SubCollaboration: large-scale group management in collaborative learning

Computer-supported collaborative learning is a paradigm that uses technology to support collaborative methods of instruction. When combining collaborative learning with the need to exchange documents between students and the teaching staff in a blended learning scenario, version control systems (VCSs) greatly simplify this collaboration. Furthermore, these tools need to be adopted in regular classes as they are used in industrial environments. But deploying a collaborative environment in which version control is used does not scale for large classes. This paper presents SubCollaboration, a platform that uses the VCS Subversion to manage a large number of work spaces in a collaborative learning environment. The tool maintains a reference workspace where teaching staff introduces new material that is then synchronized with the team repositories. Two case studies are presented showing that students easily learn the use of version control and its deployment in large classes is feasible.This work was partially funded by the Learn3 project, ‘Plan Nacional de I+D+I TIN2008-05163/TSI’, the Best Practice Network ICOPER (Grant No. ECP-2007-EDU-417007), the Flexo Project ‘Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica’ (Ref. TSI-020301-2008-19), and the ‘Emadrid: Investigación y desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid’ project (S2009/TIC-1650).Publicad

Current Issues with Assessment Formats and Interoperability

Proceedings of: 2010 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), Madrid, Spain, 14-16 April, 2010Assessment has been one of the areas in computer supported learning where technology has been quickly deployed. Support for computer based assessment is found not only in all Learning Management Systems, but also as stand-alone tools. This large number of tools has led to the appearance of a large number of formats to store, retrieve and exchange assessment material. Although institutions such as the IMS Global Consortium have proposed specifications (e.g. IMS QTI) aimed to facilitate the exchange of this material, in the actual landscape, there are still too many formats that significantly hinder the reuse of this material. In this paper an analysis of the implementation of these formats is described.This work has been partially funded by the iCoper Project (eContentPlus Best Practice Network No. ECP-2007-EDU-417007), Learn3 Project (“Plan Nacional de I+D+I” TIN2008- 05163/TSI), Flexo (AVANZA), España Virtual (CDTI, Ingenio 2010, CENIT), SOLITE (CYTED 508AC0341)Publicad

A Distributed Collaborative System for Flexible Learning Content Production and Management

Authoring learning content is an area under pressure due to conflicting requirements. Adaptive, templatebased, highly interactive, multimedia-rich content is desired for current learning environments. At the same time, authors need a system supporting collaboration, easy re-purposing, and continuous updates with a lower adoption barrier to keep the production process simple, specially for high enrollment learning scenarios. Other areas such as software development have adopted effective methodologies to cope with a similar increase in complexity. In this paper an authoring system is presented to support a community of authors in the creation of learning content. A set of pre-defined production rules and templates are offered. Following the single source approach, authors create documents that are then automatically processed to obtain various derived resources. The toolkit allows for simple continuous updates, the re-use and re-purpose of course material, as well as the adaptation of resources to different target groups and scenarios. The toolkit has been validated by analyzing its use over a three year period in two high enrollment engineering courses. The results show effective support and simplification of the production process as well as its sustainability over time.Work partially funded by the EEE project, “Plan Nacional de I+D+I TIN2011-28308-C03-01”, and the “Emadrid: Investigación y desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid” project (S2009/TIC-1650).Publicad

Metástasis gingival de adenocarcinoma de colon

La cavidad oral es lugar de asiento de tumores metastásicos, sobre todo con origen en mama y pulmón. La mayoría de los casos afectan por este orden a los huesos mandibular y maxilar, aunque en ocasiones se desarrollan sobre las partes blandas intraorales. Presentamos el caso de un paciente de 62 años diagnosticado de adenocarcinoma de colon sigmoide con metástasis ganglionares y hepáticas, que 6 meses después presenta una lesión vegetante en la encía, interpretada inicialmente como neoplasia primaria de encía, que tras ser biopsiada fue diagnosticada como adenocarcinoma intestinal metastásico. El estudio histológico es obligatorio para diferenciar un adenocarcinoma de los carcinomas de células escamosas, habituales en la zona, y las técnicas inmunohistoquímicas permiten diferenciar entre un tumor metastásico, sea intestinal o de otro origen, y un adenocarcinoma primario originado en glándulas salivares menores de la zona. La presencia de un tumor diseminado con extensión intraoral acarrea un pronóstico ominoso, aunque si se trata de una metástasis única es posible un tratamiento quirúrgico radical con una supervivencia mayor.Metastatic tumors involve the oral cavity, and the most common primary sites are the breast and lung. Most cases affect the mandible and maxilla in that order, although some of them can be located in the soft perioral tissues. We report the case of a 62-year-old male who had been diagnosed with sigmoid adenocarcinoma with nodal and liver metastasis, who presented 6 months later with a gingival polypoid tumor, at first considered as a primary neoplasm of gingiva, that was diagnosed in a biopsy as metastatic intestinal adenocarcinoma. The histological evaluation is essential to separate adenocarcinoma from the commoner in this site squamous cell carcinoma, and the immunohistochemical techniques are useful to distinguish metastatic tumor versus primary adenocarcinoma from the minor salivary glands of the area. The intraoral spread of a disseminated neoplasm is generally a sign of bad prognosis, although a longer survival can be expected if a radical surgical treatment of a solitary metastasis is carried out

Background questionnaires of PISA: a study of the assessment indicators

The PISA assessment system has generated and continues to generate intense debate about its structure and usefulness. This article focuses on the context questionnaires as a way to analyze and understand the results properly. The objectives are to analyze the background indicators used in the different editions of the PISA tests, used in different studies and the results of these studies. An overview of the model used is provided to ensure that these indicators are no longer something that accompanies the performance test to reach their true meaning: jointly analyze the performance along with the variables that may be influencing the results. As methodology is used document analysis of publications related to PISA and results, as well as a semantic analysis of scientific work that has generated PISA. The results show that some indicators have remained throughout the various editions of PISA, while others have changed. The translation of a stable model in editions from PISA 2015 in which the most relevant items are included will undoubtedly facilitate the study of results at vertical and horizontal level. Thus, the importance of PISA context questionnaires established to properly understand their results and the need for more complex studies of multilevel or nested that normally used, generally based on descriptive statistics and / or percentagesThe PISA assessment system has generated and continues to generate intense debate about its structure and usefulness. This article focuses on the context questionnaires as a way to analyze and understand the results properly. The objectives are to analyze the context indicators used in the different editions of the PISA tests, used in different studies and the results of these studies. An overview of the model used is provided to ensure that these indicators are no longer something that accompanies the performance test to reach their true meaning: jointly analyze the performance along with the variables that may be influencing the results. As methodology is used document analysis of publications related to PISA and results, as well as a semantic analysis of scientific work that has generated PISA. The results show that some indicators have remained throughout the various editions of PISA, while others have changed. The translation of a stable model in editions from PISA 2015 in which the most relevant items are included will undoubtedly facilitate the study of results at vertical and horizontal level. Thus, the importance of PISA context questionnaires established to properly understand their results and the need for more complex studies of multilevel or nested that normally used, generally based on descriptive statistics and / or percentages

Colon adenocarcinoma with metastasis to the gingiva

La cavidad oral es lugar de asiento de tumores metastásicos, sobre todo con origen en mama y pulmón. La mayoría de los casos afectan por este orden a los huesos mandibular y maxilar, aunque en ocasiones se desarrollan sobre las partes blandas intraorales. Presentamos el caso de un paciente de 62 años diagnosticado de adenocarcinoma de colon sigmoide con metástasis ganglionares y hepáticas, que 6 meses después presenta una lesión vegetante en la encía, interpretada inicialmente como neoplasia primaria de encía, que tras ser biopsiada fue diagnosticada como adenocarcinoma intestinal metastásico. El estudio histológico es obligatorio para diferenciar un adenocarcinoma de los carcinomas de células escamosas, habituales en la zona, y las técnicas inmunohistoquímicas permiten diferenciar entre un tumor metastásico, sea intestinal o de otro origen, y un adenocarcinoma primario originado en glándulas salivares menores de la zona. La presencia de un tumor diseminado con extensión intraoral acarrea un pronóstico ominoso, aunque si se trata de una metástasis única es posible un tratamiento quirúrgico radical con una supervivencia mayor

On gegenbauer point processes on the unit interval

In this paper we compute the logarithmic energy of points in the unit interval [-1,1] chosen from different Gegenbauer Determinantal Point Processes. We check that all the different families of Gegenbauer polynomials yield the same asymptotic result to third order, we compute exactly the value for Chebyshev polynomials and we give a closed expression for the minimal possible logarithmic energy. The comparison suggests that DPPs cannot match the value of the minimum beyond the third asymptotic term.CB was partially supported by grants PID2020-113887GB-I00, MTM2017-83816-P and MTM2017-90682-REDT funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033, and by Banco de Santander and Universidad de Cantabria grant 21.SI01.64658. AD and LF were partially supported by FEDER/Junta de Andalucía A-FQM-246-UGR20; grant PGC2018-094932-B-I00 and IMAG-María de Maeztu grant CEX2020-001105-M both funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER funds. JSL was partially supported by FEDER/Junta de Andalucía A-FQM-246-UGR20; grant MTM2015-71352-P funded by MINECO; and IMAG-María de Maeztu grant CEX2020-001105-M funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER funds

Coupled path and motion planning for a rover-manipulator system

This paper introduces a motion planning strategy aimed at the coordination of a rover and manipulator. The main purpose is to fetch samples of scientific interest that could be placed on difficult locations, requiring to maximize the workspace of the combined system. In order to validate this strategy, a simulation environment has been built, based on the VORTEX Studio platform. A virtual model of the ExoTer rover prototype, owned by the European Space Agency, has been used together with the same robot control software. Finally, we show in this paper the benefits of validating the proposed strategy on simulation, prior to its future use on the real experimental rover.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Generic service integration in adaptive learning experiences using IMS learning design

IMS Learning Design is a specification to capture the orchestration taking place in a learning scenario. This paper presents an extension called Generic Service Integration. This paradigm allows a bidirectional communication between the course engine in charge of the orchestration and conventional Web 2.0 tools. This communication allows the engine to configure external services so as to adjust their behaviour, and also retrieve information about their activity and use it to influence the orchestration process. This extension impacts all the phases of the life cycle of a learning activity: authoring, deployment and enactment. The paper analyses this impact and proposes appropriate adjustments. A pilot test was conducted and the obtained results show that learning experiences that adapt their flow-based on third party tools while maintaining interoperability, reusability and self-containment requirements are feasible.Work partially funded by the Learn3 project, “Plan Nacional de I+D+I” TIN2008-05163/TSI, the Best Practice Network ICOPER (Grant No. ECP-2007-EDU-417007), the Flexo Project “Plan Nacional de Investigacin Cientfica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica” (Ref. TSI-020301-2008-19), and the “Emadrid: Investigación y desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid” project (S2009/TIC-1650).Publicad

Addressing drop-out and sustained effort issues with large practical groups using an automated delivery and assessment system

The acquisition of programming skills specially in introductory programming courses poses an important challenge for freshmen students of engineering programs. These courses require students to devote a sustained effort during the whole course and a failure to do so may contribute to not passing the course. However, it is difficult for the teaching staff to deploy measures to enforce a pattern of continuous work without significantly increasing the required management tasks. A significant reduction of this workload can be achieved with the automation of time consuming tasks such as the delivery of activities or submission grading. This paper presents a case of study where a technology based orchestration of learning scripts was applied in a large enrollment course to promote student sustained effort through the course and keep the workload on teaching staff within reasonable margins. The orchestration system, based on IMS Learning Design and Generic Service Integration, automatically evaluated the student submissions and gradually unlocked the following activities depending on the received results. Such system was used during a semester supporting 425 students and 8 instructors. The analysis of the case of study followed a mixed method based on qualitative and quantitative data, and revealed a significant reduction of the orchestration workload on the teaching staff, allowing the strategy of continuous work to be applied in a course with high enrollment. Additionally, the application of these techniques show statistically significant differences in the drop out rate with respect to previous editions of the course.Work partially funded by the EEE project, “Plan Nacional de I+D+I TIN2011-28308-C03-01” and the “Emadrid: Investigación y desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid” project (S2009/TIC-1650)