Data mining technology for the evaluation of learning content interaction

Interactivity is central for the success of learning. In e-learning and other educational multimedia environments, the evaluation of interaction and behaviour is particularly crucial. Data mining – a non-intrusive, objective analysis technology – shall be proposed as the central evaluation technology for the analysis of the usage of computer-based educational environments and in particular of the interaction with educational content. Basic mining techniques are reviewed and their application in a Web-based third-level course environment is illustrated. Analytic models capturing interaction aspects from the application domain (learning) and the software infrastructure (interactive multimedia) are required for the meaningful interpretation of mining results

Discovering Communication

What kind of motivation drives child language development? This article presents a computational model and a robotic experiment to articulate the hypothesis that children discover communication as a result of exploring and playing with their environment. The considered robotic agent is intrinsically motivated towards situations in which it optimally progresses in learning. To experience optimal learning progress, it must avoid situations already familiar but also situations where nothing can be learnt. The robot is placed in an environment in which both communicating and non-communicating objects are present. As a consequence of its intrinsic motivation, the robot explores this environment in an organized manner focusing first on non-communicative activities and then discovering the learning potential of certain types of interactive behaviour. In this experiment, the agent ends up being interested by communication through vocal interactions without having a specific drive for communication

Inside the brain of an elite athlete: The neural processes that support high achievement in sports

Events like the World Championships in athletics and the Olympic Games raise the public profile of competitive sports. They may also leave us wondering what sets the competitors in these events apart from those of us who simply watch. Here we attempt to link neural and cognitive processes that have been found to be important for elite performance with computational and physiological theories inspired by much simpler laboratory tasks. In this way we hope to inspire neuroscientists to consider how their basic research might help to explain sporting skill at the highest levels of performance

The process of researching animal health and welfare planning

’Minimising medicine use in organic dairy herds through animal health and welfare planning’, ANIPLAN, is a CORE-Organic project which was initiated in June 2007. The main aim of the project is to investigate active and well planned animal health and welfare promotion and disease prevention as a means of minimising medicine use in organic dairy herds. This aim will be met through the development of animal health and welfare planning principles for organic dairy farms under diverse conditions based on an evaluation of current experiences. This also includes application of animal health and welfare assessment across Europe. In order to bring this into practice the project also aims at developing guidelines for communication about animal health and welfare promotion in different settings, for example, as part of existing animal health advisory services or farmer groups such as the Danish Stable School system and the Dutch network programme. The project is divided into the following five work packages, four of which comprise research activities with the other focused on coordination and knowledge transfer, through meetings, workshops and publications. The content of this set of workshop proceedings reflects the fact that the workshop in Fokhol in Norway was held at a relatively early stage with regard to certain joint activities and methodological development. Training in animal welfare assessment had taken place for the first time in the project a couple of months previous to this workshop, and the results in terms of inter-observer reliability are presented by the organisers of this training workshop, Solveig March, Lisi Gratzer and Jan Brinkmann and their supervisor Christoph Winckler. This forms a good background for a reliable data collection in all countries. A presentation from a newly employed Ph.D. student linked to the ANIPLAN project, Lindsay Kay Whistance, gives insight into the study of defecation behaviour in dairy cattle. Although not directly part of the ANIPLAN studies, the presentation is particularly relevant to the considerations regarding animal welfare in housed and outdoor systems. Gidi Smolders from the Netherlands presented a paper about a Dutch farmer group initiative with a strong element of farmer ownership. Mette Vaarst contributes with a paper on farmer learning and empowerment in groups, with a background of Danish experiences with the so-called ‘Stable Schools’. Two papers by Roderick and Vaarst reflect the workshop discussions about research methodologies and the various contexts and conditions for farmer group work. These two papers demonstrate the complexity of the research requirements when conducting a trans-national and cross-disciplinary research project with many stakeholders

Pattern-based software architecture for service-oriented software systems

Service-oriented architecture is a recent conceptual framework for service-oriented software platforms. Architectures are of great importance for the evolution of software systems. We present a modelling and transformation technique for service-centric distributed software systems. Architectural configurations, expressed through hierarchical architectural patterns, form the core of a specification and transformation technique. Patterns on different levels of abstraction form transformation invariants that structure and constrain the transformation process. We explore the role that patterns can play in architecture transformations in terms of functional properties, but also non-functional quality aspects

The future of technology enhanced active learning – a roadmap

The notion of active learning refers to the active involvement of learner in the learning process, capturing ideas of learning-by-doing and the fact that active participation and knowledge construction leads to deeper and more sustained learning. Interactivity, in particular learnercontent interaction, is a central aspect of technology-enhanced active learning. In this roadmap, the pedagogical background is discussed, the essential dimensions of technology-enhanced active learning systems are outlined and the factors that are expected to influence these systems currently and in the future are identified. A central aim is to address this promising field from a best practices perspective, clarifying central issues and formulating an agenda for future developments in the form of a roadmap

Sustaining entrepreneurial business: a complexity perspective on processes that produce emergent practice

This article examines the management practices in an entrepreneurial small firm which sustain the business. Using a longitudinal qualitative case study, four general processes are identified (experimentation, reflexivity, organising and sensing), that together provide a mechanism to sustain the enterprise. The analysis draws on concepts from entrepreneurship and complexity science. We suggest that an entrepreneur’s awareness of the role of these parallel processes will facilitate their approaches to sustaining and developing enterprises. We also suggest that these processes operate in parallel at multiple levels, including the self, the business and inter-firm networks. This finding contributes to a general theory of entrepreneurship. A number of areas for further research are discussed arising from this result