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
Grid and Peer-to-Peer middleware for Cooperative Learning Environments
This paper presents the work done by the research group of the Open University of Catalonia within the coordinated project towards the definition of adequate grid and peer-to-peer middleware for cooperative learning environments. The main results of our research consist in designing a layered framework for modelling online collaborative learning interactions which in turns leads to the development of a computational platform, called Collaborative Learning Purpose Library (CLPL), that can be used
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
Gridifying IBM's Generic Log Adapter to Speed-Up the Processing of Log Data
Problem determination in today's computing environments consumes between 30 and 70% of an organizationÂ’s IT resources and represents from one third to one half of their total cost of ownership. The first step to cutting down costs in this area and to enable autonomic computing systems is to have all parts of the system report status in a common log data format and semantics in order to be able to exploit the status information of the system as a whole. The Generic Log Adapter (GLA) is a generic
Exploring Semantic Description and
Matching Technologies for Enhancing the
Automatic Composition of
In the implementation of e-learning frameworks, a problem still unsolved is how to use and integrate low-level learning services to compose more complex high-level services or tools that make sense to both tutors and learners. In that sense semantic description of Grid learning Services appears like a powerful tool to be used for discovering and matching learning services depending of a set of parameters inside the learning framework. These parameters must represent significant functional charac
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
Semantic Description of Grid Based Learning Services
Grid technology has emerged as a powerful tool to increase the
capabilities of e-learning frameworks. Learning services are fundamental
components representing functionalities that can be easily reused without
knowing the details of how services have been implemented. On the one hand, a
problem that still remains unsolved is how to use and integrate low-level
learning services to compose more complex high-level services or tools that
make sense to both tutors and learners. On the other hand, the
Enabling Efficient 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, interests, preferences, and so on. The aim is to greatly stimulate
and improve the learning experience. In this context, user modeling implies a
constant processing and analysis of user interaction data during long-term learning
activities, which produces l
Collaboration Activity Function: An interaction analysisÂ’ tool for Computer Supported Collaborative
During the last years, an increased interest has been observed on tools analyzing collaborative interactions that could be useful for researchers, teachers, or even students. The paper presents such a tool, based on the formally defined collaborative activity function (CAF). The empirical evaluation of CAF is also presented. The evaluation is focused on teachers using CAF during and after sessions of synchronous collaborative problem solving among students.
E-learning environments in medical education: how pervasive computing can influence the educational
As pervasive computing is integrated incrementally with all facets of everyday life, it is reasonable to expect that its further proliferation may influence educational activities as well. Several such arguments have been thoroughly discussed in literature and several projects have been developed. However, little work has been done to investigate how pervasive computing can influence the medical educational process using e-learning platforms, and the prerequisites for such endeavours. In this pi
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
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
Aspects of Speech Act Categorisation: Towards Generating Teachers' Language
In this paper we examine a possible method for classifying speech acts produced by human teachers, with a view of informing the designs of intelligent natural language tutors and of providing the basis for a formal analysis of the effects that teachers' language has on students' learning. We argue that traditional means as initiated by the Ordinary Language Philosophers such as Austin (1962), Grice (1975) and Searle (1979) are not sufficient to account for all types of linguistic phenomena occur
The “Blakkat” Software for Tagging Online Language Learner Corpora: Issues in SLA Assessment and R
This paper aims at showing, through a case study, one possible application of Computer Learner Corpus (CLC) to Network Based Language Teaching (NBLT). Research has shown how CLC can be used both for Second Language Acquisiton (SLA) research and Foreign Language Teaching (FLT), especially if they are tagged, that is, if interpretative annotations are added to the corpus (e.g. error annotations). Online learning generally takes place inside virtual environments where learners exchange mainly writt
Learning History by Playing a Mobile City Game
Digital games seem to be excellent tools for facilitating and supporting situated learning. This unbinding of knowledge from a specific context fosters its transfer to new problems and new domains. Additionally, childrenÂ’s attitude towards computer games is the very attitude we would like all our learners to have. Therefore, it makes sense to try to merge the content of learning and the motivation of games. The objectives of this paper are to generate insights into the practicalities and the ef
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
LaCOLLA: Middleware for Self-Sufficient Online Collaboration
The LaCOLLA middleware makes it possible for collaborators to interact using their own resources and not depend on a centralized regime. By contributing their own resources, group members can organize and communicate using a federated peer-to-peer model. Utilizing LaCOLLA middleware, the group can function regardless of whether a member removes resources and despite network or node failures or disconnection. This capacity for self-organization, together with location transparency, lets applicati
A Generic Platform for the Systematic Construction of Knowledge-based Collaborative Learning Applica
This study aims to explore the importance of efficient management of event information generated from
group activity in collaborative learning practices for its further use in extracting and providing knowledge
on interaction behavior. The essential issue here is how to design a platform that can be used for real,
long-term, complex collaborative problem-solving situations and which enables the instructor to both
analyze group interaction effectively and provide an adequate support when needed.
Narrative Evolution: Learning from Students' Talk about Species Variation
Learners do not always enjoy productive interactions with Multimedia Interactive Learning Environments. Their attention can be distracted away from the educational focus intended by designers and teachers through poor design and operational inadequacy. In this paper we describe a study of groups of learners using a multimedia CD-ROM research tool called Galapagos. This tool was developed to enable us to observe groups of learners interacting with different versions of the same multimedia content
