Informal learning recognition through a cloud ecosystem

Learning and teaching processes, like all human activities, can be mediated through the use of tools. Information and communication technologies are now widespread within education. Their use in the daily life of teachers and learners affords engagement with educational activities at any place and time and not necessarily linked to an institution or a certificate. In the absence of formal certification, learning under these circumstances is known as informal learning. Despite the lack of certification, learning with technology in this way presents opportunities to gather information about and present new ways of exploiting an individual’s learning. Cloud technologies provide ways to achieve this through new architectures, methodologies, and workflows that facilitate semantic tagging, recognition, and acknowledgment of informal learning activities. The transparency and accessibility of cloud services mean that institutions and learners can exploit existing knowledge to their mutual benefit. The TRAILER project facilitates this aim by providing a technological framework using cloud services, a workflow, and a methodology. The services facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge associated with informal learning activities ranging from the use of social software through widgets, computer gaming, and remote laboratory experiments. Data from these activities are shared among institutions, learners, and workers. The project demonstrates the possibility of gathering information related to informal learning activities independently of the context or tools used to carry them out

Incorporating Learning Management System with Social Network Sites to Support Online Collaborative Learning: Preliminary Analysis

In 21st Century Learning, students use educational technologies to apply knowledge to new situations, to analyse information, to collaborate, to solve problems, and to make decisions. Utilising emerging technologies to provide expanded learning opportunities is critical to the success of future generations. In this paper, the author aims to discover if the 21st century’s skills (collaboration, communication, problem solving, and critical thinking) can be discovered through integration of Learning Management System with Social Network Sites. In this preliminary study, two sets of questionnaires were distributed to 84 diploma students and 41 lecturers from Politeknik Ibrahim Sultan, Politeknik Merlimau, Politeknik Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin and Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah. This paper shares the preliminary findings on the perceptions of the students and lecturers on the use of Learning Management System, Social Network Sites and Collaborative Learning in the teaching and learning process. All collected data had been analyse using SPPS 19 software and the results of the study showed the existence of difficulties in communication and interaction in existing LMS and the need to assess students’ engagement in group projects. Incorporating LMS with Facebook to support Online Collaborative Learning as recommendation for future research is suggested