Virtualized Computational Environments on the cloud to foster group skills through PBL: A case study in architecture

The ODISEA platform provides Virtualized Computational Environments (VCEs) on cloud providers as the computational infrastructure to support educational activities. A VCE consists of a collection of one or more Virtual Machines (VMs) to which the students connect from their own computers. In this paper a case study is presented in the architecture domain where a PBL activity is carried out in working groups. The study involves 293 students organized in 28 pilot groups that use customized VCEs created and deployed through the ODISEA platform on a Cloud, and 30 traditional groups that use a LMS platform. The VCE provides the software, hardware and specific configuration to ease the interrelation and cooperative work between the working groups, enhancing the process tracking and feedback gathering as well as providing a better organization of the teaching material. The results demonstrate that the VCE allows to improve the cooperative work, improving the final marks in the PBL developed by the pilot working groups. Also, an economical study is presented, highlighting the economic benefits of the Cloud with respect to raditional physical laboratories of PCs.The authors wish to thank the financial support received from Vicerrectorado de Estudios, Calidad y Acreditacion of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) to develop the PIME project "Entomos Virtuales Computacionales para la Evaluation de Competencias Transversales en la Nube", with reference A04 and to the Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Cornpetitividad for the project BigCLOE (TIN2016-79951-R). GM would like to thank AWS for the AWS Educate program that provides the credits required to support the educational activities.Segrelles Quilis, JD.; Martínez Antón, A.; Castilla-Cabanes, N.; Moltó, G. (2017). Virtualized Computational Environments on the cloud to foster group skills through PBL: A case study in architecture. Computers and Education. 108:131-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.02.001S13114410

COEL: A Web-based Chemistry Simulation Framework

The chemical reaction network (CRN) is a widely used formalism to describe macroscopic behavior of chemical systems. Available tools for CRN modelling and simulation require local access, installation, and often involve local file storage, which is susceptible to loss, lacks searchable structure, and does not support concurrency. Furthermore, simulations are often single-threaded, and user interfaces are non-trivial to use. Therefore there are significant hurdles to conducting efficient and collaborative chemical research. In this paper, we introduce a new enterprise chemistry simulation framework, COEL, which addresses these issues. COEL is the first web-based framework of its kind. A visually pleasing and intuitive user interface, simulations that run on a large computational grid, reliable database storage, and transactional services make COEL ideal for collaborative research and education. COEL's most prominent features include ODE-based simulations of chemical reaction networks and multicompartment reaction networks, with rich options for user interactions with those networks. COEL provides DNA-strand displacement transformations and visualization (and is to our knowledge the first CRN framework to do so), GA optimization of rate constants, expression validation, an application-wide plotting engine, and SBML/Octave/Matlab export. We also present an overview of the underlying software and technologies employed and describe the main architectural decisions driving our development. COEL is available at http://coel-sim.org for selected research teams only. We plan to provide a part of COEL's functionality to the general public in the near future.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures, 1 tabl

Harnessing Collaborative Technologies: Helping Funders Work Together Better

This report was produced through a joint research project of the Monitor Institute and the Foundation Center. The research included an extensive literature review on collaboration in philanthropy, detailed analysis of trends from a recent Foundation Center survey of the largest U.S. foundations, interviews with 37 leading philanthropy professionals and technology experts, and a review of over 170 online tools.The report is a story about how new tools are changing the way funders collaborate. It includes three primary sections: an introduction to emerging technologies and the changing context for philanthropic collaboration; an overview of collaborative needs and tools; and recommendations for improving the collaborative technology landscapeA "Key Findings" executive summary serves as a companion piece to this full report

Cloudifying Desktops – A Taxonomy for Desktop Virtualization

Compared to traditional desktops, the implementation of desktop virtualization can leverage cost reductions and enable desktop access via mobile devices. Consequently, researchers and practitioners increasingly focus on virtualized desktops and Desktop as a Service (DaaS). However, a consistent definition for these technologies and the related delivery models does not exist yet. Therefore, we conducted a literature analysis which revealed that optimized resource allocation and performant DaaS infrastructures are the primary topics in research. Afterward, we developed a taxonomy to categorize extant virtual desktop delivery models and propose a holistic definition as theoretical framework for DaaS

Гібридна сервісна модель організації доступу до електронних ресурсів у хмаро орієнтованому навчальному середовищі

Nowadays, the search for innovative technological solutions to the organization of access to electronic learning resources in the university and their configuration within the environment to fit the needs of users and to improve learning outcomes has become key issues. These solutions are based on the emerging tools among which cloud computing and ICT outsourcing have become very promising and important trends in research. The problems of providing access to electronic learning resources on the basis of cloud computing are the focus of the article. The article outlines the conceptual framework of the study by reviewing existing approaches and models for the cloud-based learning environment’s architecture and design, including its advantages and disadvantages, and the features of its pedagogical application and the experience of it. The hybrid service model of access to learning resources within the university environment is described and proved. An empirical estimation of the proposed approach and current developments in its implementation are provided.Нині питання пошуку інноваційних технологічних рішень щодо організації доступу до електронних освітніх ресурсів і їх конфігурації в середовищі університету з метою більш повного задоволення потреб користувачів і поліпшення результатів навчання постають ключовими. Ці рішення засновані на новітніх засобах, серед яких – технології хмарних обчислень та механізм ІКТ аутсорсингу, що постають перспективним предметом досліджень. Проблеми забезпечення доступу до електронних освітніх ресурсів на основі засобів хмарних обчислень знаходяться в центрі уваги статті. У статті висвітлено концептуальні основи дослідження і проведено огляд існуючих підходів і моделей архітектури та дизайну хмаро орієнтованого середовища навчання, розглянуто їх переваги і недоліки, особливості і педагогічний досвід їх застосування. Обґрунтовано гібридну сервісну модель організації доступу до навчальних ресурсів у середовищі університету. Здійснено емпіричну оцінку пропонованого підходу та досвіду його використання

Cloud subtitling in research-led education: Synergizing audiovisual translator training and action research

Empirical research has boomed in the last few years in translation studies (TS) scholarship in general and audiovisual translation (AVT) in particular (Orero et al. 2018; Díaz-Cintas and Szarkowska 2020). As a discipline heavily driven by new technologies, AVT poses additional problems for translator trainers as training institutions sometimes fail to keep abreast of the latest technological developments in the industry. The learning and teaching of said practices ought to bear empirical scrutiny and shed light on how new technologies can inform classroom practices and vice versa. This paper explores practice-based research on the use of cloud technologies in the subtitling classroom and encourages the establishment of closer links between training institutions and industry partners, as well as the use of user-generated feedback to improve existing AVT software

The Adaptation of Cloud Solution for Peer Collaboration Work among Teachers in Maktab Nasional Secondary School

In Maktab -in and analysed in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets stored in one local computer. Teachers need to wait in turns to input marks. It is time consuming and hinders productivity at work. This study aims to examines the capabilities of google drive solution and to evaluate its implementation effectiveness in peer-to-peer collaboration among teachers to manage students' assessment records. The two research questions for this study were: (1) How does google drive solution able to manage student assessment records at Maktab Nasional? and (2) How to evaluate the effectiveness of google drive implementation in managing student assessment record at Maktab Nasional? A set of task-based assessment and a survey questionnaire were formulated for data collection, consisting of a demographic item, a five-point Likert-scale with 26 items followed by listing 3 negative and 3 positive aspects of google drive and lastly, 4 open-ended items about teache all perception. The sample population of 6 teachers were surveyed using purposive sampling technique. The data for this study was collected during the school break on mid-June 2021. The survey results were analysed using basic descriptive statistics as well as coded thematic analysis to help answer the research questions. The results from the research instruments indicated that the cloud solution is an effective form of peer collaboration among teachers. In addition, participants expressed that the process of managing student assessment records have improved significantly from the google drive implementation

Private Cloud Deployment on Shared Computer Labs

A computer laboratory in a school or college is often shared for multiple class and lab sessions. However, often the computers in the lab are just left idling for an extended period of time. Those are potential resources to be harvested for cloud services. This manuscript details the deployment of a private cloud on the shared computer labs. Fundamental services like operation manager, configuration manager, cloud manager, and schedule manager were put up to power on/off computers remotely, specify each computer’s OS configuration, manage cloud services (i.e., provision and retire virtual machines), and schedule OS switching tasks, respectively. OpenStack was employed to manage computer resources for cloud services. The deployment of private cloud can improve the computers’ utilization on the shared computer labs