An investigation into the role of a wiki in supporting collaborative learning activities

Providing students with learning opportunities based on real-life situations has beenfound to enhance student learning. With this aim, two Open University post-graduatecourses introduced collaborative activities modelled on workplace situations. Theactivities employed wikis: a lightweight, web-based collaborative authoringenvironment. The purpose of this research has been to investigate the role of a wiki insupporting the collaborative learning activities, and to assess how the wiki influencedstudent engagement with the activities.The dissertation draws data from the three presentations of Open University courses’56 wikis produced by almost 240 students. The base data includes wiki content andstudent discussions. Issues identified in the base data were further explored throughpost-course questionnaires and interviews. An iterative inductive qualitative analysiswas applied to analyse students' perceptions and experiences with the wikis. Activitytheory was used to place these within the context of the activities.The wikis enabled all student groups to author collaboratively the documents requiredby their courses. Writing the documents benefited the students because it prompteddiscussion and personal reflection; both of which many students reported as enhancingtheir learning. The students particularly valued the wiki’s role as a central repositorythat helped them achieve these two benefits. The research shows that wikis cansupport collaborative activities among students and lead to enhanced learningopportunities. The key findings suggest that a wiki’s simplicity enabled students toengage easily with the collaborative learning activities. However, a wiki’s lack ofinherent structure hindered their progress until they had worked out how to organisetheir use of the wiki. The insights from the research are presented as guidelines for educators intending toincorporate wiki supported collaborative learning activities into their courses. Theguidelines have two aims: first, to help educators facilitate speedy induction andparticipation of the students in the collaborative activities; second, to ensure the wiki isused effectively by students to increase their collaborative learning opportunities

Development of an e-portfolio social network using emerging web technologies

Dissertação de mestrado em Informatics EngineeringDigital portfolios (also known as e-Portfolios) can be described as digital collections of artifacts, being both a product (a digital collection of artifacts) and a process (reflecting on those artifacts and what they represent). It is an extension of the traditional Curriculum Vitae, which tells the educational and professional milestones of someone, while the portfolio proves and qualifies them (e.g.: annually thousands of students finish a Master degree on Informatics, but only one has built Vue, Twitter or Facebook – the Portfolio goes beyond the CV milestones by specifying the person’s output throughout life and distinguishing them). e-Portfolios augment this by introducing new digital representations and workflows, exposed to a community, being both a product and a process. This approach can be useful for individual self-reflection, education or even job markets, where companies seek talented individuals, because it expands the traditional CV concept and empowers individual merit. There have been many studies, theories, and methodologies related with e-Portfolios, but transpositions to web applications have been unsuccessful, untuitive and too complex (in opposition to the CV format, which had success in various applications, for example LinkedIn). This project aims to study new approaches and develop an exploratory web/mobile application of this method ology, by exploring the potential of social networks to promote them, augmented by emergent web technologies. Its main output is the prototype of a new product (a social network of e-Portfolio) and its design decisions, with new theoretical approaches applied to web development. By the end of this project, we will have idealized a web infrastructure for interacting with networks of users, their skills, and communities seeking them. The approach to the development of this platform will be to integrate emerging technologies like WebAssembly and Rust in its development cycle and document our findings. At the end of this project, in addition to the prototype of a new product, we hope to have contributed to the State of the Art of Web Engineering and to be able to answer questions regarding new emerging web development ecosystems.Os portfólios digitais (também conhecidos como e-Portfolios) podem ser descritos como coleções digitais de artefatos, sendo tanto um produto (uma coleção digital de artefatos) quanto um processo (refletindo sobre esses artefatos e o que eles representam). É uma extensão do tradicional Curriculum Vitae, onde o primeiro conta os marcos educacionais e profissionais de alguém, enquanto que o segundo, o Portfólio, comprova-os e qualifica-os (e.g.: anualmente milhares de alunos concluem graduações em Informática, no entanto apenas um consebeu o Vue, o Twitter ou o Facebook - o Portfólio vai além dos indicadores quantitativos do CV, especificando e qualificando a produção da pessoa ao longo da vida e distinguindo-a). Os e-Portfolios expandem este conceito com a introdução de novas representações digitais e fluxos de trabalho, expostos a uma comunidade, sendo tanto um produto como um processo. Esta abordagem pode ser útil para a autorreflexão individual, educação ou mesmo mercados de trabalho, onde as empresas procuram indivíduos talentosos, porque expande o conceito tradicional de CV e potencializa o mérito individual. Existem muitos estudos, teorias e metodologias relacionadas com os e-Portfolios, mas as transposições para aplicações web têm sido mal sucedidas, pouco intuitivas e muito complexas (em oposição ao formato CV, que tem tido sucesso em várias aplicações, por exemplo no LinkedIn). Este projeto visa estudar novas abordagens neste domínio e desenvolver uma aplicação exploratória web/mobile que melhor exprima os e-Portfolios, explorando o potencial das redes sociais para os promover em conjunto com tecnologias web emergentes. As principais produções esperadadas deste trabalho são um protótipo de um novo produto (uma rede social de e-Portfolio) e documentar novas abordagens teóricas aplicadas ao desenvolvimento web. No final deste projeto, teremos idealizado uma infraestrutura web para interagir com redes de utilizadores, as suas competências e comunidades que os procurem. A abordagem ao desenvolvimento desta plataforma será integrar tecnologias emergentes como WebAssembly e Rust no seu ciclo de desenvolvimento e documentar as nossas descobertas e decisões. No final deste projeto, para além do protótipo de uma plataforma, esperamos ter contribuido para o Estado da Arte da Engenharia Web e responder a questões sobre novos ecossistemas emergentes de desenvolvimento web

Investigating the Impact of Organised Technology-driven Orchestration on Teaching

Orchestration of learning involves the real-time management of activities performed by educators in learning environments, with a particular focus on the effective use of technology. While different educational settings present unique problems, the common challenges have been noted to primarily be as a result of multiple heterogeneous activities and their associated intrinsic and extrinsic constraints. In addition to these challenges, this thesis argues that the complexities of orchestration are further amplified due to the ad hoc nature of the approaches and techniques used to orchestrate learning activities. The thesis proposes a streamlined approach to technology-driven orchestration of learning, in order to address these challenges and complexities. Specifically, the thesis proposes an organised approach that focuses on three core aspects of orchestration: activity management, resource management and sequencing of learning activities. Orchestration was comprehensively explored in order to identify the core aspects essential for streamlining technology-driven orchestration. Proof-of-concept orchestration toolkits, based on the proposed orchestration approach, were implemented and evaluated in order to assess the feasibility of the approach, its effectiveness and its potential impact on the teaching experience. Comparative analysis and guided orchestration controlled studies were conducted to compare the effectiveness of ad hoc orchestration with streamlined orchestration and to measure the orchestration load, respectively. In addition, a case study of a course that employed a flipped classroom strategy was conducted to assess the feasibility of the proposed approach. The feasibility was further assessed by integrating a workflow, based on the proposed approach, that facilitates the sharing of reusable orchestration packages. The results from the studies suggest that the streamlined approach is more effective when compared to ad hoc orchestration and has a potential to provide a positive user experience. The results also indicate that the approach imposes acceptable orchestration load during scripting of learning activities. Case studies conducted in authentic educational settings suggest that the approach is feasible, and potentially applicable to useful practical usage scenarios. The long-term implications are that streamlining of technology-driven orchestration could potentially improve the effectiveness of educators when orchestrating learning activities

EDIT: an Educational Design Intelligence Tool for supporting design decisions

Designing for learning is a complex task and considered one of the most fundamental activities of teaching practitioners. A well-balanced teaching system ensures that all aspects of teaching, from the intended learning outcomes, the teaching and learning activities used, and the assessment tasks are all associated and aligned to each other (Biggs, 1996). This guarantees appropriate and therefore effective student engagement. The design and promotion of constructively aligned teaching practices has been supported to some degree by the development of software tools that attempt to support teaching practitioners in the design process and assist them in the development of more informed design decisions. Despite the potential of the existing tools, these tools have several limitations in respect of the support and guidance provided and cannot be adapted according to how the design pattern works in practice. Therefore; there is a real need to incorporate an intelligent metric system that enables intelligent design decisions to be made not only theoretically according to pedagogical theories but also practically based on good design practices according to high levels of satisfaction scores. To overcome the limitations of existing design tools, this research explores machine learning techniques; in particular artificial neural networks as an innovative approach for building an Educational Intelligence Design Tool EDIT that supports teaching practitioners to measure, align, and edit their teaching designs based on good design practices and on the pedagogic theory of constructive alignment. Student satisfaction scores are utilized as indicators of good design practice to identify meaningful alignment ranges for the main components of Tepper's metric (2006). It is suggested that modules designed within those ranges will be well-formed and constructively aligned and potentially yield higher student satisfaction. On this basis, the research had developed a substantial module design database with 519 design patterns spanning 476 modules from the STEM discipline. This is considered the first substantial database compared to the state-of-the-art Learning Design Support Environment (LDSE)(Laurillard, 2011), which includes 122 design patterns available. In order to have a neural-based framework for EDIT, a neural auto-encoder was incorporated to act as an auto-associative memory that learns on the basis of exposure to sets of 'good' design patterns. 519 generated design patterns were coded as input criteria and introduced to the designed neural network with feed-forward multilayer perceptron architecture using the IV hyperbolic tangent function and back-propagation training algorithm for learning the desired task. After successful training (88%), the testing phase was followed by presenting 102 new patterns (associated with low student satisfaction) to the network where higher pattern errors were generated suggesting substantial design changes to input patterns had been generated by the network. The findings of the research are significant in showing the degree of changes for the test patterns (before) and (after) and evaluating the relationships between the core features of module designs and overall student satisfaction. T-test analysis results show statistically significant differences in the test set (before) and (after) in case of the alignment score between learning outcomes and learning objectives (V1) and the alignment score between learning objectives and teaching activities (V2), whereas no statistically significant difference is seen in the alignment score between learning outcomes and assessment tasks (V3). The network gives an average improvement of 0.9, 1.5, and 0.5 in the alignment scores of V1, V2, and V3, respectively. This resulted in increasing the average of satisfaction scores from 3.3 to 3.8. Accordingly, positive correlation with different degrees between student satisfaction and the alignment scores were suggested as a result of applying the network proposal changes. EDIT, with its data‐orientated and adaptive approach to design, reveals orthodox practices whilst revealing some unexpected incongruity between alignment theory and design practice. For example, as expected, increasing the amount of questioning, interaction and group‐based activity effects higher levels of student satisfaction even though misalignment may be present. However, the model is relatively ambivalent towards the alignment of learning outcomes and learning objectives suggesting there is some confusion between practitioners as to how these are related. Also, this confusion appears to persist when defining session learning objectives for different types of teaching, learning and assessment tasks in that the activities themselves appear to be at a higher cognitive level according to Bloom's Taxonomy than the respective learning objectives (resulting in positive misalignment)

Industry 4.0 for SMEs

This open access book explores the concept of Industry 4.0, which presents a considerable challenge for the production and service sectors. While digitization initiatives are usually integrated into the central corporate strategy of larger companies, smaller firms often have problems putting Industry 4.0 paradigms into practice. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) possess neither the human nor financial resources to systematically investigate the potential and risks of introducing Industry 4.0. Addressing this obstacle, the international team of authors focuses on the development of smart manufacturing concepts, logistics solutions and managerial models specifically for SMEs. Aiming to provide methodological frameworks and pilot solutions for SMEs during their digital transformation, this innovative and timely book will be of great use to scholars researching technology management, digitization and small business, as well as practitioners within manufacturing companies

A common structured integrated collaborative digitised (CrOsS) framework for the historic building repair and maintenance (R&M) sector

The UK historic building repair and maintenance (R&M) sector generates £9.7 billion in output. However, challenging delivering quality R&M are project under-performance, a lack of collaborative project practices, resulting in poor communication, underpinned by persistent skills shortages. These are not solely UK concerns; various international studies have echoed similar issues, however, to maintain focus, the scope of the research is within the UK context, in particular Scotland’s stone-built heritage. Adopting a four stage qualitative participatory exploratory action research strategy; this research aims to develop a framework, to support an effective integrated multi-disciplinary, collaborative, structured, and digitised Project Management and on-site practice approach, to aid increased efficiencies. Firstly, a synthesis of the relevant academic literature and industrial reports enabled direction towards the acquisition of appropriate intelligence, in order to guide and inform the study’s theoretical foundation. Secondly, 14 semi-structured interviews with Scottish SMEs were executed, which bounded the key findings under three main themes; senior management, human resource, and technical. Concurrently, through co-operative industry engagement, the generation of a best practice historic building SME R&M four-phase process map was undertaken. Thirdly, a common structured collaborative process standard framework was developed and finally, validated through active industry participation; a demonstration project, four semi-structured interviews, and two focus groups of six industry practitioners. The validation feedback confirmed that the developed framework is valid, credible, acceptable, and applicable as a process standard designed to offer a process model, map, and management tool.The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Heriot Watt Universit