212,489 research outputs found

    Moving Target: Academic Library Design and Services in Response to Evolving Technologies and Student Expectations

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    This article provides a brief overview of several current trends in academic library design, a description of several paradigms for library services, and a discussion of the impact on library design of evolving technologies and changing student expectations for library resources and services. The article explores opportunities and challenges that new technologies provide and the impact of the digital environment on academic libraries and the learning experience of students. Observations from a focus group and site visits to six academic libraries constructed, renovated or planned within the past five years provide examples of factors influencing library design and address both positive and negative outcomes of various designs

    Towards and inclusive definition of e-learning

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    L'estudi té com a objectiu la construcció d'una definició actual i integradora del concepte d'e-learning, que sigui acceptada per la major part de la comunitat científica i que serveixi com a referent pels estudiosos i professionals d'aquesta temàtica.El estudio tiene como objetivo la construcción de una definición actual e integradora del concepto de e-learning, que sea aceptada por la mayor parte de la comunidad científica y que sirva como referente para los estudiosos y profesionales de esta temática.The main aim of the project is to create an up-to-date and comprehensive definition of the concept of e-learning. The project aimed to ensure that the definition was accepted by the scientific community and became a point of reference for experts and professionals in the field

    Evolino for recurrent support vector machines

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    Traditional Support Vector Machines (SVMs) need pre-wired finite time windows to predict and classify time series. They do not have an internal state necessary to deal with sequences involving arbitrary long-term dependencies. Here we introduce a new class of recurrent, truly sequential SVM-like devices with internal adaptive states, trained by a novel method called EVOlution of systems with KErnel-based outputs (Evoke), an instance of the recent Evolino class of methods. Evoke evolves recurrent neural networks to detect and represent temporal dependencies while using quadratic programming/support vector regression to produce precise outputs. Evoke is the first SVM-based mechanism learning to classify a context-sensitive language. It also outperforms recent state-of-the-art gradient-based recurrent neural networks (RNNs) on various time series prediction tasks.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

    Innovation and identity in distance language learning and teaching

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    doi: 10.2167/illt45.0Innovation in distance language learning and teaching has largely focused on developments in technology and the increased opportunities they provide for negotiation and control of learning experiences, for participating in collaborative learning environments and the development of interactive competence in the target language. Much less attention has been paid to pedagogical innovation and still less to how congruence develops between particular pedagogical approaches, various technologies and the skills, practices, actions and identities of language learners and teachers. In this article I explore the process of innovation in distance language teaching from the point of view of key participants in the process, the teachers, and the ways in which their identities are disrupted and challenged as they enter new distance teaching environments. Innovative approaches to distance language teaching are analysed for the insights they provide into the sites of conflict and struggle experienced by teachers, experiences which have a major impact on their selves as distance teachers and on the course of innovation. To conclude I argue that attention to issues of identity can deepen our understanding of innovation, of the tensions that are played out in the experiences and responses of teachers, and of the ways they accept or resist the identity shifts required of them

    An empirical learning-based validation procedure for simulation workflow

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    Simulation workflow is a top-level model for the design and control of simulation process. It connects multiple simulation components with time and interaction restrictions to form a complete simulation system. Before the construction and evaluation of the component models, the validation of upper-layer simulation workflow is of the most importance in a simulation system. However, the methods especially for validating simulation workflow is very limit. Many of the existing validation techniques are domain-dependent with cumbersome questionnaire design and expert scoring. Therefore, this paper present an empirical learning-based validation procedure to implement a semi-automated evaluation for simulation workflow. First, representative features of general simulation workflow and their relations with validation indices are proposed. The calculation process of workflow credibility based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is then introduced. In order to make full use of the historical data and implement more efficient validation, four learning algorithms, including back propagation neural network (BPNN), extreme learning machine (ELM), evolving new-neuron (eNFN) and fast incremental gaussian mixture model (FIGMN), are introduced for constructing the empirical relation between the workflow credibility and its features. A case study on a landing-process simulation workflow is established to test the feasibility of the proposed procedure. The experimental results also provide some useful overview of the state-of-the-art learning algorithms on the credibility evaluation of simulation models

    The evolving landscape of learning technology

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    This paper provides an overview of the current and emerging issues in learning technology research, concentrating on structural issues such as infrastructure, policy and organizational context. It updates the vision of technology outlined by Squires’ (1999) concept of peripatetic electronic teachers (PETs) where Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide an enabling medium to allow teachers to act as freelance agents in a virtual world and reflects to what extent this vision has been realized The paper begins with a survey of some of the key areas of ICT development and provides a contextualizing framework for the area in terms of external agendas and policy drivers. It then focuses upon learning technology developments which have occurred in the last five years in the UK and offers a number of alternative taxonomies to describe this. The paper concludes with a discussion of the issues which arise from this work

    Annotated Bibliography: Delivering Library Services to Distance Learners

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