Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) tools to improve computational thinking skills

The common and easy access to technological devices has led to the rapid inclusion of technology into the learning process. The development of technical skills, as well as the increasing confidence in computer attitudes, seems to be obvious. We therefore propose to go beyond and advocate the use of TEL to provide specific leadership, multi-tasking and other organizational skills, known as computational thinking, as precisely the main contributions provided by TEL. To support this hypothesis, we present two different experiences. The first, based on high-school students, to introduce young people to technology at the same time as they acquire other demanding skills. The second, with undergraduate Computer Science students, is focused on technology itself to enhance and improve computational thinking skills. A comparison is also made between two populations with different digital profiles in their user skills (general in the first case and engineering biased in the second).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Simplifying Authoring of Adaptive Hypermedia Structures in an eLearning Context

Full version unavailable due to 3rd party copyright restrictions.In an eLearning context, Adaptive Hypermedia Systems have been developed to improve learning success by increasing learner satisfaction, learning speed, and educational effectiveness. However, creating adaptive eLearning content and structures is still a time consuming and complicated task, in particular if individual lecturers are the intended authors. The way of thinking that is needed to create adaptive structures as well as the workflows is one that lecturers are unaccustomed to. The aim of this research project is to develop a concept that helps authors create adaptive eLearning content and structures, which focuses on its applicability for lecturers as intended authors. The research is targeted at the sequencing of content, which is one of the main aspects of adaptive eLearning. To achieve this aim the problem has been viewed from the author’s side. First, in terms of complexity of thoughts and threads, explanations about content structures have been found in storytelling theory. It also provides insights into how authors work, how story worlds are created, story lines intertwined, and how they are all merged together into one content. This helps us understand how non technical authors create content that is understandable and interesting for recipients. Second, the linear structure of learning content has been investigated to extract all the information that can be used for sequencing purposes. This investigation led to an approach that combines existing models to ease the authoring process for adaptive learning content by relating linear content from different authors and therefore defining interdependencies that delinearise the content structure. The technical feasibility of the authoring methods for adaptive learning content has been proven by the implementation of the essential parts in a research prototype and by authoring content from real life lectures with the prototype’s editor. The content and its adaptive structure obtained by using the concept of this research have been tested with the prototype’s player and monitor. Additionally, authoring aspects of the concept have been shown along with practical examples and workflows. Lastly, the interviewees who took part in expert interviews have agreed that the concept significantly reduces authoring complexity and potentially increases the amount of lecturers that are able to create adaptive content. The concept represents the common and traditional authoring process for linear content to a large extent. Compared to existing approaches the additional work needed is limited, and authors do not need to delve into adaptive structures or other authors’ content structures and didactic approaches

eLearning in diverse Subject-Matter Contexts: An explorative study

Die Mission von eLearning ist es, Lehrenden und Lernenden eine grosse Anzahl von Unterrichtsmöglichkeiten zu offerieren, um die Qualität von Lehren und Lernen in jedem fachspezifischen/fachbezogenen Kontext zu verbessern. eLearning reflektiert vielfältige Einsatzmöglichkeiten von Technologien eingebettet in unterschiedlichen Bildungskontexten; und wird häufig missverstanden. Darüber hinaus, lanciert die dynamische Entwicklung der neuen Technologien neue Potenziale für kreative didaktische Szenerien in einem Zustand von TELEs , die aktives Lernen mit hoher Beteiligung fördern; so dass die Lehrer nicht mehr an die eLearning Angebote von Institutionen /Organisationen gebunden sind. Eine Epistemologische Analyse ist notwendig für ein umfangreiches Verständnis, über die Wissenschaften und deren kontextuellen Unterschiede zu erstellen, um einen Vergleich ihrer eLearning Anwendungen in einer genaueren und diskursiven Weise durchführen zu können. Deshalb, ist diese Dissertation Akt einer explorativen Studie, die einen Rahmen um „fachbezogene kontextbasierte“ eLearning Anwendungen der verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Bereiche zieht, um heraus zu finden ob eine der eLearning Anwendungen ebenfalls unterschiedliche Eigenschaften wie ihre Philosophie zeigt. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit zeigen, dass der Bekanntheitsgrad von eLearning Anwendungen bei den Lehrenden nicht ausreichend ist, um einen Einsatz von sophistischen eLearning Anwendungen zu umfassen, dies ist kontextunabhängig; obwohl, eine klare Unterscheidung zwischen den eLearning Anwendungen der Geistes-/ Sozialwissenschaften und Ingenieurwissenschaften festgestellt worden ist. Zum Schluss, mehr Forschung und Studien sind erforderlich, die die eLearning Anwendungen/Charakteristiken in verschiedenen fachspezifischen Kontexten erforschen, um potenzielle Lücken zu identifizieren.The overall mission of eLearning is to provide instructors and learners with the wide range of instructional opportunities to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in any educational context. eLearning reflects diverse applications of technologies embedded into different educational contexts; and it is often misunderstood. Furthermore, the dynamic development of emerging technologies introduces new potentials for more creative instructional design patterns in terms of TELEs that foster active learning with high levels of involvement; thus instructors become no more tied to the educational technology offerings of institutions/organizations. An epistemological analysis is necessary for an extensive understanding about sciences and their subject-matter contextual differences; to be able to compare and contrast their eLearning practices in a more accurate and discursive way. Therefore, this dissertation acts as an explorative study which draws a framework of “subject-matter context-based” eLearning practices of diverse scientific fields in order to find out whether their eLearning practices are, indeed, demonstrating differences likewise their philosophy, or not. The results of this dissertation demonstrate that the eLearning awareness levels of instructors are not satisfactory to embrace the use of sophisticate eLearning practices independent from their subject-matter context; although, there is a clear-cut distinction between the eLearning practices of humanities/social sciences’ and engineering sciences’ subject-matter contexts. Eventually, more research studies investigating the eLearning practices/characteristics of diverse subject-matter contexts is required to identify potential gaps

Communities in New Media: Virtual Enterprises, Research Communities & Social Media Networks: 15. Workshop GeNeMe ’12 Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien: TU Dresden, 04./05. 10. 2012

Internet-basierte Technologien wie z. B. Social Media Werkzeuge, aber auch ERP-Systeme und Wissensplattformen verändern weiterhin Form und Intensität der Zusammenarbeit in Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Bildung bis hin zum privaten (Zusammen-)Leben. Dabei führt die zunehmende Mobilität zu neuen Nutzungsoptionen auch für multimediale Systeme, sei es im Bereich des Gaming oder beim gemeinsamen Gestalten digitaler Produkte. Gerade für die Web 2.0 Technologien gilt: Ziel der Nutzung sind Kommunikation, Kooperation und Kollaboration. Die Nutzer suchen Unterstützung bei täglichen Routineprozessen ebenso wie in nicht alltäglichen Situationen - etwa bei der Erstellung von Inhalten - und schließen sich in Online-Fachgemeinschaften, sogenannten Communities, unterschiedlichster Ausrichtung zusammen. Im Jahr 2012 feiert die GeNeMe das 15. Jubiläum! Der Sammelband zur Tagung „Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien“ widmet sich 2012 dem Rahmenthema „Communities in New Media: Virtual Enterprises, Research Communities & Social Media Networks“ und enthält Beiträge zu folgenden Themenfeldern: • Konzepte, Technologien und Methoden für Virtuelle Gemeinschaften (VG) & Virtuelle Organisationen (VO), • Mobile and Augmented Life, • Soziale Gemeinschaften (SG) in Neuen Medien, • Wirtschaftliche Aspekte von Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien, • Lernen, Lehren und Forschen mit dem Web2.0. Alle in den Proceedings publizierten Beiträge wurden mit Hilfe eines anonymisierten Begutachtungsverfahrens auf Basis von mindestens 2 Gutachten aus einem breiten Angebot interessanter und qualitativ hochwertiger Beiträge zu dieser Tagung ausgewählt. Die GeNeMe‘12 richtet sich in gleichem Maße an Wissenschaftler wie auch Praktiker, die sich über den aktuellen Stand der Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet der GeNeMe informieren möchten. *** In der Online-Version ist das Adressverzeichnis (S. 337-355) nicht enthalten, vgl. Sie hierzu die Printausgabe.:Vorwort der Herausgeber S. III A Eingeladene Vorträge A.1 The Role of Creativity in Cooperative Foresight Activities in Living Labs S. 1 B KONZEPTE, TECHNOLOGIEN UND METHODEN FÜR VIRTUELLE GEMEINSCHAFTEN (VG) & VIRTUELLE ORGANISATIONEN (VO) B.1 Anonyme Kommunikation in verteilt organisierten Gitterstrukturen S. 11 B.2 Von kompetenzzellenbasierten Produktionsnetzen lernen - Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel von „Anbietergemeinschaften aus Stromerzeugern und -verbrauchern“ S. 23 B.3 Open Innovation by Opening Embedded Systems S. 33 B.4 Erarbeitung eines Workshopdesigns zur weiteren Ausarbeitung der Ergebnisse einer virtuellen Ideencommunity S. 47 B.5 Berührungssensitive Schnittstellen für Social Software in Entwicklungsprozessen S. 63 B.6 Mobile Reisebegleitung mit NFC-Unterstützung S. 67 B.7 Optimierung des IT-Managements mittels Social Media S. 79 B.8 Ausgestaltung eines Social Media Monitorings S. 91 C SOZIALE GEMEINSCHAFTEN (SG) IN NEUEN MEDIEN C.1 Formen der Kollaboration in Wissensnetzwerken S. 105 C.2 Informations- und Wissensmanagement im Nachhaltigen Landmanagement (IWM im NLM) S. 121 C.3 Barrierefreiheit durch Personalisierung und Kollaboration S. 135 C.4 Als Chef hat man nichts zu lachen – Eine Studie zur Wirkung von durch Führungspersonen genutzten Emoticons in berufsbezogenen Emails S. 145 D WIRTSCHAFTLICHE ASPEKTE D.1 The Knowledge- Based Opole Tourism Cluster (OKTW) as a Network Tool for Organizing the Space and Flow in the Opole Region S. 155 D.2 Das Projekt Q2P - Zentrale Unterstützungsangebote für den Medieneinsatz in der akademischen Weiterbildung S. 169 D.3 Erfolg im Enterprise 2.0: Selbstorganisation und Freiheit gegen vorstrukturierte Planung und Steuerung S. 173 D.4 Fluch oder Segen? – Zum Umgang mit Konflikten in Software-Implementierungsprozessen S. 181 D.5 Warum Facebook Spaß macht: Freudvolles Erleben in sozialen Netzwerkdiensten S. 193 D.6 Nutzung interaktiver Elemente in deutschen Online-Shops S. 207 E LERNEN, LEHREN UND FORSCHEN MIT DEM WEB 2.0 E.1 DialogueMaps: Ein interaktives Dialogwerkzeug für softwaregestützte Wissenslandkarten s. 217 E.2 Untersuchung der Wirksamkeit einer Lernhandlung in einem Blended-Learning-Arrangement in der universitären Ausbildung S. 229 E.3 Gestaltungsmaßnahmen zur Förderung kollaborativer Wiki-Arbeit in der Hochschullehre S. 241 E.4 Digitale Kompetenzen für Wissenschaftler: Anforderungen aus der Perspektive von ELearning und E-Science S. 253 E.5 Identifiers in e-Science platforms for the ecological sciences S. 259 E.6 The Impact of Learning Management System Usage on Cognitive and Affective Performance S. 273 E.7 Adoption, Anpassung oder Abkehr? - Eine Studie zur Nutzung von kollaborativen Web 2.0-Anwendungen durch Studierende S. 285 E.8 Die Etablierung von E-Learning-Szenarien an Gymnasien – ein Pilotprojekt in Sachsen und seine Erkenntnisse S. 299 E.9 Online-Gemeinschaften zur Studienvorbereitung: Eine empirische Studie zu computerbezogenen Einstellungen sächsischer Gymnasialschüler S. 313 E.10 Lernwegsteuerung im E-Learning - ein alter Hut? S. 32

Towards a Digital Capability Maturity Framework for Tertiary Institutions

Background: The Digital Capability (DC) of an Institution is the extent to which the institution's culture, policies, and infrastructure enable and support digital practices (Killen et al., 2017), and maturity is the continuous improvement of those capabilities. As technology continues to evolve, it is likely to give rise to constant changes in teaching and learning, potentially disrupting Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) and making existing organisational models less effective. An institution’s ability to adapt to continuously changing technology depends on the change in culture and leadership decisions within the individual institutions. Change without structure leads to inefficiencies, evident across the Nigerian TEI landscape. These inefficiencies can be attributed mainly to a lack of clarity and agreement on a development structure. Objectives: This research aims to design a structure with a pathway to maturity, to support the continuous improvement of DC in TEIs in Nigeria and consequently improve the success of digital education programmes. Methods: I started by conducting a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) investigating the body of knowledge on DC, its composition, the relationship between its elements and their respective impact on the Maturity of TEIs. Findings from the review led me to investigate further the key roles instrumental in developing Digital Capability Maturity in Tertiary Institutions (DCMiTI). The results of these investigations formed the initial ideas and constructs upon which the proposed structure was built. I then explored a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to substantiate the initial constructs and gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between elements/sub-elements. Next, I used triangulation as a vehicle to expand the validity of the findings by replicating the methods in a case study of TEIs in Nigeria. Finally, after using the validated constructs and knowledge base to propose a structure based on CMMI concepts, I conducted an expert panel workshop to test the model’s validity. Results: I consolidated the body of knowledge from the SLR into a universal classification of 10 elements, each comprising sub-elements. I also went on to propose a classification for DCMiTI. The elements/sub-elements in the classification indicate the success factors for digital maturity, which were also found to positively impact the ability to design, deploy and sustain digital education. These findings were confirmed in a UK University and triangulated in a case study of Northwest Nigeria. The case study confirmed the literature findings on the status of DCMiTI in Nigeria and provided sufficient evidence to suggest that a maturity structure would be a well-suited solution to supporting DCM in the region. I thus scoped, designed, and populated a domain-specific framework for DCMiTI, configured to support the educational landscape in Northwest Nigeria. Conclusion: The proposed DCMiTI framework enables TEIs to assess their maturity level across the various capability elements and reports on DCM as a whole. It provides guidance on the criteria that must be satisfied to achieve higher levels of digital maturity. The framework received expert validation, as domain experts agreed that the proposed Framework was well applicable to developing DCMiTI and would be a valuable tool to support TEIs in delivering successful digital education. Recommendations were made to engage in further iterations of testing by deploying the proposed framework for use in TEI to confirm the extent of its generalisability and acceptability