Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N

Widening Access to Applied Machine Learning with TinyML

Broadening access to both computational and educational resources is critical to diffusing machine-learning (ML) innovation. However, today, most ML resources and experts are siloed in a few countries and organizations. In this paper, we describe our pedagogical approach to increasing access to applied ML through a massive open online course (MOOC) on Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML). We suggest that TinyML, ML on resource-constrained embedded devices, is an attractive means to widen access because TinyML both leverages low-cost and globally accessible hardware, and encourages the development of complete, self-contained applications, from data collection to deployment. To this end, a collaboration between academia (Harvard University) and industry (Google) produced a four-part MOOC that provides application-oriented instruction on how to develop solutions using TinyML. The series is openly available on the edX MOOC platform, has no prerequisites beyond basic programming, and is designed for learners from a global variety of backgrounds. It introduces pupils to real-world applications, ML algorithms, data-set engineering, and the ethical considerations of these technologies via hands-on programming and deployment of TinyML applications in both the cloud and their own microcontrollers. To facilitate continued learning, community building, and collaboration beyond the courses, we launched a standalone website, a forum, a chat, and an optional course-project competition. We also released the course materials publicly, hoping they will inspire the next generation of ML practitioners and educators and further broaden access to cutting-edge ML technologies.Comment: Understanding the underpinnings of the TinyML edX course series: https://www.edx.org/professional-certificate/harvardx-tiny-machine-learnin

Designing for innovation around OER

This paper argues that designing collections of 'closed' educational resources (content and technologies) for use by specific student cohorts and collections of open educational resources for use by any 'learner' require different design approaches. Learning design for formal courses has been a research topic for over 10 years as the ever growing range of digital content and technologies has potentially offered new opportunities for constructing effective learning experiences, primarily through greater sharing and re-use of such content and technologies. While progress in adopting learning design by teaching practitioners has appeared slow so far the advent of open educational resources (OER) has provided a substantive boost to such sharing activity and a subsequent need for employing learning design in practice. Nevertheless there appears to be a paradox in that learning design assumes a reasonably well known and well defined student audience with presumed learning needs and mediating technologies while OER are exposed to a multitude of potential learners, both formal and informal, with unknown learning needs and using diverse technologies. It can be argued that innovative designs for formal courses involve creating structured pathways through a mixture of existing and new content and activities using a mixture of media and technologies in the process. This type of 'configurational' design that blends together given items to meet a particular need, rather than designing something fully de novo is typical in many areas of work and not just teaching. Such designs work very well when there is a small set of users of the innovation or their use of the innovation is narrow. However many innovations in information, communication and computing technologies often have multiple types of users and many more layers of complexity. In these cases, rather than heavily pre-define an innovative solution just to meet certain user requirements, it is necessary to design for greater flexibility so as to allow the users to adapt their use of the innovative solution for their own requirements once it has been deployed. The use of such an 'innofusion' approach for OER is highlighted using the case study of OpenLearn (www.open.ac.uk/openlearn)

E-learning systems for teaching industrial automatism

The examples of e-learning systems have been successfully tested in a number of international engineering college and innovative industry and make it possible to improve  performance of production by raising the professional level of the students and staff. E-learning can directly tie education to the formation of tutorial for teaching industrial automatism, the purpose of this study is to discuss strategies for developing integrated e-learning courseware based on instructional design and technology models. The essential of this methodological approach is to specify the composition of the various teaching modules in industrial automatism to be accessible to the students with a system modeling method and to develop a digital support that can be exploited in distance learning. E-learning systems aims at a two-way knowledge, communication between academia and industry. E-learning systems provides a real-life environment for engineers to develop their skills and comprehend the challenges involved in everyday industrial practice. This paper describes the challenges for using automates in the industry, It presents the fully application of system analysis for the design of a tutorial for teaching industrial automatism

FMRepS: Pengurusan aduan kerosakan di Kolej Kediaman Perwira UTHM

Kolej Kediaman Perwira berhadapan dengan masalah merekod aduan kerosakan dan menyimpan butiran berkenaan pelajar yang semakin bertambah. Sehingga kajian ini dilakukan, jumlah penghuni sudah melebihi 500 orang. Begitu juga dengan aduan kerosakan yang diterima oleh pihak pengurusan kolej dari penghuni juga turut meningkat. Hal ini meresahkan staf Kolej Kediaman Perwira kerana pertambahan aduan bermakna bertambahnya penggunaan kertas dan dikhuatiri meningkatkan kos pengurusan Kolej Kediaman Perwira. Oleh yang demikian, Facilities Management Report System (FMRepS) telah dibangunkan bagi mengurangkan beban pihak pengurusan kolej dan yang lebih penting ialah memudahkan dan mencepatkan proses aduan kerosakan seperti yang disasarkan matlamat utama sistem. Sistem ini merekod segala butiran pelajar dan aduan yang ingin dibuat boleh dilakukan secara dalam talian tanpa perlu ke pejabat pengurusan Kolej Kediaman Perwira. Pembangunan FMRepS adalah berdasarkan Model Air Terjun dan menggunakan perisian Adobe Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop dan MySQL sebagai pangkalan data untuk mencapai dan menyimpan data. Pemantauan telah dilakukan di Kolej Kediaman Perwira untuk melihat penggunaan kertas setelah FMRepS diimplemen di kolej. Hasil kajian menunjukkan FMRepS mampu mengurangkan kos kertas dan juga masa memproses aduan kerosakan. Ini menjadikan urusan aduan menjadi lebih mudah dan lebih efektif di Kolej Kediaman Perwira

Design and implementation of a web application for practising internet reading skills

Being able to critically evaluate the reliability of sources is an important skill, and a part of digital literacy competences and internet reading. Conducting research on the matter and teaching the skills related to internet reading in a digital environment require discrete software that is designed for said purposes. This thesis is associated with a project where one of the objectives is to design and implement a new web application, StudentNet, where pupils can practise and improve their skills in internet reading by completing assignments. Internet reading is goal-directed activity where the reader a) searches for information to set questions from the Internet, b) evaluates the reliability of the found information, and c) composes a synthesis based on several online sources. The basis of StudentNet is a web application called Neurone, which main purpose is research and measurement instead of education, and it provides a linear user flow. In contrast, StudentNet should provide a nonlinear model regarding the application’s user flow. In this thesis it is studied how this nonlinear model works in practice especially when the users are children, and what specific things should be considered when developing software for educational purposes. Several practical experiments were organised during the project. In these experiments, each participant completed an assignment in StudentNet and answered a set of statements in an end questionnaire. In addition, log data of users’ interactions in the application was recorded. The data collected from the questionnaire was analysed and utilised to get some information on what could be improved, and ideas for the development of new features as well as improving existing ones. In addition, the gathered feedback was used to answer the research question considering the application’s nonlinear model. It was found out that the model works very well for most pupils but for some individuals there should be additional support in the application in order to ensure a great user experience. The results also indicate that StudentNet was perceived useful, and it has good potential for further development and to be used as a complementary learning tool

Towards a Scalable Digital Skills Training Architecture for Resource-Constrained Environments: The Case of Ayitic Goes Global in Haiti

In developing countries such as Haiti, which are marked by high unemployment and gender inequality, online education has the potential to change lives. Returns on education are particularly high in Information Communications Technology (ICT)-intensive jobs and IT outsourcing offers opportunities for remote employment, providing alternatives for economic diversification and job creation that are particularly relevant for youth and women. However, the problem faced by many developing countries, is that traditional models, frameworks, architectures and platforms for online learning do not lend themselves well to their context and, therefore, it is important to develop context specific platforms. This need for suitable platforms has motivated the research question that this paper seeks to address, that is, “What is the appropriate architecture that supports learning strategies for delivering scalable digital skills training in a resource-constrained environment?” We propose an architecture that was developed specifically for blended learning in resource-constrained environments and describe how a prototype for this was designed, built, and deployed in Haiti. The initial findings from the application of the architecture have been extremely positive and are reflected not only in the testimonials of the participants but also by the interest of other countries of the region to adopting the proposed architecture

From software engineering to courseware engineering

Proceedings of: 2016 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 10-13 April 2016, Abu Dhabi, United Arab EmiratesThe appearance of MOOCs has contributed to the use of educational technology in new contexts. As a consequence, many teachers face the challenge of creating educational content (courseware) to be offered in MOOCs. Although some best practices exist, it is true that most of the content is being developed without much thought about adequacy, reusability, maintainability, composability, etc. The main thesis at this paper is that we are facing a "courseware crisis" in the same way as there was a "software crisis" 50 years ago, and that the way out is to identify good engineering discipline to aid in the development of courseware. We need Courseware Engineering in the same way as at those times we needed Software Engineering. Therefore, the challenge is now to define and develop fundamentals, tools, and methods of Courseware Engineering, as an analogy to the fundamentals, tools, and methods that were developed in Software Engineering.The eMadrid Excellence Network is being funded by the Madrid Regional Government (Comunidad de Madrid) with grant No. S2013/ICE-2715. This work also received partial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Project RESET (TIN2014-53199-C3-1-R) and from the European Erasmus+ projects MOOC-Maker (561533-EPP-1-2015-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP) and SHEILA (562080-EPP-1-2015-BE-EPPKA3-PI-FORWARD). The first author would like to acknowledge fruitful discussions with Martin Wirsing and his group from LMU München during his research stay at this university with a scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport

EDUCATIONAL ANALYTICS OF AN OPENCOURSEWARE

Analytics as one of the recent fields in technology-based learning offers many benefits to educators, instructors, and administrators to improve the efficiency and quality of alternative educational materials, and learning experience through tracking and storing students’ log data on web platforms over an extended period of time. This mixed-method study investigates students’ log data retrieved from the opencourseware (OCW) specifically launched for a required academic English speaking skills course offered at Middle East Technical University in Turkey with the aim of enhancing the quality and efficiency of the materials available for the course. By understanding the reasons behind students’ behaviors via the interviews conducted with 50 students on this online courseware, this study also aims to provide useful practical hints to the instructors and guide them to act on future decisions. The analyzed data is based on learner behavior with a specific emphasis on average view duration, likes and dislikes, and comments. This study can serve as a starting point to guide and provide the instructors and administrators about the future of the aforementioned course which is also offered in a rotational hybrid learning format where the effectiveness of online materials gain even more importance