Evaluating the development of wearable devices, personal data assistants and the use of other mobile devices in further and higher education institutions

This report presents technical evaluation and case studies of the use of wearable and mobile computing mobile devices in further and higher education. The first section provides technical evaluation of the current state of the art in wearable and mobile technologies and reviews several innovative wearable products that have been developed in recent years. The second section examines three scenarios for further and higher education where wearable and mobile devices are currently being used. The three scenarios include: (i) the delivery of lectures over mobile devices, (ii) the augmentation of the physical campus with a virtual and mobile component, and (iii) the use of PDAs and mobile devices in field studies. The first scenario explores the use of web lectures including an evaluation of IBM's Web Lecture Services and 3Com's learning assistant. The second scenario explores models for a campus without walls evaluating the Handsprings to Learning projects at East Carolina University and ActiveCampus at the University of California San Diego . The third scenario explores the use of wearable and mobile devices for field trips examining San Francisco Exploratorium's tool for capturing museum visits and the Cybertracker field computer. The third section of the report explores the uses and purposes for wearable and mobile devices in tertiary education, identifying key trends and issues to be considered when piloting the use of these devices in educational contexts

Information commons planning: Strategic and operational considerations

This session will introduce you to planning issues and operational elements that you will need to consider when implementing an Information Commons. The planning process, service models, collaboration issues and relationship building will be discussed in context of a case study of the University of Auckland Library’s Information Commons Group. The Information Commons Group consists of the large purpose built Kate Edger Information Commons (established in 2003) on the City Campus, the smaller Grafton Information Commons (established in 2004) on the Medical Campus and the library-based Epsom Information Commons (established in 2006) on the Education Campus. The group comprises three models of co-location, collaboration, integration and innovation successfully operating within the same IT, service and staffing infrastructure. These student-centered learning facilities provide proactive integrated learning support in a collaborative, interdisciplinary physical and virtual learning environment

Making online learning accessible to disabled students: an institutional case study

Based on the authors’ reflections on experience working at the Open University, approaches to making online learning accessible to disabled students are considered. The considerations are applicable to all concerned with online learning and indeed anyone seeking to trade, disseminate information and mediate services online. In reflecting on the Open University experience of making online material accessible, pedagogic, organisational and cultural issues are highlighted and it is argued that it is important to address these issues in order to effect the organisational change needed to ensure that accessibility challenges are effectively met

Electronics and control technology

Until recently, there was no requirement to learn electronics and control technology in the New Zealand school curriculum. Apart from isolated pockets of teaching based on the enthusiasm of individual teachers, there is very little direct learning of electronics in New Zealand primary or secondary schools. The learning of electronics is located in tertiary vocational training programmes. Thus, few school students learn about electronics and few school teachers have experience in teaching it. Lack of experience with electronics (other than using its products) has contributed to a commonly held view of electronics as out of the control and intellectual grasp of the average person; the domain of the engineer, programmer and enthusiast with his or her special aptitude. This need not be true, but teachers' and parents' lack of experience with electronics is in danger of denying young learners access to the mainstream of modern technology

Distributed Learning System Design: A New Approach and an Agenda for Future Research

This article presents a theoretical framework designed to guide distributed learning design, with the goal of enhancing the effectiveness of distributed learning systems. The authors begin with a review of the extant research on distributed learning design, and themes embedded in this literature are extracted and discussed to identify critical gaps that should be addressed by future work in this area. A conceptual framework that integrates instructional objectives, targeted competencies, instructional design considerations, and technological features is then developed to address the most pressing gaps in current research and practice. The rationale and logic underlying this framework is explicated. The framework is designed to help guide trainers and instructional designers through critical stages of the distributed learning system design process. In addition, it is intended to help researchers identify critical issues that should serve as the focus of future research efforts. Recommendations and future research directions are presented and discussed

Authoring a Web‐enhanced interface for a new language‐learning environment

This paper presents conceptual considerations underpinning a design process set up to develop an applicable and usable interface as well as defining parameters for a new and versatile Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) environment. Based on a multidisciplinary expertise combining Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Web‐based Java programming, CALL authoring and language teaching expertise, it strives to generate new CALL‐enhanced curriculum developments in language learning. The originality of the approach rests on its design rationale established on the strength of previously identified student requirements and authoring needs identifying inherent design weaknesses and interactive limitations of existing hypermedia CALL applications (Hémard, 1998). At the student level, the emphasis is placed on three important design decisions related to the design of the interface, student interaction and usability. Thus, particular attention is given to design considerations focusing on the need to (a) develop a readily recognizable, professionally robust and intuitive interface, (b) provide a student‐controlled navigational space based on a mixed learning environment approach, and (c) promote a flexible, network‐based, access mode reconciling classroom with open access exploitations. At the author level, design considerations are essentially orientated towards adaptability and flexibility with the integration of authoring facilities, requiring no specific authoring skills, to cater for and support the need for a flexible approach adaptable to specific language‐learning environments. This paper elaborates on these conceptual considerations within the design process with particular emphasis on the adopted principled methodology and resulting design decisions and solutions

Growing the use of Virtual Worlds in education : an OpenSim perspective

The growth in the range of disciplines that Virtual Worlds support for educational purposes is evidenced by recent applications in the fields of cultural heritage, humanitarian aid, space exploration, virtual laboratories in the physical sciences, archaeology, computer science and coastal geography. This growth is due in part to the flexibility of OpenSim, the open source virtual world platform which by adopting Second Life protocols and norms has created a de facto standard for open virtual worlds that is supported by a growing number of third party open source viewers. Yet while this diversity of use-cases is impressive and Virtual Worlds for open learning are highly popular with lecturers and learners alike immersive education remains an essentially niche activity. This paper identifies functional challenges in terms of Management, Network Infrastructure, the Immersive 3D Web and Programmability that must be addressed to enable the wider adoption of Open Virtual Worlds as a routine learning technology platform. We refer to specific use-cases based on OpenSim and abstract generic requirements which should be met to enable the growth in use of Open Virtual Worlds as a mainstream educational facility. A case study of a deployment to support a formal education curriculum and associated informal learning is used to illustrate key points.Postprin

Systems, Resilience, and Organization: Analogies and Points of Contact with Hierarchy Theory

Aim of this paper is to provide preliminary elements for discussion about the implications of the Hierarchy Theory of Evolution on the design and evolution of artificial systems and socio-technical organizations. In order to achieve this goal, a number of analogies are drawn between the System of Leibniz; the socio-technical architecture known as Fractal Social Organization; resilience and related disciplines; and Hierarchy Theory. In so doing we hope to provide elements for reflection and, hopefully, enrich the discussion on the above topics with considerations pertaining to related fields and disciplines, including computer science, management science, cybernetics, social systems, and general systems theory.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of ANTIFRAGILE'17, 4th International Workshop on Computational Antifragility and Antifragile Engineerin