E-Learning

Technology development, mainly for telecommunications and computer systems, was a key factor for the interactivity and, thus, for the expansion of e-learning. This book is divided into two parts, presenting some proposals to deal with e-learning challenges, opening up a way of learning about and discussing new methodologies to increase the interaction level of classes and implementing technical tools for helping students to make better use of e-learning resources. In the first part, the reader may find chapters mentioning the required infrastructure for e-learning models and processes, organizational practices, suggestions, implementation of methods for assessing results, and case studies focused on pedagogical aspects that can be applied generically in different environments. The second part is related to tools that can be adopted by users such as graphical tools for engineering, mobile phone networks, and techniques to build robots, among others. Moreover, part two includes some chapters dedicated specifically to e-learning areas like engineering and architecture

Virtual Reality for Teacher Training : An Experiential Approach to Classroom Conflict Management

This chapter discusses the use of virtual reality (VR) in the training of preservice secondary education teachers in Spain as an integral part of their learning process. The authors propose some premises from which to design a training program to improve preservice teachers' communicative competence and their ability to manage conflict impacting the classroom climate. First, it explains the experiential and experimental potential of a virtual learning environment (VLE), its ability to create personalized virtual worlds, as well as the possibility to generate insightful instant feedback and feedforward. Finally, an example of a prototype scenario designed on this conceptual basis is provided. Furthermore, the chapter presents an overview of an educational proposal to implement this experiential immersive opportunity for preservice teachers to interact and manage disruptive situations in a safe and reliable environment conducive to the development of key communicative competences and strategies to turn conflict into a learning opportunity

Classroom VR: un juego en RV para mejorar las capacidades comunicativas de profesores de secundaria

Trabajo de fin de grado del Grado en Ingeniería Informática, Facultad de Informática UCM, Departamento de Ingeniería del Software e Inteligencia Artificial, Curso 2019/2020Según los informes de prácticas de capacitación de los futuros maestros de educación secundaria, existen importantes deficiencias en las aptitudes de comunicación, necesarias para dirigir adecuadamente una clase. A pesar de la existencia de módulos relacionados con la comunicación en los maestros de enseñanza, no hay un aprendizaje real en esta área, y los estudiantes (los futuros profesores) expresan su temor cuando se trata de manejar una clase. Actualmente, la realidad virtual está presente en diferentes campos, como la medicina, la ingeniería, las humanidades, etc. Sus características (en particular la relativa a la creación de un entorno seguro, su ubicuidad y su alta capacidad de inmersión) la convierten en una tecnología ideal para la formación de habilidades de comunicación. Paralelamente, en los últimos diez años, los videojuegos han demostrado su eficacia como herramientas de aprendizaje, solos o combinados con otras estrategias pedagógicas. Por estas razones, consideramos la siguiente hipótesis: La realidad virtual en combinación con los videojuegos es, por un lado, un entorno eficaz para simular situaciones realistas relacionadas con la enseñanza secundaria y, por otro, un entorno ideal para practicar y aprender habilidades de comunicación para el aula. Teniendo esto en cuenta, hemos creado un entorno virtual que sirve como herramienta de formación para los futuros profesores de secundaria, para mejorar sus habilidades de comunicación y acostumbrarse a una clase real. Simula una clase de secundaria con estudiantes y funciona como un videojuego. Los estudiantes virtuales simulan el comportamiento de los estudiantes reales en el aula. Los futuros profesores empiezan el juego delante de la clase, como en la mayoría de las escuelas secundarias. La herramienta establece el fondo del juego, ofreciendo un contexto completo, acciones o comportamientos previos (por ejemplo, dos estudiantes han estado peleando toda la semana anterior). Después, el usuario tiene que reaccionar como en una situación real, manejando situaciones complicadas. Nuestro videojuego analiza en tiempo real el comportamiento del usuario (tono de voz, distancia entre el usuario y el o los estudiantes problemáticos y detección de vocabulario asertivo o negativo) y reacciona a través de los propios estudiantes, es decir, ofreciendo un comportamiento realista a las acciones del usuario. Somos optimistas sobre las posibilidades de nuestra herramienta en la formación de los profesores, ya que evita las costosas y complicadas prácticas logísticas en entornos reales. Los expertos consultados coinciden en el valor añadido que esta herramienta puede ofrecer a las prácticas en escuelas reales. El videojuego ofrece el entorno perfecto para aprender y comprender cómo manejar situaciones estresantes a través de una comunicación efectiva antes de enfrentarse a estudiantes reales.According to the reports of training practices from future secondaryschool teachers, there are significant shortcomings in the communication skills required to properly manage a class. Despite the existence of modules related to communication in the educational masters of teaching staff, there is no real learning in this area, and students (the future teachers) express their fear when it comes to dealing with a class. Currently, virtual reality is present in different fields, such as medicine, engineering, humanities, etc. Its characteristics (in particular the one concerning the creation of a safe environment, its ubiquity, and its high immersion capacity) turn it into an ideal technology for training communication skills. In parallel, in the last ten years, video games have proven their effectiveness as learning tools, alone or combined with other pedagogical strategies. For these reasons, we consider the following hypothesis: Virtual reality in combination with video games is, on the one hand, an effective environment for simulating realistic situations related to secondary education, and, on the other, an ideal environment to practice and learn communication skills for the classroom. Taking this into account, we have created a virtual environment that serves as a training tool for future secondary-school teachers, to improve their communication skills and get used to a real class. It simulates a secondary-school class with students and works as a video game. The virtual students work by simulating behaviors of real students in the classroom. Future teachers start the game in front of the class as in most secondary schools. The tool sets the game background, offering the complete context, actions, or previous behaviors (i.e., two students have been fighting all over the previous week). After, the user has to react as in a real situation, managing complicated situations. Our video game analyses in real-time the user’s behavior (voice tone, the distance between the user and the problematic student or students and detection of assertive or negative vocabulary) and reacts through the students themselves, i.e., offering realistic behavior to the user’s actions. We are optimistic about the possibilities of our tool on the teachers’training since it avoids the expensive and logistical complicated real environments practices. The experts consulted agree on the added value that this tool can offer to practices in real schools. The video game offers the perfect environment to learn and understand how to manage stressful situations through effective communication before facing real students.Depto. de Ingeniería de Software e Inteligencia Artificial (ISIA)Fac. de InformáticaTRUEunpu

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

Technologically-Mediated Writing In The First Year Writing Classroom: Twitter And Immediate Writing

A series of assignments in First Year Writing classes at Saginaw Valley State University utilizes social media to address issues of kairos in student writing experiences. The term immediate writing is applied to these writing activities which require students to produce polished writing in a specific moment, a different objective than commonly-used impromptu or freewriting. Included are considerations of technologically-mediated writing and the artifacts used to generate it

It\u27s just part of what we do : Adolescent interactions with multimodal texts across social spaces

This dissertation explores how adolescents are interacting with text across shifting social spaces, and how they learn to be literate across a range of social, academic, print, and digital contexts. The intent of the study is to help articulate the boundedness and fluidity of multiple discourses, and to better clarify how teens maneuver across these boundaries successfully. My research approach incorporates ethnographic methodology with a framework of critical sociocultural theory, drawing heavily upon Gee\u27s (2005) work in discourse analysis. New technologies have broken down bounded spaces and dichotomous views of what it means to be literate, creating interrelationships among literacies and modalities (Kress, 2003). They have complicated notions of adolescent literacy, shifting definitions away from static and print-centric views toward a contextualized framing of multiple literacies, using the tools and texts within situated contexts (Kress, 2000a, 2003; Luke 2000; Maybin, 2000). This study examines the embeddedness of these tools and texts in the literacy experiences of today\u27s Digital Natives (Prensky 2001a, 2001b). Because this study asks about lived experiences of participants, I chose an ethnographic approach (Agar, 2006a, 2006b; Schram, 2006; Silverman, 2007), relying on observations and interviews of student and teacher participants. My conceptual framework lies within critical sociocultural theory (Keller, 1995; Lewis, Enciso, and Moje, 2007; Moje and Lewis, 2007), with a consideration of the role of agency within dynamics of power. This work also deconstructs notions of literacy, discourse, context and text, and discusses the complications of these terms brought about by new Web 2.0 media. Major findings include the following: (1) Although teens are entrenched in a range of interactions with social digital text, they appreciate the value of academic literacies, and of teachers as conveyors of this knowledge. (2) While schools set rules that define appropriate behaviors with social digital networks, students and teachers frequently negotiate the boundaries through relationships founded on trust. (3) Teens are able to articulate and understand the boundedness of multiple discourse systems. This work explores pedagogical implications and delves into the complex issue of shifting power dynamics occurring in schools today