228,983 research outputs found

    Growing the use of Virtual Worlds in education : an OpenSim perspective

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    The growth in the range of disciplines that Virtual Worlds support for educational purposes is evidenced by recent applications in the fields of cultural heritage, humanitarian aid, space exploration, virtual laboratories in the physical sciences, archaeology, computer science and coastal geography. This growth is due in part to the flexibility of OpenSim, the open source virtual world platform which by adopting Second Life protocols and norms has created a de facto standard for open virtual worlds that is supported by a growing number of third party open source viewers. Yet while this diversity of use-cases is impressive and Virtual Worlds for open learning are highly popular with lecturers and learners alike immersive education remains an essentially niche activity. This paper identifies functional challenges in terms of Management, Network Infrastructure, the Immersive 3D Web and Programmability that must be addressed to enable the wider adoption of Open Virtual Worlds as a routine learning technology platform. We refer to specific use-cases based on OpenSim and abstract generic requirements which should be met to enable the growth in use of Open Virtual Worlds as a mainstream educational facility. A case study of a deployment to support a formal education curriculum and associated informal learning is used to illustrate key points.Postprin

    Empathic mediators for distance learning courses

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    ConferĂȘncia Internacional realizada em Lisboa de 15-16 de novembro de 2018.Online distance learning introduces several challenges, such as the dependence of online tools, the asynchronous communication between teachers and students, and the lack of synchronous social engagement level that inclassroom teaching can leverage. The existence of an online tutor 24 hours/day would be an interesting asset to potentially work as an additional learning support tool. The Virtual Tutoring project aims at the development of solutions involving anthropomorphic 3D avatars that work as both virtual online tutors in the Moodle e-learning platform as well as coaches in a mobile application that interact empathically with the students by predicting their emotional state and selecting appropriate emotion regulation strategies. This paper presents the current status of the project, preliminary evaluations with students, and future developments.This work was developed in the context of the FCT project PTDC/IVC-PEC/3963/2014 with the support of the R&D units of his authors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Technical and didactic knowledge of the moodle LMS in Higher Education: beyond functional use

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    Higher education institutions at the international level have seen the need to adopt and integrate information and communication technologies to meet the opportunities and challenges of innovation in teaching and learning processes. This logic has led to the implementation of virtual learning environments called ‘Learning Management Systems’, the functionalities of which support flexible and active learning under a constructivist approach. This study measured didactic and technological use of Moodle and its implications in teaching from a quantitative approach by administering a questionnaire to a sample of 640 higher education teachers. Some guiding questions were as follows: Are teachers using the Moodle platform for didactic purposes? What strategies, resources and tools are teachers using, and what do they contribute to student-centred teaching? Are teaching strategies that are focused on collaboration, interaction and student autonomy promoted? The results coincide with those of other studies, confirming an instrumental and functional use of the platform, which is mainly being used as a repository for materials and information, while its pedagogical use remains limited. This is becoming a problem in higher education institutions, something that requires debate and reflection from a systemic perspective on the adoption and integration of technology in the classroo

    Promoting global virtual teams across the globe: cross-cultural challenges and synergies

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    This chapter presents a preliminary understanding of cross-cultural challenges and synergistic experiences of multicultural students engaged in Global Virtual Teams (GVTs). In this case study, we introduce the GVT structure as a novel learning platform which utilizes Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) tools as part of its virtual-based learning. We administer the case study with 30 students (n=30) in the United of Emirates (UAE) who engage in GVTs across the globe-encompassing 26 universities and 22 countries. Qualitative data is collected in the form of documents-reflective reports of the students\u27 experiential learning over a 10-week period. We content analyse the reports based on the thematic analysis with two distinctive categories-cultural challenges and cultural synergies based on the first seven weeks of the experiential learning process. In this study, we find that students experienced challenges such as managing technical difficulty, language barriers, deteriorating motivations, geographical distance, time differences, and non-committed and unresponsive attitude. However, students also experience synergies from the GVTs such as strong relationships and continued friendships, formation of emergent leadership, learned diverse managerial styles and competencies skills, varied use of varied CMC tools, and international exposure to diverse cultures without the need to travel abroad

    E-Learning and Open Distance Education (ODL) in IPRC Kigali during COVID-19 Pandemic Spread: Opportunities and Challenges Available

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    This study entitled “E-Learning and Open Distance education (ODL) in IPRC Kigali during COVID-19 Pandemic spread: Opportunities and Challenges available” was conducted to examine the opportunities available for IPRC Kigali students who were learning via Rwanda Polytechnic E-Learning platform, established to maintain the learning process and contain COVID-19 pandemic spread. It also examined the challenges they encountered during this period. More than 60% of the student-respondents supported the statement saying that their E-learning platform is able to provide opportunities for relations between learners by the use of the discussion forum. The respondents agreed that E-learning offers opportunities for learning for a maximum number of trainees with no need for many building. Therefore more than 67% of them found this as an opportunity. More than 63% also agreed that a small number of teaching staff may deliver courses to a big number of students at the same time. The majority of them did not accept that the students’ mindsets prevent them from accessing the E-learning platform (48.1%). They didn’t also agree on the statement that lecturers/instructors have a little experience in delivering courses through Distance Learning mode (65.4%). This shows that they are proud of their teaching staff. It was recommended that to address the issue of impossibility to control malpractice; the use of appropriate software used in other universities would be adopted; the government should speed up the distribution of laptops to students who have not received them yet; there should be sensitization to change the students’ mindsets and join E-Learning platform; trainers should design appropriate online learning resources and provide timely feedback to students, and emerging technologies like zoom, Microsoft teams, WebEx, Google meet 
 videoconferencing, social media, and other virtual classrooms should be considered. Keywords: E-Learning, ODL, opportunities, challenges, ICT DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-27-04 Publication date:September 30th 202

    [DC] self-adaptive technologies for immersive trainings

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    Online learning is the preferred option for professional training, e.g. Industry 4.0 or e-health, because it is more cost efficient than on-site organisation of realistic training sessions. However, current online learning technologies are limited in terms of personalisation, interactivity and immersiveness that are required by applications such as surgery and pilot training. Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have the potential to overcome these limitations. However, due to its early stage of research, VR requires significant improvements to fully unlock its potential. The focus of this PhD is to tackle research challenges to enable VR for online training in three dimensions: (1) dynamic adaptation of the training content for personalised trainings, by incorporating prior knowledge and context data into self-learning algorithms; (2) mapping of sensor data onto what happens in the VR environment, by focusing on motion prediction techniques that use past movements of the users, and (3) investigating immersive environments with intuitive interactions, by gaining a better understanding of human motion in order to improve interaction. The designed improvements will be characterised though a prototype VR training platform for multiple use cases. This work will not only advance the state of the art on VR training, but also on online e-learning applications in general

    Challenges of Virtual Thai EFL Classes: Times of Pandemics

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    The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted human life for over two years. To learn to adapt to the new normal era, we have to change the way of living, working, communicating, and so on. Similarly, the educational platform has been changed and most impacted from elementary to tertiary level in Thailand. In this regard, teaching and learning have been conducted on digital platforms. Therefore, this paper aims to recognize the challenges of the virtual EFL classes encountered by Thai instructors of English from a university in the deep south of Thailand during the Covid-19 pandemic. Survey questions were done from the instructors’ perspectives. The challenges of teaching and learning in the virtual EFL classes faced by Thai instructors showed mainly three issues, namely (1) technological issues; (2) pedagogical issues, and (3) personal issues. These three principally issues could be valuable preliminary information for the English department as well as the university management to understand the problems by seeking and providing proper methods for the virtual EFL classroom during the times of pandemics

    Don’t shoot! understanding students' experiences of video-based learning and assessment in the arts

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    This paper explores the benefits and challenges of using video blogging to support reflection and assessment in acting and performance training. A video platform called Acclaim was integrated into the university’s virtual learning environment (Blackboard), enabling students to record and share their performances in an online setting. A key feature of the platform was the ability to add time-based comments on a video, making it possible for tutors and students to discuss and critique specific moments of each performance. Students were also required to record and upload regular video blogs during which they would reflect on their progress. At the end of the first year, a survey was designed to evaluate students’ experiences of the video blogging activity. The findings indicate mixed results: while many students viewed video blogging as a useful learning activity, they also identified a number of challenges that hampered its effectiveness. From this study we conclude that while video blogging presents several notable advantages for the facilitation of performance-based courses, the technology needs to be carefully introduced as part of a broader instructional strategy to maximise the potential benefits for student learning and engagement

    Feasibility of project ECHO telementoring to build capacity among non-specialist emergency care providers

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    The COVID-19 pandemic has led to global disruptions in emergency medicine (EM) teaching and training and highlighted the need to strengthen virtual learning platforms. This disruption coincides with essential efforts to scale up training of the emergency healthcare workforce, particularly in low-resource settings where the specialty is not well developed. Thus, there is growing interest in strengthening virtual platforms that can be used to support emergency medicine educational initiatives globally. These platforms must be robust, context specific and sustainable in low-resource environments. This report describes the implementation of Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), a telementoring platform originally designed to extend specialist support to health care workers in rural and underserved areas in New Mexico. This platform has now been implemented successfully across the globe. We describe the challenges and benefits of the Project ECHO model to support a Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) training program for health care providers in Kenya who do not have specialty training in emergency medicine. Our experience using this platform suggests it is amenable to capacity building for non-specialist emergency care providers in low-resource settings, but key challenges to implementation exist. These include unreliable and costly internet access and lack of institutional buy-in
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