Experience in introducing eToys as educational platform for children

In this very fast growing of IT world, children are also considered as computer users. The presence of children in the world of computing can not be treated equally as adult due to the limitation of their learning ability. A constructive approach is a candidate approach that can be used to teach how children use computer. The idea of this approach is to attract children to start learn computer in a fun, simple way and constructive. Etoys can be one alternative to achieve that goal. To experiment how the children accept the Etoys, and experiment is performed with staffs and students of JS COLLEGE, Bali. Participants use Etoys to understand how the algorithm was used to build a simple game. We found a lot of interest after Etoys was introduced. Their response was quite good and we found some opportunities to implement Etoys in more institutions

Virtual Institutes: Between Immersion and Communication

In the two expressions "virtual reality" and "virtual community", the term "virtual" has different meanings. A virtual reality is a depiction or, more generally speaking, a sensuous representation of reality that allows - mainly by means of interactivity - to experience various features of reality without actually being in contact with the reality depicted. Therefore, any interactive depiction that is able to imitate reality to such an extent that a high degree of sensory-motor immersion becomes possible is called a virtual reality (Heim 1998, 6f). Since reality is always much more complex than its depiction and full of unpredictable surprises, hardly ever a user has doubts about the difference between the depiction and the thing depicted. Nevertheless, there are good reasons for preferring the imitation to the reality: at least, the imitation is usually not as dangerous as reality sometimes turns out to be. Accordingly, quite different platforms for virtual institutes may be used emphasizing either the immersion aspect or the communication aspect. The decision for a platform depends on the goals pursued with the institute: text-based chat systems allow virtual communities to flourish, single-user VRML scenes convey a highly immersive 3D impression to its users. This is particularly true for virtual institutes realized as a 3D environment, as well as for corresponding virtual communities since 3D environments are adequate for certain tasks only. As an overall framework for the evaluation it is helpful to distinguish three major application areas: research, presentation, and communicative work. The Virtual Institute for Image Science (VIB), which we would like to describe in the following (3) as a case study, is almost exclusively designed for the third task: communicative working. It intends to provide a working space persons can share for joint projects despite being physically separated. Before describing the VIB in more detail we would like to give an overview of virtual institutes between the poles of realistic immersion and of communication in a community (2). The discussion of the case study leads to some more general considerations about the balance virtual institutes must find along that bi-polar dimension (4). In the concluding remarks we focus on the technical tools for virtual communities in 3D presently available

Game for Teaching Very Basic Programming

Hlavním cílem této práce je vytvoření hry pro výuku úplných základů programování . První část této práce se zabývá studiem a analýzou současných her pro výuku programovaní a soudobých principů užívaných ve výukových hrách . Na toto navazuje návrh a implementace rozhraní pro vizuální programování v Unity3d a následná integrace tohoto rozhraní do jednoduché hry , která bude splňovat principy sepsané v první části této práce . Výsledek práce je poté vyhodnocen jak z hlediska technického tak uživatelského , s cílem zjistit efektivitu rozhraní pro vizuální programování a hry samotné jako nástroje pro představení programování .The main goal of this thesis is to create a game for teaching very basic programming. An analysis of current programming education games and education principles takes up the first part of this thesis. This is followed by a design and implementation of visual programming interface in Unity3d and later integration of this interface into a simple game supporting the foundings from the first part of the thesis. This thesis is then being evaluated from the technical and user perspective with the goal to analyze the effectiveness of both the visual programming interface and the game as a tool to introduce programming to non-coders.

Integration of E-Learning 2.0 with Web 2.0

A review of studies that have examined the integration of Web 2.0 tools into E-Learning 2.0 within built environment educational programs is undertaken. An analysis of studies undertaken reveals five core themes can be derived: (1) students using Web 2.0 demonstrate the capability for effective learning; (2) Skills learned via Web 2.0 can be transferred to the work and untrained tasks; (3) limited research has compared learning in conventional E-Learning and Web 2.0 environments; (4) E-Learning 2.0 enables social learning process to take place, and (5) the shift from eLearning 1.0 (Web 1.0 based) to E-Learning 2.0 (Web 2.0 based) requires not only a technological shift, but also a fundamental shift in the way knowledge is socially constructed and shared. Future issues and challenges are identified in order to ameliorate the integration of the E-Learning 2.0 experience with Web 2.0 tools

Virtual laboratories for education in science, technology, and engineering: A review

Within education, concepts such as distance learning, and open universities, are now becoming more widely used for teaching and learning. However, due to the nature of the subject domain, the teaching of Science, Technology, and Engineering are still relatively behind when using new technological approaches (particularly for online distance learning). The reason for this discrepancy lies in the fact that these fields often require laboratory exercises to provide effective skill acquisition and hands-on experience. Often it is difficult to make these laboratories accessible for online access. Either the real lab needs to be enabled for remote access or it needs to be replicated as a fully software-based virtual lab. We argue for the latter concept since it offers some advantages over remotely controlled real labs, which will be elaborated further in this paper. We are now seeing new emerging technologies that can overcome some of the potential difficulties in this area. These include: computer graphics, augmented reality, computational dynamics, and virtual worlds. This paper summarizes the state of the art in virtual laboratories and virtual worlds in the fields of science, technology, and engineering. The main research activity in these fields is discussed but special emphasis is put on the field of robotics due to the maturity of this area within the virtual-education community. This is not a coincidence; starting from its widely multidisciplinary character, robotics is a perfect example where all the other fields of engineering and physics can contribute. Thus, the use of virtual labs for other scientific and non-robotic engineering uses can be seen to share many of the same learning processes. This can include supporting the introduction of new concepts as part of learning about science and technology, and introducing more general engineering knowledge, through to supporting more constructive (and collaborative) education and training activities in a more complex engineering topic such as robotics. The objective of this paper is to outline this problem space in more detail and to create a valuable source of information that can help to define the starting position for future research