation of Geometrical Figures Constructed by Variable Processes in a 3
Issues related to 3d turtle's navigation and geometrical figures' manipulation in the simulated 3d space of a newly developed computational environment, MaLT, are reported and discussed here. The joint use of meaningful formalism and the dynamic manipulation of graphically represented 3d figures seem to offer new resources and to pose new challenges as far as geometrical activities and construction of meanings are concerned, which are strongly related to the representational infrastructure of Ma
Half-Baked Logo Microworlds as Boundary Objects in Integrated Design
The paper addresses the problem of fragmentation of the communities involved in the design of digital media for education. It draws on the experience gained at the Educational Technology Lab in the design of Logo-based microworlds with three different platforms respectively based on component computing, 3D game engines and 3D navigation with a GIS. In this paper I use the term half-baked to describe a microworld which is explicitly designed to engage its users with changing it as the main aspect
Information Technologies for Biology Education: Computerized Electrophysiology of Plant Cells
Biology has moved from a bench-based discipline to a bioinformational science in modern times but application of computational and analytical methods of informatics in it is still a problem for many researchers and students of biology. We suggest to integrate cost effective and practical combination of the real and the virtual laboratories into the undergraduate biological science curriculum. This laboratory work illustrates passive and active electrical properties of plant cell membranes while
Mathematical Logic and Deduction in Computer Science Education
Mathematical logic is a discipline used in sciences and humanities with different point of view. Although in tertiary level computer science education it has a solid place, it does not hold also for secondary level education. We present a heterogeneous study both theoretical based and empirically based which points out the key role of logic in computer science, computer science education and knowledge representation. We focus on the key contrast of semantics and syntax, the resolution principle
CoMo: Supporting collaborative groupwork using mobile phones in distance education
The CoMo project, funded by the Centre for Distance Education, University of London, aims to investigate how distance learners can be supported in their collaborative group work using mobile devices. The objectives are as follows:
* Iteratively co-design and develop a set of collaborative mobile phone-based group work activities (with students and course leaders)
* Determine the ways in which the activities provide students with opportunities to reflect on their practices
* Identify distance
Adding new Representations of Mathematical Objects to Aplusix
In the framework of the ReMath European project, we initiated two new representations for algebraic expressions in Aplusix: a Tree & Natural representation mixing tree representations and natural representations of algebraic expressions, and a graphical representations to show curves and sets of solutions. Our work has been driven by two approaches: (1) a traditional approach focusing on the definition of new objects with their functionalities, beginning with a specification phase and continuing
Description et exploitations des traces du logiciel d’algèbre Aplusix
Cet article porte sur l’emploi de traces dans un contexte éducatif et sur leur utilisation dans un EIAH. La première partie présente le logiciel Aplusix, un micromonde pour l'apprentissage de l'algèbre qui permet l’enregistrement de productions d’élèves, comme celles obtenues dans l'environnement classique papier, mais comportant de plus d'autres informations, comme le temps, les hésitations, les corrections. Ce recueil produit une trace brute qui représente une modélisation comporte
DSTM: a Framework to Operationalize and Refine a Problem-Solving Method modeled in terms of Tasks an
In this paper we present DSTM, a framework that enables the operationalization and the refinement of problem-solving methods modelled within the Task–Method paradigm. DSTM proposes an operational kernel, i.e. operational but flexible high-level constructions: modelling primitives, such as task or method, and manipulation mechanisms, such as select a method. These constructions can be customized in order to better capture the paper-based model to be operationalized. This permits the construction
First version of the awareness-support tool
This document reports on the awareness services offered through two tools developed in the context of the PALETTE project (Collaboration services), namely e-Logbook and CoPe_it! We first present the awareness types that need to be supported and we proceed by describing in detail how these are conceived and implemented in the abovementioned tools. Moreover, we briefly report on the integration of these tools, focusing on the additional awareness services resulting from this integration.,First ver
Description of six scenarios and of the results of six validated trials
This deliverable aims at presenting and analysing the processes of elaboration and validation of the PALETTE scenarios. After having defined these two processes and situated them into the PALETTE methodology, the scenarios are presented. For each scenario, the specific methodology of elaboration and validation is described with a special focus on the participation of the concerned Communities of Pratcice (CoPs). Then the results of the validation are presented as well as the reports of their tec
New Distributed Research Practices and Scientific Immersion of Graduate Students with the Support of
MENTOR is a multidisciplinary research training program for graduate students in research field of mobility and posture disorders. Its members are distributed in a number of institutions across Montreal, creating challenges for the processes of collaborative research, joint supervision and scientific immersion. The purpose of our research project is to propose new distributed research and supervision practices supported by ICTs. In order to do this, we are designing a model of technological appr
Une approche pro-pédagogique du diagnostic cognitif dans les STI: conception, formalisation, et imp
In an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), issues related to the design and the implementation of the cognitive diagnosis (DC) of learner's behavior is addressed intuitively according to the specific goals of this STI. From a purely operational viewpoint, this approach is not really bad since the STIs arising from it, "work". However, when it comes to give to DC a pedagogical dimension in the human tutors, a look into perspective on more fundamental considerations promotes reflection in this direc
A Bayesian Student Model without Hidden Nodes and Its Comparison with Item Response Theory
The Bayesian framework offers a number of techniques for inferring an individual's knowledge
state from evidence of mastery of concepts or skills. A typical application where such a
technique can be useful is Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT). A Bayesian modeling scheme,
POKS, is proposed and compared to the traditional Item Response Theory (IRT), which has been
the prevalent CAT approach for the last three decades. POKS is based on the theory of
knowledge spaces and constructs item-to-item gra
E-Learning in (Austrian) Schools - Some Empirical Findings, Obstacles, Theses and Visions
Is E-Learning in Higher Education, the apparently cutting-edge place in applying and transformig the newest technologies in the educational field, already established and an indespensible part of teaching? The answer seems to be clearly Yes, subject to some contstraints which are immanent to all (educational) evolutions. But does this apply also to secondary education, where the approaches to establish E-Learning in schools are even more multifaceted, accompanied by top-down and bottom-up initia
