An authoring tool for structuring and annotating on-line educational courses : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Computer Science at Massey University

This thesis studies the design and prototype implementation of a new web-based course authoring system for the Technology Integrated Learning Environment (TILE) project. The TILE authoring system edits the course structure and allows the author to annotate the course structure with meta-data. It makes extensive use of XML technology to communicate structured data across the Internet, as well as for both local and web-side databases. The Authoring tool is designed to support development by multiple authors and has check-in and check - out, as well as version control facilities. It also provides an interface for adopting other multimedia tools such as AudioGraph. The tool has an easy-to-use graphical user interface. The technical problems that have been solved in this project include issues such as cross-platform support, drag and drop functionality using JDK l.l.8, etc. System environments, such as relational database set up, XML database set up, Java swing set up in Mac also have been discussed. The authoring system interface analysis, database analysis and function analysis have been completed for the complete the system as specified. An intermediate system, designed to a reduced specification, has been implemented as a prototype and details of this system, which can work independently of the TILE delivery system, are included. The Full TILE authoring system including InstantDB database access also has been partially implemented. The prototype application has also has been tested on the PC platform

E-education, information investors in people for relaunch economy

The paper addresses the issue of modern concepts of "e-education and e-learning", plus the models and the recovery of investment. The following are educational approach focusing on e-learning, using principles androgogic system E-learning, models for implementation of e-learning, plus a comparative analysis of standards and norms of global e-learning. Insertion peculiarities of international standards for e-learning(defining the standards and norms of international e-learning, the use of e-learning on the job market and the realization of e-learning focused on the correlation between strategic business objectives, infrastructure and evaluation system preparing staff). End of paper plays Six-Sigma methodology and the recovery of investment specific e-learning, the level of competence of the actors in the e-learning paradigm and implementation and benefits of online learning.e-education, web-based learning, open and distance learning, androgogic model of e-learning

A guide for Teachers

The role of the teacher in Higher Education is changing rapidly, and much of this change is as the result of the introduction of e-Learning. Teachers are now expected to share their role as course designers with many other professionals working in their institution while taking on a bigger role in the technical and resource discovery aspects of course design. This guide tackles these issues as well as examining emerging pedagogical issues that arise from the use of technologies in teaching. You will find information, advice and guidance that will help you make appropriate and effective use of e-Learning to support your students

Desktop multimedia environments to support collaborative distance learning

Desktop multimedia conferencing, when two or more persons can communicate among themselves via personal computers with the opportunity to see and hear one another as well as communicate via text messages while working with commonly available stored resources, appears to have important applications to the support of collaborative learning. In this paper we explore this potential in three ways: (a) through an analysis of particular learner needs when learning and working collaboratively with others outside of face-to-face situations; (b) through an analysis of different forms of conferencing environments, including desktop multimedia environments, relative to their effectiveness in terms of meeting learner needs for distributed collaboration; and (c) through reporting the results of a formative evaluation of a prototype desktop multimedia conferencing system developed especially for the support of collaborative learning. Via these analyses, suggestions are offered relating to the functionalities of desktop multimedia conferencing systems for the support of collaborative learning, reflecting new developments in both the technologies available for such systems and in our awareness of learner needs when working collaboratively with one other outside of face-to-face situations

Interactive context-aware user-driven metadata correction in digital libraries

Personal name variants are a common problem in digital libraries, reducing the precision of searches and complicating browsing-based interaction. The book-centric approach of name authority control has not scaled to match the growth and diversity of digital repositories. In this paper, we present a novel system for user-driven integration of name variants when interacting with web-based information-in particular digital library-systems. We approach these issues via a client-side JavaScript browser extension that can reorganize web content and also integrate remote data sources. Designed to be agnostic towards the web sites it is applied to, we illustrate the developed proof-of-concept system through worked examples using three different digital libraries. We discuss the extensibility of the approach in the context of other user-driven information systems and the growth of the Semantic Web

A learning design toolkit to create pedagogically effective learning activities

Despite the plethora of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools and resources available, practitioners are still not making effective use of e-learning to enrich the student experience. This article describes a learning design toolkit which guides practitioners through the process of creating pedagogically informed learning activities which make effective use of appropriate tools and resources. This work is part of a digital libraries project in which teaching staff at two universities in the UK and two in the USA are collaborating to share e-learning resources in the subject domains of Physical, Environmental and Human Geography. Finding, or creating, suitable e-learning resources and embedding them in well designed learning activities can be both challenging and time consuming. Sharing and adapting effective designs and solutions is both a stimulant and a time saver. This article describes the background to the specification of a learning activities design toolkit to support teachers as they create or adapt e-learning activities. This uses a model of pedagogical approaches as a basis for developing effective learning design plans and illustrates its use. The authors share their definition of a learning activity and taxonomies for the constituent elements. Real examples are discussed to illustrate their approach

Using R via PHP for Teaching Purposes: R-php

This paper deals with the R-php statistical software, that is an environment for statistical analysis, freely accessible and attainable through the World Wide Web, based on R. Indeed, this software uses, as "engine" for statistical analyses, R via PHP and its design has been inspired by a paper of de Leeuw (1997). R-php is based on two modules: a base module and a point-and-click module. R-php base allows the simple editing of R code in a form. R-php point-and-click allows some statistical analyses by means of a graphical user interface (GUI): then, to use this module it is not necessary for the user to know the R environment, but all the allowed analyses can be performed by using the computer mouse. We think that this tool could be particularly useful for teaching purposes: one possible use could be in a University computer laboratory to permit a smooth approach of students to R.