Analyses on tech-enhanced and anonymous Peer Discussion as well as anonymous Control Facilities for tech-enhanced Learning

An increasing number of university freshmen has been observable in absolute number as well as percentage of population over the last decade. However, at the same time the drop-out rate has increased significantly. While a drop in attendance could be observed at the same time, statistics show that young professionals consider only roughly thirty percent of their qualification to originate in their university education. Taking this into consideration with the before mentioned, one conclusion could be that students fail to see the importance of fundamental classes and choose to seek knowledge elsewhere, for example in free online courses. However, the so acquired knowledge is a non-attributable qualification. One solution to this problem must be to make on-site activities more attractive. A promising approach for raised attractiveness would be to support students in self-regulated learning processes, making them experience importance and value of own decisions based on realistic self-assessment and self-evaluation. At the same time, strict ex-cathedra teaching should be replaced by interactive forms of education, ideally activating on a meta-cognitive level. Particularly, as many students bring mobile communication devices into classes, this promising approach could be extended by utilising these mobile devices as second screens. That way, enhanced learning experiences can be provided. The basic idea is simple, namely to contribute to psychological concepts with the means of computer science. An example for this idea are audience response systems. There has been numerous research into these and related approaches for university readings, but other forms of education have not been sufficiently considered, for example tutorials. This technological aspect can be combined with recent didactics research and concepts like peer instruction or visible learning. Therefore, this dissertation presents an experimental approach at providing existing IT solutions for on-site tutorials, specifically tools for audience responses, evaluations, learning demand assessments, peer discussion, and virtual interactive whiteboards. These tools are provided under observation of anonymity and cognisant incidental utilisation. They provide insight into students\' motivation to attend classes, their motivation to utilise tools, and into their tool utilisation itself. Experimental findings are combined into an extensible system concept consisting of three major tool classes: anonymous peer discussion means, anonymous control facilities, and learning demand assessment. With the exception of the latter, promising findings in context of tutorials are presented, for example the reduction of audience response systems to an emergency brake, the versatility of (peer) discussion systems, or a demand for retroactive deanonymisation of contributions. The overall positive impact of tool utilisation on motivation to attend and perceived value of tutorials is discussed and supplemented by a positive impact on the final exams\' outcomes.:List of Definitions, Theorems and Proofs List of Figures List of Tables Introduction and Motivation Part I: Propaedeutics 1 Working Theses 1.1 Definitions 1.2 Context of Working Theses and Definitions 2 Existing Concepts 2.1 Psychology 2.1.1 Self-Regulation and self-regulated Learning 2.1.2 Peer Instruction, Peer Discussion 2.1.3 Learning Process Supervision: Learning Demand Assessment 2.1.4 Cognitive Activation 2.1.5 Note on Gamification 2.1.6 Note on Blended Learning 2.2 Computer Science 2.2.1 Learning Platforms 2.2.2 Audience Response Systems (ARS) 2.2.3 Virtual Interactive Whiteboard Systems (V-IWB) 2.2.4 Cognisant Incidential Utilisation (CIU) 2.3 Appraisal 3 Related Work 3.1 Visible Learning 3.2 auditorium 3.3 Auditorium Mobile Classroom Service 3.4 ARSnova and other Audience Response Systems 3.5 Google Classroom 3.6 StackOverflow 3.7 AwwApp Part II: Proceedings 4 Global Picture and Prototype 4.1 Global Picture 4.2 System Architecture 4.2.1 Anonymous Discussion Means 4.2.2 Anonymous Control Facilities 4.3 Implementation 4.3.1 The Prototype 5 Investigated Tools 5.1 Note on Methodology 5.2 Anonymity 5.2.1 Methodology 5.2.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.2.3 Assertion 5.2.4 Experiments 5.2.5 Results 5.2.6 Conclusions 5.3 Learning Demand Assessment 5.3.1 Methodology 5.3.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.3.3 Tool Description 5.3.4 Assertion 5.3.5 Experiments 5.3.6 Results 5.3.7 Conclusions 5.4 Peer Discussion System 5.4.1 Methodology 5.4.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.4.3 Tool Description 5.4.4 Assertion 5.4.5 Experiments 5.4.6 Results 5.4.7 Conclusions 5.5 Virtual Interactive Whiteboard 5.5.1 Methodology 5.5.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.5.3 Tool Description 5.5.4 Assertion 5.5.5 Experiments 5.5.6 Results 5.5.7 Conclusions 5.6 Audience Response System and Emergency Brake 5.6.1 Methodology 5.6.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.6.3 Tool Description 5.6.4 Assertion 5.6.5 Experiments 5.6.6 Results 5.6.7 Conclusions 5.7 Evaluation System 5.7.1 Methodology 5.7.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.7.3 Tool Description 5.7.4 Assertion 5.7.5 Experiments 5.7.6 Results and Conclusion 6 Exam Outcome 7 Utilisation and Motivation 7.1 Prototype Utilisation 7.2 Motivational Aspects Part III: Appraisal 8 Lessons learned 9 Discussion 9.1 Working Theses’ Validity 9.2 Research Community: Impact and Outlook 9.2.1 Significance to Learning Psychology 9.3 Possible Extension of existing Solutions 10 Conclusion 10.1 Summary of scientific Contributions 10.2 Future Work Part IV: Appendix A Experimental Arrangement B Questionnaires B.1 Platform Feedback Sheet B.1.1 Original PFS in 2014 B.1.2 Original PFS in 2015 B.2 Minute Paper B.3 Motivation and Utilisation Questionnaires B.3.1 Motivation 2013 and 2014 B.3.2 Motivation 2015 B.3.3 Utilisation 2014 B.3.4 Utilisation 2015, Rev. I B.3.5 Utilisation 2015, Rev. II C References C.1 Auxiliary Means D Publications D.1 Original Research Contributions D.2 Student Theses E Glossary F Index G Milestones AcknowledgementsÜber die vergangene Dekade ist eine zunehmende Zahl Studienanfänger beobachtbar, sowohl in der absoluten Anzahl, als auch im Bevölkerungsanteil. Demgegenüber steht aber eine überproportional hohe Steigerung der Abbruchquote. Während gleichzeitig die Anwesenheit in universitären Lehrveranstaltungen sinkt, zeigen Statistiken, dass nur etwa ein Drittel der Berufseinsteiger die Grundlagen ihrer Qualifikation im Studium sieht. Daraus könnte man ableiten, dass Studierende den Wert und die Bedeutung universitärer Ausbildung unterschätzen und stattdessen Wissen in anderen Quellen suchen, beispielsweise unentgeltlichen Online-Angeboten. Das auf diese Art angeeignete Wissen stellt aber eine formell nicht nachweise Qualifikation dar. Ein Weg aus diesem Dilemma muss die Steigerung der Attraktivität der universitären Lehrveranstaltungen sein. Ein vielversprechender Ansatz ist die Unterstützung der Studierenden im selbst-regulierten Lernen, wodurch sie die Wichtigkeit und den Wert eigener Entscheidung(sfindungsprozesse) auf Basis realistischer Selbsteinschätzung und Selbstevaluation erlernen. Gleichzeitig sollte Frontalunterricht durch interaktive Lehrformen ersetzt werden, idealerweise durch Aktivierung auf meta-kognitiver Ebene. Dies ist vielversprechend insbesondere, weil viele Studierende ihre eigenen mobilen Endgeräte in Lehrveranstaltungen bringen. Diese Geräte können als Second Screen für die neuen Lehrkonzepte verwendet werden. Auf diese Art kann dann eine verbesserte Lernerfahrung vermittelt werden. Die Grundidee ist simpel, nämlich in der Psychologie bewährte Didaktik-Konzepte durch die Mittel der Informatik zu unterstützen. Ein Beispiel dafür sind Audience Response Systeme, die hinlänglich im Rahmen von Vorlesungen untersucht worden sind. Andere Lehrformen wurden dabei jedoch unzureichend berücksichtigt, beispielsweise Tutorien. Ähnliche Überlegungen gelten natürlich auch für bewährte didaktische Konzepte wie Peer Instruction oder Betrachtungen in Form von Visible Learning. Deshalb präsentiert diese Dissertation einen experimentellen Ansatz, informationstechnische Lösungen für vor-Ort-Übungen anzubieten, nämlich Werkzeuge für Audience Response Systeme, Evaluationen, Lernbedarfsermittlung, Peer Discussion, sowie virtuelle interaktive Whiteboards. Die genannten Werkzeuge wurden unter Beachtung von Anonymitäts- und Beiläufigkeitsaspekten bereitgestellt. Sie erlauben einen Einblick in die Motivation der Studierenden Tutorien zu besuchen und die Werkzeuge zu nutzen, sowie ihr Nutzungsverhalten selbst. Die experimentellen Ergebnisse werden in ein erweiterbares Systemkonzept kombiniert, das drei Werkzeugklassen unterstützt: anonyme Peer Discussion, anonyme Kontrollwerkzeuge und Lernbedarfsermittlung. Für die ersten beiden Klassen liegen vielversprechende Ergebnisse vor, beispielsweise die notwendige Reduktion des Audience Response Systems auf eine Art Notbremse, die Vielseitigkeit von (Peer-)Discussion-Systemen, oder aber auch der Bedarf für eine retroaktive Deanonymisierung von initial anonymen Beiträgen. Der allgemein positive Einfluss der Werkzeugnutzung auf die Motivation an Tutorien teilzunehmen sowie den wahrgenommenen Wert der Tutorien werden abschließend diskutiert und durch verbesserte Abschlussklausurergebnisse untermauert.:List of Definitions, Theorems and Proofs List of Figures List of Tables Introduction and Motivation Part I: Propaedeutics 1 Working Theses 1.1 Definitions 1.2 Context of Working Theses and Definitions 2 Existing Concepts 2.1 Psychology 2.1.1 Self-Regulation and self-regulated Learning 2.1.2 Peer Instruction, Peer Discussion 2.1.3 Learning Process Supervision: Learning Demand Assessment 2.1.4 Cognitive Activation 2.1.5 Note on Gamification 2.1.6 Note on Blended Learning 2.2 Computer Science 2.2.1 Learning Platforms 2.2.2 Audience Response Systems (ARS) 2.2.3 Virtual Interactive Whiteboard Systems (V-IWB) 2.2.4 Cognisant Incidential Utilisation (CIU) 2.3 Appraisal 3 Related Work 3.1 Visible Learning 3.2 auditorium 3.3 Auditorium Mobile Classroom Service 3.4 ARSnova and other Audience Response Systems 3.5 Google Classroom 3.6 StackOverflow 3.7 AwwApp Part II: Proceedings 4 Global Picture and Prototype 4.1 Global Picture 4.2 System Architecture 4.2.1 Anonymous Discussion Means 4.2.2 Anonymous Control Facilities 4.3 Implementation 4.3.1 The Prototype 5 Investigated Tools 5.1 Note on Methodology 5.2 Anonymity 5.2.1 Methodology 5.2.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.2.3 Assertion 5.2.4 Experiments 5.2.5 Results 5.2.6 Conclusions 5.3 Learning Demand Assessment 5.3.1 Methodology 5.3.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.3.3 Tool Description 5.3.4 Assertion 5.3.5 Experiments 5.3.6 Results 5.3.7 Conclusions 5.4 Peer Discussion System 5.4.1 Methodology 5.4.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.4.3 Tool Description 5.4.4 Assertion 5.4.5 Experiments 5.4.6 Results 5.4.7 Conclusions 5.5 Virtual Interactive Whiteboard 5.5.1 Methodology 5.5.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.5.3 Tool Description 5.5.4 Assertion 5.5.5 Experiments 5.5.6 Results 5.5.7 Conclusions 5.6 Audience Response System and Emergency Brake 5.6.1 Methodology 5.6.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.6.3 Tool Description 5.6.4 Assertion 5.6.5 Experiments 5.6.6 Results 5.6.7 Conclusions 5.7 Evaluation System 5.7.1 Methodology 5.7.2 Visible Learning Effects 5.7.3 Tool Description 5.7.4 Assertion 5.7.5 Experiments 5.7.6 Results and Conclusion 6 Exam Outcome 7 Utilisation and Motivation 7.1 Prototype Utilisation 7.2 Motivational Aspects Part III: Appraisal 8 Lessons learned 9 Discussion 9.1 Working Theses’ Validity 9.2 Research Community: Impact and Outlook 9.2.1 Significance to Learning Psychology 9.3 Possible Extension of existing Solutions 10 Conclusion 10.1 Summary of scientific Contributions 10.2 Future Work Part IV: Appendix A Experimental Arrangement B Questionnaires B.1 Platform Feedback Sheet B.1.1 Original PFS in 2014 B.1.2 Original PFS in 2015 B.2 Minute Paper B.3 Motivation and Utilisation Questionnaires B.3.1 Motivation 2013 and 2014 B.3.2 Motivation 2015 B.3.3 Utilisation 2014 B.3.4 Utilisation 2015, Rev. I B.3.5 Utilisation 2015, Rev. II C References C.1 Auxiliary Means D Publications D.1 Original Research Contributions D.2 Student Theses E Glossary F Index G Milestones Acknowledgement

To Cloud or not to Cloud. Strategic choices and IT governance in the digital transformation of a University

One late evening on 21st March 2015, Francesca \u2013 Head of Research and Teaching office at The University \u2013 ran the meeting and was hoping that the information and insights collected enabled her to make the right decision. She initiated the meeting by telling the story that few days ago on 15th March, during the presentation of a new digital solution for universities by MG company, she realized how different can be the instructors\u2019 practices in managing teaching materials and interacting with students. She gave examples of tools and functions used by University instructors such as personal webpages, blogs, Moodle, Dropbox, Google Drive, iTunes, WordPress, Facebook groups, Blackboard, etc. Francesca knew how important innovation is in a competitive higher education market. Therefore, Francesca has always been supportive on teaching experiments made by instructors. For instance, in 2007, she encouraged the Information Systems (IS) research group at University in adopting Moodle as a Learning Management System (LMS) for their IS courses. In 2014, the positive feedback collected from both students and instructors who used Moodle, led Francesca to pilot the system at University level. Simone, a member of the IS group, was in charge of the implementation and received full support from the IT Office. After one year, the new learning platform was available for any instructor interested in experimenting the Moodle functionalities. However, during the last exam session, the learning platform was down for few hours. Not only students were unable to access the teaching materials to prepare for the exams, but also professors were unable to assess students works! \u201cWhy not having one platform to support all our teaching practices? One channel to interact with our students\u201d she said. She asked for inputs and insights from a team of experts before making a decision. Francesca\u2019s idea was to have a single Learning Management System (LMS) supporting more than 60 programs in the four University departments. Now the problem was to select a proper technological solution, fitting with the needs of both students and instructors, and also reducing the risk of downtime. Especially knowing that many instructors will not be happy to standardize their practices, she wondered how to convince them to use the new system

Satellite integration in 5G : contribution on network architectures and traffic engineering solutions for hybrid satellite-terrestrial mobile backhauling

The recent technological advances in the satellite domain such as the use of High Throughput Satellites (HTS) with throughput rates that are magnitudes higher than with previous ones, or the use of large non- Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites constellations, etc, are reducing the price per bit and enhancing the Quality of Service (QoS) metrics such as latency, etc., changing the way that the capacity is being brought to the market and making it more attractive for other services such as satellite broadband communications. These new capabilities coupled with the advantages offered by satellite communications such as the unique wide-scale geographical coverage, inherent broadcast/multicast capabilities and highly reliable connectivity, anticipate new opportunities for the integration of the satellite component into the 5G ecosystem. One of the most compelling scenarios is mobile backhauling, where satellite capacity can be used to complement the terrestrial backhauling infrastructure, not only in hard to reach areas, but also for more efficient traffic delivery to Radio Access Network (RAN) nodes, increased resiliency and better support for fast, temporary cell deployments and moving cells. In this context, this thesis work focuses on achieving better satellite-terrestrial backhaul network integration through the development of Traffic Engineering (TE) strategies to manage in a better way the dynamically steerable satellite provisioned capacity. To do this, this thesis work first takes the steps in the definition of an architectural framework that enables a better satellite-terrestrial mobile backhaul network integration, managing the satellite capacity as a constituent part of a Software Defined Networking (SDN) -based TE for mobile backhaul network. Under this basis, this thesis work first proposes and assesses a model for the analysis of capacity and traffic management strategies for hybrid satellite-terrestrial mobile backhauling networks that rely on SDN for fine-grained traffic steering. The performance analysis is carried out in terms of capacity gains that can be achieved when the satellite backhaul capacity is used for traffic overflow, taking into account the placement of the satellite capacity at different traffic aggregation levels and considering a spatial correlation of the traffic demand. Later, the thesis work presents the development of SDN-based TE strategies and algorithms that exploits the dynamically steerable satellite capacity provisioned for resilience purposes to better utilize the satellite capacity by maximizing the network utility under both failure and non-failure conditions in some terrestrial links, under the consideration of elastic, inelastic and unicast and multicast traffic. The performance analysis is carried out in terms of global network utility, fairness and connexion rejection rates compared to non SDN-based TE applications. Finally, sustained in the defined architectural framework designs, the thesis work presents an experimental Proof of Concept (PoC) and validation of a satellite-terrestrial backhaul links integration solution that builts upon SDN technologies for the realization of End-to-End (E2E) TE applications in mobile backhauling networks with a satellite component, assessing the feasibility of the proposed SDN-based integration solution under a practical laboratory setting that combines the use of commercial, experimentation-oriented and emulation equipment and software.Los recientes avances tecnológicos en el dominio de los satélites, como el uso de satélites de alto rendimiento (HTS) con tasas de rendimiento que son magnitudes más altas que los anteriores, o el uso de grandes constelaciones de satélites de órbita no geoestacionaria (GEO), etc. están reduciendo el precio por bit y mejorando las métricas de Calidad de Servicio (QoS) como la latencia, etc., cambiando la forma en que la capacidad se está llevando al mercado, y haciéndola más atractiva para otros servicios como las comunicaciones de banda ancha por satélite. Estas nuevas capacidades, junto con las ventajas ofrecidas por las comunicaciones por satélite, como la cobertura geográfica a gran escala, las inherentes capacidades de difusión / multidifusión y la conectividad altamente confiable, anticipan nuevas oportunidades para la integración de la componente satelital al ecosistema 5G. Uno de los escenarios más atractivos es el backhauling móvil, donde la capacidad del satélite se puede usar para complementar la infraestructura de backhauling terrestre, no solo en áreas de difícil acceso, sino también para la entrega de tráfico de manera más eficiente a los nodos de la Red de Acceso (RAN), una mayor resiliencia y mejor soporte para implementaciones rápidas y temporales de células, así como células en movimiento. En este contexto, este trabajo de tesis se centra en lograr una mejor integración de la red híbrida de backhaul satélital-terrestre, a través del desarrollo de estrategias de ingeniería de tráfico (TE) para gestionar de una mejor manera la capacidad dinámicamente orientable del satélite. Para hacer esto, este trabajo de tesis primero toma los pasos en la definición de un marco de arquitectura que permite una mejor integración de una red híbrida satelital-terrestre de backhaul móvil, gestionando la capacidad del satélite como parte constitutiva de un TE basado en Software Defined Networking (SDN). Bajo esta base, este trabajo de tesis primero propone y evalúa un modelo para el análisis de la capacidad y las estrategias de gestión del tráfico para redes híbridas satelital-terrestre de backhaul móvil basadas en SDN para la dirección de tráfico. El análisis de rendimiento se lleva a cabo en términos de aumento de capacidad que se puede lograr cuando la capacidad de la red de backhaul por satélite se utiliza para el desborde de tráfico, teniendo en cuenta la ubicación de la capacidad del satélite en diferentes niveles de agregación de tráfico y considerando una correlación espacial de la demanda de tráfico. Posteriormente, el trabajo de tesis presenta el desarrollo de estrategias y algoritmos de TE basados en SDN que explotan la capacidad dinámicamente orientable del satelite, provista con fines de resiliencia para utilizar de mejor manera la capacidad satelital al maximizar la utilidad de red en condiciones de falla y no falla en algunos enlaces terrestres, y bajo la consideración de tráfico elástico, inelástico y de unidifusión y multidifusión. El análisis de rendimiento se lleva a cabo en términos de tasas de rechazo, de utilidad, y equidad en comparación con las aplicaciones de TE no basadas en SDN. Finalmente, basado en la definición del diseño de marco de arquitectura, el trabajo de tesis presenta una Prueba de concepto (PoC) experimental y la validación de una solución de integración de enlaces de backhaul satelital-terrestre que se basa en las tecnologías SDN para la realización de aplicaciones de TE de extremo a extremo (E2E) en redes de backhaul móviles, evaluando la viabilidad de la solución propuesta de integración basada en SDN en un entorno práctico de laboratorio que combina el uso de equipos y software comerciales, orientados a la experimentación y emulación.Postprint (published version

Feasibility and performance analysis of middleware support for a situated virtual-physical civic engagement platform

Abstract. With the prevalent ubiquitous computing technologies, it is possible to explore novel solutions for supporting civic engagement as a set of urban practices. One interesting urban practice is the soapbox, traditionally conceived as wooden structure, from where to hold impromptu speeches. For this thesis, a novel soapbox prototype with ubiquitous computing mediated technologies is introduced, with our focus on the feasibility and performance analysis of its middleware support, investigating how our middleware is able to meet the goals of a situated virtual-physical civic engagement platform. Based on our empirical evaluations, it is demonstrated that our prototype is effective to support civic engagement and serve purpose of continuously soapbox streaming

Cooperating broadcast and cellular conditional access system for digital television

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The lack of interoperability between Pay‐TV service providers and a horizontally integrated business transaction model have compromised the competition in the Pay‐TV market. In addition, the lack of interactivity with customers has resulted in high churn rate and improper security measures have contributed into considerable business loss. These issues are the main cause of high operational costs and subscription fees in the Pay‐TV systems. This paper presents a novel end‐to‐end system architecture for Pay‐TV systems cooperating mobile and broadcasting technologies. It provides a cost‐effective, scalable, dynamic and secure access control mechanism supporting converged services and new business opportunities in Pay‐TV systems. It enhances interactivity, security and potentially reduces customer attrition and operational cost. In this platform, service providers can effectively interact with their customers, personalise their services and adopt appropriate security measures. It breaks up the rigid relationship between a viewer and set‐top box as imposed by traditional conditional access systems, thus, a viewer can fully enjoy his entitlements via an arbitrary set‐top box. Having thoroughly considered state‐of‐the‐art technologies currently being used across the world, the thesis highlights novel use cases and presents the full design and implementation aspects of the system. The design section is enriched by providing possible security structures supported thereby. A business collaboration structure is proposed, followed by a reference model for implementing the system. Finally, the security architectures are analysed to propose the best architecture on the basis of security, complexity and set‐top box production cost criteria

Open educational resources for all? Comparing user motivations and characteristics across The Open University’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform.

With the rise in access to mobile multimedia devices, educational institutions have exploited the iTunes U platform as an additional channel to provide free educational resources with the aim of profile-raising and breaking down barriers to education. For those prepared to invest in content preparation, it is possible to produce interactive, portable material that can be made available globally. Commentators have questioned both the financial implications for platform-specific content production, and the availability of devices for learners to access it (Osborne, 2012). The Open University (OU) makes its free educational resources available on iTunes U and via its web-based open educational resources (OER) platform, OpenLearn. The OU’s OER on iTunes U reached the 60 million download mark in 2013; its OpenLearn platform boasts 27 million unique visitors since 2006. This paper reports the results of a large-scale study of users of the OU’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform. A survey of several thousand users revealed key differences in demographics between those accessing OER via the web and via iTunes U. In addition, the data allowed comparison between three groups: formal learners, informal learners and educators. The study raises questions about whether university-provided OER meet the needs of users and makes recommendations for how content can be modified to suit their needs. As the publishing of OER becomes core to business, we reflect on reasons why understanding users’ motivations and demographics is vital, allowing for needs-led resource provision and content that is adapted to best achieve learner satisfaction, and to deliver institutions’ social mission

Study, Analysis and Modeling of IP Multimedia systems on next generation networks providing mobile and fixed multimedia services

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