How can exploratory learning with games and simulations within the curriculum be most effectively evaluated?

There have been few attempts to introduce frameworks that can help support tutors evaluate educational games and simulations that can be most effective in their particular learning context and subject area. The lack of a dedicated framework has produced a significant impediment for uptake of games and simulations particularly in formal learning contexts. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by introducing a four-dimensional framework for helping tutors to evaluate the potential of using games- and simulation- based learning in their practice, and to support more critical approaches to this form of games and simulations. The four-dimensional framework is applied to two examples from practice to test its efficacy and structure critical reflection upon practice

Evaluating the development of wearable devices, personal data assistants and the use of other mobile devices in further and higher education institutions

This report presents technical evaluation and case studies of the use of wearable and mobile computing mobile devices in further and higher education. The first section provides technical evaluation of the current state of the art in wearable and mobile technologies and reviews several innovative wearable products that have been developed in recent years. The second section examines three scenarios for further and higher education where wearable and mobile devices are currently being used. The three scenarios include: (i) the delivery of lectures over mobile devices, (ii) the augmentation of the physical campus with a virtual and mobile component, and (iii) the use of PDAs and mobile devices in field studies. The first scenario explores the use of web lectures including an evaluation of IBM's Web Lecture Services and 3Com's learning assistant. The second scenario explores models for a campus without walls evaluating the Handsprings to Learning projects at East Carolina University and ActiveCampus at the University of California San Diego . The third scenario explores the use of wearable and mobile devices for field trips examining San Francisco Exploratorium's tool for capturing museum visits and the Cybertracker field computer. The third section of the report explores the uses and purposes for wearable and mobile devices in tertiary education, identifying key trends and issues to be considered when piloting the use of these devices in educational contexts

Spam

With the advent of the electronic mail system in the 1970s, a new opportunity for direct marketing using unsolicited electronic mail became apparent. In 1978, Gary Thuerk compiled a list of those on the Arpanet and then sent out a huge mailing publicising Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC—now Compaq) systems. The reaction from the Defense Communications Agency (DCA), who ran Arpanet, was very negative, and it was this negative reaction that ensured that it was a long time before unsolicited e-mail was used again (Templeton, 2003). As long as the U.S. government controlled a major part of the backbone, most forms of commercial activity were forbidden (Hayes, 2003). However, in 1993, the Internet Network Information Center was privatized, and with no central government controls, spam, as it is now called, came into wider use. The term spam was taken from the Monty Python Flying Circus (a UK comedy group) and their comedy skit that featured the ironic spam song sung in praise of spam (luncheon meat)—“spam, spam, spam, lovely spam”—and it came to mean mail that was unsolicited. Conversely, the term ham came to mean e-mail that was wanted. Brad Templeton, a UseNet pioneer and chair of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has traced the first usage of the term spam back to MUDs (Multi User Dungeons), or real-time multi-person shared environment, and the MUD community. These groups introduced the term spam to the early chat rooms (Internet Relay Chats). The first major UseNet (the world’s largest online conferencing system) spam sent in January 1994 and was a religious posting: “Global alert for all: Jesus is coming soon.” The term spam was more broadly popularised in April 1994, when two lawyers, Canter and Siegel from Arizona, posted a message that advertized their information and legal services for immigrants applying for the U.S. Green Card scheme. The message was posted to every newsgroup on UseNet, and after this incident, the term spam became synonymous with junk or unsolicited e-mail. Spam spread quickly among the UseNet groups who were easy targets for spammers simply because the e-mail addresses of members were widely available (Templeton, 2003)

Does distance e‐learning work? A comparison between distance and face‐to‐face learners using e‐learning materials

This study compares continual assessment data, intake numbers, retention numbers and final examination grades of a mixed cohort of face‐to‐face and distance learners against similar data from previous years where e‐learning materials were not used in order to test whether e‐learning materials can support the same quality and quantity of teaching and learning for both face‐to‐face and distance learners. The results for this cohort of learners demonstrate that: (i) distance e‐learners score as well and sometimes better than face‐to‐face learners; (ii) face‐to‐face student numbers have increased; (iii) overall, student retention and student attendance have been maintained; (iv) final examination results have been maintained or in some cases improved; (v) lecturer workload was high, but not unmanageable, and it is clear how manageability can be improved

Wearable and mobile devices

Information and Communication Technologies, known as ICT, have undergone dramatic changes in the last 25 years. The 1980s was the decade of the Personal Computer (PC), which brought computing into the home and, in an educational setting, into the classroom. The 1990s gave us the World Wide Web (the Web), building on the infrastructure of the Internet, which has revolutionized the availability and delivery of information. In the midst of this information revolution, we are now confronted with a third wave of novel technologies (i.e., mobile and wearable computing), where computing devices already are becoming small enough so that we can carry them around at all times, and, in addition, they have the ability to interact with devices embedded in the environment. The development of wearable technology is perhaps a logical product of the convergence between the miniaturization of microchips (nanotechnology) and an increasing interest in pervasive computing, where mobility is the main objective. The miniaturization of computers is largely due to the decreasing size of semiconductors and switches; molecular manufacturing will allow for “not only molecular-scale switches but also nanoscale motors, pumps, pipes, machinery that could mimic skin” (Page, 2003, p. 2). This shift in the size of computers has obvious implications for the human-computer interaction introducing the next generation of interfaces. Neil Gershenfeld, the director of the Media Lab’s Physics and Media Group, argues, “The world is becoming the interface. Computers as distinguishable devices will disappear as the objects themselves become the means we use to interact with both the physical and the virtual worlds” (Page, 2003, p. 3). Ultimately, this will lead to a move away from desktop user interfaces and toward mobile interfaces and pervasive computing

Spam on the Internet: can it be eradicated or is it here to stay?

A discussion of the rise in unsolicited bulk e-mail, its effect on tertiary education, and some of the methods being used or developed to combat it. Includes an examination of block listing, protocol change, economic and computational solutions, e-mail aliasing, sender warranted e-mail, collaborative filtering, rule-based and statistical solutions, and legislation

Hyperspectral Imaging for Real-Time Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Maritime Target Detection

The hyperspectral cameras use has been increasing over the past years, driven by the exponential growth of the computational systems power. The capability of acquiring multiple spectre wavelengths benefits the increase of the hyperspectral systems range of applications. However, until now, most hyperspectral systems are used in posprocessing and do not allow to take full advantage of the system capabilities. There is a recent trend to be able to use hyperspectral systems in real-time. Given the recent problems in European Union borders due to irregular immigration and drug smuggling, there is the need to develop novel autonomous surveillance systems that can work on these scenarios. This thesis addresses the scenario of using hyperspectral imaging systems for maritime target detection using unmanned aerial vehicles. Specifically, by working in the creation of a hyperspectral real-time data processing system pipeline. In our work, we develop a boresight calibration method that allows to calibrate the position of the navigation sensor related to the camera imaging sensor, and improve substantially the accuracy of the target geo-reference. We also develop a novel method of distinguish targets (boats) from their dominant background. With this application our system is able to only select relevant information to send to a remote station on the ground, thus making it suitable to be installed in an actual unmanned maritime surveillance system.A utilização de câmaras hiperespectrais tem vindo a aumentar nos últimos anos, motivada pelo crescimento exponencial da capacidade de processamento dos mais recentes sistemas computacionais. A sua aptidão para observar múltiplos comprimentos de onda beneficia aplicações em diferentes campos de atividade. No entanto, a maior parte das aplicações com câmaras hiperespectrais são realizadas em pós-processamento, não aproveitando totalmente as capacidades destes sistemas. Existe uma necessidade emergente de detetar mais características sobre o cenário que está a ser observado, incentivando o desenvolvimento de sistemas hiperespectrais capazes de adquirir e processar informação em tempo-real. Face aos mais recentes problemas de emigração e contrabando ilegal na União Europeia, surge a necessidade da realização de vigilância autónoma capaz de adquirir o máximo de informação possível sobre os meios envolventes presentes num dado percurso. E neste contexto que se insere a dissertação que visa a criação é implementação de um sistema hiperespectral em tempo-real. Para construir o sistema, foi necessário dividir o problema em diferentes etapas. Iniciou-se por um estudo detalhado dos sistemas hiperespectrais, desenvolvendo um método de calibração dos ângulos de boresight, que permitiu calibrar a relação entre o sistema de posicionamento e navegação da câmara hiperespectral e o sensor imagem. Esta calibração, permite numa fase posterior geo-referenciar os alvos com maior precisão. Posteriormente, foi criada uma pipeline de processamento, que permite analisar os espectros obtidos, distinguindo os alvos do cenário onde estão inseridos. Após a deteção dos alvos, procede-se `a sua geo-referenciação, de forma a obter as coordenadas UTM do alvo. Toda a informação obtida sobre o alvo e a sua posição é enviada para uma estacão em terra, de forma a ser validada por um humano. Para tal, foi também desenvolvida a metodologia de envio, para selecionar a informação a enviar apenas à mais relevante

Impacto do transplante hepático pediátrico na dinâmica familiar

Dissertação de mestrado em Psicologia Clínica e Saúde (Psicopatologia e Psicoterapias Dinâmicas), apresentada à Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade de CoimbraO transplante hepático pediátrico é um processo cuja técnica tem vindo a ser aprimorada ao longo dos anos, permitindo melhorar a qualidade de vida de muitas crianças, principalmente aquelas que se encontram em fase terminal da doença. Este complexo processo compreende hábitos, comportamentos, valores sociais e morais, afetando o bem-estar das crianças transplantadas e das suas famílias. O presente estudo pretende compreender o impacto do transplante hepático pediátrico na dinâmica familiar, avaliando os níveis de stress e de sintomatologia depressiva dos pais e o autoconceito das crianças, numa amostra constituída por cinquenta e quatro pais e crianças. Para tal a Escala de Impacto Familiar, o Índice de Stress Parental – Versão Reduzida e o Inventário de Depressão de Beck II foram aplicados a todos os pais, e a Escala de Auto-conceito de Piers Harris 2 administrada a quarenta e duas crianças. Os resultados do estudo indicam as alterações nas rotinas familiares e as idas ao hospital como os aspetos que mais preocupam os pais ao nível da dinâmica familiar, tendo-se verificado diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre o impacto familiar experienciado e o número de vezes que frequentam o hospital. Os pais não denotam índices de stress parental acima da média dos resultados para a população portuguesa, contudo, apresentam sintomatologia depressiva mínima. As crianças transplantadas apresentam níveis de autoconceito dentro da média para a população portuguesa. Porém, verificaram-se diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre o fator satisfação-felicidade do PHCSCS2 e o tempo decorrido desde o último transplante, sendo as crianças que realizaram transplante há cerca de um ano aquelas que menos pontuam nesse fator.The pediatric liver transplantation is a process whose technique has been improved over the years, thereby improving the quality of life of many children, particularly those who are in the terminal stage of the disease. This complex process involves habits, behaviors, social and moral values, affecting the welfare of transplanted children and their families. This study aims to understand the impact of pediatric liver transplant in family dynamics, evaluating the levels of stress and depressive symptoms of parents and self-concept of children, in a sample of fifty-four parents and children. For this Impact on Family Scale, Parenting Stress Index – Short Form and Beck Depression Inventory II were applied to all parents, and the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale was administered to forty-two children. The study results showed the changes in family routines and hospital visits as the aspects that concern parents at family dynamics, being verified statistically significant differences between the experienced impact in family and the number of times attending the hospital. The parents do not have a parental stress index above the mean of the results for the portuguese population, however, they showed minimal depressive symptomatology. The transplanted children exhibited levels of self-concept in the mean of the results for the portuguese population. However, there were statistically significant differences between the factor satisfaction-happiness (PHCSCS2) and the elapsed time since the last transplant, being the children who underwent transplant about a year ago, those who less punctuate in this factor