The ROLE Showcase Platform is a kind of virtual showroom providing information about the software developed in the ROLE (Responsive Open Learning Environments) project. Aim of the ROLE project is to provide new methodologies and software supporting lifelong learning, namely individual constructing of personal learning environments according to users’ preferences and learning goals. This demo paper describes scope and goals of the ROLE project, and introduces the ROLE Showcase Platform, its main content types and software (learning widget bundles and learning tools) demonstrated.
Social Network Sites such as Facebook are being now used by many academics for learning purposes, taking into account studies that report that a majority of young students spend more time in socially related online activities when compared to time in classroom. In online education there are mature models for creating and conducting learning experiences, one of them is the 5 stage e-Moderation model. In this study we created an experience of doing e-Moderation of a learning process in Facebook. At the same time a comparison of interactions and learning between Facebook and traditional online discussion forums in a learning management system is performed. The participants of the course setting are university professors from diverse countries in Latin-America. Outlined are findings in organization of learning activities, new social motivation artifacts and intrinsic social behaviors, information exchange difficulties, enhanced and increased interaction, positive knowledge construction, critical thinking and reflection development, therefore leading the study results into creating effective e-Moderation learning activities in Social Network Sites.
There are plenty of projects aimed at incorporating semantic information into present day document processing. The main problem is their real-world usability. E-learning is one of the areas which can take advantage of the semantically described documents. In this paper we would like to introduce a framework of cooperating tools which can help extract, store, visualize semantics in this area.
This paper presents extensions that have been programmed by the Department Social Learning (DSL) at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) for a blogosphere used at TU Graz called TU Graz LearnLand (TUGLL) on base of the open source software ELGG. These extensions are useful upgrades to the system following the demands of the pedagogical strategy of the TU Graz. A description of the extensions and didactical considerations are discussed.
The knowledge maturing model views learning activities as embedded into, interwoven with, and even indistinguishable from everyday work processes. Learning is understood as an inherently social and collaborative activity. The Knowledge Maturing Process Model structures this process into five phases: expressing ideas, distributing in communities, formalizing, ad-hoc learning and standardization. It is applicable not only for content but also to process knowledge and semantics. In the MATURE IP two toolsets will be develop that support the maturing process: a personal learning environment and an organisation learning environment integrating the levels of individuals, communities and organisation. The development is guided by the SER theory of seeding, evolutionary growth and reseeding and is based on generally applicable maturing services.
Complex products and services require both the sophisticated knowledge of individuals on the one hand and collective collaboration between various disciplines and teams on the other. Work-related individual and organizational learning processes in organizations appear to provide the foundations for such individual and organizational knowledge and capabilities. These interconnected learning processes would also seem to be situated in both a social and a physical environment. This paper proposes a methodology for managing situated individual and organizational learning. Empirical results from a questionnaire and two test bed organizations are presented and conclusions drawn from the assessment results on recommended measures for the use of e-learning.
In knowledge intensive companies intellectual capital assumes a crucial role in the organizational strategy and, as any other strategical asset, it needs to be scheduled to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. When the required knowledge is a resource available inside the company, its assignment represents a key success factor, which many research efforts are devoted to. On the other side, when the needed competence is unavailable within the company, training programs may be seen as methods to strengthen such a strategic asset. In this paper we show a semantic-based integrated system aimed at supporting both the assignment of available intellectual resources in three different multiplicity scenarios and the search for training programs ad-hoc composed to fill possible knowledge gaps.
Standard based management systems (as ISO9001 quality, ISO14001 environmental, ISO27001 information security, ISO 22000 hygiene management systems and others) are widely implemented and based on common principles: objectives and strategies, business processes, resource management and continuously optimization. These systems must also be documented, communicated, implemented and continuously improved. Therefore they represent an optimal basis for an integrated learning organization, if the requirements of management systems are completely implemented. This documentation contains the explicit organizational knowledge, but it is almost felt as additional workload with a little or no advantage and it is not totally corresponding with the lived processes. Therefore it is hardly used as reference book for workplace need-oriented process integrated learning to improve the organization. Based on this situation we prepared the system documentation according to media-pedagogical and didactical principles and published it on organizational learning and knowledge system based on constructivist theory. In the case study the documentation support a confidence-based, open and fault-tolerant corporate and learning culture by promoting a need-oriented workplace process integrated learning, shorter initial training periods for new collaborators and a continuous optimization of the organization for securing a sustainable success for the organization.
Today, Web Based Training (WBT) starts to be widely used as a new way of teaching. Unfortunately, this mode of teaching imposes new requirements and constraints. It has made the creation of learning materials a complex and demanding task for the instructors because it takes much time and demands a multitude of skills, in particular technical skills that must be developed and continuously updated. Hence, we propose a collaborative authoring methodology based on division of labor as a way to produce WBTs where the processes of production are clearly separated to meet the existing and needed skills of persons involved in WBT production. This paper presents an efficient method to support instructor’s guidance during the first phase of the WBT production called the Macro Design using the Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) and taxonomies we developed.
Wikipedia [Wikipedia06] is a well known and very successful online-encyclopaedia. It is free, available in different languages and everybody is permitted to contribute. This result in a worldwide collaboration aiming at one target: Anybody can provide information for everybody. However, one interesting question would be whether this successful principle can be transferred to learning communities in higher education and how it could be achieved. This paper presents some experiences gained during the use of a Wiki-System during lectures on structural concrete at both the University of Applied Sciences FH Joanneum and Graz University of Technology. Our approach included a technical and didactical concept as well as accepted investigation methods. Presenting a full analysis of the implementation, this paper shows its general potential, the weakness of the principle and further future approaches.
The European University Reform and its restructuring of the course system as well as the reinforcing of international student and professor mobility has as a natural result the extension of obligatory language requests for students of most of the University Faculties. At the same time Universities have to drastically cut back expenses for their language teaching staff. This dilemma has been resolved in different ways by employing freelance teachers, by outsourcing language teaching or by lowering the professional status of University lecturers. The new challenge following the European University reform process compels the Universities to offer qualified language classes and tests to University students in an extended measure. Many Universities created or adopted computer programs for autonomous e-learning activities. The experience of the Bologna University, one of the first in Italy to install computer laboratories with interactive language courses and testing programs, has been a successful way to respond to the urgent demand of guaranteeing qualified language instruction and reliable level exams to University students within the bounds of restricted financial possibilities
Thesis reviewing is considered as a knowledge task that can be supported by computer-based techniques. The knowledge that underlies the reviewing is represented in a database where it can be shared between all concerned actors such as reviewers, thesis authors, and prospective thesis writers.
Although both e-learning and knowledge management are about facilitating learning in organization, the major obstacle to bring both of them together can be traced back to different paradigms of learning, resulting from the different nature of the knowledge they are dealing with. In this paper, a knowledge maturing process is presented to illustrate the change of nature and the discontinuities. This lays the foundation for a better understanding. In order to overcome the discontinuities, the consideration of context is proposed, which offers the required continuity.
In this paper, a terminological and pragmatic paradigm shift is proposed and undertaken from the field of Personalisation Systems towards the field of Adaptive Systems. A new conceptual framework for both topics is developed in order to enable a deeper insight into the challenges and benefits of merging the fields. The aim of this paper is to define a generic and component-based Personalisation Model (PM), which is derived from an analytical perspective on systems that are pertinent to adaptation. Furthermore, validity and applicability of the PM are demonstrated for the field of adaptive e-learning. Thus, practical experiences within the AdeLE (Adaptive e-Learning with Eye-Tracking) research project are discussed.
In this paper we introduce AdELE, a framework for adaptive e-learning utilising both eye tracking and content tracking technology. The framework is based upon the combination of fine-grained real-time eye tracking with synchronous content tracking, a user profiler, an adaptive multimedia learning environment, and a dynamic background library. The framework ensures not only adaptivity to the users’ preferences, knowledge level and the realtime tracking of their behaviour, but also ensures the relevance, accuracy and reliability of the knowledge provided.
PRO-TEACH-NET is a German e-learning project that aims to construct an internetbased learning environment for five partner universities based upon common teaching contents in product development for mechanical engineering. Existing courses are redesigned, transformed into multimedia format and made accessible over the internet. In order to prepare students for working conditions similar to engineering cooperation of international companies, the concept offers project work in virtual teams, geographically distributed among the partner universities. For example, an engineering design project is realised by a virtual team of five local teams at each of the partner universities. The concept offers a combination of traditional team working exercise in engineering design with internet based collaboration techniques. The students experience teamwork with local peers as well as in virtual teams with students from other universities. The tasks are shared and the students develop the product using technologies like internet-based collaboration and communication.
Organisations are searching for efficient training methods that fit to their specific demands. This paper presents the various training and knowledge sharing initiatives applied at Hewlett Packard Services Consulting and Integration (HPS C&I) for its Knowledge Management (KM) program. It outlines the usage of e-learning for our KM program but gives at the same time an idea how e-learning can be put on top of collaborative workspaces and be tied into the KM program.
Companies are starting to recognise synergies between knowledge management, training and e-learning programs, but a closer look reveals that these integration ideas are rarely implemented in practice. The goal of this paper is to provide a starting point for collaboration between corporate KM and HR/learning teams by mapping existing practices of linking KM, training and e-learning efforts. We provide an overview of experiences and future ideas of collaboration derived from several studies, group them in three themes and then illustrate each theme with a scenario. The first theme gives examples of using HR and training instruments to support knowledge management. The second theme represents cases of using KM methods (namely a community of practice) to support HR learning management efforts. The last theme describes how KM and HR/learning teams could work on joint initiatives. Then we discuss the added value of the scenarios and propose further practical steps and research directions.
Knowledge management case studies in most cases focus on one or a few applications. Typically, the discussion is limited to what has been found out in the past. On the other hand, numerous authors have reported on the technological aspects at a high level of abstraction, where no specific business cases were taken into account. There are polls and surveys to identify potential future trends, but these typically investigate a serious of market segments without making specific statements about KM in the automotive industry. In this paper we hope to bridge this gap: in order to identify the potential benefits of KM, we will survey some of the literature describing recent, current, as well as expected future developments in the automotive industry. In particular, expand on three key trends in order to discuss potential benefits from Collaborative KM: the supply chain, improvements in engine development, and providing the industry with skilled workers. We found that the following are interesting applications from the point of view of Collaborative KM: (1) collaborative partner extranets (to support the supply chain), (2) inter-company collaboration, training to be tied into every-day work, KM to support Quality Management (to assist in the improvements of engine performance), and (3) e-learning combined with helpdesk automation and a knowledge base (in order to help provide the industry with skilled workers).
E-learning is an increasingly accepted teaching methodology in the academic community. One problem that e-learning has to deal with is the lack of quality rules. At the current development stage, quality assessment and assurance in e-learning must dealt in parallel with the establishment of the form and content of e-learning platforms. Based on the experience in quality assurance gained in the frame of TEMPUS Project S-JEP 11155, the authors investigate this subject and analyze a series of considerations about auditing. Is audit necessary in e-learning? Which will be the manner, on electronic support (e-audit) or a combination of electronic support and real visits at the university that need accreditation? Is all the e-learning community convinced about importance of quality assurance and audit to warranty the quality of teaching using e-learning methodology? Which will the content of an eaudit be? The answer of these questions is the development of e-learning as teaching methodology in parallel with quality assurance, a essential combination to impose e-learning as the future support of ODL.
In all areas of the e-era, personalization plays an important role. Particularly in elearning a main issue is student modelling, that is analysis of student behaviour and prediction of his/her future behaviour and learning performance. In this paper, we have focused our attention on a system based on Machine Learning techniques, which discovers the preferences, needs and interests of users accessing the e-learning system (the Profile Extractor). The automatic generation and discovery of the user profile, to obtain a simple student model, based on learning performance and communication preferences, helps create a personalized education environment.
Current E-Learning solutions are not sufficiently aware of the context of the learner, i.e. the individual characteristics, the organization and the work processes and tasks. This can be achieved by modular learning objects and semantical metadata for their contextualization. This allows to deliver learning material that is relevant to the current situation of the learner. This paper presents the general approach and the architecture.
Traditional software used for student-centered learning typically provides for a uniform user interface through which information is delivered in a uniformly identical fashion to all users without regard to their learning style. This research classifies personality types of computer science undergraduate students using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; relates these types of personalities to defined learning preferences; and tests if a user interface designed for a student’s learning preference enhances learning. The approach of this study is as follows: given a set of user interfaces designed to fit personality types, provide a user interface to participants with the matching personality type. In the control group, provide participants with a randomly chosen user interface. Observe the performance of all participants in a post-test. Quantitative results indicate that personality-aware user interfaces have a significant effect on learning. Qualitative results show that in most cases, users preferred user interfaces designed for their own personality type.