Using the learning tools interoperability framework for LMS integration in service oriented architectures

The LMS plays an indisputable role in the majority of the eLearning environments. This eLearning system type is often used for presenting, solving and grading simple exercises. However, exercises from complex domains, such as computer programming, require heterogeneous systems such as evaluation engines, learning objects repositories and exercise resolution environments. The coordination of networks of such disparate systems is rather complex. This work presents a standard approach for the coordination of a network of eLearning systems supporting the resolution of exercises. The proposed approach use a pivot component embedded in the LMS with two roles: provide an exercise resolution environment and coordinate the communication between the LMS and other systems exposing their functions as web services. The integration of the pivot component with the LMS relies on the Learning Tools Interoperability. The validation of this approach is made through the integration of the component with LMSs from two vendors.

Integration of e-portfolios in learning management systems

The LMS plays a decisive role in most eLearning environments. Although they integrate many useful tools for managing eLearning activities, they must also be effectively integrated with other specialized systems typically found in an educational environment such as Repositories of Learning Objects or ePortfolio Systems. Both types of systems evolved separately but in recent years the trend is to combine them, allowing the LMS to benefit from using the ePortfolio assessment features. This paper details the most common strategies for integrating an ePortfolio system into an LMS: the data, the API and the tool integration strategies. It presents a comparative study of strategies based on the technical skills, degree of coupling, security features, batch integration, development effort, status and standardization. This study is validated through the integration of two of the most representative systems on each category - respectively Mahara and Moodle.

Using the Common Cartridge profile to enhance learning content interoperability

The concept of Learning Object (LO) is crucial for the standardization on eLearning. The latest LO standard from IMS Global Learning Consortium is the IMS Common Cartridge (IMS CC) that organizes and distributes digital learning content. By analyzing this new specification we considered two interoperability levels: content and communication. A common content format is the backbone of interoperability and is the basis for content exchange among eLearning systems. Communication is more than just exchanging content; it includes also accessing to specialized systems and services and reporting on content usage. This is particularly important when LOs are used for evaluation. In this paper we analyze the Common Cartridge profile based on the two interoperability levels we proposed. We detail its data model that comprises a set of derived schemata referenced on the CC schema and we explore the use of the IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) to allow remote tools and content to be integrated into a Learning Management System (LMS). In order to test the applicability of IMS CC for automatic evaluation we define a representation of programming exercises using this standard. This representation is intended to be the cornerstone of a network of eLearning systems where students can solve computer programming exercises and obtain feedback automatically. The CC learning object is automatically generated based on a XML dialect called PExIL that aims to consolidate all the data need to describe resources within the programming exercise life-cycle. Finally, we test the generated cartridge on the IMS CC online validator to verify its conformance with the IMS CC specification.

Programming exercises evaluation systems: an interoperability survey

Learning computer programming requires solving programming exercises. In computer programming courses teachers need to assess and give feedback to a large number of exercises. These tasks are time consuming and error-prone since there are many aspects relating to good programming that should be considered. In this context automatic assessment tools can play an important role helping teachers in grading tasks as well to assist students with automatic feedback. In spite of its usefulness, these tools lack integration mechanisms with other eLearning systems such as Learning Management Systems, Learning Objects Repositories or Integrated Development Environments. In this paper we provide a survey on programming evaluation systems. The survey gathers information on interoperability features of these systems, categorizing and comparing them regarding content and communication standardization. This work may prove useful to instructors and computer science educators when they have to choose an assessment system to be integrated in their e-Learning environment.

Adaptive learning in agents behaviour: A framework for electricity markets simulation

Electricity markets are complex environments, involving a large number of different entities, playing in a dynamic scene to obtain the best advantages and profits. MASCEM (Multi-Agent System for Competitive Electricity Markets) is a multi-agent electricity market simulator that models market players and simulates their operation in the market. Market players are entities with specific characteristics and objectives, making their decisions and interacting with other players. This paper presents a methodology to provide decision support to electricity market negotiating players. This model allows integrating different strategic approaches for electricity market negotiations, and choosing the most appropriate one at each time, for each different negotiation context. This methodology is integrated in ALBidS (Adaptive Learning strategic Bidding System) ��� a multiagent system that provides decision support to MASCEM's negotiating agents so that they can properly achieve their goals. ALBidS uses artificial intelligence methodologies and data analysis algorithms to provide effective adaptive learning capabilities to such negotiating entities. The main contribution is provided by a methodology that combines several distinct strategies to build actions proposals, so that the best can be chosen at each time, depending on the context and simulation circumstances. The choosing process includes reinforcement learning algorithms, a mechanism for negotiating contexts analysis, a mechanism for the management of the efficiency/effectiveness balance of the system, and a mechanism for competitor players' profiles definition.

Math without stress ��� an open online learning project

MOOC (as an acronym for Massive Open Online Courses) are a quite new model for the delivery of online learning to students. As ���Massive��� and ���Online���, these courses are proposed to be accessible to many more learners than would be possible through conventional teaching. As ���Open��� they are (frequently) free of charge and participation is not limited by the geographical situation of the learners, creating new learning opportunities in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). In this paper we describe a recently started project ���Matem��tica 100 STRESS��� (Math Without STRESS) integrated in the e-IPP project | e-Learning Unit of Porto���s Polytechnic Institute (IPP) which has created its own MOOC platform and launched its first course ��� Probabilities and Combinatorics ��� in early June/2014. In this MOOC development were involved several lecturers from four of the seven IPP schools.

B-learning quality: dimensions, criteria and pedagogical approach

Measuring the quality of a b-learning environment is critical to determine the success of a b-learning course. Several initiatives have been recently conducted on benchmarking and quality in e-learning. Despite these efforts in defining and examining quality issues concerning online courses, a defining instrument to evaluate quality is one of the key challenges for blended learning, since it incorporates both traditional and online instruction methods. For this paper, six frameworks for quality assessment of technological enhanced learning were examined and compared regarding similarities and differences. These frameworks aim at the same global objective: the quality of e-learning environment/products. They present different perspectives but also many common issues. Some of them are more specific and related to the course and other are more global and related to institutional aspects. In this work we collected and arrange all the quality criteria identified in order to get a more complete framework and determine if it fits our b-learning environment. We also included elements related to our own b-learning research and experience, acquired during more than 10 years of experience. As a result we have create a new quality reference with a set of dimensions and criteria that should be taken into account when you are analyzing, designing, developing, implementing and evaluating a b-learning environment. Besides these perspectives on what to do when you are developing a b-learning environment we have also included pedagogical issues in order to give directions on how to do it to reach the success of the learning. The information, concepts and procedures here presented give support to teachers and instructors, which intend to validate the quality of their blended learning courses.

Personal learning environments: integration of Web 2.0 applications and content management systems

This paper presents an ongoing project that implements a platform for creating personal learning environments controlled by students, integrating Web 2.0 applications and content management systems, enabling the safe use of content created in Web 2.0 applications, allowing its publication in the infrastructure controlled by the HEI. Using this platform, students can develop their personal learning environment (PLE) integrated with the Learning Management System (LMS) of the HEI, enabling the management of their learning and, simultaneously, creating their e-portfolio with digital content developed for Course Units (CU). All this can be maintained after the student completes his academic studies, since the platform will remain accessible to students even after they leave the HEI and lose access to its infrastructure. The platform will enable the safe use of content created in Web 2.0 applications, allowing its protected publication in the infrastructure controlled by HEI, thus contributing to the adaptation of the L&T paradigm to the Bologna process.

Integrated Management of Cloud Computing Resources

Lunacloud is a cloud service provider with offices in Portugal, Spain, France and UK that focus on delivering reliable, elastic and low cost cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solutions. The company currently relies on a proprietary IaaS platform - the Parallels Automation for Cloud Infrastructure (PACI) - and wishes to expand and integrate other IaaS solutions seamlessly, namely open source solutions. This is the challenge addressed in this thesis. This proposal, which was fostered by Eurocloud Portugal Association, contributes to the promotion of interoperability and standardisation in Cloud Computing. The goal is to investigate, propose and develop an interoperable open source solution with standard interfaces for the integrated management of IaaS Cloud Computing resources based on new as well as existing abstraction libraries or frameworks. The solution should provide bothWeb and application programming interfaces. The research conducted consisted of two surveys covering existing open source IaaS platforms and PACI (features and API) and open source IaaS abstraction solutions. The first study was focussed on the characteristics of most popular open source IaaS platforms, namely OpenNebula, OpenStack, CloudStack and Eucalyptus, as well as PACI and included a thorough inventory of the provided Application Programming Interfaces (API), i.e., offered operations, followed by a comparison of these platforms in order to establish their similarities and dissimilarities. The second study on existing open source interoperability solutions included the analysis of existing abstraction libraries and frameworks and their comparison. The approach proposed and adopted, which was supported on the conclusions of the carried surveys, reuses an existing open source abstraction solution ��� the Apache Deltacloud framework. Deltacloud relies on the development of software driver modules to interface with different IaaS platforms, officially provides and supports drivers to sixteen IaaS platform, including OpenNebula and OpenStack, and allows the development of new provider drivers. The latter functionality was used to develop a new Deltacloud driver for PACI. Furthermore, Deltacloud provides a Web dashboard and REpresentational State Transfer (REST) API interfaces. To evaluate the adopted solution, a test bed integrating OpenNebula, Open- Stack and PACI nodes was assembled and deployed. The tests conducted involved time elapsed and data payload measurements via the Deltacloud framework as well as via the pre-existing IaaS platform API. The Deltacloud framework behaved as expected, i.e., introduced additional delays, but no substantial overheads. Both the Web and the REST interfaces were tested and showed identical measurements. The developed interoperable solution for the seamless integration and provision of IaaS resources from PACI, OpenNebula and OpenStack IaaS platforms fulfils the specified requirements, i.e., provides Lunacloud with the ability to expand the range of adopted IaaS platforms and offers a Web dashboard and REST API for the integrated management. The contributions of this work include the surveys and comparisons made, the selection of the abstraction framework and, last, but not the least, the PACI driver developed.

Mobile learning: recetividade e predisposi����o do ensino superior para a sua utiliza����o

A evolu����o dos dispositivos m��veis e a mudan��a de paradigma educacional, permitiu o surgimento de um novo conceito no processo de ensino e aprendizagem, o mobile learning. O mobile learning pode ser visto como um conceito multidisciplinar, dependendo da perspetiva de cada autor, pois ainda n��o existe um consenso em rela����o �� defini����o do conceito. No entanto, todos os autores concordam que o mobile learning consiste na aquisi����o de conhecimento ou compet��ncia atrav��s do uso de tecnologias m��veis, em qualquer lugar e momento. A presente investiga����o, de natureza explorat��ria, pretendeu estudar a receptividade e predisposi����o dos estudantes e docentes do ensino superior para com a utiliza����o do mobile learning, uma vez que o ensino superior parece ser o ambiente ideal para a realiza����o deste estudo. Por um lado, devido �� democratiza����o dos dispositivos m��veis, por outro, porque o Instituto Polit��cnico do Porto pretende vir a implementar um projeto de mobile learning, enquadrado no e- IPP. Deste modo, para a concretiza����o desta investiga����o, foi realizada uma revis��o bibliogr��fica exaustiva que serviu de base de sustenta����o para todo o trabalho, complementada com um question��rio, de forma a dar resposta ��s quest��es de investiga����o. Depois de recolhidos todos os resultados obtidos atrav��s do question��rio, procedeu-se �� an��lise e discuss��o mesmos, bem como ��s respectivas conclus��es.

Math without stress: an open online learning project

MOOC (as an acronym for Massive Open Online Courses) are a quite new model for the delivery of online learning to students. As ���Massive��� and ���Online���, these courses are proposed to be accessible to many more learners than would be possible through conventional teaching. As ���Open��� they are (frequently) free of charge and participation is not limited by the geographical situation of the learners, creating new learning opportunities in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). In this paper we describe a recently started project ���Matem��tica 100 STRESS��� (Math Without STRESS) integrated in the e-IPP project | e-Learning Unit of Porto���s Polytechnic Institute (IPP) which has created its own MOOC platform and launched its first course ��� Probabilities and Combinatorics ��� in early June/2014. In this MOOC development were involved several lecturers from four of the seven IPP schools.

Digital storytelling: an integrated approach to language for the 21st century student

Societal changes have, throughout history, pushed the long-established boundaries of education across all grade levels. Technology and media merge with education in a continuous complex social process with human consequences and effects. We, teachers, can aspire to understand and interpret this volatile context that is being redesigned at the same time society itself is being reshaped as a result of the technological evolution. The language- learning classroom is not impenetrable to these transformations. Rather, it can perhaps be seen as a playground where teachers and students gather to combine the past and the present in an integrated approach. We draw on the results from a previous study and argue that Digital Storytelling as a Process is capable of aggregating and fostering positive student development in general, as well as enhancing interpersonal relationships and self-knowledge while improving digital literacy. Additionally, we establish a link between the four basic language-learning skills and the Digital Storytelling process and demonstrate how these converge into what can be labeled as an integrated language learning approach.

The impact of firm-promoted accreditation of prior learning processes on the worker-organization relationship

The process of Competences Recognition, Validation and Certification , also known as Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL), is an innovative means of attaining school certificates for individuals without an academic background. The main objective of this process is to validate what people have learned in informal contexts, in order to attribute academic certificates. With the increasing interest of the qualification of workers and governmental support, more and more Portuguese organizations promote this process within their facilities and their work hours. This study explores the relationship between the promotion of this Human Resource Development Programme and employee���s attitudes (Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment) and behaviours (Extra-role Organizational Citizenship Behaviours) towards the organization they work for. Results of a cross-sectional survey of Portuguese Industrial Workers (N=135) showed that statistical significant results are in the higher levels of Voice Behaviours (a dimension of Extra-role Organizational Citizenship Behaviour in the groups of workers who were involved or had graduated from the firm promoted APL process.

O ensino de cuidados continuados: proposta de modelo multim��dia sobre o tema

As altera����es demogr��ficas verificadas nos ��ltimos anos, com um peso cada vez maior da popula����o idosa, a par da altera����o do tecido social provocada pela aus��ncia do domic��lio da mulher, cuidadora tradicional, levaram �� necessidade de encontrar respostas para apoio de pessoas em situa����o de depend��ncia. Reabilitar e reinserir, a par de pol��ticas de envelhecimento ativo, s��o alguns dos desafios no momento, a n��vel global. A Rede Nacional de Cuidados Continuados Integrados (RNCCI), criada pelo Decreto-Lei n.�� 101/2006, de 6 de junho, tem por miss��o prestar os cuidados adequados, de sa��de e apoio social, a todas as pessoas que, independentemente da idade, se encontrem em situa����o de depend��ncia. A Presta����o de Cuidados na RNCCI significa fornecer os melhores cuidados poss��veis dispon��veis a um indiv��duo e ou fam��lia/cuidador com uma necessidade, num contexto espec��fico. O ��mbito de interven����o na RNCCI fundamenta-se no princ��pio dos 3 R���s ��� Reabilita����o, Readapta����o e Reinser����o. Tradicionalmente, verifica-se uma boa prepara����o dos profissionais de sa��de que acompanham o paciente mas tem-se verificado que estes cuidados se devem prolongar para al��m dos apenas prestados em ambiente hospitalar e/ou familiar. De facto, constata-se a necessidade de este tipo de cuidados ser mais abrangente, podendo vir a envolver outras pessoas (familiares, amigos, ou outros cuidadores), verificando-se, por��m, que na maioria dos casos n��o disp��em de conhecimentos ou t��cnicas necess��rias para o acompanhamento dos mesmos pelo facto de n��o terem uma forma����o efetiva relacionada com este problema. Neste sentido, e com o aux��lio das tecnologias de informa����o emergentes e cada vez mais poderosas �� atualmente poss��vel desenvolver solu����es de apoio aos cuidadores deste tipo de cuidados. Pretendemos com o presente estudo investigar essa possibilidade, contribuindo para solu����es capazes de proporcionar de forma simples e intuitiva um conhecimento adicional em prol de um apoio mais eficaz nestas situa����es. Para o efeito, foi desenvolvido um prot��tipo com essa finalidade que foi posto em pr��tica e para o qual se apresentam os resultados obtidos.

Design a computer programming learning environment for Massive Open Online Courses

Teaching and learning computer programming is as challenging as difficult. Assessing the work of students and providing individualised feedback to all is time-consuming and error prone for teachers and frequently involves a time delay. The existent tools and specifications prove to be insufficient in complex evaluation domains where there is a greater need to practice. At the same time Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are appearing revealing a new way of learning, more dynamic and more accessible. However this new paradigm raises serious questions regarding the monitoring of student progress and its timely feedback. This paper provides a conceptual design model for a computer programming learning environment. This environment uses the portal interface design model gathering information from a network of services such as repositories and program evaluators. The design model includes also the integration with learning management systems, a central piece in the MOOC realm, endowing the model with characteristics such as scalability, collaboration and interoperability. This model is not limited to the domain of computer programming and can be adapted to any complex area that requires systematic evaluation with immediate feedback.