Collaborative trails in e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas – experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future

Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning

The realities of the 21st-century learner require that schools and educators fundamentally change their practice. "Educators must produce college- and career-ready graduates that reflect the future these students will face. And, they must facilitate learning through means that align with the defining attributes of this generation of learners."Today, we know more than ever about how students learn, acknowledging that the process isn't the same for every student and doesn't remain the same for each individual, depending upon maturation and the content being learned. We know that students want to progress at a pace that allows them to master new concepts and skills, to access a variety of resources, to receive timely feedback on their progress, to demonstrate their knowledge in multiple ways and to get direction, support and feedback from—as well as collaborate with—experts, teachers, tutors and other students.The result is a growing demand for student-centered, transformative digital learning using competency education as an underpinning.iNACOL released this paper to illustrate the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models. This comprehensive framework will help districts and schools determine what systems to use and integrate as they being their journey toward student-centered learning, as well as how systems integration aligns with their organizational vision, educational goals and strategic plans.Educators can use this report to optimize student learning and promote innovation in their own student-centered learning environments. The report will help school leaders understand the complex technologies needed to optimize personalized learning and how to use data and analytics to improve practices, and can assist technology leaders in re-engineering systems to support the key nuances of student-centered learning

Big data for monitoring educational systems

This report considers “how advances in big data are likely to transform the context and methodology of monitoring educational systems within a long-term perspective (10-30 years) and impact the evidence based policy development in the sector”, big data are “large amounts of different types of data produced with high velocity from a high number of various types of sources.” Five independent experts were commissioned by Ecorys, responding to themes of: students' privacy, educational equity and efficiency, student tracking, assessment and skills. The experts were asked to consider the “macro perspective on governance on educational systems at all levels from primary, secondary education and tertiary – the latter covering all aspects of tertiary from further, to higher, and to VET”, prioritising primary and secondary levels of education

An International Study in Competency Education: Postcards from Abroad

Acknowledging that national borders need not constrain our thinking, we have examined a selection of alternative academic cultures and, in some cases, specific schools, in search of solutions to common challenges we face when we consider reorganizing American schools. A wide range of interviews and e-mail exchanges with international researchers, government officials and school principals has informed this research, which was supplemented with a literature review scanning international reports and journal articles. Providing a comprehensive global inventory of competency-based education is not within the scope of this study, but we are confident that this is a representative sampling. The report that follows first reviews the definition of competency-based learning. A brief lesson in the international vocabulary of competency education is followed by a review of global trends that complement our own efforts to improve performance and increase equitable outcomes. Next, we share an overview of competency education against a backdrop of global education trends (as seen in the international PISA exams), before embarking on an abbreviated world tour. We pause in Finland, British Columbia (Canada), New Zealand and Scotland, with interludes in Sweden, England, Singapore and Shanghai, all of which have embraced practices that can inform the further development of competency education in the United States

An e-learning platform for delivering educational contents in a school environment

Learning is a continuous process, without end, which takes place throughout life, and is the result of the interaction of an individual with a physical external environment, a social context or with herself. In what new technologies may help improving and making more effective the interaction of an individual during his learning process? This paper describes the use of a platform for delivering educational contents to students, to put theories into practice through the use of an LMS and highlight the strengths and weaknesses that have these learning tools in a school environment, in which - besides its formative aspect - upbringing is important.learning management system, digital contents.

A learning design toolkit to create pedagogically effective learning activities

Despite the plethora of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools and resources available, practitioners are still not making effective use of e-learning to enrich the student experience. This article describes a learning design toolkit which guides practitioners through the process of creating pedagogically informed learning activities which make effective use of appropriate tools and resources. This work is part of a digital libraries project in which teaching staff at two universities in the UK and two in the USA are collaborating to share e-learning resources in the subject domains of Physical, Environmental and Human Geography. Finding, or creating, suitable e-learning resources and embedding them in well designed learning activities can be both challenging and time consuming. Sharing and adapting effective designs and solutions is both a stimulant and a time saver. This article describes the background to the specification of a learning activities design toolkit to support teachers as they create or adapt e-learning activities. This uses a model of pedagogical approaches as a basis for developing effective learning design plans and illustrates its use. The authors share their definition of a learning activity and taxonomies for the constituent elements. Real examples are discussed to illustrate their approach

Basic Skills for Complex Lives: Designs for Learning in the Community College

Outlines the Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges project's activities, results, and lessons learned, including five principles for teaching underprepared students. Recommends an institution-wide focus and faculty collaboration

Online mathematics enrichment: an evaluation of the NRICH project

This Executive Summary forms part of the final report of the findings of the independent external evaluation of the NRICH online mathematics project. The evaluation was commissioned by the University of Cambridge, UK as represented by the Millennium Mathematics Project. The evaluation was carried out by the evaluation team from the University of Southampton, UK, during 1998-99. Data collection took place between April and September 1999. An interim report, based on one element of the evaluation, was presented at the NRICH conference held in July 1999.1. The NRICH online mathematics enrichment project began in 1996 with the aim of establishing a permanent national UK centre for curriculum enrichment in mathematics. The project aims to provide mathematical learning support for very able children of all ages through the publication of a regular web-based ‘magazines’ featuring mathematical problems, puzzles, articles and games. University mathematics students act as peer teachers providing an electronic answering service. The centre also offers support, advice and inservice training to teachers, and resources for mathematics clubs. The NRICH website can be found at http://nrich.maths.org.uk/2. Internal evaluations of the project, carried out in 1997 and 1998, suggested that an increasing number of people were accessing the NRICH project website. The evaluations also indicated that teachers using the NRICH materials were generally satisfied with the type of problems presented, and that pupils who worked on the problems developed a richer view of mathematics. 3. The objectives of the external evaluation were to assess how the use of the NRICH website facilities enhances the mathematical development of children who have the potential to go on to study mathematical subjects at university, how the features of the website are used by teachers to help meet the special educational needs of exceptionally able children in mathematics, and the particular contribution of Information Communications Technology to the above. These objectives were derived from the aims of the NRICH project.4. The evaluation design incorporated a range of methods to provide data on the evaluation objectives. The various elements of the evaluation were an analysis of the responses to questionnaires completed by pupils, teachers, and other interested parties (such as parents) who access the NRICH website, a critical review of the NRICH website, together with selected case studies of school, classroom and pupil use of the NRICH project facilities. 5. Analysis of questionnaires completed by 199 pupils, 450 teachers, and 67 ‘friends of NRICH’ (such as parents) revealed that most NRICH users lived in England. This was particularly true of teachers. Over two-thirds of the pupils using NRICH were boys. Approximately the same proportion was white. A large proportion of users accessed NRICH at home. The majority of teachers worked in the state sector (both primary and secondary); ten percent were from private schools. The majority of users of all types were relatively new to NRICH, having been accessing the website for six months or less. The most frequent reason for accessing the NRICH website was to use it as a source of interesting mathematical problems. Most users were not registered with NRICH (a no-fee option open to all). The NRICH site was complimented by all categories of user as providing interesting problems, being attractively presented and generally easy to navigate. 6. The NRICH website was judged by the evaluation team to score highly on each of the website evaluation criteria. The new design of the site, launched in July 1999, was judged to be attractive, functional, easy to navigate, and contain high-quality materials. NRICH compared very favourably with other sites that provide mathematical puzzles, games and problems, and/or an answering service. The NRICH server statistics showed an increase in accesses to the site which was likely to be the result of more people accessing the NRICH site more often.7. In each of the three case study schools, at least one teacher made regular and often frequent use of the NRICH website, though none made use of the wider NRICH facilities available to registered teachers. NRICH was mainly used a source of interesting mathematical problems. Pupil usage of NRICH in the schools was much more varied. Only a very few pupils were aware of NRICH and had accessed the site themselves. While there was some evidence of impact on more able pupils, none of the teachers were able to quantify this impact but all praised NRICH as a very valuable resource.8. The three selected case profiles of pupil usage of NRICH revealed that these particular pupils accessed NRICH no more than once a month. All found the ‘one-to-one’ facility, where they could pose questions to University students, helpful and informative. Such exchanges often left the pupils wanting to know more, a situation the pupils viewed as positive. While few of the exchanges were related to the mathematical problems provided on the NRICH site, all these pupils valued the opportunity of being able to ask questions and receive replies.9. The main impact of NRICH on the more able pupils was in terms of helping them to gain a wider appreciation of mathematics and raising the profile of mathematics as a subject that could be interesting enough to pursue either within or outside school or for further study. Quantifying this impact was beyond the scope of this evaluation. Teachers mostly accessed NRICH to find problems to use in their teaching. The teachers used a variety of approaches to meet the needs of their more able pupils. Some used the NRICH problems with groups of more able children withdrawn from their regular classrooms. Some teachers used NRICH problems as extension material once regular classwork was complete. For some, NRICH was one resource amongst many. Only a few organised an extra-curricular mathematics club based solely around NRICH. The contribution of information communications technology (ICT) to both the enhancement of pupils’ mathematical development and to how teachers made use of the NRICH facilities was associated with the functionality and accessibility of the NRICH site. The interaction that was possible through using ICT was seen as a particular advantage of the NRICH project

2008 Annual Performance Report

Analyzes Irvine's 2008 program impact -- grantmaking, outcomes, and lessons learned and refinement -- and institutional effectiveness -- leadership, constituent feedback, and financial and organizational health. Summarizes evaluations