12,116 research outputs found
Providing equivalent learning activities with software-based remote access laboratories
Laboratory-based learning activities are important components of engineering and surveying education and it is difficult to offering practical activities to distance education students. Remote Access Laboratory (RAL) systems are widely discussed as learning tools to offer students remote access to rigs or hardware. In some disciplines laboratory activities are purely software based and RAL systems can be used to provide access to software. As part of a larger study into the transferability of the remote laboratory concept to non-engineering disciplines this project evaluates the effectiveness of RAL based software activities in supporting student learning is investigated. In the discipline of Surveying and Spatial Science, RAL technology is used to provide Geographic Information System software access to distance students. The key research question discussed in this paper is whether RALbased software activities can address the same learning outcomes as face-to-face practical classes for software activities. Data was collected from students' discussion forums, teaching staff diaries and teaching staff interviews. The project demonstrates that students undertaking learning activities remotely achieve similar learning outcomes than student in practice classes using the same software. Ease of system access and usability are critical and the learning activity needs to be supported by comprehensive learning materials. This research provides a clear case in which the use of RAL technology has provided inclusive educational opportunities more efficiently and these general results are also applicable to experiments that involve physical hardware
Remote laboratories in teaching and learning â issues impinging on widespread adoption in science and engineering education
This paper discusses the major issues that impinge on the widespread adoption of remote controlled laboratories in science and engineering education. This discussion largely emerges from the work of the PEARL project and is illustrated with examples and evaluation data from the project. Firstly the rationale for wanting to offer students remote experiments is outlined. The paper deliberately avoids discussion of technical implementation issues of remote experiments but instead focuses on issues that impinge on the specification and design of such facilities. This includes pedagogic, usability and accessibility issues. It compares remote experiments to software simulations. It also considers remote experiments in the wider context for educational institutions and outlines issues that will affect their decisions as to whether to adopt this approach. In conclusion it argues that there are significant challenges to be met if remote laboratories are to achieve a widespread presence in education but expresses the hope that this delineation of the issues is a contribution towards meeting these challenges
A gentle transition from Java programming to Web Services using XML-RPC
Exposing students to leading edge vocational areas of relevance such as Web Services can be difficult. We show a lightweight approach by embedding a key component of Web Services within a Level 3 BSc module in Distributed Computing. We present a ready to use collection of lecture slides and student activities based on XML-RPC. In
addition we show that this material addresses the central topics in the context of web services as identified by Draganova (2003)
Embedding the Library into Scientific and Scholarly Communication through Knowledge Management
Knowledge management is a new role for academic research libraries
that has the potential to integrate the library into scholarly and scientific
communication in a significant way. Work in knowledge management
is advancing in both the sciences and humanities. The Genome Data
Base at the Johns Hopkins University is currently the most advanced
knowledge management prototype. As part of its new Center for
Knowledge Management, the University of California, San Francisco
is undertaking several initiatives to create a campuswide knowledge
management environment.published or submitted for publicatio
Fomento de las competencias experimentales utilizando recursos complementarios
[EN]The use of ICT in the academic context is a reality, in the world we live in. The young generation of students is digital native, being immersed in a virtual world during a considerable part of their day. This has an impact in their life, including on their education. In undergraduate engineering education laboratory classes are an integral part of its curriculum. These days, many laboratory classes combine traditional hands-on labs with online labs (remote and virtual labs) and several experimental resources. A âblendedâ or âhybridâ approach to experimental learning seems the most effective to (studentsâ) experimental learning and the development of competences. Still this technologically mediated resource affects the way students learn and in the literature there is still a lack of works, considering the characterization of didactical implementations using a âblendedâ or âhybridâ approach and its impact in studentsâ learning and the way they construct their knowledge. In the Electric and Electronic Engineering topic and using the remote laboratory VISIR there are really very few works, reported in literature, describing some small scaled didactical experiments.
The problematic which motivated this work was the need to understand the impact of different didactical approaches using this methodology (simultaneous use of several experimental resources) has on studentsâ academic results. Ultimately this work intends to contribute to fill a gap identified in the literature: identify factors (including some eventual studentsâ characteristics) which affect studentsâ learning and engagement in the electric and electronic circuits topic using the remote lab VISIR along with other complementary resources.
To accomplish this end, four research questions where posed, each of them taking into account a set of factors in a specific field of inquiry and its influence on studentsâ results. The first research question approached the way the several experimental resources could be combined and its effect on students. The second dealt with the influence of the proposed VISIR tasks characteristics on studentsâ results. The third tackled important teacher mediation traces that could be linked to better studentsâ performance. And finally, the last research question investigates if there were studentsâ characteristics that were more associated with good learning outcomes and engagement.
Considering the former objectives, it was chosen a multi-case study research methodology, using a mixed method approach, resourcing mainly to questionnaire, interview, documental analysis and observation as data gathering methods, and statistical analysis (descriptive and inferential) and content analysis, as data analysis techniques. A large-scale study analysis was conducted, including 26 courses (in a total of 43 didactical implementations using VISIR, as some of the courses have undergone more than one course implementation edition), comprising 1794 students and involving 52 different teachers. This study took place in several Higher Education Institutions (and at a minor extent, in some Technological and High Schools) in Argentina, Brazil and Portugal. In the southern hemisphere these didactical implementations happened in the 2016 and 2017 academic years while in the northern hemisphere it was possible to collect data from three semesters between 2016/17 and 2018/19 academic years. The study focused on analysing each didactical implementation (their characteristics, teachersâ usage and perception) and the matching studentsâ results (usage, academic results and perception). Ethical questions to guarantee both studentsâ and teachersâ privacy was taken care of, when using the data of the participants. The former data was only used for the purposes of this study and the state of the participation was reflected anonymously, which can be observed both in the information collected for the analysis as well as in the transcripts along the text.
The study included the analysis of the collected data from various sources, the interpretation of its results using several analysis techniques, and the convergence in a process of triangulation. These results, after discussed with literature, allowed to answer in the most possible complete way the four research questions. Based on them, conclusions were drawn to identify factors that may foster studentsâ learning and engagement.
The study also contributed to the advancement of knowledge in this research area. It allowed to conclude that VISIR and this methodology can be as useful for introductory courses as for more advanced ones (dealing with this thematic) as long as teachers plan the didactical implementation according to the type of course and studentsâ background. Plus, this methodology based upon VISIR can be applied with high success to courses that do not have an experimental component, nor its contents are directly related to the Electricity and Electronics topic. In these courses VISIR can be used with the purpose of contextualization, providing more interesting and appealing learning environments (e.g. theoretical mathematical courses). Finally, both teachersâ perception and studentsâ results suggest VISIR target public seems to be the students that require more support in their learning, that is, the students still struggling with difficulties than the more proficient students
The OMII Software â Demonstrations and Comparisons between two different deployments for Client-Server Distributed Systems
This paper describes the key elements of the OMII software and the scenarios which OMII software can be deployed to achieve distributed computing in the UK e-Science Community, where two different deployments for Client-Server distributed systems are demonstrated. Scenarios and experiments for each deployment have been described, with its advantages and disadvantages compared and analyzed. We conclude that our first deployment is more relevant for system administrators or developers, and the second deployment is more suitable for usersâ perspective which they can send and check job status for hundred job submissions
Aprendizaje a partir de maneras complementarias de desarrollar capacidades experimentales
Engineering education has solid needs of
experimental competences development.
Nowadays these competences can be worked
not only in traditional laboratories (hands on) but
also through the use of computer simulations
and remote labs. The use of diversified methods
in education and the exploration of new
resources and techniques in classroom may
allow teachers to motivate more students, and
capture their attention due to their different
learning styles.
The main objective of this project is to better
understand the effects on studentsâ learning
outcomes in different contexts (country, type
of institution, background, etc.). Students
are subjected to similar design approaches
that all use an enquiry-based teaching and
learning methodology. The methodology of
the didactical implementation is based on the
simultaneous use of experimental resources
(hands on, simulation and remote labs) together
with calculus, in class and assessment. To
accomplish this research, several insights
must be taken into consideration, including the
teachersâ mediation in class, in each case, and
the didactical implementations adaptations, but
also external factors, such as socio-cultural and/
or political factors.La educaciĂłn en ingenierĂa tiene sĂłlidas
necesidades de desarrollo de competencias
experimentales. Hoy en dĂa estas competencias
pueden desarrollarse no solo en los laboratorios
tradicionales (hands-on), sino también a través
de simulaciones y laboratorios remotos. El uso
de métodos diversificados en la educación y la
exploración de nuevos recursos y técnicas en el
aula puede permitir que los maestros motiven a
mĂĄs estudiantes y capten su atenciĂłn.
El objetivo principal de este diseño es
comprender mejor los efectos sobre los
resultados de aprendizaje de los estudiantes en
diferentes contextos (paĂs, tipo de instituciĂłn,
etc.), cuando estĂĄn sujetos a enfoques de
diseño similares utilizando una metodologĂa
de enseñanza y aprendizaje basada en la
investigaciĂłn. Esta metodologĂa emplea el uso
simultĂĄneo de recursos experimentales (handson,
simulaciones y laboratorios remotos) junto
con cĂĄlculo, en clase y en evaluaciĂłn. Para
lograr este objetivo, hay que tener en cuenta
varios puntos de vista, como la mediaciĂłn de
los profesores en cada caso y las adaptaciones
didĂĄcticas, ademĂĄs de factores externos, como
por ejemplo los factores socioculturales y/o
polĂticos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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