Using online role play to teach internet safety awareness
This paper reports on an evaluation of Net-Detectives, a creative online role play activity aimed at 9–12 year olds. Net-Detectives forms part of Kidsmart, an Internet awareness programme aimed at school children. It was evaluated through a multiple method data collection using questionnaire surveys, follow up telephone interviews with teachers and observation in use in three UK schools during the summer term of 2003.
All sources of data collected agreed that a number of benefits arise from p
Personal Digital Assistants - teachers prefer the personal
This paper was presented at the Mlearn 06 conference in Banff October 2006. It presents the results of a small-scale project, funded by the UK Teacher Development Agency, where 13 teachers and 3 trainee teachers in one secondary school science department were given handhelds (Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs) with cameras and internet access for the academic year. The aims were:
* to build capacity - enabling trainee teachers to share their mlearning practice;
* to enable school based associa
Music Composition Lessons: the multimodal affordances of technology
This article seeks to investigate the multimodal affordances presented by music
software and how it can provide new opportunities for students to engage with
composition work in the classroom. It aims to broaden the scope of current research into classroom composition using technology, through a study of students' environments and compositional processes as seen from these new perspectives. The authors believe there is a now a need for a reconsideration of the scope of multimodal enquiry in the
Taking teaching context into account for semantic annotation patterns
In this article, starting from MemoNote pattern functionalities enabling teacher to memorize semantic and personal annotations, our objective is to extend them with context-aware capabilities. MemoNote uses annotation patterns to deduce annotation semantics from the form chosen by the teacher. We specify the annotation context, its capture from elements of the teaching situation and we model it with ontologies. Annotation context model is then directly integrated into the previous pattern formal
Mixing Microworld and Cas Features in Building Computer Systems that Help Students Learn Algebra
We present the design principles for a new kind of computer system that helps students learn algebra. The fundamental idea is to have a system based on the microworld paradigm that allows students to make their own calculations, as they do with paper and pencil, without being obliged to use commands, and to verify the correctness of these calculations. This requires an advanced editor for algebraic expressions, an editor for algebraic reasoning and an algorithm that calculates the equivalence of
APLUSIX, A learning environment for algebra, actual use and benefits
After a presentation of the APLUSIX system, a learning environment for formal algebra, we describe the use of this system in a French class of grade 10, in particular a sequence devoted to factorisations and equations, and an analysis of the students' work during this sequence. This study exhibits the influence of the tools provided by the software on the construction of competences in algebra. We also report the opinion of a teacher who used the APLUSIX system during one year with this class.
Small company attitude towards ICT based solutions: some key-elements to improve it
In this paper we illustrate some research results concerning the attitude of small companies towards ICT based solutions (specifically Distance Communication, Training and Consultancy); in addition, we introduce some key-elements to overtake the obstacles to introducing ICT in small companies for new business processes; amongst others, we highlight the need for training about technological innovation as well as about organizational and cultural changes that must occur within a company. The conce
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.
Virtual mental space: interacting with the characters of works of literature
We build the software implementation of virtual mental space: its
inhabitants are interacting with the literature characters in natural language.
The players are encouraged to ask questions about intentions and desires,
knowledge and believes, pretending and deceiving of the literature characters.
Works of literature are identified based on the patterns of mental interaction
between the characters. Reasoning about mental states and natural language
processing with the semantic focus are the tech
Data Driven User Requirements Specification in the UNITE Project
This paper describes the process of user requirements specification in UNITE
project. The main goal of the project is to develop an integrated system for
authoring and delivery of high quality eLearning activities for the secondary
school students. The UNITE system consists of three main components: 1)
Software Platform – integrating state of the art learning management systems
(LMS), content management systems (CMS), and mobile learning (mLearning)
capabilities; 2) Pedagogical Framework – s
Learning Content and Interoperability
In the era of Internet and new information and communication technologies one
of the most important things is appropriate use of technologies in order to achieve desired results.
In present paper, they are compared two case studies – on one hand there they are presented
research results about interoperability in two open-source learning environments developed
in Sofia University, Bulgaria and, on other hand, there are given results from “South West
Wales Interoperability Project”, sponsore
Insight into Practical Utilization of Knowledge Management Technologies
The focus of knowledge management (KM) has shifted in the last few years towards the ways in which knowledge is created and shared. Nevertheless, KM technologies continue to be an important issue in KM practices. The present paper focuses on the technological solutions applied in the organizations at different stages of the knowledge management life cycle. On the bases of an overview of the knowledge management tools and technologies, the paper emphasizes on the most popular KM applications foun
Web-based youth communities in the light of cyberspace psychology
The internet new media creates new types of communities - online
or web-based communities in virtual reality. Everyone, to a certain degree, is
involved in building and creating online communities. The main aim of this
study is to make an overview of cyberspace technology and to extrapolate the
influence of computers, technology and virtual environments on the psychology
of Bulgarian students (individuals and groups). This study is focused on
the chief features of web-based life in web-based com
Initial queries into the notion of Power Users of Technology
In this paper I shall address and investigate some ideas and hypotheses, which I find very important in order to understand the notion of “Power Users of Technology”. The Power Users research initiative has noted and emphasises
the heavy increase in children’s, adolescents’ or young people’s use of technology. What distinguishes the Power User research initiative and makes it qualitatively different from similar studies is that it is not merely looking into changed patterns in adolesce
Web Based Simulations for Virtual Scientific Experiment: Methodology and Tools
In this paper we want to present the tools and a methodology to realize web based simulations
according to the didactic model defined for the Virtual Scientific Experiment. The strategy that we
suggest intends to satisfy all the requirements for the actors involved in the learning process according
to the adopted didactic model. These requirements provide that: the tools for building the simulations
have to serve a teacher instead of a programmer of web based simulations; the simulation outputs
Educational Tool for Nanophysics Using Multisensory Rendering
The presentation and the evaluation of an educational tool used to teach physical phenomena that take place at a nanometer scale are the central objectives of the work presented in this paper. Through concepts and tools, the real phenomena are connected to the virtual world, which furnish sensorial representations (haptic, visual, auditory) for the student who is experimenting.
A computer representation of the nanoscene at the atomic level offers a multisensory tangible artifact of nanoworld ina
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
The Virtual Mobius Strip: access to and use of ICTs in higher education
This report is a regional study into the access to and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in five
higher education institutions in the Western Cape, South Africa. The investigation
surveyed 6577 students and 515 academic staff.
The framework for understanding access is based on a “thick” concept which understands access to four kinds of resource groupings: technological, personal agency, social and content. It considers how access is differentiated for different demogr
A Quick Scan on possibilities for automatic metadata generation
The Dutch six-part series Leerobjecten in de praktijk (Learning objects in practice) is about six divergent and difficult problems that occur frequently in working with learning objects. Based on research into existing practice, guidelines are offered to policy makers, educational technology consultants, teachers, educational designers and developers of digital learning materials who are struggling with these problems in higher education.,research report
Building theories: working in a microworld and writing the mathematical notebook
In the framework of a long term teaching experiment we present an Educational
approach based on the use of a dynamic geometry software and a symbolic manipulator.
Here we present the general ideas of the followed approach focusing on how meanings
can originate from phenomenological experience and evolve under the guidance of the
teacher. In particular we will focus on meanings related to the ideas of theory, axiom and
theorem.
