How to Find Anything on The Internet?

In this book was describe the ways how to find necessary information, proper job or someone on the Net. There are listed a most important search engines and portals. The reader will find how to make own e-mail address on the free web-mails and how to publish his/ her web site. Doesn’t matter if these are Bulgarian or Foreign sites – they are on the Interne

An adaptive feedback approach for e-learning systems

The adaptive e-learning systems are a hot topic of educational research. The approach presented is a knowledge-based. There are several types of adaptation of an e-learning system to the learner: content adaptation, interface personalization, etc. This paper dials with a model for adaptation of the learner assessment and the content of one learning system. The model is based on Computer Adaptive Test Theory (CAT) and organization of the learning domains. The learning objects (LO) and the test item ontology play a central role as resource structuring. It supports flexible adaptive strategies for assessment and navigation through the content. Learner knowledge is assessed by CAT and then the system returns the learner to the right leaning material corresponding to the knowledge shown. The congruence between CAT item bank and the LO pool is based on intelligent agents. It supports adaptive feedback to the students depending on the learner evaluation

Web-based youth communities in the light of cyberspace psychology

The internet new media creates new types of communities – online or web-based communities in virtual reality. Everyone, to a certain degree, is involved in building and creating online communities. The main aim of this study is to make an overview of cyberspace technology and to extrapolate the influence of computers, technology and virtual environments on the psychology of Bulgarian students (individuals and groups). This study is focused on the chief features of web-based life in web-based communities. Web-based youth communities are capable of mirroring the behaviour of people in virtual realit

Design of an eLearning System for Accreditation of Non-formal Learning

This paper deals with issues related to the non-formal learning in vocational education, and the role of ICT for providing appropriate accreditation model in such education. The presented conclusions are based on the Leonardo da Vinci project LeoSPAN. The paper emphasises on the development of a model and a prototype of an adaptive eLearning system that ensures the pre-defined learner outcomes. One of the advantages of the eLearning system is the flexibility for people who upgrade and improve their knowledge

Visible and Invisible Bulgarian Heritage (One research under the Bulgarian Heritage published on the Web)

This paper dials with presentations of the Bulgarian Cultural and Historical Heritage in the Cyberspace. The study was taking place at the Information management course with bachelor students in Information Technologies, Information Brokerage and Information Security at the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies. The students describe about 300 different objectives – cultural and historical, material and immaterial

e-Learning for e-Learning: Reflection on Teacher and Student Experiences in an e-Learning Course

The paper discusses design and implementation issues of a university course on e-learning, delivered in mixed mode. Reflections on teacher and student experiences are made and conclusions are drawn with regard to content, delivery mode, instructional materials and online support

E-learning for Enhancing Management Skills

The paper discusses design and development issues of a course intended for mixed delivery (face-to-face and online) and aiming at enhancing management skills of early years practitioners in order to enhance their labor market prospects. The course is being developed within the EEEYMS* project by partners from UK, Finland, Bulgaria and The Netherlands. The purpose is to design an ICT based flexible learning solution. The content is organized in nine modules. The course is implemented in two ways: an online version, integrated into a Learning Management System (LearnWise), and an off-line version (on CD). This paper discusses content and design decisions, module structure and organization, navigation strategies, and issues related to translation of learning materials into user-friendly electronic format for non-IT specialists

Centre of Excellence in Information Society Technologies the Role of the University in Capacity Building Outside the University

Structural changes in the Bulgarian society and the process of alignment to the European Union require development of flexible administrative structures that are able to adopt and renew permanently their management and personnel capacities according to the new realities. A range of important features of the socio-economic life as a whole should be considered: • massive information saturation, performed by plenty of electronic mediators and technologies; • new qualitative requirements to the human resources, their skills, working style and motivation; • need of permanent self-development and renewing – permanent training and retraining of the personnel. In accordance with Strategy for Building Modern Administrative System of the Republic of Bulgaria, the State and local administration should serve the citizens of the country and the national business more efficiently. The services provided by various public administration units should be more easily accessible, more comfortable, user-friendly and low-cost for the tax-payers. The realisation of the National Strategy for Transition to Information Society shall lead to harmonisation of the relationship between administration, population and business and to augmentation of the democratic control of the society on the management of the country. The Government envisages development of a national public administration information system as part of the national information infrastructure. The Council of Ministers is to prepare a Uniform Act for the Principles and Universal Standards for Operation in All Public Administration Units

Like a school (of fish) in water (or ICT-Enhanced Skills in Action)

The paper presents pilot experiences related to an educational methodology developed within the European Innovative Teacher (I*Teach) project for building ICT-enhanced skills [1]. The methodology is presented in the context of a workshop for teachers in mathematics and informatics with a special focus on enhancing presentation skills. The authors share their experience in treating the very workshop as a project with specific stages - analyzing the audience’s interests, developing a presentation scenario around a leading metaphor in harmony with the setting, distributing different roles among the presenters, involving the audience in an active reasoning and sharing. Thus the workshop has demonstrated at a meta-level how the collective intelligence of teachers could be harnessed in action. The main message is: such an approach makes teachers feel like co-creators of the I*Teach project´s ideas and teachers need only a bit of praise or encouragement to recognize themselves as innovative teachers

Discover the Thracians - An Approach for Use of 2D and 3D Technologies for Digitization of Cultural Heritage in the Field of E-learning

Information and communication technologies (ICT) offer an easier access to and a multi-perspective view of cultural heritage artifacts and may also enrich and improve cultural heritage education through the adoption of innovative learning/teaching methods. This paper examines the different practices and opportunities for digitization of cultural artifacts with historical significance and describes the work on a pilot project concerning the development of e-learning materials in the Thracian cultural and historical heritage. The proposed method presents an approach based on a combination of 2D and 3D technologies to facilitate the overall process of digitization of individual objects. This approach not only provides greater opportunities for presenting the Thracian heritage but also new perspectives for studying it - students, scientists, PhD students will have the opportunity to work with the materials without having access to them