Considering the dimensions of life-long learning tools

Life-long learning is a term that has different meanings. It can refer to the learning that occurs in relation to a particular career path, learning inside or outside the workplace, or informal learning that occurs as a part of a hobby or personal interest. Tools that support life-long learning should be malleable enough to effectively adapt to changes in learning mode, behavior and context to take into account changes in the personal circumstances and objectives of learners. This paper presents the beginning of a process to uncover some of the dimensions that can govern the design of adaptable, extensible and customisable life-long learning systems

The Stores Model of Code Cognition

Program comprehension is perhaps one of the oldest topics within the psychology of programming. It addresses a central issue: how programmers work with and manipulate source code to construct effective software systems. Models can play an important role in understanding the challenges developers and engineers contend with. This paper presents a model of program comprehension, or code cognition, which has been derived from literature found within the disciplines of computing and psychology. Drawing on direct experimentation, this paper argues that a model of code cognition should take account of the visual, spatial and linguistic abilities of developers. The strengths and weaknesses of this model are discussed and further research directions presented

Creating accessible SCORM content from OpenLearn material

This presentation shows how OpenLearn material has been used to create accessible SCORM learning objects that can be delivered using a third party virtual learning environment (dotLRN). This work was carried out as a part of a European Union project called ALPE. The activity of adapting the OpenLearn material has helped the VLE developers further understand the activity of creating accessible learning material and help inform the development of the VLE

Adapting e-learning and learning services for people with disabilities

Providing learning materials and support services that are adapted to the needs of individuals has the potential to enable learners to obtain maximal benefit from university level studies. This paper describes EU4ALL project which has been exploring how to present customized learning materials and services for people with disabilities. A number of the technical components of the EU4ALL framework are described. This is followed with a brief description of prototype implementations. This is then followed by a discussion of a number of research directions that may enhance the adaptability, usability and accessibility of information and support systems can be used and consumed by a diverse user population

Evaluating accessible adaptable e-learning

Two different approaches can increase the accessibility of digital educational materials: content that has been built with the widest possible set of users in mind (universal design), or content that has been designed in such a way that it can be personalised to individual user needs and preferences (personalised design). This paper outlines a number of approaches that could be used to evaluate the provision of learning materials that have been adapted to or chosen for individual learners. A number of different perspectives are considered in this paper: a learner's perspective, the perspective of the tutor or teacher, and an institutional perspective. A number of complementary methodologies are presented. It is argued that the evaluation of a system that provides personalised learning content is a challenging activity that necessitates the application of multiple methods to effectively understand the underlying costs and benefits of providing personalised learning materials

A technical perspective on ASAP – Automated System for Assessment of Programming

To learn computer programming, students are invariably asked to complete some form of assignment, which is often assessed by the instructors. This assessment can be time consuming, and an automatic system of assessment can reduce this burden and allow additional functionality. One practical issue is how to integrate them with the other components of the learning management system used by any given institution. ASAP is an automated programming assessment tool which conforms to the JISC e-learning framework, designed for to make such components interoperable and reusable. This paper reviews the previous work on automatic programming assessment, and then presents a technical review of ASAP, discussing its architecture and standards. The paper then discusses some of the challenges that have been faced in developing tests and running foreign code submitted to a web service. Possible extensions to the system are presented, and the current work is described

Assessment, life circumstances, curriculum and skills: barriers and enablers to student mental wellbeing in distance learning

Student mental wellbeing is increasingly a priority for universities, and this is particularly critical in a distance learning context. Studies have found that studying, academic pressure, university culture and systems can affect students’ mental health. There are increasing calls for universities to take a compassionate, holistic approach to supporting student wellbeing, and identify the barriers that are created by university cultures, systems, pedagogies, curricula, tuition and assessment practices. This study aimed to identify barriers and enablers to student mental wellbeing in distance learning, and students’ recommendations for changes to be made. Using a student survey (N=584), we identified that assessment and life circumstances were the most significant barriers, while the greatest enablers were building study skills, the people in students’ lives, and curriculum and module content. The study revealed significant demographic differences in how students experience barriers and enablers, and how likely they feel they are to benefit from solutions. Students with disclosed mental health difficulties were consistently more likely to experience barriers than students without a disclosure, while enablers were experienced by all demographic groups. The study concludes that assessment should be prioritised as an area for action

Particular genomic and virulence traits associated with preterm infant-derived toxigenic Clostridium perfringens strains

Clostridium perfringens is an anaerobic toxin-producing bacterium associated with intestinal diseases, particularly in neonatal humans and animals. Infant gut microbiome studies have recently indicated a link between C. perfringens and the preterm infant disease necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), with specific NEC cases associated with overabundant C. perfringens termed C. perfringens-associated NEC (CPA-NEC). In the present study, we carried out whole-genome sequencing of 272 C. perfringens isolates from 70 infants across 5 hospitals in the United Kingdom. In this retrospective analysis, we performed in-depth genomic analyses (virulence profiling, strain tracking and plasmid analysis) and experimentally characterized pathogenic traits of 31 strains, including 4 from CPA-NEC patients. We found that the gene encoding toxin perfringolysin O, pfoA, was largely deficient in a human-derived hypovirulent lineage, as well as certain colonization factors, in contrast to typical pfoA-encoding virulent lineages. We determined that infant-associated pfoA + strains caused significantly more cellular damage than pfoA − strains in vitro, and further confirmed this virulence trait in vivo using an oral-challenge C57BL/6 murine model. These findings suggest both the importance of pfoA + C. perfringens as a gut pathogen in preterm infants and areas for further investigation, including potential intervention and therapeutic strategies