Satellite-enabled educational services specification and requirements analysis based on user feedback

Advanced tele-education services provision in remote geographically dispersed user communities (such as agriculture and maritime), based on the specific needs and requirements of such communities, implies significant infrastructural and broadband connectivity requirements for rich media, timely and quality-assured content delivery and interactivity. The solution to broadband access anywhere is provided by satellite-enabled communication infrastructures. This paper aims to present such satellite-based infrastructures that are capable of addressing the core requirements of rich media educational services in remote areas. The paper proceeds to examine a set of services that will realise such satellite-based distance learning systems and to assess the targeted users’ interest in such services. The presented work is undertaken within the framework of the EU-funded Broadband Access Satellite Enabled Education (BASE2) project. Furthermore, requirements analysis, based on the Volere template (Robertson) and on user feedback, is undertaken

e-Sem: Dynamic Seminar Management System for Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education

This paper describes the dynamic seminar management system named 'e-Sem', developed according to the opensource software philosophy. Due to its dynamic management functionality, it can equally adapt to any education environment (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary). The purpose of the proposed dynamic system is ease of use and handling, by any class of users, without the need of special guidance. Also, students are given the opportunity to: a) register as users; b) enroll in seminars in a simple way; c) receive e-learning material at any time of day any day of week, and d) be informed of new announcements concerning the seminar in which they are enrolled . In addition, the administrator and the tutors have a number of tools such as : management seminars and trainees in a friendly way, sending educational material as well as new announcements to the trainees; the possibility of electronic recording of presence or absence of the trainees in a seminar, and direct printing of a certificate of successful attendance of a seminar for each trainee. The application also offers features such as electronic organization, storage and presentation of educational material, overcoming the limiting factors of space and time of classical teaching, thus creating a dynamic environmen

E-Learning for Teachers and Trainers : Innovative Practices, Skills and Competences

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.Final Published versio

Educators' perspectives on transmedia identity management:Redefining tele-teacher presence

Visual media and virtual reality are now a common features of distance education environments. This has boosted research into questions surrounding visual media and technologies for educators' professional development and teaching practice. This research explored educators' views on identity and teaching presence in visual media in distance education. We interviewed 18 experienced educators and categorized their views on identity and visual media. The findings suggest that digital identity can be seen through the lens of networks with others, and that transmedia identity management, which we define as the ability to create and manage multiple identities across different technology platforms, is a key competence for online educators as a means of building trust within online learning communities. As a result, we modified the theory of tele-proximity (Themelis, 2013, 2014; Themeli & Bougia, 2016) by refining its concept of tele-teacher presence to include transmedia identity management. The implications for practice are that the professional development of online educators should include knowledge and competence in tele-teacher presence and especially transmedia identity management

Experts on e-learning: insights gained from listening to the student voice!

The Student Experience of e-Learning Laboratory (SEEL) project at the University of Greenwich was designed to explore and then implement a number of approaches to investigate learners’ experiences of using technology to support their learning. In this paper members of the SEEL team present initial findings from a University-wide survey of nearly a 1000 students. A selection of 90 ‘cameos’, drawn from the survey data, offer further insights into personal perceptions of e-learning and illustrate the diversity of students experiences. The cameos provide a more coherent picture of individual student experience based on the totality of each person’s responses to the questionnaire. Finally, extracts from follow-up case studies, based on interviews with a small number of students, allow us to ‘hear’ the student voice more clearly. Issues arising from an analysis of the data include student preferences for communication and social networking tools, views on the ‘smartness’ of their tutors’ uses of technology and perceptions of the value of e-learning. A primary finding and the focus of this paper, is that students effectively arrive at their own individualised selection, configuration and use of technologies and software that meets their perceived needs. This ‘personalisation’ does not imply that such configurations are the most efficient, nor does it automatically suggest that effective learning is occurring. SEEL reminds us that learners are individuals, who approach learning both with and without technology in their own distinctive ways. Hearing, understanding and responding to the student voice is fundamental in maximising learning effectiveness. Institutions should consider actively developing the capacity of academic staff to advise students on the usefulness of particular online tools and resources in support of learning and consider the potential benefits of building on what students already use in their everyday lives. Given the widespread perception that students tend to be ‘digital natives’ and academic staff ‘digital immigrants’ (Prensky, 2001), this could represent a considerable cultural challenge

Tele-proximity: The Experienced Educator Perspective on Human to Human Connection in Distance Education.

Distance education is an integral part of many universities worldwide, aiming to offer students opportunities for life-long learning and equitable access. Distant learners face many barriers and as a result, they drop out more frequently than on-campus students. Educators seem to be equally affected by the 'transactional distance' and the new digital skills needed for teaching online. The purpose of this study is to explore the educators' perspective on how synchronous video communication (SVC) could offer alternative educational forms for distance learning. Specifically the study aims to fill gaps in the existing research literature: to describe synchronous teaching approaches that are used worldwide to support e-learners, to investigate the role of the educator, to discover how learning and subject content are affected by SVC, to see if it enhances the sense of togetherness (immediacy and intimacy) to specify the contextual factors influencing teaching and learning synchronously, and to formulate a theory. The Informed Grounded Theory (Thornberg, 2012) and the Community of Inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000) provided a scaffolding framework for designing interview questions and analysing findings. The findings of the study illustrate the empirical evidence of the value of SVC, its potential forms (teaching approaches), possibilities (linking educational purposes to the medium) and contextual factors (University policy, time zones, technologies, learning objectives, educator and student identities). Specifically, audiovisual cues have an impact on educators, the learning process and immediacy. The theory of Tele-proximity formulated to explain how educators and students are connected in synchronous networked environment via tele-operations. The study aims at helping educators/instructional designers, and administrators to face the difficulties of transactional distance and make informed decisions about synchronous video enhanced communication. Researchers may use Tele-proximity as a heuristic tool to continue the scientific dialogue on the potential of synchronous video-enhanced technologies in distance education

Moodle HEODAR implementation and its implantation in an academic context.

[EN]One of the most important aspects of a 'continuously in change’ society is to improve everything everywhere. In order to obtain the best products, they should be periodically evaluated and reengineered. So the evaluation task and of course, the adequate results interpretation, can make all the difference between competitors. E-learning is similar to these products. Different issues can be evaluated to make learning process getting better and better, such as tutors, platform software and contents. In this last issue, it can be included the minimum knowledge unit: the learning object (LO) (De Marcos et al., 2008). There exist different models and methods for LO evaluation. What is pretended with this work is to choose one model and implement a singular tool, in order to automatically evaluate these LOs and produce a set of information, that can be used to improve those LOs. In this case, it is implemented in the evaluation model called HEODAR (Morales et al., 2008a) and after that the model is implanted in Studium, the Moodle campus of Salamanca University