Using e-mail to support reflective narration
This article presents an exploratory study of e-mail use for reflective narration. Narration is viewed from three perspectives: the narrating act, the narrative statement, and the story. These perspectives are used to characterize the 69 e-mails that were exchanged between 13 groups of children from three primary schools. The findings show that e-mail narration has monologic and dialogic qualities, and leads to cognitive and personal reflections on the learning task. We conclude that e-mail can
Embedded Training for Complex Information Systems
One approach to providing affordable operator training in the workplace is to augment applications with intelligent embedded training systems (ETS). Intelligent embedded training is highly interactive: trainees practice realistic problem-solving tasks on the prime application with guidance and feedback from the training system. This article makes three contributions to the theory and technology of ETS design. First, we describe a framework based on Normanâs "stages of user activity" model for d
Progressive computer-supported modelling as a learner activity: A tool for understanding
Recently, computer modelling has been added as a new topic in final examination programmes for physics and mathematics in the Netherlands. It involves constructing, running, evaluating, and extending simulation models. Currently, we are developing curriculum materials to support this new topic. In the course of our work, we became convinced that computer-supported modelling should be an integrated part of the curriculum from early on. Constructing a model involves identifying components, propert
Modeling and simulation in inquiry learning: Checking solutions and giving intelligent advice
Inquiry learning is a didactic approach in which students acquire knowledge and skills through processes of theory building and experimentation. Computer modeling and simulation can play a prominent role within this approach. Students construct representations of physical systems using modeling. Using simulation, they execute these representations to study the phenomena or systems modeled. However, the modeling task is complex, and students can fail to create adequate models, which prevents effe
Stagecast Creator™ and Webct™: An integrated use of computer programming and a virtual learning en
This paper reports on an effort to use Stagecast Creator™ as a means for developing modelling skills among undergraduate students taking an introductory course in science that took place in a virtual learning environment (WebCT™). An inquiry-based curriculum was implemented, which guided students working in small groups to collect and study moon observations and construct a series of successive models of the moon phases using Stagecast Creator™. Students’ reflective journals and reports of s
Decentralized Service Deployment for Collaborative Environments
In this paper we present the design of a system which allows service deployment in a small-sized group of computers distributed through the Internet. These groups are formed by users who share a common interest, and voluntarily yield their own resources for the achievement of the collaborative activities of the group. Having enough resources contributed by the members of the group, our system guarantees service availability and the fact that the deployment and execution of the services is carrie
Mechanisms of common ground in case-based web-discussions in teacher education
Previous studies suggest that before the participants in Web-based conferencing can reach deeper level interaction and learning, they have to gain an adequate level of common ground in terms of shared mutual understanding, knowledge, beliefs, assumptions, and presuppositions (Clark & Schaefer, 1989; Dillenbourg, 1999). In this paper, the main purpose is to explore how participants establish and maintain common ground in order to reach deeper level interaction in case-based Web-discussions. The s
Extending the Scope of Asynchronous Collaboration: a Matter of Being Autonomous and Self-sufficient
Asynchronous collaborative applications and systems have to deal with complexities associated with interaction nature, idiosyncrasy of groups and technical and administrative issues. Inclusion of requirements derived from them is costly (in time, resources and economically). Existing solutions addresses asynchronous collaboration via simplification of requirements and by using centralized models. In this paper we present LaCOLLA, a fully decentralized infrastructure for building collaborative ap
A Model for the Efficient Representation and Management of Online Collaborative Learning Interaction
This study aims to explore the importance of the efficient representation and management of the event information generated from group activity in online collaborative learning practices so that we can use it to provide awareness about individual and group behaviour. The achievement of this goal first involves the design of a conceptual model of collaborative learning interaction that structures and classifies the information generated in an online collaborative learning situation at several lev
Using a Grid Platform for Enabling Real Time User Modeling in On-line Campus
User modelling in on-line distance learning is an important research field focusing on two important aspects: describing and predicting studentsÂ’ actions and intentions as well as adapting the learning process to studentsÂ’ features, habits, preferences, and so on. The aim is to greatly stimulate and improve the learning experience. Indeed, on the one hand, studentsÂ’ intentions may change during the realization of learning activities and thus their actions evolve accordingly as the learning pr
An Experimental Study on Peer Selection in a P2P Network over PlanetLab
Peer selection is an important aspect in many P2P applications
requiring efficient assignment and execution of
jobs to peer nodes and search and file transfer, among others.
Due to increasing interest of using P2P systems for distributed
computing, peer selection is taking relevance and
several models have been proposed in the P2P literature.
Yet, there are very few experimental studies for peer selection
in P2P networks deployed in real large scale networks.
In this work we present an experimen
A Grid-aware Implementation for Providing Effective Feedback to On-line Learning Groups
Constantly providing feedback to on-line learning teams is a challenging yet one of the latest and most attractive issues to influence learning experience in a positive manner. The possibility to enhance learning groupÂ’s participation by means of providing appropriate feedback is rapidly gaining popularity due to its great impact on group performance and outcomes. Indeed, by storing parameters of interaction such as participation behaviour and giving constant feedback of these parameters to the
Contextualizing Discussions in Distance Learning Systems
In distance learning systems, communication tools are rarely integrated into learning activities, which does not encourage their use. The main goal of our work is to mitigate this lack of integration. Our aim is to bring the discussion activities closer to the learning activities, i.e. to situations to which the discussions must ideally relate to in order to promote learning between students. Thus, we suggest two models of forum which are contextual and based on a structuring of discussions resp
Ontology development for computersupported collaborative learning scripts
This paper presents an ongoing effort to develop an ontology for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) Scripts. Our work merges the field of collaborative learning with the field of semantic web and provides a framework for the formalization of collaboration scripts using the OWL language. Collaboration scripts are didactic scenarios that prescribe learnersÂ’ interactions in collaborative settings. A script comprises a number of phases and each phase specifies the activity that learne
The LEAP Authoring Tool: Supporting complex courseware authoring through reuse, rapid prototyping, a
An important goal of current work in computer-based learning environments is to develop systems that combine the richness and effectiveness of an individually crafted intelligent tutoring system (ITS) with the generality and flexibility of a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) authoring tool. Our effort to achieve this goal is demonstrated in the Learn, Explore and Practice (LEAPsm) ITS shell and its courseware development component, The LEAP Authoring Tool (LAT). The LAT was developed for use b
Obstacles to the development of conceptual understanding in observational astronomy: the case of spa
Simple everyday phenomena like the day - night cycle and the sequence of four seasons are taught at the higher level of elementary education and the lower level of secondary education in Cyprus. Even though there is no specific subject dedicated to Astronomy or spatial reasoning, the day – night cycle, the sequence of the four seasons and the sequence of the lunar phases are part of the national curriculum of Geography. For this reason, the construction of conceptual understanding in basic Astr
Enhancing Fourth GradersÂ’ Ability to Interpret Graphical Representations Through the Use of Microco
This article reports on a research effort that investigated whether the use of Microcomputer-Based Labs (MBLs), implemented within an inquiry-based activity sequence on phase transformations (melting and freezing), contributes to the development of fourth grade (9-10 year-old) studentsÂ’ conceptual understanding and ability to construct and interprete graphs. The participants of the study were 65 fourth graders (organized into an experimental and two control groups). The experimental treatment i
Using Case-Based Reasoning in Instructional Planning.Towards a Hybrid Self-improving Instructional P
This paper presents a new approach, based on the Case-Based Reasoning technique, which is useful to enhance Intelligent Tutoring Systems with learning abilities. Case-Based Reasoning is a recent paradigm for problem solving that has an inherent learning capability. So we integrate a Case-Based Instructional Planner within existing Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) to enhance the pedagogical component with learning capabilities. In this way, the enhanced tutors combine the Case-Based Instruction
Combining Knowledge Awareness and Information Filtering in an Open-ended Collaborative Learning Envi
Knowledge awareness (KA) has been proposed to increase collaboration opportunities in an open ended and collaborative learning environment. To encourage collaboration, an individual userâs agent called KA-Agent autonomously informs the learner about up-to-the-minute activities from other learners. For instance, a message might be ãsomeone is looking at the same knowledge that you are looking at.ä Although this message, called active KA, is very useful to create real-time collaboration, a larg
ActiveMath: A Generic and Adaptive Web-Based Learning Environment
ActiveMath is a generic web-based learning system that dynamically generates interactive (mathematical) courses adapted to the student's goals, preferences, capabilities, and knowledge. The content is presented in a semantic XML-based format. For each user, the appropriate content is retrieved from a knowledge base and the course is generated individually according to pedagogical rules. Then the course is presented to the user via a standard web-browser. One of the exceptional features of Active
