Adapting Learning Activities: a Case Study of IMS LD based Script and Tooling

This paper discusses some issues about the adaptive script & adaptive learning management system. It describes mechanisms provided by IMS LD for expressing adaptive script. It investigates how to create adaptive script with IMS LD and how to adapt script at run-time through using a case

Supporting Self-Directed Learning Process in a Virtual Collaborative Problem Based Learning Environment

The PBL process is a self-directed learning process. In the light of self-directed learning theory, the author argues that computational mechanisms can be used to support selfdirected learning for PBL groups in virtual learning environments. In this paper, an approach to the support of self-directed learning is proposed. This approach supports self-directed learning in a virtual PBL environment in two ways. Firstly, the shared workspaces together with their accompanying tools and documents allow students to actively engage in collaborative, creative, and unstructured PBL activities. Secondly, the process support tool helps students to organize, execute, and coordinate structured parts of PBL processes. This approach has been adopted to develop our prototype system CROCODILE

A Domain-specific Modeling Approach to the Development of Online Peer Assessment

Miao, Y., & Koper, R. (2007). A Domain-specific Modeling Approach to the Development of Online Peer Assessment. In T. Navarette, J. Blat & R. Koper (Eds.). Proceedings of the 3rd TENCompetence Open Workshop 'Current Research on IMS Learning Design and Lifelong Competence Development Infrastructures' (pp. 81-88). June, 21-22, 2007, Barcelona, Spain.Modelling a peer assessment using IMS LD and IMS QTI is difficult for average practitioners. In this paper, we apply domain-specific modelling technologies to develop a peer assessment modelling language, in which notations are directly chosen from the concepts and rules used to describe peer assessment. Thus, practitioners can easily understand such a high-level language and use it to specify online peer assessment. The paper also discuss some related issues to develop an authoring tool for modelling with the peer assessment modelling language and to map a peer assessment model represented in the peer assessment modelling language to a corresponding executable model represented in IMS LD and IMS QTI.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org

A Collaborative Virtual Environment for Situated Learning of Car Driving

Miao, Y., Pinkwart, N., and Hoppe, H.U. (2006). "A Collaborative Virtual Environment for Situated Learning of Car Driving". International Journal on Advanced Technology for Learning (ATL), 3(4), 233-240.In the view of situated learning theory, knowledge and understanding are fundamentally products of learning situations. Learning is situated and takes place by means of legitimate peripheral participation within the context of a community of practice. Based on the theory of situated learning, this article develops conceptual and technical approaches to build a web-based collaborative 3D car-driving simulation environment that requires only low computing, networking and development resources. Rather than instructing individuals on a formal, structured, intensive and programmed base, this simulation environment supports members of virtual communities of practice to perform informal, unstructured, spontaneous, collaborative, situated learning. Pilot studies conducted with the system show its partial success and demonstrate that it depends on the characteristics of specific educationally valuable learning situations whether the collaborative learning approach we propose can succeed also with smaller group sizes

A Collaborative Virtual Environment for Situated Learning of Car Driving

In the view of situated learning theory, knowledge and understanding are fundamentally products of learning situations. Learning is situated and takes place by means of legitimate peripheral participation within the context of a community of practice. Based on the theory of situated learning, this article develops conceptual and technical approaches to build a web-based collaborative 3D car-driving simulation environment that requires only low computing, networking and development resources. Rather than instructing individuals on a formal, structured, intensive and programmed base, this simulation environment supports members of virtual communities of practice to perform informal, unstructured, spontaneous, collaborative, situated learning. Pilot studies conducted with the system show its partial success and demonstrate that it depends on the characteristics of specific educationally valuable learning situations whether the collaborative learning approach we propose can succeed also with smaller group sizes

Facilitating Work Based Learning Projects: A Business Process Oriented Knowledge Management Approach

The knowledge generated and acquired in workplaces differs from that generated and sustained within formal academic and disciplinary structures. It is interdisciplinary and situated, and cannot be organized and structured as a traditional discipline-based course. This paper proposes to use the business process as a framework to structure and organize work-based knowledge for facilitating the creation, transfer, and use of knowledge across work-based learning (WBL) projects within the networked learning community. This approach supports to represent and record externalized tacit and explicit knowledge and to find context-sensitive and task-relevant knowledge resources. We argue that IMS Learning Design (LD), with appropriate changes, can be used to represent WBL project plans and facilitate the creation and use of work-based knowledge through execution of the WBL project plan represented in LD

Situation Creator: A Pedagogical Agent Creating Learning Opportunities

Miao, Y., Hoppe, H. U., & Pinkwart, N. (2007). Situation Creator: A Pedagogical Agent Creating Learning Opportunities. In R. Luckin, K. Koedinger & J. Greer (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (pp. 614-617). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: IOS Press.In a multi-user, real-time, and situation-based learning environment, the availability of enough and appropriate situations is crucial for success. In order to improve effectiveness and efficiency of learning, we develop a new type of pedagogical agent: situation creator. Such an agent intentionally creates specific situations in the shared virtual driving place according to users’ performance information. We conduct a pilot evaluation and found that the situation creators significantly increase the number of situations that a learner can expect to encounter while using the system

An Analysis of Unreliability of Competence Information in Learning Networks and the First Exploration of a Possible Technical Solution

Miao, Y., Sloep, P., Hummel, H. G. K., & Koper, R. (2008). An Analysis of Unreliability of Competence Information in Learning Networks and the First Exploration of a Possible Technical Solution. In R. Koper, K. Stefanov & D. Dicheva (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th International TENCompetence Open Workshop "Stimulating Personal Development and Knowledge Sharing" (pp. 72-78). October, 30-31, 2008, Sofia, Bulgaria: TENCompetence Workshop. [For the whole proceedings please see also http://hdl.handle.net/1820/1961 ]Automated competence tracking and management is crucial for an effective and efficient life-long competence development in learning networks. However, currently there is no systematic method to represent, measure, and interpret competence. In this paper, we analyze the problem of unreliability of competence information in learning networks. In tracking the development of competences in learning networks, a large amount of competence information can be gathered from diverse sources and diverse types of sources, which is subject to uncertainty and unreliable. This paper investigates information fusion technologies that may be applied to address the problem and that show promise as candidate solutions for achieving an improved estimate of competences by fusing (possibly inconsistent) information coming from multiple sources. This paper is intended to motivate educational technology researchers to learn more about information fusion, to perform studies with real and simulated data sets, and to apply in learning networks that may benefit from information fusion technologies.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org

Design Support for non-expert authors in the creation of units of learning - a first exploration

[unpublished]Diverse approaches have been proposed to model educational resources using design rules into IMS Learning Design units of learning. Although varied, these approaches have found limited practical application by teachers, in today’s e-learning. The tools remains tied to the specification with little to no design support for non-experts in the specification. As a result, today’s IMS LD tools cater to LD experts and serve as reference implementations of the specification rather than supporting the non-experts’ engagement in the design process. Consequently, non-experts in the specification cannot undertake the creation of units of learning and remain outside the fold of the IMS LD community. This paper presents features and characteristics of an IMS LD authoring environment to actualize the active participation of non-expert authors in the design of instruction using IMS LD, by addressing the paucity of support afforded to this group with the application of learning design rules to capture the their knowledge. The paper presents an alternate classification of the approaches used in IMS LD authoring tools to support the engagement of non-experts, and based on the salient features of the approaches proposed, the paper reviews the state-of-the-art in IMS LD tools, exemplifying the paucity of IMS LD tools for non-expert authors.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org

Improving the Unreliability of Competence Information:an Argumentation to Apply Information Fusion in Learning Networks

Miao, Y., Sloep, P. B., Hummel, H., & Koper, R. (2009). Improving the Unreliability of Competence Information: an Argumentation to Apply Information Fusion in Learning Networks [Special issue]. International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning (IJCEELL), 19(4/5/6), 366-380.Automated competence tracking and management is crucial for an effective and efficient lifelong competence development in learning networks. In this paper, we systematically analyze the problem of unreliability of competence information in learning networks. In tracking the development of competences in learning networks, a large amount of competence information can be gathered from diverse sources and diverse types of sources. Individual information is more or less credible. This paper investigates information fusion technologies that may be applied to address the problem and that show promise as candidate solutions for achieving an improved estimate of competences by fusing information coming from multiple sources and diverse types of sources.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org