Game-based e-learning applications of e-tester

Adaptive E-Learning systems may be a supportive solution for a wide range of learning applications. In order to complement common learning paradigms in computer-based education the digital game-based learning paradigm is an interesting alternative, through which we can increase motivation, intrigue learners for a new or a previously boring subject, and provide another, more relaxing environment for self-assessment and testing. Despite of these advantages, one main shortcoming is that the creation of game stories and curriculum-relevant game content is an enormous workload for teachers and learning content providers. In order to reduce the learning game creation effort, we propose an enhanced digital game-based learning approach by applying a flexible game shell in combination with auto-generated questions based on the course content and automatic assessment of natural language answers. On the basis of requirements within the AdeLE research project and application scenarios, our development approach as well as the first prototype implementation are highlighted. First experiences and tests based on the prototype implementation are promising

Ten-Competence:Life-Long Competence Development and Learning

Koper, R., & Specht, M. (2008). Ten-Competence: Life-Long Competence Development and Learning. In M-A. Cicilia (Ed.), Competencies in Organizational e-learning: concepts and tools (pp. 234-252). Hershey: IGI-Global.In most solutions for supporting learning today, one single approach is leading the selection, installation, and usage of information technology (IT)-based tools. Either content-based approaches lead to the creation of a content-based infrastructure with course management systems and content repositories, or a collaboration background leads to the usage of virtual classrooms and collaborative learning environments. The TEN-Competence project aims forward for integration of the different tools, perspectives, and learning environments in a common open source infrastructure based on today’s standards on the level of knowledge resources, learning activities, competence development programs, and learning networks. TEN-Competence will integrate tools in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and evaluate the approach in a variety of pilot applications for lifelong competence development.This work has been sponsored by the EU project TENCompetenc

Cultivating creative commons: from creative regulation to regulatory commons

This thesis explores and explains the development of the Creative Commons (CC) as an alternative to mainstream copyright protection. it argues that the distinctive characteristics of CC as a license based, configurable form of meta-regulation can be explained by consideration of the disciplinary background of the movement's founder (Lawrence Lessig) and as a consequence of the particular mode of development it undertook (e-mail discussions as commonly used in the arena of software development rather than traditional legal discussion) as well as the influence of a variety of pre-exisiting regulatory forms. The second part of the research reviews the inputs from multiple existing regulatory structures such as the Free Software Foundation and the Open Content movement, and de-constructs the process by which the CC is developed in practice. The thesis analyzes the trajectory of CC from a licensing project to a political project, the structural elements of the CC licences and the decision making process of their creation and development. This analysis helps to explain the apparent inconsistencies that have been expressed about the CC project and shows how Lessig's perspectives on regulation and meaning construction contribute to the empowerment of the creator and the attempt to provide regulatory tools instead of regulatory solutions. The thesis argues that imbalances in the existing Copyright system are symptoms of deeper structural problems of distantiation of the regulated subject from the process of regulation construction. CC therefore becomes an effort to increase access to the regulatory process and as a result ignites the creation of the Commons. instead of the regulation to be enforcing its normative content on the creative practice over the Internet, the CC approach allows the reverse to happen. The intellectual or creative commons are thus achieved as a secondary result of the ability to access the regulatory commons

Digital Scotland, the relevance of library research and the Glasgow Digital Library Project

The Glasgow Digital Library (GDL) Project has a significance over and above its primary aim of creating a joint digital library for the citizens of Glasgow. It is also both an important building block in the development of a planned and co-ordinated 'virtual Scotland' and a rich environment for research into issues relevant to that enterprise. Its creation comes at a time of political, social, economic and cultural change in Scotland, and may be seen, at least in part, as a response to a developing Scottish focus in these areas, a key element of which is a new socially inclusive and digitally driven educational vision and strategy based on the Scottish traditions of meritocratic education, sharing and common enterprise, and a fiercely independent approach. The initiative is based at the Centre for Digital Library Research at Strathclyde University alongside a range of other projects of relevance both to the development of a coherent virtual landscape in Scotland and to the GDL itself, a supportive environment which allows it to draw upon the research results and staff expertise of other relevant projects for use in its own development and enables its relationship to virtual Scotland to be both explored and developed more readily. Although its primary aim is the creation of content (based initially on electronic resources created by the institutions, on public domain information, and on joint purchases and digitisation initiatives) the project will also investigate relationships between regional and national collaborative collection management programmes with SCONE (Scottish Collections Network Extension project) and relationships between regional and national distributed union catalogues with CAIRNS (Co-operative Academic Information Retrieval Network for Scotland) and COSMIC (Confederation of Scottish Mini-Clumps). It will also have to tackle issues associated with the management of co-operation

The use of reverse engineering concept to develop education

Background: Traditionally curriculum development follows 6 steps: needs assessment, determining content, writing goals and objectives, educational strategies, implementing the curriculum and, evaluating the curriculum (1). However, one of the common failure in programes is the inconsistency between content and assessment activities. Therefore, we advocate for the use of Reverse Engeneering Principles. Description: Reverse engineering is the interpretation of an already existing artifact by an analysis of the design considerations that must have governed its creation (2). Translating this concept into education, the existing artifact should be seen as the expected performance from students in specific activities. By determining in advance these performances and activities (assessment activities), we can more accurately determine which considerations are needed for this creation, which in educacional context will corrrespond to the development of learning environment, content and educational strategies. This was the approach used in a european project to develop a curriculum in Healthy Ageing. Importance: This approach resulted in 4 modules integrated in practice where the assessment activities are the so-called entrusted activities (3) which facilitated the selection of adequate content and learning environment in the context of a competence-based curriculum. This approach can be of relevance to other programmes aiming to contextualized education.N/

Volitional-supported learning with Open Educational Resources

User-centred web applications such as Wikis or Weblogs are becoming increasingly popular. In contrast to the early Internet, these applications especially focus on the participation of people, on the creation, sharing and modifying of content and on an easy access. Based on this, they are assumed to contribute to self-regulated and life-long learning which is on the agenda of most industrialized countries throughout Europe. However, as shown in the recently published road mapping work of the Open E-Learning Content Observatory Services (OLCOS) project, comprehensive frameworks for learning processes that make use of Open Educational Resources (OER) are missing. In particular it remains unclear how OER can actually contribute to forms of self-regulated learning since this requires a great deal of volitional competence, i.e. the ability to deal with distractions and fluctuations of motivation or emotion which is therefore regarded as a crucial factor (Deimann & Keller, 2006). In this regard, the Volitional Design Model (Deimann, 2007) provides a useful instrument to unfold the potentials of OER by (1) targeting key aspects of the learner’s behaviour in the learning process, and (2) suggesting powerful strategies to tackle decreased motivation. An exemplified volitional design approach using OER will be discussed. (DIPF/Orig.

Place, Experience, and Conversation: Understanding How to Most Effectively Talk About Climate Change Risks

The risks associated with sea level rise and climate change pose a major threat to coastal cities around the United States and the globe. Currently, the climate conversation is essentially a one way conversation based on power structures that fails to recognize the importance of how people approach the abstract nature of this problem. The overarching goals of this research project are 1) to understand the nuances of content framing and delivery approaches of climate change communication and 2) to discover if this reveals more effective ways to truly engage individuals in this difficult topic and to foster further discussions. This report culminates the first steps in a larger project, with the creation of a field tested social science research survey. The resulting survey measures the relative effectiveness of content framing and deliverance approaches to communication strategies regarding risks of sea level rise on individuals’ concern and stated willingness to take action in three locational spheres (local, home place, and national)

Mobile Digiquest: Developing rich media reflective practitioners

Mobile technologies, well-established as business tools, have now become more educationally-appropriate through integration of improved multimedia functionality. User-generated content and related activities have encouraged a transition from academic content creation to greater student collaboration across a range of platforms, which are increasingly mobile. With a greater awareness of 'citizen journalism' approaches, our students are becoming more familiar with using mobile technology in recounting their experiences. Our own staff surveys have indicated that these techniques are not commonplace internally, and while the greater majority of staff use their camera phones, few feel confident in transferring their rich media elsewhere. Within a wider framework of institutional knowledge-sharing, the OU's Digilab and educational professional development have included opportunities to explore m-learning further. Supported by device loans and emulation tools, the Digilab has provided a range of self-exploratory facilities which have been leveraged by increasing numbers of guided sessions and hands-on Digiquest activities. Other project work in the university has explored capturing local environments and language in residential schools, and a framework for remote fieldwork. Through offering sessions using commonly available technologies, including participants' camera phones, MMS and online mobile-blogging tools, our activities have demonstrated the ease with which rich media can enhance group work and reflection. Building on case studies from other institutions and related research in the field we have constructed two main themes: * Location-based approach, making use of existing physical trails around the campus, integrating with GPS/geocaching activity; * Scenario-based approach, working within a teaching and learning context, capturing practice through use of participant role-play. A number of considerations have arisen for further exploration. Technically, it is difficult to filter content and transcode/modify media sent by MMS so that all participants can access the same material. In creating the activities it was essential to take a more guided peer-learning approach, pairing, where possible, a more adept participant with novice users. The activity worked better when blended with a purpose e.g. creating practice-based course activities. Participants were able to reflect and extend their experiences after the face-to-face session through the mobile-blog. In this presentation we aim to outline the steps taken in providing these staff development opportunities and our future expectations of providing a return path for user-generated mobile rich media

Integrating Language, Content, Technology, and Skills Development through Project-based Language Learning: Blending Frameworks for Successful Unit Planning

In this article, the authors first summarize the literature on project-based language learning (PBLL), a sound approach to second language teaching, addressing its various benefits such as providing opportunities to develop language authentically in real-world contexts, building decision-making and problem-solving skills, and developing content knowledge. In acknowledging reports that have also suggested that students can struggle to see how language is being developed through PBLL, the authors then argue that by looking at a project as a social practice, educators can demonstrate how language, content, and 21st century skills can be taught as an integrated whole through PBLL. They describe two existing frameworks, Mohan’s (1986) knowledge framework and Beckett and Slater’s (2005) Project Framework, and illustrate how these can be combined to create unit plans that explicitly integrate language, content, skills, and technology. To illustrate the blending of the two frameworks, the authors present a unit plan that targets the content area of applying for American graduate schools. This unit plan offers eleven lessons that include teaching sequences, tasks, and learning objectives for the content, language, academic skills, and technological understandings that the unit comprises. The authors also detail how the combination of the frameworks led to the creation of the various lessons so that this process can be used as a model for creating future relevant unit plans

Il nuovo allestimento della collezione archeologica della Fondazione Sicilia fra tecnologie e creatività

In May 2012 in the historic center of Palermo, Sicily, thanks to the Fondazione Sicilia the Palazzo Branciforte was opened to the public after a long and costly restoration based on a project by the Italian architect Gae Aulenti (http://www.palazzobranciforte.it/). For the creation of this innovative cultural center, the University of Foggia was responsible for the execution of the archaeological museum project and the multimedia system, which is presented in this paper. The activities were conducted by a group of young experts from different fields with the assistance of researchers and technicians from the Laboratory of Digital Archaeology. The paper describes the production process of the multimedia system and the method used to create digital content for the cultural heritage that effectively uses a wide spectrum of normally underused skills and proposes an innovative approach to technologies, creativity and knowledge