A bot spooler architecture to integrate virtual worlds with e-learning management systems for corporate training

Joining efforts of academic and corporate teams, we developed an integration architecture - MULTIS - that enables corporate e-learning managers to use a Learning Management System (LMS) for management of educational activities in virtual worlds. This architecture was then implemented for the Formare LMS. In this paper we present this architecture and concretizations of its implementation for the Second Life Grid/OpenSimulator virtual world platforms. Current systems are focused on activities managed by individual trainers, rather than groups of trainers and large numbers of trainees: they focus on providing the LMS with information about educational activities taking place in a virtual world and/or being able to access within the virtual world some of the information stored in the LMS, and disregard the streamlining of activity setup and data collection in multi-trainer contexts, among other administrative issues. This architecture aims to overcome the limitations of existing systems for organizational management of corporate e-learning activities.Portugal Telecom Inovação (atualmente, Altice Labs

Integration scenarios of virtual worlds in learning management systems using the MULTIS approach

This work further clarifies how the MULTIS architecture can be used for integration of virtual worlds in learning management system (LMS) for organizational management of e-learning activities, as an extension to a previous work published in the proceedings of VEAI 2016. Current LMSs provide minimal support for educational use in an organizational context, and other integration efforts assume that educators are inside the virtual world, accessing the LMS as an external service. Our approach enables educators to set up and manage virtual world activities from within the traditional LMS Web interface as an integral part of the overall educational activities of a course. The MULTIS architecture foresees several alternative communication channels between LMS and virtual worlds, including the spooling of automated clients or “bots” and the flexibility to inject code if necessary and possible. In this work, we detail the application of this architecture and its approach in several sample scenarios, based on previous analysis of integration requirements. It is the result of a joint effort by academic and corporate teams, implemented and tested in the Formare LMS for OpenSimulator and Second Life Grid virtual world platforms.Partly funded by Altice Labs (MULTIS II project) and by Project "TEC4Growth - Pervasive Intelligence, Enhancers and Proofs of Concept with Industrial Impact/NORTE-01-0145-FEDER- 000020", in the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Integrating virtual worlds with learning management systems : the MULTIS approach

Trabalho apresentado em 2016 no 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Communications and 2016 8th International Symposium on Cyberspace and Security - IUCC-CSS,Granada, Spain, 2016.Learning Management Systems (LMS) provide minimal support for educational use of virtual worlds. Integration efforts assume the educators are inside the virtual world, providing hooks to services in the external LMS, to setup and manage virtual world activities. We present the inverse approach, enabling educators to setup and manage virtual world activities using the traditional LMS Web interface as an integral part of the overall educational activities of a course. In our approach, the LMS enables the teacher/trainer to setup, control, track, and store virtual world activities and its elements. It is the result of a joint effort by academic and corporate teams, implemented in the Formare LMS for OpenSimulator and Second Life Grid virtual world platforms. We explain how the Multis architecture can be used for integration, with concrete cases, an approach that can be implemented in other LMS and virtual world platforms, to overcome the limitations of existing systems for organizational management of e-learning activities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Survey on Autism Spectrum Disorder and E-Learning

Autism or mental imbalance is turmoil in the development and improvement of a mind or central nervous system that covers a huge range of skills, impairment and symptoms. The children who are experiencing autism (or mental imbalance) confront challenges in conveying and adjusting in the group as they experience difficulty in understanding what others feel and think. These days learning innovations changed instructive frameworks with amazing advancement of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Moreover, when these innovations are accessible, reasonable and available, they speak to more than a change for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In this paper, a writing study and foundation study is done on the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and E-Learning System for Autism Children

The Training Deficiency in Corporate America: Training Security Professionals to Protect Sensitive Information

Increased internal and external training approaches are elements senior leaders need to know before creating a training plan for security professionals to protect sensitive information. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore training strategies telecommunication industry leaders use to ensure security professionals can protect sensitive information. The population consisted of 3 senior leaders in a large telecommunication company located in Dallas, Texas that has a large footprint of securing sensitive information. The conceptual framework on which this study was based was the security risk planning model. Semistructured interviews and document reviews helped to support the findings of this study. Using the thematic approach, 3 major themes emerged. The 3 themes included security training is required for all professionals, different approaches to training are beneficial, and using internal and external training\u27s to complement each other. The findings revealed senior leaders used different variations of training programs to train security professionals on how to protect sensitive information. The senior leaders\u27 highest priority was the ability to ensure all personnel accessing the network received the proper training. The findings may contribute to social change by enhancing area schools\u27 technology programs with evolving cyber security technology, helping kids detect and eradicate threats before any loss of sensitive information occurs

Design model for integrating learning management systems and massive open online courses on a digital e-Learning platform: implications for Zimbabwean universities.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Available affordances for learning provide opportunities for advanced technology-enhanced teaching and learning. Digital learning environments can make relevant learning content available to students using existing infrastructure. This creates an environment which requires different learning management systems (LMS) to interact with, and exchange information. Increasing use of mobile devices, digital learning platforms, LMS, and massive open online courses (MOOCs), has necessitated integration design approaches. However, ignorance of resources offered and discouragement and frustrations arising from the economic situation in Zimbabwe regarding regulated access to electronic services make automation of teaching processes a great challenge. In this thesis, a design model for integrating LMS and MOOCs on a digital learning platform is proposed. From an e-learning point of view, the study contributes to the working of e-learning management systems through automation process of uploading content to LMS. From a computer science point of view, the study contributes to software engineering principles where it puts together three different platforms; LMS, MOOCs and digital learning platforms under one design. Methodologically, the study uses design science research (DSR) framework with software modelling language to address challenges in teaching and learning. This study describes how the Technology Adoption Model (TAM) and Task-Technology Fit (TTF) model can be used together with DSR in relation to design model evaluation. A software modeling language was used to create the logical designs, which were evaluated using experimental design approach. Software engineering experts and lecturers were invited to validate proposed logical designs. The key deliverables of the study include requirements specifications for the design model for integrated learning management systems, as well as the logical designs for the design model. The design model, as per requirements specification and the evaluation thereof, are based on TAM and TTF. The hybrid model proposed was further validated using structural equation modeling via the partial least squares and path modeling. In our views, the interventions of integration work would support decision making, which influences choices made by policy makers when taking decisions about higher education technological infrastructure

Políticas de Copyright de Publicações Científicas em Repositórios Institucionais: O Caso do INESC TEC

A progressiva transformação das práticas científicas, impulsionada pelo desenvolvimento das novas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC), têm possibilitado aumentar o acesso à informação, caminhando gradualmente para uma abertura do ciclo de pesquisa. Isto permitirá resolver a longo prazo uma adversidade que se tem colocado aos investigadores, que passa pela existência de barreiras que limitam as condições de acesso, sejam estas geográficas ou financeiras. Apesar da produção científica ser dominada, maioritariamente, por grandes editoras comerciais, estando sujeita às regras por estas impostas, o Movimento do Acesso Aberto cuja primeira declaração pública, a Declaração de Budapeste (BOAI), é de 2002, vem propor alterações significativas que beneficiam os autores e os leitores. Este Movimento vem a ganhar importância em Portugal desde 2003, com a constituição do primeiro repositório institucional a nível nacional. Os repositórios institucionais surgiram como uma ferramenta de divulgação da produção científica de uma instituição, com o intuito de permitir abrir aos resultados da investigação, quer antes da publicação e do próprio processo de arbitragem (preprint), quer depois (postprint), e, consequentemente, aumentar a visibilidade do trabalho desenvolvido por um investigador e a respetiva instituição. O estudo apresentado, que passou por uma análise das políticas de copyright das publicações científicas mais relevantes do INESC TEC, permitiu não só perceber que as editoras adotam cada vez mais políticas que possibilitam o auto-arquivo das publicações em repositórios institucionais, como também que existe todo um trabalho de sensibilização a percorrer, não só para os investigadores, como para a instituição e toda a sociedade. A produção de um conjunto de recomendações, que passam pela implementação de uma política institucional que incentive o auto-arquivo das publicações desenvolvidas no âmbito institucional no repositório, serve como mote para uma maior valorização da produção científica do INESC TEC.The progressive transformation of scientific practices, driven by the development of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which made it possible to increase access to information, gradually moving towards an opening of the research cycle. This opening makes it possible to resolve, in the long term, the adversity that has been placed on researchers, which involves the existence of barriers that limit access conditions, whether geographical or financial. Although large commercial publishers predominantly dominate scientific production and subject it to the rules imposed by them, the Open Access movement whose first public declaration, the Budapest Declaration (BOAI), was in 2002, proposes significant changes that benefit the authors and the readers. This Movement has gained importance in Portugal since 2003, with the constitution of the first institutional repository at the national level. Institutional repositories have emerged as a tool for disseminating the scientific production of an institution to open the results of the research, both before publication and the preprint process and postprint, increase the visibility of work done by an investigator and his or her institution. The present study, which underwent an analysis of the copyright policies of INESC TEC most relevant scientific publications, allowed not only to realize that publishers are increasingly adopting policies that make it possible to self-archive publications in institutional repositories, all the work of raising awareness, not only for researchers but also for the institution and the whole society. The production of a set of recommendations, which go through the implementation of an institutional policy that encourages the self-archiving of the publications developed in the institutional scope in the repository, serves as a motto for a greater appreciation of the scientific production of INESC TEC

Reflection in professional practice: Perspectives and experiences of a group of corporate trainers in the UAE

Reflection has been extensively noted in the literature to be an essential practice for professional competency. As a result, training on reflection is included in preservice and professional development in various professions, including teaching, nursing, medicine, social work, the legal profession, and in the police force. However, within corporate training, there is little to no in-depth research on the notion of reflection, how it is understood, if it is used, and how it is practised. This study aimed to address this literature gap by investigating how a group of nine UAE based corporate trainers conceptualised and used reflection within their professional practice. In addition, it aimed to recommend potential actions that could be taken to improve the use of reflection by corporate trainers. The study was situated within an interpretivist paradigm, and data was collected through oneon-one semi-structured interviews with each of the nine research participants, and an additional focus group with three research participants who were previously interviewed. The interviews and focus group were transcribed and analysed thematically. The data was then interpreted through a theoretical framework that drew on two sources: Donald Schön’s work on reflective practice, and the writings of Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky on higher mental functions. Results showed that corporate trainers in the UAE conceptualised reflection as a tool for continuous development. By learning from past and present experiences, and by thinking about the future, corporate trainers were able to improve their individual skills and deal with professional challenges. While this finding is consistent with existing academic literature on reflection, several issues emerged that could be problematic for the professional development of corporate trainers. These issues include: the tendency for corporate trainers to view reflection through an individual centric lens; the absence of any evidence of critical reflection; and the lack of any formal training on the benefit and use of reflection. Results also showed that the process of engaging in reflection, as described by the research participants, aligns with a Vygotskian model where reflection was first triggered by a realisation of a deficiency. The next step was a reconstruction of reality followed by an inner self-questioning phase. This was followed by a modelling exercise that took into consideration various future actions. The final two steps involved the development of a plan of action, followed by testing that action. A main finding from the analysis of reflection through a Vygotskian lens is the tendency of participants to favour self-dialogue over other mediational means. Within corporate training, reflection can, and should, be enhanced. The first recommended action is the design and delivery of a series of workshops that raises awareness of the professional benefits of reflection and explains how it can be used more effectively. A second recommendation is to encourage corporate trainers to use additional mediational tools such as reflective writing, reflective duologues with a mentor, and co-training. The final recommendation is an initiative to encourage the establishment of a community of practice. A first step towards achieving this goal is the facilitation of monthly group reflection sessions in which corporate trainers can discuss challenges and best practices

First Annual Workshop on Space Operations Automation and Robotics (SOAR 87)

Several topics relative to automation and robotics technology are discussed. Automation of checkout, ground support, and logistics; automated software development; man-machine interfaces; neural networks; systems engineering and distributed/parallel processing architectures; and artificial intelligence/expert systems are among the topics covered

Diseño e implementación de un programa de formación ON-LINE para la capacitación del capital humano en micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas (MIPYME) de León (Nicaragua)

Esta investigación, tiene como finalidad, la creación de un programa de formación online para la capacitación al capital humano de las MIPYME del Municipio de León, Nicaragua, utilizando como medio la tecnología e-learning. Es por ello, se requieren desarrollar proyectos innovadores que permitan adquirir competencias requeridas en un mundo laboral cada vez más exigente. Además, destacar la participación de actores de desarrollo como la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, León, entidades del Gobierno Municipal (Oficina de MIPYME), y los el Sector Empresarial, en un proyecto de desarrollo. Se presenta una investigación empírica, soportada en dos lineamientos teóricos: el primero está dedicado al objeto de estudio de la investigación (MIPYME), se presenta una revisión de la literatura que permiten contextualizar conceptos, clasificación y nomenclatura que se utilizan en la región latinoamericana. La segunda aportación propone los conceptos relacionados a la educación a distancia y su evolución en las diferentes plataformas que se utilizan en la formación a través de internet (e-learning, b-learning, MOOC, etc). Los fundamentos teóricos y el proceso de contextualización del constructo, permitió identificar ciertos elementos requeridos por los empresarios con el fin de potencializar el capital humano en sus empresas. Se desarrolló una metodología que considera elementos del Modelo de Tuning para la adquisición de competencias genéricas requeridas en los ambientes de trabajo. El proceso conllevo a la aplicación del método a uno de los sectores, el cual se ejecutó, evaluó y validó, para aplicarlos a otros contextos económicos. Por medio de estadístico e inferencial se ha contextualizado el objeto de estudio y determinado los factores por los cuales los empresarios requieren capacitación en el capital humano, definiendo así una estrategia que permitan potencial un ente de desarrollo como son las MIPYME. La Temática desarrollada corresponde al Campo de la Ciencia y Tecnología, específicamente a la categoría 330000 Ciencias Tecnológicas, ubicada en el grupo Ciencia de los ordenadores en la sección 1203.99 Otras (Enseñanza mediados por tecnología e-learning)