Web-based education in Spanish Universities. A Comparison of Open Source E-Learning Platforms

Web-based education or „e-learning‟ has become a critical component in higher education for the last decade, replacing other distance learning methods, such as traditional computer training or correspondence learning. The number of university students who take on-line courses is continuously increasing all over the world. In Spain, nearly a 90% of the universities have an institutional e-learning platform and over 60% of the traditional on-site courses use this technology as a supplement to the traditional face-to-face classes. This new form of learning allows the disappearance of geographical barriers and enables students to schedule their own learning process, among some other advantages. On-line education is developed through specific software called „e-learning platform‟ or „virtual learning environment‟ (VLE). A considerable number of web-based tools to deliver distance courses are currently available. Open source software packages such as Moodle, Sakai, dotLRN or Dokeos are the most commonly used in the virtual campuses of Spanish universities. This paper analyzes the possibilities that virtual learning environments provide university teachers and learners and offers a technical comparison among some of the most popular e-learning learning platforms

Using a grid platform for enabling real time user modeling in on-line campus

User modelling in on-line distance learning is an important research field focusing on two important aspects: describing and predicting students' actions and intentions as well as adapting the learning process to students' features, habits, preferences, and so on. The aim is to greatly stimulate and improve the learning experience. Indeed, on the one hand, students' intentions may change during the realization of learning activities and thus their actions evolve accordingly as the learning process moves forward. On the other hand, adaptive systems can effectively plan and design appropriate learning tasks according to students' features, habits and interests with the aim of facilitating the achievement of the learning goal. In this context, user modelling implies a continuous processing and analysis of user interaction data during long-term learning activities, which produces large and considerably complex information. As a consequence, processing this information is costly and could require computational capacity beyond that of a single computer. In this paper, we show how a grid approach can considerably decrease the processing time of log data of on-line distance educational Web-based systems. Our prototype is based on the master-worker paradigm and is implemented using a peer-to-peer platform running on the Planetlab nodes. The results of our study show the feasibility of using grid middleware to speed and scale up the processing of log data and thus achieve an efficient and dynamic user modeling in on-line distance learning.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The Initiative of Distance E-Training System for Advanced Military Education in Taiwan

[[abstract]]The military advanced education can prepare officers to become skillful in war tactics for future combats. Traditionally, this is done through on-campus and correspondence courses. The on-campus education is impossible for line-officer whereas the correspondence program is known to be inefficiency. This paper aims to content the learning purposes of the correspondence program with the learning efficiency of the on-campus education. This paper presents an alternative distance learning architecture, called Distance Learning for Advanced Military Education (DL4AME), to offer the advantages of on-campus education (immediate interaction) be available in the correspondence program (asynchronous learning). The major contribution of this integrated platform is that instructors and learners are no longer constrained by geographical and temporal barriers; they can teach and learn more effectively.[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]EI[[booktype]]紙

Distance technologies in action: E-learning in exile (the experience of Donetsk National University, Ukraine)

This academic year due to the complex socio-political situation in the east of the country and continuing armed conflict Donetsk National University has to evacuate to other city – Vinnitsya. There was no doubt that in these new conditions an effective teaching just would be impossible. If it were not for distance learning technologies are provided. Distance learning has become a staple in education during the past few years. In Ukraine, distance learning is regulated by the "Regulations on distance learning", approved in April, 2013. According to it, distance learning can be understood as "a set of educational services provided to the public at large with using specialized educational environment based on the means of data transmission at a distance". Some aspects of applying of distance technologies in higher educational institutions in Ukraine are shown in the paper. The main goal of the paper is to describe own experience of the distance learning in Donetsk National University. Exactly because of independence of e-leaning on the distance between the teacher and students training in the University is going on without trouble. So, from October 2014 university teachers have restored, designed and implemented many distance learning courses on the platform Moodle (https://moodle.donnu.edu.ua/) for the organization of teaching in all 10 Departments of the university. Training of teachers was assigned to The Center for Continuing Education. Distance learning courses are developed based on the experience of world leading universities and can be used for teaching persons with physical disabilities. More detail of our experience will be covered in the paper. size:9.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US'>Major research interests: non-directive teaching, distance technologies in education, teaching mathematics in higher school.  ctive teaching. 

Personal learning environments in the European Higher Education

En la actualidad existen multitud de plataformas de formación, muchas de las cuales no siempre responden a las necesidades de una institución de formación a distancia. El objetivo de esta ponencia es analizar aquellos aspectos importantes a evaluar a la hora de seleccionar una buena plataforma de formación on-line, teniendo en cuenta las nuevas características de la educación superior basadas en las ideas del Plan Bolonia. Para ello, se hace hincapié en la importancia de Internet para la formación a distancia, se enfatiza la enseñanza y evaluación por competencias y se analizan los aspectos a tener en cuenta en una plataforma. Si deseamos tener enseñanza de calidad a través de plataformas de teleaprendizaje debemos evaluar la funcionalidad, los aspectos técnicos y estéticos y los aspectos pedagógicos de las plataformas utilizadasToday, there are many training platforms, some of which that do not always have what distance learning institutions need. The aim of this paper is to analyze the important aspects which need to be considered when selecting a good platform for online training, based on the latest trends in higher education. For this purpose, the article discusses the importance of the Internet for distance learning, teacher observation, and competency assessment. It also discusses the things to consider in evaluating the platforms. If we want to have quality education through distance learning platforms, we must evaluate the functionality of the platform: its technical, esthetic and educational aspect

Peer assessment and knowledge discovering in a community of learners

Thanks to the exponential growth of the Internet, Distance Education is becoming more and more strategic in many fields of daily life. Its main advantage is that students can learn through appropriate web platforms that allow them to take advantage of multimedia and interactive teaching materials, without constraints neither of time nor of space. Today, in fact, the Internet offers many platforms suitable for this purpose, such as Moodle, ATutor and others. Coursera is another example of a platform that offers different courses to thousands of enrolled students. This approach to learning is, however, posing new problems such as that of the assessment of the learning status of the learner in the case where there were thousands of students following a course, as is in Massive On-line Courses (MOOC). The Peer Assessment can therefore be a solution to this problem: evaluation takes place between peers, creating a dynamic in the community of learners that evolves autonomously. In this article, we present a first step towards this direction through a peer assessment mechanism led by the teacher who intervenes by evaluating a very small part of the students. Through a mechanism based on machine learning, and in particular on a modified form of K-NN, given the teacher’s grades, the system should converge towards an evaluation that is as similar as possible to the one that the teacher would have given. An experiment is presented with encouraging results

Bachelor of Early Childhood Education Programme - Open University Malaysia Framework

This paper gives an overview of the design and development of Bachelor of Early Childhood Education with Honours programme for delivery through open and distance learning methodology at the Open University Malaysia. This programme is designed to meet the needs of persons interested in pursuing careers in early childhood education who are currently employed in preschools, public schools, child care centers or other childhood care facilities. It also aims to develop the specialist skills and knowledge gained through the completion of Diploma in Early Childhood Education (DECE). This is in line with the organization’s mission to widen access to quality education as well as to provide lifelong learning opportunities by adopting and engaging learning environment at competitive and affordable cost. This paper focuses on the curriculum development, the learning methodology, the practicum requirements and planning, the courseware development, the e-learning delivery platform and on the programme quality assurance. (Abstract by author

The NURAXI web-based learning environment architecture

The fast evolution of today world impels corporations to provide their employees just-in-time training, adapted training and more generally continuous education. To be able to satisfy this demand, authors need means to specify once didactic material and then to reuse, select, adapt and distribute it to different users in different contexts. Since September 1998, Mediatech is developing the NURAXI multimedia research platform aimed at the design, generation, deployment, management and use of intelligent distance learning environments. NURAXI interacts with the user on the basis of the competency assessment (initial, on-going progress and final), the individual learning style and collaborative learning. Our solution is departing from a document type based organization of courses and training material towards a functionality and competency based model. We consider models and structures for information, knowledge and competencies more appropriate to the new on-line delivery environment than the document-based old one (html-based or not). From a technological point of view, this was made possible by the recent arrival of XML technology, coupled with Java and Web application technology