PLE in formal education: challenges for openness and control

This short comment reflects on a critical account of educational tech- nology and makes reference to the chapter by Vieritz et al. about the use of widget bundles for formal learning in higher education

The MUPPLE competence continuum

The idea of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) seems to polarise the educational sphere into supporters and opponents. Both groups relate their enthusiasm or criticism to underlying competences motivated by or needed for building up, running, and maintaining a PLE. Within the following article, results of a qualitative study with multiple cases will be presented to shed light onto which competence and which of its building blocks are involved in running a (mash-up) PLE. Data about the involved skills, abilities, habits, attitudes and knowledge will be presented in a raster of the five dimensions 'plan', 'reflect', 'monitor', 'act', and 'interact' against the three stages 'start', 'trigger', and 'outcome'. The findings indicate that there is a continuum ranging from the ones needed right ahead to the ones ultimately sought

Mediendidkatik in der Lehrerbildung

Der Beitrag diskutiert Ziele und Inhalte der Aus- und Weiterbildung von Lehrpersonen im Bereich der Mediendidaktik. Vorliegende Angebote - vor allem in der Weiterbildung - sind oft entweder technisch oder medienerzieherisch ausgerichtet und als solches zu eng ausgeführt. Neben der Auseinandersetzung mit Möglichkeiten digitaler Medien im Unterricht sollte die didaktische Reflexion über die Bedeutung von Medien in Lehr-Lernprozessen im Mittelpunkt stehen. Dazu sind insbesondere die pädagogischen Ziele des Medieneinsatzes zu benennen, zu deren Analyse und Bewertung Leitfragen vorgestellt werden

Notebooks in der Hochschullehre. Didaktische und strukturelle Implikationen

Im Rahmen des vom bmb+f geförderten Projektes „Notebook-Universitäten“ sind seit Juli 2002 an 25 Universitäten in Deutschland unterschiedliche Aktivitäten zur Nutzung von Notebooks in der Hochschule gestartet worden. Am Anfang dieser Aktivitäten standen der Aufbau eines Funknetzes (WLAN: Wireless-Local-Area-Access-Network) und die Versorgung der Studierenden mit Notebooks. Der inhaltliche Fokus unterscheidet sich dabei an den einzelnen Hochschulen. An einem Teil der Hochschulen widmet man sich der Produktion von Content; neue Lernprogramme bzw. Lernarrangements werden entwickelt, um die Präsenzlehre zu ergänzen oder teilweise zu ersetzen. An anderen Hochschulen steht die Entwicklung einer Lernplattform oder eines Portals im Vordergrund. Der eCampus Duisburg ist eine strategische Initiative der Universität Duisburg-Essen, um digital abbildbare Dienstleistungen in der Lehre und der Verwaltung konsequent über das Inter-/Intranet zu organisieren und den Einsatz von Notebooks in Lehrveranstaltungen zu ermöglichen. Die Initiative wird gemeinsam von Wissenschaftler/innen, zentralen Einrichtungen und der Hochschulverwaltung getragen. Es wird ein intelligenter Übergang zwischen drahtgebundenen und -ungebundenen Services einerseits und die Verknüpfung von bislang getrennten Services andererseits angestrebt. Das Projekt eCampus beinhaltet eine Reihe von Komponenten, die nicht isoliert voneinander gesehen werden dürfen

Lifelong Learning Hub: A Seamless Tracking Tool for Mobile Learning

Lifelong learners’ learning activities are scattered along the day in different locations and they make use of multiple devices. Most of the times adults have to merge learning, work and everyday life making it difficult to have an account on how much time is devoted to learning activities and learning goals. Learning experiences are disrupted and mobile seamless learning tech- nology has to find new solutions to integrate daily life activities and learning in the same process. Hence, there is a need to provide tools that are smoothly inte- grated into adults’ daily life. The contribution of this demonstration is present- ing a mobile tool that leads the lifelong learning towards a self-regulated pro- cess: foster awareness on learning goals and learning moments; facilitates the user to keep track of learning time with frictionless interface; fosters engage- ment and motivation on the task providing useful statistics. The 3LHub project has been released under open access with the aim to foster adaptation to further communities as well as to facilitate the extension to the increasing number of NFC tags existent in the marke

Energy Awareness Displays: designing a prototype for personalised energy consumption feedback at the workplace

Börner, D., Kalz, M., & Specht, M. (2012). Energy Awareness Displays: designing a prototype for personalised energy consumption feedback at the workplace. 2012 IEEE Seventh International Conference on Wireless, Mobile and Ubiquitous Technology in Education (pp. 211-213). March, 27-30, 2012, Takamatsu, Japan: IEEE Computer Society.The paper describes work-in-progress on a prototype providing personalised energy consumption feedback at the workplace. Based on a provisional framework developed in the context of an ongoing research project the prototype and the supporting infrastructure are conceptually outlined

Time will tell: The role of mobile learning analytics in self-regulated learning

This longitudinal study explores the effects of tracking and monitoring time devoted to learn with a mobile tool, on self-regulated learning. Graduate students (n = 36) from three different online courses used their own mobile devices to track how much time they devoted to learn over a period of four months. Repeated measures of the Online Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire and Validity and Reliability of Time Management Questionnaire were taken along the course. Our findings reveal positive effects of tracking time on time management skills. Variations in the channel, content and timing of the mobile notifications to foster reflective practice are investigated, and time-logging patterns are described. These results not only provide evidence of the benefits of recording learning time, but also suggest relevant cues on how mobile notifications should be designed and prompted towards self-regulated learning of students in online courses.LAC

Ambient Displays and Game Design Patterns

Kelle, S., Börner, D., Kalz, M., & Specht, M. (2010). Ambient Displays and Game Design Patterns. In M. Wolpers, P. A. Kirschner, M. Scheffel, S. Lindstädt, & V. Dimitrova (Eds.), Sustaining TEL: From Innovation to Learning and Practice, Proceedings of EC-TEL 2010 (pp. 512-517). LNCS 6383. Berlin, Heidelberg, & New York: Springer.In this paper we describe a social learning game we implemented to evaluate various means of ubiquitous learning support. Making use of game design patterns it was possible to implement information channels in such a way that we could simulate ubiquitous learning support in an authentic situation. The result is a prototype game in which one person is chosen randomly to become “Mister X”, and the other players have to find clues and strategies to find out who is the wanted person. In our scenario we used 3 different information channels to provide clues and compared them with respect to user appreciation and effectiveness.ICOPER, STELLA

Thinking outside the box – A vision of ambient learning displays

Börner, D., Kalz, M., & Specht, M. (2011). Thinking outside the box – A vision of ambient learning displays. International Journal Technology Enhanced Learning, 3(6), 627–642.With a focus on the situated support of informal and non-formal learning scenarios in ubiquitous learning environments the presented paper outlines the authors’ vision of ambient learning displays - enabling learners to view, access, and interact with contextualised digital content presented in an ambient way. The vision is based on a detailed exploration of the characteristics of ubiquitous learning and a deduction of informational, interactional, and instructional aspects to focus on. Towards the vision essential research questions and objectives as well as a conceptual framework that acquires, channels, and delivers the information framed in the learning process are presented. To deliver scientific insights into the authentic learning support in informal and non-formal learning situations and to provide suggestions for the future design of ambient systems for learning the paper concludes with a research agenda proposing a research project including a discussion of related issues and challenges

Tap it again, Sam: Harmonizing personal environments towards lifelong learning

The increasing number of mobile vendors releas- ing NFC-enabled devices to the market and their prominent adoption has moved this technology from a niche product to a product with a large market-share. NFC facilitates natural interactions between digital world and physical learning environments. The scaffolding of learning ecologies is a key aspect for lifelong learners in their challenge to integrate learning activities into busy daily life. The contribution of this manuscript is twofold: first, a review of scientific litera- ture in which NFC has been used with a direct or indirect purpose to learn is presented, and potential uses for learners are classified according to their type of interaction; based on these findings the NFC MediaPlayer is presented as an instantiation of an ecology of resources (EoR) in a lifelong learning context. Finally, shortcomings and best practices are highlighted in the conclusions, and future work is discussed