Cloud services within a ROLE-enabled Personal Learning Environment

The ROLE project (Responsive Open Learning Environments) is focused on the next generation of Personal Learning Environments (PLE). In this paper, we first describe the engineering process used to create either a new widget bundle, a group of applications or service widgets. The widgets integrated in a ROLE PLE consist of two cloud-based services, a social networking and a mind-mapping tool, where learners can perform and collaborate on learning activities. We also modified other widgets to create a complete learning experience. The whole platform is running on a cloudcomputing infrastructure and one of the services is using a cloud-based database. Additionally, we describe the initial experiences from using this cloud education environment in Galileo University, Guatemala, in a web-based course with students from three different Latin-American countries. We measured emotional aspects, motivation, usability and attitudes towards the environment. The results demonstrated the readiness of cloud-based education solutions, and how ROLE can bring together such an environment from a PLE perspective

Cloud services, interoperability and analytics within a ROLE-enabled personal learning environment

The ROLE project (Responsive Open Learning Environments, EU 7th Framework Programme, grant agreement no.: 231396, 2009-2013) was focused on the next generation of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). A ROLE PLE is a bundle of interoperating widgets - often realised as cloud services - used for teaching and learning. In this paper, we first describe the creation of new ROLE widgets and widget bundles at Galileo University, Guatemala, within a cloud-based infrastructure. We introduce an initial architecture for cloud interoperability services including the means for collecting interaction data as needed for learning analytics. Furthermore, we describe the newly implemented widgets, namely a social networking tool, a mind-mapping tool and an online document editor, as well as the modification of existing widgets. The newly created and modified widgets have been combined in two different bundles that have been evaluated in two web-based courses at Galileo University, with participants from three different Latin-American countries. We measured emotional aspects, motivation, usability and attitudes towards the environment. The results demonstrated the readiness of cloud-based education solutions, and how ROLE can bring together such an environment from a PLE perspective

Defining and Exemplifying Semantic Widgets for Learning

In this article, we make the case for widgets as an appropriate vehicle for interacting with the Web of Data in learning applications and materials. In the article, an attempt is made to define and exemplify the concept of semantic widgets for learning (SW4L) and to suggest how such educational software may be exposed and utilized in the Web of Data. As an example of SW4L, we mention widgets operating on semantic learning content marked up using the web vocabulary of schema.org and illustrate how they may be designed to support instructional guidelines advocating the use of visual aids in learning materials.</p

Build your Responsive Open Learning Environment

The European research project ROLE (Responsive Open Learning Environments) is aiming at empowering learners for self-regulated learning within a personalised learning environment. Towards this goal, ROLE has developed a number of learning technologies, addressing a variety of learning requirements. The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss the applications of these technologies in different learning contexts, as well as the challenges associated with enabling and supporting self-regulated learning

Process-oriented Enterprise Mashups

Mashups, a new Web 2.0 technology provide the ability for easy creation of Web-Based applications by end-users. The uses of the mashups are often consumer related. In this paper we explore how mashups can be used in the enterprise area and hat the criteria for enterprise mashups are. We provide categories for the classification of enterprise mashups, and based upon a motivating example we go further in depth on business process enterprise mashup

ADsafety: Type-Based Verification of JavaScript Sandboxing

Web sites routinely incorporate JavaScript programs from several sources into a single page. These sources must be protected from one another, which requires robust sandboxing. The many entry-points of sandboxes and the subtleties of JavaScript demand robust verification of the actual sandbox source. We use a novel type system for JavaScript to encode and verify sandboxing properties. The resulting verifier is lightweight and efficient, and operates on actual source. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique by applying it to ADsafe, which revealed several bugs and other weaknesses.Comment: in Proceedings of the USENIX Security Symposium (2011