Design Issues of a Distance Learning Course on Business on the Internet

The paper presents the main design issues of a distance learning course on Business on the Internet. The instructional design is based on a learner centered instructional stratedy allowing learners get opportunity to construct their own knowledge while solving real business problems and transfer their knowledge to other learners. They learn autonomously taking the responsibility for their learning and following their individual cognitive styles, interests, preferences. The learners have access to the Internet being members of a global cooperatively learning community. The learning community involves students and tutors who collectively take responsibility for the design and evaluation of the course content and the teaching methods to be applied. Both students and tutors inhabit a virtual learning environment that offers different virtual places and services: virtual university, virtual enterprise, auditoriums, workshop rooms, cafes, libraries, etc., where students from different locations can meet, interact, learn and work together, as if they were face-to-face

Correcting angular limb deformities of radius-ulna and tibia in nine dogs using computer-assisted spider frame system

In this study, angular deformities in 9 dogs, including 8 antebrachium and 1 tibia, were corrected using hexapod external fixators with the help of the computer-aided Spider Frame system.Preoperative planning included measurement of craniocaudal and mediolateral angular deformities, rotational deformity, length deficit, as well as determination of the source of the deformity and assembly of the frame.Joint lines and osteotomy/ostectomy lines were determined according to CORA points determined during preoperative measurements. Proximal and distal rings were placed. After the installation of the spider, radial/ tibial osteotomy/ostectomy was performed at the CORA point of the radius/tibia. After the operation, craniocaudal and mediolateral radiographs were taken in all cases. Ring dimensions, angular deformity values (including angulation, translation and rotation) and the degree of shortening were evaluated by radiographs. These data were entered into the web-based Spider software to generate correction prescriptions, after which the length and deformity correction process started on postoperative days 3-5. Functional results were excellent in seven cases and good in the other two cases. Long-term cosmesis was good to excellent in all cases.In conclusion, Spider Frame is a new generation external fixator system with many technical advantages and we recommend its use in appropriate cases

A priori theories for multimedia design, production and integration

This paper intends to explore the more fundamental theoretical notions underlying the design and configuration of educational multimedia systems. Though it starts its initial inventory with the more traditional theories, it also looks at the more alternative approaches based upon constructivism, adult learning and theories related to creativity and problem solving. Seen from the prospects in multimedia and hypermedia, vocational and adult training have the potential to place the learner in an active and more responsible position. At the same time, however, we see that the product rather than the process-oriented assessment paradigms will survive for several decades. This brings us to the conclusion that it is essentially the local actor (the teacher) and the managers of the local setting who should decide upon the balance between reproduction, understanding and constructionist effects for the student. The versatility of hypermedia programs seem to provide an excellent opportunity for teachers and training officers to decide in a more explicit way upon the instructional impact

Design Issues of a Distance Learning Course on Business on the Internet

The paper presents the main design issues of a distance learning course on Business on the Internet. The instructional design is based on a learner centered instructional stratedy allowing learners get opportunity to construct their own knowledge while solving real business problems and transfer their knowledge to other learners. They learn autonomously taking the responsibility for their learning and following their individual cognitive styles, interests, preferences. The learners have access to the Internet being members of a global cooperatively learning community. The learning community involves students and tutors who collectively take responsibility for the design and evaluation of the course content and the teaching methods to be applied. Both students and tutors inhabit a virtual learning environment that offers different virtual places and services: virtual university, virtual enterprise, auditoriums, workshop rooms, cafes, libraries, etc., where students from different locations can meet, interact, learn and work together, as if they were face-to-face

An Agent-based Approach for Ideational Support in Learning - Integration and Impact

This paper provides results from research work done in respect to the application of agent technology within educational settings. It focuses on problem solving, information handling issues and idea generation. It is based on two research system examples: Solution, Mapping, Intelligent, Learning, Environment (SMILE) Creator and Agent based Information Management System (AIMS). Both systems present approaches for solutions to some of the basic problems within the context of computer based education and training, for example, adaptive learner support, problem solving, navigation, information structuring, presentation, and retrieval. They apply the concept-mapping approach as a basic mechanism for agents' behaviour, information presentation technique, and instructional support. The agent-oriented approach is also applied in AIMS for the overall system architecture and design, where agents are the basic system modules. This paper reflects on the general approach for agents' educational application presented in the papers of this special issue. It builds up a theoretical prototype of the general movement in the field and summarises its added value for learning technology

SMILE Maker: Concept-Orientation in Agent-Based Architectures for Personal Assistance and Collaborative Problem Solving

The paper presents some experimentally validated design solutions on the groupware module ‘Partner’ of SMILE Maker for mobile and personal support facilities. Three types of scenarios for collaborative problem solving have been tested. Pin-cards, Delphi and BrainMapping modes proved to have a differential effect on learning and collaborative problem solving suggesting concrete design solutions. SMILE Maker is a web-based knowledge support system promoting with just in time, just enough and just at point of need intelligent support in dealing with ill-structured problem situations. Conceptually SMILE Maker lies in a cross-section area of four recently strongly recognized paradigms: problem solving, concept mapping, collaborative learning and instructional design. The module ‘Partner’ of SMILE Maker enables a shared group environment for distributing learning resources. It supports externalis ation and sharing the individual potential in terms of formal expertise and tacit knowledge, organised by the personalised meaningful perception of the problem space

Cognitive mapping as a learning method in hypermedia design

The effectiveness of cognitive mapping is defined operationally in the terms of general beneficial, differential, and compensation effects. The contribution of the concept mapping method will mainly be discussed in the context of student assignments in an ill-structured hypermedia design environment. The supposed effects will be checked against the uniqueness of cognitive mapping, cognitive mapping styles, and cognitive mapping as a creative problem solving technique. The most salient theories on which the current practice of cognitive mapping is built upon are discussed, with an emphasis on problem solving representations and meta-cognition