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

Changing petroleum engineering education to meet industry demand

The Department of Petroleum Engineering at Curtin University had its inception in 1998. For the last 10 years,it lectured the Masters in petroleum engineering course to local Australian and international students, graduatingmore than 200 students. The rapid increase in the price of oil during 2006/7 saw a sudden and substantial growthin industry employment opportunities, which resulted in the department losing over half of its staff to industry. At the same time, the supply of local students reduced to less than 10% of those taking the course. This loss in both student numbers and staff at the same time threatened the department’s future, and resulted in the need for a new focus to return the department to stability.A number of new initiatives were introduced, which included: bringing industry into the decision-making processes; introducing a new two-year Masters program to assist high quality migrant students obtain Australian permanent residency; increasing the advertising of petroleum engineering as a career option to schools and industry; linking with UNSW, UWA and Adelaide universities to establish a joint Masters program; introducing a new Bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering; changing the block form of teaching to a semester-based form; and having the Commonwealth recognise the new Masters program for Commonwealth funding of Australian students as a priority pathway to a career as a petroleum engineer while the Bachelors program gathered momentum. This paper maps the positive changes made during 2008/9, which led to a 100% increase in student numbers, a 50% increase in staff to stabilise teaching, a 400% increase in active PhD students, and industry projects to deliver an increasing stream of high quality, industry-ready, graduate petroleum engineers over the next 10–20 years into the current ageing population where the average age of a petroleum engineer is 51

Real-time teleteaching in medical physics

Medical physics is a relatively small professional community, usually with a scarcity of expertise that could greatly benefit students entering the field. However, the reach of the profession can span great geographical distances, making the training of students a difficult task. In addition to the requirement of training new students, the evolving field of medical physics, with its many emerging advanced techniques and technologies, could benefit greatly from ongoing continuing education as well as consultation with experts

Towards developing a collaborative video platform for learning

The work presented in this paper outlines issues relating to the development of a collaborative video platform for learning. Student adoption of collaborative and video technology is increasing dramatically, becoming part of their everyday lives. The aim of this paper is to propose a system and framework for the successful integration of these technologies into teaching and learning. At the outset we assess current trends and previous research, using these findings to inform the development of a new platform. System specifications are then presented with specific needs identified for students and educators. Finally our tentative framework for a integrating a collaborative video platform for learning is presented

Impact of new technology on teaching and learning in technology education

The paper commences by way of some general comments on the potential of technology in education. It recalls the characteristics of the early technologies, i.e. paper and printing press and post-war technologies, i.e. telephone, radio, photographic film, slides and audio recordings, overhead projector, film, video and mixed media and transmission through satellite networks. It examines the ever growing interest and ‘needs felt’ to employ the ‘new technology’, for education in general and for technology education in particular. It briefly explains the transient concepts of mass education, individualised learning and group learning, which occurred in quick succession. Research findings on the effectiveness of different educational technologies are briefly stated in terms of the real benefits of technology in technology education. The next part of the paper is devoted to examining the phenomena of learning, retention, recall and critical thinking from the point of view of behaviourist and cognitive psychologies and to look at the concepts of higherorder learning. An attempt is made to show how human learning curves improve with the infusion of educational technology and variety in learning. It is proposed to adopt a graphical observation form, which includes the effective use of educational technology for classroom activity analysis. Salient features of technology education in the context of design and technology are highlighted. An attempt is made to discuss the technology-propelled paradigm-shift and to identify the extent of software and hardware of technology required to create better learning through teaching-learning processes based upon new technology. Critical issues for evaluating the effectiveness of new technology are identified. Facts and figures on technology integration in the teaching-learning process are quoted from different parts of the world. Finally, the paper dwells on the last decade of the turn of the millennium and the scenario with the onset of video conferencing, Internet conferencing, e-learning, etc. with regard to their outreach and relative effectiveness. Possible impact of the one-computer classroom is taken up to show how the availability of minimum infrastructure can be used in the developing world. Criteria for selection of appropriate technology is spelt out in some detail. A case is made for greater investment in staff development in the integration of new technology. The paper concludes by enumerating the ways in which the impact of new technology is made visible and by envisioning the not-so-distant future

The Development of Informatics in University of Pécs

In: A.J. Kallenberg and M.J.J.M. van de Ven (Eds), 2002, The New Educational Benefits of ICT in Higher Education: Proceedings. Rotterdam: Erasmus Plus BV, OECR ISBN 90-9016127-9The University of Pécs has 9 faculties, nearly 28 thousand students and 1,500 professors. Its capacity to offer the complete range of domestic higher education possibilities with its 9 faculties provides the unique cultural positions of the University. The development of the IT network that operates at the Pécs premises of the institution began in 1991 and is subject to continuous improvement and expansion. The presentation will introduce the development targets, the quantitative data, the characteristics of Internet and Network use as well as the current and planned future changes of resource stocks in laboratories. In the year 2000, all Nobel prizes were granted to scientists who excelled in the development of new tools to be used in the digital, so-called ICT systems and the elaboration of new, computerised economic methods. The EU is funding €100 million worth of developments in this field. Inspired by the completion of IDP and efforts made by the Ministry of Education in the field, the leadership of UP decided to deal with the radical restructuring and improvement of the informatics system along with IT courses and applications. The presentation will elaborate on the strategy of IT education, the SWOT analysis, training targets, organisational changes, consolidations of the subject, financial sources and the expected results of the development planned

A study of search intermediary working notes: implications for IR system design

This paper reports findings from an exploratory study investigating working notes created during encoding and external storage (EES) processes, by human search intermediates using a Boolean information retrieval (JR) system. EES processes have been an important area of research in educational contexts where students create and use notes to facilitate learning. In the context of interactive IR, encoding can be conceptualized as the process of creating working notes to help in the understanding and translating a user's information problem into a search strategy suitable for use with an IR system. External storage is the process of using working notes to facilitate interaction with IR systems. Analysis of 221 sets of working notes created by human search intermediaries revealed extensive use of EES processes and the creation of working notes of textual, numerical and graphical entities. Nearly 70% of recorded working notes were textual/numerical entities, nearly 30% were graphical entities and 0.73% were indiscernible. Segmentation devices were also used in 48% of the working notes. The creation of working notes during EES processes was a fundamental element within the mediated, interactive IR process. Implications for the design of IR interfaces to support users' EES processes and further research is discussed