Second Life: the seventh face of the library?

Viewpoint/Discussion Paper Purpose This paper gives a brief introduction to Second Life, an outline of how one academic librarian has got involved with using it and reviews the issues that have arisen from a library perspective. Approach It offers a reflection on whether library activities in Second Life are different to library services in the real world and suggests that Second Life is just another ‘face’ of the library. Findings Second Life is still in the very early stages of development. There are various barriers and challenges to overcome before it can be used widely within universities. However, this paper shows it does provide an opportunity to experiment and explore what information resources are required in this environment and how librarianship and librarians need to evolve to cater for users in a three dimensional world. Originality/value This paper is based on personal experience and offers as many questions as answers

Some Research Questions and Results of UC3M in the E-Madrid Excellence Network

32 slides.-- Contributed to: 2010 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), Madrid, Spain, 14-16 April, 2010.-- Presented by C. Delgado Kloos.Proceedings of: 2010 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), Madrid, Spain, 14-16 April, 2010Universidad Carlos III de Madrid is one of the six main participating institutions in the eMadrid excellence network, as well as its coordinating partner. In this paper, the network is presented together with some of the main research lines carried out by UC3M. The remaining papers in this session present the work carried out by the other five universities in the consortium.The Excellence Network eMadrid, “Investigación y Desarrollo de Tecnologías para el e-Learning en la Comunidad de Madrid” is being funded by the Madrid Regional Government under grant No. S2009/TIC-1650. In addition, we acknowledge funding from the following research projects: iCoper: “Interoperable Content for Performance in a Competency-driven Society” (eContentPlus Best Practice Network No. ECP-2007-EDU-417007), Learn3: Hacia el Aprendizaje en la 3ª Fase (“Plan Nacional de I+D+I” TIN2008-05163/ TSI), Flexo: “Desarrollo de aprendizaje adaptativo y accesible en sistemas de código abierto” (AVANZA I+D, TSI-020301- 2008-19), España Virtual (CDTI, Ingenio 2010, CENIT, Deimos Space), SOLITE (CYTED 508AC0341), and “Integración vertical de servicios telemáticos de apoyo al aprendizaje en entornos residenciales” (Programa de creación y consolidación de grupos de investigación de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid).Publicad

Pedagogic approaches to using technology for learning: literature review

This literature review is intended to address and support teaching qualifications and CPD through identifying new and emerging pedagogies; "determining what constitutes effective use of technology in teaching and learning; looking at new developments in teacher training qualifications to ensure that they are at the cutting edge of learning theory and classroom practice and making suggestions as to how teachers can continually update their skills." - Page 4

A Review of Personalised E-Learning: Towards Supporting Learner Diversity

The realisation of personalised e-learning to suit an individual learner’s diverse learning needs is a concept which has been explored for decades, at great expense, but is still not achievable by non-technical authors. This research reviews the area of personalised e-learning and notes some of the technological challenges which developers may encounter in creating authoring tools for personalised e-learning and some of the pedagogical challenges which authors may encounter when creating personalised e-learning activities to enhance the learning experience of their students. At present educators who wish to create personalised e-learning activities require the assistance of technical experts who are knowledgeable in the area. Even with the help of an expert the creation of personalised e-learning activities still remains a complex process to authors who are new to the concept of tailoring e-learning to suit learner diversity. Before the successful utilisation of adaptive authoring tools can be realised, academic authors need to learn how to effectively use these tools. All learners come to education with a diverse set of characteristics; educators need to decide which learner characteristic(s) they wish to focus on addressing through the use of personalised e-learning activities. Further investigation, evaluation and analyses of authoring tools is required before personalised e-learning to support learner diversity can be achieved by many academics. Research members of the AMAS (2013) project team are currently involved in developing an authoring tool for adaptive activities for e-learning

Innovating Pedagogy 2015: Open University Innovation Report 4

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This fourth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. We proposed a long list of new educational terms, theories, and practices. We then pared these down to ten that have the potential to provoke major shifts in educational practice, particularly in post-school education. Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education. These are summarised below in an approximate order of immediacy and timescale to widespread implementation

Aprendizaje móvil: perspectivas

El futur de l’aprenentatge, des d’una perspectiva tècnica, està integrat per quatre eixos que el defineixen i sobre els quals s’articulen esforços tecnològics i metodològics. Aquests eixos són: la mobilitat, la interacció, la intel·ligència artificial i recursos basats en tecnologia com la realitat augmentada i els jocs aplicats a l’aprenentatge. La seva combinació suposa la creació d’un model d’escenaris mòbils, interactius i intel·ligents que aprofiten tots els espais i temps disponibles per a l’aprenent. Les diferents tecnologies, cadascuna per la seva banda, ja estan disponibles i són utilitzades en diverses experiències educatives; el que cal és la conjugació d’aquestes experiències a través de models didàctics en els quals l’aprenentatge assolit pels estudiants sigui significatiu. En aquest article es discuteixen aquestes tecnologies i es planteja un model d’integració que possibilita l’establiment d’un marc referencial de treball didàctic. Es conclou la necessitat d’experimentar tecnologies i plasmar-ne els resultats en models d’ensenyament-aprenentatge que utilitzin esquemes d’interacció alternatius i la urgència de disposar de sistemes tutorials intel·ligents per a massificar la tutoria.From a technical perspective, the future of learning is defined by four axes around which technological and methodological efforts revolve. These axes are mobility, interaction, artificial intelligence and technology-based resources such as augmented reality and games applied to learning. Combining them means creating a model of mobile, interactive and intelligent scenarios that take advantage of the spaces and times available to the learner. The various technologies are already available yet used separately in different educational experiences. It is therefore crucial to combine and integrate them into didactic models wherein the learning attained by students is significant. This article discusses these technologies and proposes an integrative model that enables a framework of reference for didactic work to be established. It concludes by highlighting the need to experiment with technologies and to apply the results to teaching-learning models using alternative interaction schema, and the urgency of having intelligent tutoring systems to make tutoring available on a massive scale.El futuro del aprendizaje, desde una perspectiva técnica, está integrado por cuatro ejes que lo definen y sobre los que se articulan esfuerzos tecnológicos y metodológicos. Estos ejes son: la movilidad, la interacción, la inteligencia artificial y recursos basados en tecnología como la realidad aumentada y los juegos aplicados al aprendizaje. Su combinación supone la creación de un modelo de escenarios móviles, interactivos e inteligentes que aprovechan todos los espacios y tiempos disponibles para el aprendiente. Las distintas tecnologías, cada una por su lado, ya están disponibles y son utilizadas en diversas experiencias educativas; lo que se hace necesario es la conjugación de estas a través de modelos didácticos en los que el aprendizaje alcanzado por los estudiantes sea significativo. En este artículo se discuten estas tecnologías y se plantea un modelo de integración que posibilita el establecimiento de un marco referencial de trabajo didáctico. Se concluye la necesidad de experimentar tecnologías y plasmar los resultados en modelos de enseñanza-aprendizaje que utilicen esquemas de interacción alternativos y la urgencia de contar con sistemas tutoriales inteligentes para masificar la tutoría

LEARNING OBJECT. DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION

[EN] The current trend in higher education includes competencies in the curricula. This integration can be done through the competency-based learning. The competence is acquired through various learning objects to be achieved. In this paper different dimensions to define a learning object (LO) and different classifications associated to them have been proposed. An analysis and synthesis of the results obtained have been presented.Alarcón Valero, F.; Alemany Díaz, MDM.; Boza, A.; Cuenca, L.; Gordo Monzó, ML.; Fernández-Diego, M.; Ruiz Font, L. (2015). LEARNING OBJECT. DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION. EDULEARN Proceedings (Internet). 4479-4488. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/95287S4479448

Challenges Encountered in Creating Personalised Learning Activities to Suit Students Learning Preferences

This book chapter reviews some of the challenges encountered by educators in creating personalised e-learning activities to suit students learning preferences. Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) alternatively known as e-learning has not yet reached its full potential in higher education. There are still many potential uses as yet undiscovered and other discovered uses which are not yet realisable by many educators. TEL is still predominantly used for e-dissemination and e-administration. This chapter reviews the potential use of TEL to provide personalised learning activities to suit individual students learning preferences. In particular the challenges encountered by educators when trying to implement personalised learning activities based on individual students learning preferences