Designing a Tool to Assess Professional Competences: Theoretical Foundations and Potential Applications

This conceptual paper outlines the descriptive theoretical foundations or kernel theories for designing an information and communication technology (ICT) tool to assess professional competences in the Austrian trade and craft sector. Upon completion, the ICT-tool serves as a boundary object in which applicants and assessors can interact. While this paper consists of a literature review and conceptual discussion, the overall project is methodologically placed within a multidisciplinary design-science paradigm. Design science scaffolds and structures the development of a theoretical model, the generation of assessment-items and the ICT-tool itself. This paper discusses the necessary descriptive knowledge or kernel theories on which the design of the ICT-tool rests. First, we describe the validation of prior learning - a process advocated by the European Union to make professional competences visible. Second, we describe the process how professional competences come about: through formal, non-formal and informal learning. Subsequently, we outline a knowledge-driven discourse on professional competences and discuss how different definitions of professional competence afford different approaches for its assessment. By presenting a use-case, we outline how the ICT-tool may guide applicants and assessors through this process

SMS-Based ICT Tool for Knowledge Sharing in Agriculture

Agriculture is the world’s major industry with 60% of the global population depending on it.  Being the major source of livelihood, agriculture is challenged by issues such as food shortage, food security problems, climate change affecting crop yield, land degradation, decrease of crop varieties and others. There is a huge amount of knowledge products generated by the government agencies, local universities, private civic groups, local government units and non-government organizations (NGOs) to address these issues however the information has difficulty reaching the intended farm practitioners as end-user. With this aforesaid challenge, a technology based information sharing and access among stakeholders such as agricultural knowledge experts (academe) and knowledge end-users (farmers) is a dire need.  Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has always been an indispensable tool that can provide an environment where knowledge generators and knowledge users can use to exchange information any time and place.  Retooling and scaling up the process how information and knowledge products is being accessed and shared is indeed a critical consideration. Using descriptive research and qualitative approach, this study determined an ICT tool, a managed SMS-based system to be highly acceptable to the identified stakeholders as an information sharing medium and model and is therefore recommended for use.  The result of this research shall serve as an implementation guide for government, non-government organizations(NGOs), extension service providers, system integrators, researchers, and other related groups offering or planning to engage in similar service

Toward a Semiotic Framework for Using Technology in Mathematics Education: The Case of Learning 3D Geometry

This paper proposes and examines a semiotic framework to inform the use of technology in mathematics education. Semiotics asserts that all cognition is irreducibly triadic, of the nature of a sign, fallible, and thoroughly immersed in a continuing process of interpretation (Halton, 1992). Mathematical meaning-making or meaningful knowledge construction is a continuing process of interpretation within multiple semiotic resources including typological, topological, and social-actional resources. Based on this semiotic framework, an application named VRMath has been developed to facilitate the learning of 3D geometry. VRMath utilises innovative virtual reality (VR) technology and integrates many semiotic resources to form a virtual reality learning environment (VRLE) as well as a mathematical microworld (Edwards, 1995) for learning 3D geometry. The semiotic framework and VRMath are both now being evaluated and will be re-examined continuously

Educational research in architecture: ICT tool for historical buildings evaluation

Historical buildings have been threatened by the vulnerability to degradation. This problem is not an exception in Portugal, where the few remaining examples of vernacular architectural wooden stilt-houses of river banks, have been neglected, with the disappearance or abandonment of almost all buildings. This research presents the results of an educational research in architecture, creating a software for evaluation of status of historical buildings conservation. It will present as a case study, the portuguese wooden stilt-house village of Lezirão, where this ICT (information and communication technology) platform was tested. This is one of the remaining five vernacular architectural villages of river banks that still exist in the country, nearby Tagus river. This research was developed in a PhD thesis in Architecture at the University of Beira Interior in Covilhã. This ICT platform is a pioneer approach in educational research in architecture, related on wooden stilt-houses evaluation in Portugal and it can be used in other similar buildings all over the world.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fostering the reduction of assortative mixing or homophily into the class

Human societies from the outset have been associated according to race, beliefs, religion, social level, and the like. These behaviors continue even today in the classroom at primary, middle, and superior levels. However, the growth of ICT offers educational researchers new ways to explore methods of team formation that have been proven to be efficient in the field of serious games through the use of computer networks. The selection process of team members in serious games through the use of computer networks is carried out according to their performance in the area of the game without distinction of social variables. The use of serious games in education has been discussed in multiple research studies which state that its application in teaching and learning processes are changing the way of teaching. This article presents an exploratory analysis of the team formation process based on collaboration through the use of ICT tools of collective intelligence called TBT (The best team). The process and its ICT tool combine the paradigms of creativity in swarming, collective intelligence, serious games, and social computing in order to capture the participants’ emotions and evaluate contributions. Based on the results, we consider that the use of new forms of teaching and learning based on the emerging paradigms is necessary. Therefore, TBT is a tool that could become an effective way to encourage the formation of work groups by evaluating objective variable of performance of its members in collaborative works.Postprint (published version

An interoperable ICT tool for asset and maintenance management -Advances in research –

Asset and maintenance management needs to store and use much information about the behaviour over time of different building materials, products and components. Service life planning and data capitalization from facility management are only the first steps for an efficient asset management because it is necessary to develop specific ICT tools for life cycle data use and sharing. Managing information related with actual maintenance works and inspection activity (condition assessment) allow handling Building Information Systems and this is fundamental in order to fit the reliability and service life evaluations for maintenance planning. For this reason, an ongoing research activity is developing some methods and tools for Service Life Planning and Management, which can be easily integrated by maintenance data to be used during planning, design, facility and maintenance activities. The aim is to develop an interoperable Life Cycle Management System (LCMS) platform where this kind of data are available and where different stakeholders can store and share information about building and constructed assets. The interoperable LCMS platform can be then used on actual maintenance works management to demonstrate the benefit as for economic (Life Cycle Costs) and environmental achievements (Life Cycle Assessment). This operation has been done according to the international standard for service life planning of building and constructed asset procedures ISO 15686, in particular in conformity with the fifth part on Life-cycle Costing, which allows a cost analysis of the entire building life cycle (maintenance included). Eventually, this ICT-tool is being developed using the standard IFC (Industrial Foundation Classes) of IAI (International Alliance for Interoperability) to define Building Information Models (BIM). In particular, interoperability will be guarantee by sharing file .ifcxml and therefore using eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML). Service life data, maintenance information, costs and each parameter for sustainability have in fact to be matched with Building Information Models attributes, upgrading BIM objects themselves in case of lack of some attributes. This database will be accessible online from a web platform, which is thought to become an interactive footbridge among different stakeholders. As the quantity of collected information will be huge, there are different views of the database according to the stakeholder profile: the aim is to facilitate its use, filtering only useful data for the considered stakeholder, but leaving the possibility to search, visualize and, possibly, modify any other information of the database. Hereafter the advances in research to structure this database and to enhance existing methods and tools for Life Cycle management are described

A Qualitative Method for Assessing the Impact of ICT on the Architectural Design Process

During the last thirty years or so, we have witnessed tremendous developments in information and communication technology (ICT). Computer processing power doubles each 18 months, as Gordon Moore predicted during the mid-1960s. The computer and communications world has been revolutionised by the invention of the Internet. It has changed the way of exchanging, viewing, sharing, manipulating and storing the information. Other technologies such as smartphones, wearable computers, tablets, wireless communications and satellite communications have made the adoption of ICT easier and beneficial to all its users. ICT affects the productivity, performance and the competitive advantage of a business. It also impacts on the shape of the business process and its product. In architectural design, ICT is widely used throughout the design process and its final product. The aim of this research, therefore, is to explore the key implication of using ICT in architectural design and what new changes and forms have occurred on buildings as a result of ICT developments and use by architecture practitioners. To achieve this aim, a qualitative research approach was adopted using a narrative review of ICT usage in the design of buildings. The literature found was subjected to a thematic analysis of how ICT adoption affected the architectural design process. The findings of this research indicate that there is a continuous change in the design process and its final products (buildings) as the technology evolves. The framework proposed provides a foundation for gathering evidence from case studies of the impact of ICT adoption by architectural designers. The research proposes that future empirical work has to be conducted to test and refine the relevance, importance and applicability of each of the components of the framework, in order to detect the impact of ICT on the building design process and its final product

Электронная игрушка как мультимедийное средство обучения

Деякі сучасні електронні іграшки, як засіб ІКТ, направленні на ознайомлення дітей з елементами граматики, математики, розвиток логіки, пам`яті.Some modern electronic toys as ICT tool, referral to review children with the elements of grammar, mathematics, logic development, memory.Некоторые современные электронные игрушки, как средство ИКТ, направлены на ознакомление детей с элементами грамматики, математики, развитие логики, памяти

An assistive robotics control system based on speech semantic recognition

Since 90’s era, many researchers and organizations are working on assistive technologies to ease the disabilities people to move around freely, independence, comfort and have the capabilities to enjoy life to the fullest. Nowadays, most of assistive technologies such as manual wheelchairs are propelled by patients sitting on the chair and physically turning the large rear wheels with hand or need helpers to push the chair by handles from behind of the wheelchair. Meanwhile, most of voice command wheelchair unable to deal with an unknown word and cannot take spontaneous speech data from the native speakers. Thus, this project proposes a method of control system for an assistive robotic based on speech semantic recognition through hardware implementation. Consequently, the purpose of this project is to develop a system based on speech semantic or meaning or the interpretation of a word, sentence, or others language form that can be used for an assistive robot. The mobile robot is represented as a wheelchair and a home prototype floor plan is represented as a house with four rooms (living room, toilet, kitchen and bedroom). The mobile robot moves according to the semantic of user commands and the commands are given on Android application Arduino Bluetooth Controller. This Android application is used to catch the command using Google Voice and send the command through Bluetooth HC-05 that connected to the Arduino. Moreover, the obstacle avoidance sensor used for this project is SHARP IR Distance Measurement sensor that standby when their obstacles in front of this mobile robot and the navigation system of this mobile robot are using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). The effectiveness of this mobile robot has been tested using qualitative method by gathered 12 respondents to test this mobile robot on the floor plan. The total effectiveness of this mobile robot is 83%. This mobile robot is still effective but there are some parts that are still missing and need to be improved. Finally, the main contribution of this project is to help physically handicapped people such as patients who cannot move their feet by controlling using speech meanings through helpful robotics applications