iLRN 2018 Main Conference Preface

iLRN 2018. Conferência realizada em Missoula, MT, USA, de 24-29 de junho de 2018.ILRN 2018 was the fourth annual international conference of the Immersive Learning Network. It followed on from the inaugural conference held in Prague in July 2015, the second conference held in Santa Barbara in June 2016, and the third conference held in Coimbra, Portugal, in 2017. In response to the increasingly accessible and powerful range of VR and AR technology, the vision of the iLRN is to develop a comprehensive research and outreach agenda that encompasses the breadth and scope of learning potentialities, affordances, and challenges of immersive learning environments. To achieve this, the iLRN invites and hosts scientists, practitioners, organizations, and innovators across many disciplines to explore, describe, and apply the optimal use of immersive worlds and environments for educational purposes. The annual conference aims to explain and demonstrate how these immersive learning environments best work. In 2018, 21 formal papers were received for the main conference and after a rigorous reviewing process six were selected for this Springer publication (28% acceptance rate). The authors of these papers come from institutions located in Brazil, Germany, the UK, and the USA (Florida, Texas, California). The main conference papers cover a range of interesting topics in some depth, providing useful information for other educators and researchers. Alvarez-Molina et al. report on how video games can help players develop their musical skills and illustrate this by creating and evaluating a music-video game that aims to improve the key skill of pitch recognition. Bakri et al. investigate the subjective perception of the fidelity of 3D cultural heritage artifacts on the Web and how this affects the user experience. De León reports on the promising results of utilizing problem-based learning for bridging theory and practice in teacher preparation programs through the use of immersive, ill-structured problems in a multi-user virtual environment that simulates a real school. Feenan draws upon 10 years of studies into the use of digital game-based learning as the basis of an analysis that recommends a five-pronged approach to the successful use of games to support social resiliency skills for students in a fast-changing world. Johnson and Sullivan describe a pilot study that identifies three key strategies for making students feel more comfortable and productive in an experimental game design class. Queiroz et al. present a literature review of learning outcomes from using fully HMD-based IVE in primary/K-12 education, highlighting relevant studies, identifying gaps, and providing insights for use in further research. This informative and fascinating collection of papers reflects the emerging and valuable possibilities of immersive learning research. We know you will find many points of interest and use in the well-presented reports in this collection. Finally, we strongly encourage you to join ILRN and contribute your own insights and research to the community.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Supporting professional learning in a massive open online course

Professional learning, combining formal and on the job learning, is important for the development and maintenance of expertise in the modern workplace. To integrate formal and informal learning, professionals have to have good self-regulatory ability. Formal learning opportunities are opening up through massive open online courses (MOOCs), providing free and flexible access to formal education for millions of learners worldwide. MOOCs present a potentially useful mechanism for supporting and enabling professional learning, allowing opportunities to link formal and informal learning. However, there is limited understanding of their effectiveness as professional learning environments. Using self-regulated learning as a theoretical base, this study investigated the learning behaviours of health professionals within Fundamentals of Clinical Trials, a MOOC offered by edX. Thirty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed to explore how the design of this MOOC supported professional learning to occur. The study highlights a mismatch between learning intentions and learning behaviour of professional learners in this course. While the learners are motivated to participate by specific role challenges, their learning effort is ultimately focused on completing course tasks and assignments. The study found little evidence of professional learners routinely relating the course content to their job role or work tasks, and little impact of the course on practice. This study adds to the overall understanding of learning in MOOCs and provides additional empirical data to a nascent research field. The findings provide an insight into how professional learning could be integrated with formal, online learning

Professional Learning in Massive Open Online Courses (Pl-MOOC)

No abstract available

Using the Java Media Framework to build Adaptive Groupware Applications

Realtime audio and video conferencing has not yet been satisfactorily integrated into web-based groupware environments. Conferencing tools are at best only loosely linked to other parts of a shared working environment, and this is in part due to their implications for resource allocation and management. The Java Media Framework offers a promising means of redressing this situation. This paper describes an architecture for integrating the management of video and audio conferences into the resource allocation mechanism of an existing web-based groupware framework. The issue of adaptation is discussed and a means of initialising multimedia session parameters based on predicted QoS is described

Charting collective knowledge: Technology-enhanced professional learning

The workplace is an environment where powerful, deep and effective learning takes place through non-formal workplace learning, as well as through formal training and education. This article describes a mechanism to enhance learning at work by capitalising on collective knowledge within an organisation. Two scenarios are presented illustrating how individual and group learning and performance may be improved. These scenarios are based on empirical data of knowledge work practices within a multinational organization

Professional Learning in Massive Open Online Courses

This study explores the role of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in supporting and enabling professional learning, or learning for work. The research examines how professionals self-regulate their learning in MOOCs. The study is informed by contemporary theories of professional learning, that argue that conventional forms of learning are no longer effective in knowledge intensive domains. As work roles evolve and learning for work becomes continual and personalised, self-regulation is becoming a critical element of professional learning. Yet, established forms of professional learning generally have not taken advantage of the affordances of social, semantic technologies to support self-regulated learning. MOOCs present a potentially useful approach to professional learning that may be designed to encourage self-regulated learning. The study is contextualised within ‘Fundamentals of clinical trials', a MOOC for health professionals designed and run by the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, and offered by edX. The research design builds on the authors' previous studies in the areas of Technology Enhanced Learning and Professional Learning and in particular, research which explored the learning behaviours of education professionals in the Change 11 MOOC. The previous studies demonstrated a link between individual learners SRL profile and their goal setting behaviour in the Change 11 MOOC as well as uncovering other factors which influenced their engagement with the MOOC environment. The present study extends the original study by further focusing on specific aspects of self-regulation identified by the Change11 studies and our parallel studies of self-regulated learning in knowledge workers. The analysis of learner behaviour in the Fundamentals of Clinical Trials is complemented by additional exploration of the design considerations of the MOOC, to determine the extent to which course design can support or inhibit self-regulation of learning. The study poses three research questions: How are Massive Open Online Courses currently designed to support self-regulated learning? What self-regulated learning strategies and behaviours do professionals adopt? and How can MOOCs be designed to encourage professionals to self-regulate their learning? Validated methods and instruments from the original study will be adapted and employed. The research is unique in providing evidence around two critical aspects of MOOCs that are not well understood: the skills and dispositions necessary for self-regulated learning in MOOC environments, and how MOOCs can be designed to encourage the development and emergence of SRL behaviours

Immersive learning research

Editorial. Material for the special issue "Immersive Learning Research" of the Journal of Universal Computer Science.Welcome to the Journal of Universal Computer Science (J.UCS) special issue organized by the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) following the 2017 iLRN conference. This issue includes eight papers on the focused topic "Immersive Learning Research", including extended versions of papers presented at iLRN 2017 and articles from the public call for papers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How the Web was Won : Keeping the computer networking curriculum current with HTTP/2

The Internet and the Web continue to grow in their pervasiveness and as new functionality and behavior emerge it is a challenge to keep the computer networking curriculum up to date. There are many excellent networking textbooks available but they cannot always keep pace with the rate of change. Recent developments in HTTP are a good example of this situation. Since around 2012 many of the web transactions between popular browsers and major web sites have been using a protocol called SPDY, which operates significantly differently from HTTP version 1.1 - the version covered in networking textbooks. SPDY has been largely adopted into the final standard of HTTP version 2. This paper seeks to fill the gap between current textbooks and the versions of HTTP now in use. It gives an overview of HTTP evolution from a technical perspective before suggesting materials and approaches that can be used as learning resources for the topic and how conceptual understanding can be reinforced through hands-on activities which use browsers' native network monitoring capabilities and other readily available tools.Postprin

Why Study on a MOOC? The Motives of Students and Professionals

Massive Open Online Courses have emerged as a popular mechanism for independent learners to acquire new knowledge and skills; however, the challenge of learning online without dedicated tutor support requires learners to self-motivate. This study explores the primary motivations reported by participants in two MOOCs: Fundamentals of Clinical Trials and Introduction to Data Science (n=970). Each MOOC drew a diverse cohort of participants ranging from professionals working in the field to students preparing to enter it. Across both MOOCs, a similar profile of primary motivations emerged, with respondents identifying the potential benefits to their current role, or future career, alongside more general responses reflecting casual interest in the topic or a simple desire to learn. Professionals were primarily motivated by current needs, describing how the course could fill gaps in their formal knowledge, broaden their skillset to increase their effectiveness at work, or enable them to innovate. Professionals also saw the benefit of MOOC study in preparing them for new roles and career progression. Students, meanwhile, used MOOC study to complement their other learning. It is clear that MOOC study represents a popular mechanism for professionals to address both current and future learning needs

Self-regulated learning and knowledge sharing in the workplace

This study explores how experts in a global multinational company self-regulate their learning. It investigates experts‟ perceptions of the impact of knowledge sharing on their learning and work. Findings indicate that self-regulated learning (SRL) is a highly social process that is structured by and deeply integrated with work tasks. Experts tend to draw heavily upon their personal networks of trusted colleagues in the process of diagnosing and attaining their learning goals. In contradiction to existing models, SRL in the workplace does not appear to be a clearly delineated, linear process comprised of discrete stages. Further research is needed to understand tacit practices of SRL in the workplace