The Grid Shared Desktop: a bootstrapping environment for collaboration
The paradigm shift from an information sharing infrastructure (i.e., the Web) to a resource sharing infrastructure (i.e., the Grid) has boosted the development of a new generation of online services. In particular, Grid services are stateful, dynamic and operate in a secure environment. Therefore they offer capabilities that are essential to remote collaboration. In this paper, we tackle the problem of bootstrapping and supporting a collaborative environment over a Grid infrastructure. As we tar
Determining the Sources of Delay in a Distributed Learning Environment
In the context of LeGE-WG we expect to see the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) being used as a guiding framework for the future deployment of Distributed Learning Environment (DLEs). OGSA is totally service-oriented and it has been known for sometime that Quality of Service (QoS) is key to the success of DLEs. Delay in particular, as experienced by the end user, is one of the key QoS parameters for a DLE. This paper describes techniques for identifying sources of such delay, and a model f
Sustaining Interaction in a Mathematical Community of Practice
This paper focuses on an activity in which students explore sequences through a game, using ToonTalk programming and a web-based collaboration system. Our analytical framework combines theory of communities of practice with
domain epistemology. We note three factors which influence the length and quality of interactions: facilitation, reciprocation and audience-awareness.
Kid Meteorologist
ZOOM guest Amy wants to be a meteorologist and volunteers at a weather observatory. In this adapted video segment, she shows us instruments used to predict the weather and describes how air pressure affects weather patterns.
The Grid
The class forms a “Presidential Task Force” for a week, empowered by the president to find answers and make recommendations concerning the future of the national power grid. Task force members conduct daily debriefings with their research team and prepare a report and presentation of their findings for the president, using an actual policy document as a guide. Although this activity is geared towards fifth-grade and older students and Internet research capabilities are required, some portion
Integrating research teams: the TELMA approach
In the context of the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence, six European research teams developed a methodology for integrating their research approaches. In this paper we present the methodology, based on a cross experiment, showing how it gave insight to the understanding of each team's research, and on the relationship between theoretical frameworks and experimental research.
A Georgia Sharecropper's Story of Forced Labor ca. 1900
At the turn of the century the group of black women most subject to sexual exploitation and abuse were those who lived under the system of quasi-slavery known as "peonage."Under contract labor laws, which existed in almost every southern state, a laborer who signed a contract and then quit his or her job could be arrested. The horrors of this system of forced labor (as well as the equally horrific system of convict labor) are detailed in this stark, turn-of-the-century personal account of life u
Introducing pupils to algebra as a theory: L'Algebrista as an instrument of semiotic mediation
A research study on the use of computer software (L'Algebrista) as instrument of semiotic mediation to introduce pupils to algebra as a theory.,unpublished PhD thesis
MemoNote, un outil de gestion des connaissances personnelles pour enseignants à base d’annotation
Cet article vise à proposer un outil de gestion des connaissances personnelles (PKM) à base d’annotations, MemoNote, dédié à l’enseignant considéré comme un travailleur intellectuel. Me-moNote utilise l’activité annotation de l’enseignant pour mémoriser sa conception per-sonnelle du document en particulier aux niveaux pédagogiques et domaine, qu’il pourra réutiliser par la suite. Cet article identifie les trois dimen-sions nécessaires à l’annotation dans un tel outil de
The roles of models in Artificial Intelligence and Education research: a prospective view
In this paper I speculate on the near future of research in Artificial Intelligence and Education (AIED), on the basis of three uses of models of educational processes: models as scientific tools, models as components of educational artefacts, and models as bases for design of educational artefacts. In terms of the first role, I claim that the recent shift towards studying collaborative learning situations needs to be accompanied by an evolution of the types of theories and models that are used,
CMC environments supporting self-regulated learning
This paper focuses on the relationship between online collaborative environments and the development of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) abilities. To investigate the support provided to SRL by Technology Enhanced Learning Environments (TELE), the TELEPEERS European Project has developed an evaluation tool whose structure derives from previous research on SRL. This tool was employed to analyse an online course for trainee teachers based on a configuration of a commercial Computer Mediated Communica
Supporting teachers when diagnosing their students in algebra
In this paper we will describe our current work on the Lingot project. We
will focus on the description of a software called « Pépite », the objective of which is
to help teachers diagnose their students' algebra competencies. Then we will show
how different uses of Pepite by teachers lead us to define several types of diagnosis in
order to fit better various users' needs.
An Advisory QoS Service for GRID Based Learning Environments
This paper argues that the assumption of end-to-end QoS provision for use in Grid based applications is unsafe. We present an architecture which provides an adaptive QoS service for GRID applications which are prepared to adapt rather than assume the best and then suffer the worst.
This is particularly relevant to Internet based GRIDs. An example application from the field of collaborative learning environments is given, featuring adaptive QoS for Real Time Protocol (RTP) based audio and visual
Futurelab: Social software and learning
This report explores the relationship between the emergence of social software and the personalisation of education. It suggests that there is a changing view of what education is for, with an emphasis on the need for young people to develop the skills necessary for today's evolving global knowledge economy. Alongside this development is the rapid growth of social software, characterised as software that supports group interaction, and by combining these two trends there is significant potential
Let the Sun Shine!
Students learn how the sun can be used for energy. They learn about passive solar heating, lighting and cooking, and active solar engineering technologies (such as photovoltaic arrays and concentrating mirrors) that generate electricity. Students investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of test materials. They learn about radiation and convection as they build a model solar water heater and determine how much it can heat water in a given amount of time. In another activity, students bui
A River Ran Through It
Students learn how water is used to generate electricity. They investigate water’s potential-to-kinetic energy transformation in hands-on activities about falling water and waterwheels. During the activities, they take measurements, calculate averages and graph results. Students also learn the history of the waterwheel and how engineers use water turbines in hydroelectric power plants today. They discover the advantages and disadvantages of hydroelectric power. In a literacy activity, students
Thar She Blows!
Students learn about wind as a source of renewable energy and explore the advantages and disadvantages wind turbines and wind farms. They also learn about the effectiveness of wind turbines in varying weather conditions and how engineers work to create wind power that is cheaper, more reliable and safer for wildlife.
How internal and external scripts guide argumentative knowledge construction in a web-based collabor
Collaboration scripts are a powerful means to improve collaborative inquiry learning. More
specifically, they can be designed to support argumentative knowledge construction, a core
activity in inquiry learning. However, not only externally induced collaboration scripts but
also the learners’ internal scripts on collaborative argumentative knowledge construction
influence the way they argue with scientific concepts and evidence, thereby affecting what
kind of knowledge is acquired during colla
Advanced Solid State Physics
This course is about the electronic properties of materials and contains lectures about scattering, transport in metals, phonons and superconductivity. Study Goals: The goal of the course is twofold: to present modern concepts of the electronic properties of the materials, and to develop he ability to read (and understand) scientific papers. The first goal will be achieved through a series of lectures and sets of exercises. A considerable attention is devoted to superconductivity, not only becau
Work and Power: Waterwheel
Investigating a waterwheel illustrates to students the physical properties of energy. They learn that the concept of work, force acting over a distance, differs from power, which is defined as force acting over a distance over some period of time. Students create a model waterwheel and use it to calculate the amount of power produced and work done.
