An agent system to support student teams working online

Online learning is now a reality, with distributed learning and blended learning becoming more widely used in Higher Education. Novel ways in which undergraduate and postgraduate learning material can be presented are being developed, and methods for helping students to learn online are needed, especially if we require them to collaborate with each other on learning activities. Agents to provide a supporting role for students have evolved from Artificial Intelligence research, and their strength lies in their ease of operation over networks as well as their ability to act in response to stimuli. In this paper an application of a software agent is described, aimed at supporting students working on team projects in the online learning environment. Online teamwork is problematical for a number of reasons, such as getting acquainted with team members, finding out about other team members’ abilities, agreeing who should do which tasks, communications between team members and keeping up to date with progress that has been made on the project. Software agents have the ability to monitor progress and to offer advice by operating in the background, acting autonomously when the need arises. An agent prototype has been developed in Prolog to perform a limited set of functions to support students. Team projects have a planning, doing and completing stage, all of which require them to have some sort of agent support. This agent at present supports part of the planning stage, by prompting the students to input their likes, dislikes and abilities for a selection of task areas defined for the project. The agent then allocates the various tasks to the students according to predetermined rules. The results of a trial carried out using teams working on projects, on campus, indicate that students like the idea of using this agent to help with allocating tasks. They also agreed that agent support of this type would probably be helpful to both students working on team projects with face to face contact, as well as for teams working solely online. Work is ongoing to add more functionality to the agent and to evaluate the agent more widely

Keeping an anchor watch: Industry partnership a basis for learning

During the 1990’s Australia has heard the call for graduates equipped with generic skills as a key theme in the development appropriate curriculum and pedagogy. In tertiary contexts, skills and knowledge are often decontextualised and transferable, and work-related skills are not accorded sufficient emphasis in teaching and assessment. The present study is an example of industry involvement on tertiary learning and assessment enhances the student experience and contextualises the curriculum. The context of the study is a project management unit at tertiary level that utilising online learning and self-directed learning pedagogies. The design of the environment is presented within a framework for professional knowledge development and the tasks and forms of engagement that occurred in this empirical study are described. Critical success factors for engagement with industry are discussed

XML Technologies in Computer Assisted Learning and Testing Systems

The learning and assessment activities have undergone major changes due to the development of modern technologies. The computer-assisted learning and testing has proven a number of advantages in the development of modern educational system. The paper suggests a solution for the computer-assisted testing, which uses XML technologies, a solution that could make the basis for developing a learning computer-assisted system.Comment: 6 pages, exposed on 5th International Conference "Actualities and Perspectives on Hardware and Software" - APHS2009, Timisoara, Romani

Tutoria a distância do Sistema Universidade Aberta do Brasil - um estudo a partir da realidade do Estado do Ceará

A introdução da educação a distância no ensino superior público brasileiro se deu a partir da criação do Sistema Universidade Aberta do Brasil (UAB) em 2005. Por se tratar de um modelo inédito de gestão administrativa e pedagógica descentralizada, a UAB deixou de se beneficiar das experiências vivenciadas no contexto do Ensino Superior espalhadas pelo mundo no que tange às referências em termos de papéis e funções desempenhadas pelos articuladores do saber. O estudo, em fase inicial, é parte da Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Educação na Universidade do Minho e tem como objetivo apresentar aspectos centrais do projeto de pesquisa direcionado para a construção da identidade do e-tutor que atua na UAB no Estado do Ceará. O trabalho tem natureza exploratória, com enfoque na pesquisa quali-quatitativa, utilizando técnicas de aplicação de questionário, análise documental e formação de grupos focais.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Learning with cyberfriends: the development of professional reflection-on-action skills through online partnerships

One the crises facing the professions is the scepticism surrounding the nature of professional knowledge and whether individuals can cope with the increased complexity of society and the changing demands of the workplace. Tertiary institutions have now strengthened their links with industry and have produced lists of attributes and communication skills they aim to cultivate in graduates. In order to develop these skills students need to be able to reflect on their learning experiences, integrate them with prior knowledge, self-evaluate and develop their own decision-making and planning processes. Online technologies can be used to support the process skills underpinning reflection-onaction (reflexivity). The development of reflexivity is presented in the context of an online tertiary unit where students proceed through the cycle of action, reflection, planning and abstract conceptualisation by engaging in a range of communication skills including peer assessment and problem solving. The study shows how online tasks can support reflexivity

Experiential learning on-line: The role of asynchronous communication tools

The needs of learners are changing rapidly and continually in response to an environment that is characterised by change at economic, political and technological levels. There is greater pressure on universities to work more closely with employers in contributing to the process of economic development through the creation of a skilled workforce. Universities are becoming increasingly flexible in their responses to meeting the lifelong learning agenda. Online experiential learning is an essential element in the move towards more situated and professional orientations and with the drive to providing students with real world working knowledge. Asynchronous communication tools and tasks are ideal conduits for the refinement of professional skills. This case study profiles an on-line approach to developing professional project management skills for multimedia developers and presents snapshot views of an online learning environment in which students developing real projects for industry clients

Fostering higher order thinking through online tasks

Increasingly higher education institutions are being asked to be more pro-active in delivering instruction through on-line facilities, while at the same time being more effective in fostering higher order thinking skills for students. This action research case study considered the effects of tertiary students working in teams to collaboratively solve ill-defined problems in an on-line environment. The framework adopted for analysis of higher order thinking investigated types of talk that were indicative of reasoning processes. Results indicated that the students\u27 capacity to display higher order thinking increased as a result of the students collaborating and communicating through the custom built on-line problem solving environment. The implications of the study are that on-line collaborative environments can facilitate the development of higher order thinking skills that are increasingly expected of graduates

PRODUCTIVITY OF STUDYING PROCESS USING IT

It is possible to involve students in learning process more actively using the new information technologies, research method and co-operation. The paper contains theoretical base of student research work as a component o f studying process in higher education establishments using IT. The research investigates student personality development and interconnection with productivity of studying process. The author analyses researches on productive interaction in the context of computer-supported collaborative learning in science, computers in the community of classrooms, a sociocultural perspective on the human-technology link and computer-mediated communication. The paper contains empirical research results about productivity of studying process on an experimental base increasing a part of the research work and problem solving using IT and collaboration in studying process of Computer science course in Vidzeme University College