Theory and the practices of learning technology.
This paper examines the link between theory and practice in relation to learning technology. It will do this in the context of a move from working with early adopters to learning technologists engaging with the majority of academic staff (Browne, 2003). This move takes place at the same time that academic staff in tertiary education are being encouraged to engage formally with learning and teaching in a way that is sharply different from previous University practices. Learning technologists curr
Two Years Of Use Of The Aplusix System
APLUSIX is a learning environment for helping students to learn algebra. This system is designed and developed in the IMAG-Leibniz laboratory. Its basic training mode consists of letting the students perform their owns calculations, thanks to a two-dimensions editor of algebraic expressions, providing feedback on the correctness of the calculations and on the end of the resolution.
APLUSIX has now been used for two years at school, in different contexts. One use was made by four teachers during
Clustering Students to help Evaluate Learning
In this paper we show how clustering techniques can be applied to
student answers generated from a web-based tutoring tool. In particular we
are interested in extracting clusters of students based on the mistakes
they made using the tool, with the aim of obtaining pedagogically
relevant information and providing this feedback to the teacher. The data we used comes from the Logic-ITA, a web-based tutoring tool to practice formal proofs currently in use in the School of Information Technologies at
Progression in Multiple Representations: Supporting students' learning with multiple representations
Relating multiple representations and translating between them is important to acquire deeper knowledge about a domain. To relate representations, learners have to mentally search for similarities and differences. To translate between representations, learners need to interpret the effects that changes in one representation have on corresponding representations. The question is how presenting representations may improve or hinder the processes of relation and translation. In this study we examin
Academic Use of Digital Resources: Disciplinary Differences and the Issue of Progression
This paper examines the use of digital resources by academics in UK Higher education. The explosive growth of the Internet and in particular the Web has led to a growth in speculation about networked and e-learning (Steeples and Jones 2003, Brown and Duguid 2000). Increasingly researchers have become aware of the ways the university resists such changes and provides a 'resourceful constraint' to the changes surrounding the introduction of networked learning (Brown and Duguid 2000, Cornford 2002)
e-COMODE Services for the Implementation of Collaborative Modelling Environments in Schools.
e-COMODE is an open digital learning environment, which assists young
students (10-17 year old) in creating models. e-COMODE services aim to offer a
collaborative modelling environment, including pedagogical, technical and
implementation support services. The market validation of the different services has
been performed in different environments, private and state schools, from different
geographical areas; Greece, Spain and North Ireland in the UK, in order to confirm
the business model develo
An analysis of learner arguments in a collective
This contribution analyses the arguments of students in a learning activity entitled "Argue Graph".
This activity is intended to make students understand the relationship between learning theories and design
choices in courseware development. The analysis of arguments is centered on the effects of discussion and
opinion conflict on the elaboration of arguments. We then use an adaptation of a collective intelligence model
to describe the knowledge flow among people and artifacts during the learni
Applying Competence Structures for Peer Tutor Recommendations in CSCL Environments.
Competence structures of the content and competence modelling of the learners provide well-suitable means for finding appropriate peer tutors in CSCL based on asynchronous messaging and annotations. Various criteria for the appropriateness of potential peer tutors can be discussed. An internet-based system used as a large scale Web experiment can then also deliver data for evaluating such criteria.
Using Perspective in Narrative Learning Environments
Several empathic applications have been developed over the last years but
can we redirect that empathy to specific characters? This paper focuses on the intention
to induce empathy in children and stimulate role taking by presenting a narrative
through the perspective of a specific character. The use of perspective is achieved by
showing the events that happen in the story but without impartiality.
We will describe a narrative-based application designed to help children cope
with bullying situat
Asynchronous Discussion in Support of Medical Education
Although the potential of asynchronous discussion to support learning is widely recognized, student engagement remains problematic. Often, for example, students simply refuse to participate. Consequently the rich promise of asynchronous learning networks for supporting students' learning can prove hard to achieve. After reviewing strategies for encouraging student participation in discussions in Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN), we present a study that investigates how these strategies influ
Exploiting distance technology to foster experimental design as a neglected learning objective in la
This article deals with the design process of a remote laboratory for labwork in chemistry. In particular, it focuses on the mutual dependency of theoretical conjectures about learning in the experimental sciences and technological opportunities in creating learning environments. The design process involves a detailed analysis of the expert task and knowledge, e.g., spectrophotometry as a method for the determination of the concentration of a compound in a solution. In so doing, modifications in
Rethinking virtual space as a place for socialisation: Theory and design implications
In this article, we offer theoretical reflections on the notion of place in which learners supposedly develop and evolve a structure of social interactions in networked learning environments. We claim that a general concern is to develop more social artefacts that may help learners organise the virtual place in a way that is meaningful to them and helps foster their social presence. Drawing from symbolic interactionism we examine the ways in which individuals interact with their environment, and
Usage Analysis Driven by Models in a Pedagogical Context
In the context of distance learning and teaching, the re-engineering process needs a feedback on the learners' usage of the learning system. The feedback is given by interviews, questionnaires, but in the majority of systems, it is given by log files. We consider that it is important to interpret tracks in order to compare the designer's intentions with the learners' activities during a session. In this paper, we present the usage tracking language – UTL. This language was designed to be gener
Evaluation of CAERUS: A Context Aware Mobile Guide
This paper reports on the results of a user evaluation of CAERUS, which is a complete context aware educational resource system for outdoor tourist sites and educational centres. CAERUS consists of a handheld delivery application and a desktop administration application and provides a visual interface to add new maps, define regions of interest, add theme-based multimedia tours, and deliver this information to visitors through Pocket PC devices with GPS capability. Fourteen participants used CAE
Computer Algebra Based Assessment of Mathematics Online
In this paper, we investigate computer algebra based assessment of mathematics online, with a focus on undergraduate students. Introducing a computer algebra system to assist in marking allows a paradigm shift from teacher-provided answers to student-provided answers. The Computer Algebra Based Learning and Evaluation (CABLE) system is presented as an open source infrastructure for mathematical learning objects. Features of the CABLE system, including the modular design, database structure, lear
Enforcing Cooperative Storytelling: First Studies
In this paper, we describe the first prototype of a system called StoryTable, aimed at supporting a group of children in the activity of storytelling. The system is based on a special multi-user touchable device (the MERL DiamondTouch) and it was designed with the purpose of enforcing collaboration between children. The paper discusses how the main design choices were influenced by the paradigm of cooperative learning and presents two observational studies to assess the effects of the different
Integrating Portal Based Support Tools to Foster Learning Communities in University Courses
This paper identifies four criteria for systems that aim at supporting learning communities in university courses, and describes the web-based environment iPAL (internet Portal to Augment Learning) that addresses these criteria in an integrated manner. The iPAL environment extends a freely available content management system through some self-developed components. Practical experiences with the system are outlined, and a first evaluation is given.
An Integrated Approach for Analysing and Assessing the Performance of Virtual Learning Groups
Collaborative distance learning involves a variety of elements and factors that have to be considered and measured in order to analyse and assess group and individual performance more effectively and objectively. This paper presents an approach that integrates qualitative, social network analysis (SNA) and quantitative techniques for evaluating online collaborative learning interactions. Integration of various different data sources, tools and techniques provides a more complete and robust frame
Social capital and productivity: how might training affect a company’s social capital? does the li
The ultimate purpose of this literature review, carried out by Liam Aspin as part of the TLRP Phase 3 Project Adult Basic Skills and Workplace Learning (dir. Alison Wolf and Karen Evans 2003-2008) was to answer the following questions: How might training affect a company’s ‘social capital’? Does the literature indicate how this might happen, and whether we might expect a significant impact on productivity? Can these effects be measured? In order to answer these questions, we attempted to
Re-conceptualising ICT in geography teaching
This paper is concerned with the ways in which ICT is conceptualised in geography education in England. Our argument is that the way ICT has been conceptualised in school geography is clearly linked to a particular view of geography as a subject, one based on ideas of positivist and empiricist science. Other views of geographical knowledge based on humanist and realist approaches to science have been neglected. In this paper we describe this dominant approach, and suggest how these features are
