Course evaluation for technology enhanced learning: current status in Europe

Course evaluation is one of the key processes in the educational context that is in charge of the assurance of quality of courses taught in an institution. Although it is an essential process realised in every institution, the procedure followed for course evaluation does not comply with any evaluation standard. The objectives of this document are: to define a course evaluation concept map to understand better the needs of this field; to analyse the course evaluation standard ISO/IEC 19796, the only standard for course evaluation; to carry out a study of European institutions evaluation processes to determine why no institution is using standards in this learning process; and finally, to inform about the course evaluation support in two open-source well-known learning management systems (LMS) (Moodle and .LRN).This work was partially funded by the Best Practice Network ICOPER (Grant No. ECP-2007-EDU-417007), the Learn3 project, ‘Plan Nacional de I + D + I’ TIN2008–05163/TSI, and the eMadrid network, S2009/TIC-1650, ‘Investigación y Desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid.’Publicad

Course Evaluation Study in Europe: The Current Picture

Proceedings of: First International Conference on Reforming Education, Quality of Teaching and Technology-Enhanced Learning: Learning Technologies, Quality of Education, Educational Systems, Evaluation, Pedagogies (TECH-EDUCATION 2010). Athens, Greece, May 19-21, 2010.Course evaluation is one of the key processes in the educational context that is in charge of the assurance of quality of courses taught in an institution. Although it is an essential process realized in every institution, the procedure followed for course evaluation does not comply with any evaluation standard. The objectives of this document are: to define a course evaluation concept map to understand better the needs of this field; to analyze the course evaluation standard ISO/IEC 19796, the only standard for course evaluation; and finally, to carry out a study of European institutions evaluation processes to determine why anyone is using standards in this learning process.This work was partially funded by Learn3 project, “Plan Nacional de I+D+I” TIN2008-05163/TSI and the Best Practice Network ICOPER (Grant No. ECP-2007-EDU-417007).Publicad

Management of Assessment Resources in a Federated Repository of Educational Resources

Proocedings of: Fifth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning Sustaining TEL: From Innovation to Learning and Practice (EC-TEL 2010). Barcelona, 28 September-1 October, 2010.This article tries to shed some light over the management of assessment resources in a repository of educational resources from an outcome-based perspective. The approximation to this problem is based on the ICOPER Reference Model, as a model to capture e-learning data, services and processes, addressing an interoperability approach. To demonstrate this proposal, a prototype has been implemented. This article also describes the design and development of this prototype that accesses a repository of educational resources (the Open ICOPER Content Space - OICS), the main features of the prototype, the development environment and the evaluation that is being performed.This work was partially funded by the Best Practice Network ICOPER (Grant No. ECP-2007-EDU-417007), the Learn3 project, “Plan Nacional de I+D+I” TIN2008-05163/TSI, and the eMadrid network, S2009/TIC-1650, “Investigación y Desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid”.Publicad

DIAGNÓSTICO DE LA SITUACIÓN DEL AGAVE-MEZCAL Y OPCIONES DE DESARROLLO LOCAL EN COMUNIDADES INDÍGENAS DE OAXACA

La situación de crisis económica y ambiental que impera en todo el mundo se ha reflejado en la sobreexplotación de los recursos naturales, ocasionando con ello la pérdida de biodiversidad, contaminación y agotamiento de los mismos; además de, un mayor empobrecimiento de comunidades, debilitamiento cultural y ahondamiento de las brechas regionales. Por ello cobra gran importancia la búsqueda de alternativas que permitan la conservación in-situ de cultivos de especies nativas que ayuden a mitigar la pérdida de la diversidad genética, como es el Agave spp. utilizado para la producción de mezcal artesanal en el estado de Oaxaca. Las condiciones de desigualdad y pobreza que imperan en el estado de Oaxaca son muy notables y de manera particular en la región mixteca donde las condiciones geográficas y de los suelos, que no son aptos para la agricultura, ocasionan los bajos niveles de productividad de la actividad agrícola, en la cual se ocupa gran parte de la población económicamente activa. Aunado a esto se presentan altos índices de marginación, migración y pobreza, donde los programas de apoyo social para la comunidad han sido deficientes, razón por la cual es necesaria la búsqueda de alternativas que les permita contar con una mejor productividad y desarrollo económico y laboral

Non-destructive quality assessment of horticultural products in sorting lines

[SPA] En el sector hortofrutícola, la exigencia de calidad por parte del consumidor es cada vez mayor. Actualmente, hay una creciente demanda dirigida a una adecuada automatización de los procesos industriales que permitan garantizar una calidad excelente del producto final. El Centro de AgroIngeniería del Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), en colaboración con el sector industrial, ha desarrollado durante los últimos años sensores electrónicos y sistemas de inspección por visión artificial que permiten una clasificación automática de distintos productos hortofrutícolas muy significativos para la agricultura española, entre los que cabe citar: - Un sensor de firmeza capaz de clasificar melocotones en tres categorías: muy firmes, firmes y poco firmes. Los ensayos realizados en una línea de confección precomercial demuestran que el sensor puede trabajar adecuadamente a 8 frutas s-1 y es capaz de clasificar la firmeza con un 80% de repetibilidad. - Un prototipo capaz de inspeccionar automáticamente granos de granada para el consumo por visión artificial. La máquina individualiza, inspecciona, clasifica y separa los granos de granada en cuatro de categorías de calidad que son función de su color y tamaño, rechazando aquellos que no cumplen las especificaciones mínimas y agrupando los que presentan características similares. Con ello se consigue el envasado en lotes de producto uniforme y de alta calidad, resultando más atractivo al consumidor. - Un sistema para clasificar automáticamente gajos de mandarina para conserva por visión artificial. El sistema distingue entre gajos enteros, rotos o dobles, además de detectar la presencia de semillas en los gajos. El sistema clasifica correctamente más del 75% de los gajos analizados. [ENG] In the fruit and vegetable sector, the quality of the produce has become an important demand for consumers that makes necessary the automation the industrial processes that allow to guarantee an excellent quality of the final product During the last ten years, The Centre for Agroengineering research of the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), in collaboration with industrial sector, has developed electronic sensors and computer vision systems for the automatic on-line inspection and classification of several horticultural products of great interest for Mediterranean agriculture. Among the recent researches it is necessary to mention: - A firmness sensor capable of classifying peaches under three categories: very firm, firm and slightly firm. A module composed by two sensors has been integrated in a precommercial sorting line working at 8 fruits s-1. The performed tests have demonstrated its reliability with up to 80% of success rate. - A prototype capable of inspecting automatically pomegranate arils for the consumption by means of artificial vision. The machine individualizes, inspects, classifies and separates the arils in four of categories of quality that are a function of the colour and size, rejecting those that do not fulfil the minimal specifications and grouping those who present similar characteristics. - A system to classify automatically segments of mandarin for conserve by means of artificial vision. The system distinguishes among sound, broken or double segments, and is able to detect the presence of seeds in the segments. The system classifies correctly more tan 75 % of the analyzed segments.Los trabajos de investigación descritos en el artículo han sido financiados parcialmente por la UE a través de los contratos QLK1-CT-2002-70791 y QLK1-2000-70106, por el Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaría (INIA) a través de los proyectos RTA03-105 y TRT2006-00046-00-00 y por las empresas Frutas Mira Hermanos, S.L.,Agriconsa, S.A. y Fomesa, S.

Diet: Cause or consequence of the microbial profile of cholelithiasis disease?

Recent dietary habits and lifestyle could explain the shaping of the gut microbiota composition and, in consequence, the increasing prevalence of certain pathologies. However, little attention has been paid to the influence of diet on microbiotas, other than the gut microbiota. This is important in cholelithiasis, given that changes in the production of bile acids may affect gallbladder microbial communities. Our aim was to assess the association between regular dietary intake and gallbladder microbial composition. Fourteen adults with cholelithiasis and 14 controls, sex-age-matched and without gastrointestinal pathology, were included. Diet was assessed through a food frequency questionnaire and quantification of gallbladder microbiota sequences by Illumina 16S rRNA gene-based analysis. The cholelithiasic patients showed greater intake of potatoes and lower consumption of vegetables, non-alcoholic drinks, and sauces, which resulted in a lower intake of energy, lipids, digestible polysaccharides, folate, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, and some phenolic compounds. Regarding the altered bile microorganisms in cholelithiasic patients, dairy product intake was negatively associated with the proportions of Bacteroidaceae and Bacteroides, and several types of fiber, phenolics, and fatty acids were linked to the abundance of Bacteroidaceae, Chitinophagaceae, Propionibacteraceae, Bacteroides, and Escherichia-Shigella. These results support a link between diet, biliary microbiota, and cholelithiasis.This research was funded by the Spanish “Plan Estatal de I+D+i” Grant number (AGL2013-44761-P) I. Gutiérrez-Díaz was supported by “Plan Regional de Investigación del Principado de Asturias” Grant number (GRUPIN14-043).Peer reviewe

Development of an aroma sensor for assessing agrofood products quality

[SPA] El Centro de Agroingeniería del Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA) ha trabajado durante los últimos siete años en el desarrollo de un sensor de aromas basado en sensores de gases semiconductores. En la actualidad, este tipo de sensores se utilizan en muchos sectores, entre ellos, el sector agroalimentario. El sensor de aromas ha demostrado su capacidad de estimar la calidad de dos productos de naturaleza muy diferentes: aceite de oliva y mosto destinado a vinificación. Por un lado, hoy en día el control de calidad para el aceite de oliva se realiza bien mediante paneles sensoriales, bien mediante análisis químicos. El coste económico es bastante elevado para los dos casos. Los sensores de aromas pueden resolver, parcialmente, este problema. El sensor de aromas permite detectar tres atributos negativos y establecer su intensidad: el rancio, el avinado y el atrojado. Por otro lado, actualmente apenas existen controles de calidad de las uvas en las bodegas a pesar de la gran influencia que representa su estado en la calidad final del vino. El sensor de aromas supone la posibilidad de incorporar un nuevo sensor a la evaluación de la calidad del mosto, ya que es capaz de predecir de forma rápida el contenido en ácido glucónico procedente de la acción de hongos (Botrytis cinerea) sobre la uva en el campo. El bajo coste de los sensores que lo componen y la rápida velocidad de respuesta del sensor de aromas si lo comparamos con otros métodos, permiten hacer pensar en su viabilidad para integrarlo en el proceso productivo de las bodegas. Los resultados obtenidos con el sensor de aromas permiten asegurar que el Centro de AgroIngeniería del IVIA ha desarrollado dos métodos de medida reproducibles que es un logro que pocos grupos de investigación a nivel mundial han conseguido.[ENG] The Centro de Agroingeniería of the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA) has been working during the last seven years in the development of an aroma sensor based on semiconductor gas transducers (MOS sensor). Nowadays, this sort of sensors is in use in many sectors, including the agro-food sector. The aroma sensor has demonstrated its ability to assess the quality of two very different products: olive oil and grape juice for wine making. On the one hand, quality control in current production of olive oil is performed by sensory panels and by chemical analysis. In both cases, the costs of such analysis are extremely high and are very time consuming. Cheap electronic sensors can partially solve this problem. Simple electronic devices could automatically detect quality defects of olive oil. The aroma sensor is able to assess the intensity of three negative attributes: rancid, winey and yeast. On the other hand, nowadays the only quality measured parameters of the grape are the sugar content and total acidity. However analytical quality parameters that might have a strong impact in the wine quality are not measured since there are not fast cheap procedures to obtain this information. For this reason, there is a strong interest in the development of new technologies capable to assess the quality of grape juice. The developed aroma sensor means the possibility of a new sensor capable of assessing grape juice quality. Its integration in the productive process of cellars is viable because of the low economic cost of gas sensors and the fast response velocity of aroma sensor compared to other methods. The Centro de Agroingeniería of IVIA has developed two reproducible measurement procedures to assess the quality of two agro-food products. It is an achievement that only a few researchers around the world have attained.Esta investigación ha sido parcialmente financiada por el INIA y el Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia a través de los proyectos con títulos Desarrollo de sensores para la evaluación de la calidad del aceite de oliva (referencia CA098-012-C3) y Desarrollo de sensores electrónicos para la caracterización y evaluación de la calidad de la uva para vinificación (referencia AGL2002-04450-C02-01), respectivament

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

Computer Vision and Metrics Learning for Hypothesis Testing: An Application of Q-Q Plot for Normality Test

This paper proposes a new procedure to construct test statistics for hypothesis testing by computer vision and metrics learning. The application highlighted in this paper is applying computer vision on Q-Q plot to construct a new test statistic for normality test. Traditionally, there are two families of approaches for verifying the probability distribution of a random variable. Researchers either subjectively assess the Q-Q plot or objectively use a mathematical formula, such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, to formally conduct a normality test. Graphical assessment by human beings is not rigorous whereas normality test statistics may not be accurate enough when the uniformly most powerful test does not exist. It may take tens of years for statistician to develop a new and more powerful test statistic. The first step of the proposed method is to apply computer vision techniques, such as pre-trained ResNet, to convert a Q-Q plot into a numerical vector. Next step is to apply metric learning to find an appropriate distance function between a Q-Q plot and the centroid of all Q-Q plots under the null hypothesis, which assumes the target variable is normally distributed. This distance metric is the new test statistic for normality test. Our experimentation results show that the machine-learning-based test statistics can outperform traditional normality tests in all cases, particularly when the sample size is small. This study provides convincing evidence that the proposed method could objectively create a powerful test statistic based on Q-Q plots and this method could be modified to construct many more powerful test statistics for other applications in the future