Guiding students through competence-based educational material

Student guidance is an always desired characteristic in any educational system, butit represents special difficulty if it has to be deployed in an automated way to fulfilsuch needs in a computer supported educational tool. In this paper we explorepossible avenues relying on machine learning techniques, to be included in a nearfuture -in the form of a tutoring navigational tool- in a teleeducation platform -InterMediActor- currently under development. Since no data from that platform isavailable yet, the preliminary experiments presented in this paper are builtinterpreting every subject in the Telecommunications Degree at Universidad CarlosIII de Madrid as an aggregated macro-competence (following the methodologicalconsiderations in InterMediActor), such that marks achieved by students can beused as data for the models, to be replaced in a near future by real data directlymeasured inside InterMediActor. We evaluate the predictability of students qualifications, and we deploy a preventive early detection system -failure alert-, toidentify those students more prone to fail a certain subject such that correctivemeans can be deployed with sufficient anticipation.

CLFP intrinsic constraints-based group management of blended learning situations

When applying a Collaborative Learning Flow Pattern (CLFP) to structure sequences of activities in real contexts, one of the tasks is to organize groups of students according to the constraints imposed by the pattern. Sometimes,unexpected events occurring at runtime force this pre-defined distribution to be changed. In such situations, an adjustment of the group structures to be adapted to the new context is needed. If the collaborative pattern is complex, this group redefinitionmight be difficult and time consuming to be carried out in real time. In this context, technology can help on notifying the teacher which incompatibilitiesbetween the actual context and the constraints imposed by the pattern. This chapter presents a flexible solution for supporting teachers in the group organization profiting from the intrinsic constraints defined by a CLFPs codified in IMS Learning Design. A prototype of a web-based tool for the TAPPS and Jigsaw CLFPs and the preliminary results of a controlled user study are alsopresented as a first step towards flexible technological systems to support grouping tasks in this context.

Trabajo colaborativo en entornos e-learning y desarrollo de competencias transversales de trabajo en equipo: Análisis del caso del Máster en gestión de Proyectos en Cooperación Internacional, CSEU La Salle

Peer-reviewed

Engaging students in an e-learning experience : how to manage information resources through wikis and web blogs

The purpose of this paper is to describe the collaboration between librarians and scholars, from a virtual university, in order to facilitate collaborative learning on how to manage information resources. The personal information behaviour of e-learning students when managing information resources for academic, professional and daily life purposes was studied from 24 semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The results of the content analysis of the interview' transcriptions, highlighted that in the workplace and daily life contexts, competent information behaviour is always linked to a proactive attitude, that is to say, that participants seek for information without some extrinsic reward or avoiding punishment. In the academic context, it was observed a low level of information literacy and it seems to be related with a prevalent uninvolved attitude.

Fostering Collaborative Knowledge Building by the Effective Provision of Knowledge about the Discussion Process

Peer-reviewed

Trans-Atlantic Pedagogy for Teaching Pre-Service Teachers ICT: Bringing forward cultural issues

Projecte de recerca elaborat a partir d’una estada a la Universitat de Toronto, Canadà, des d’octubre del 2006 a febrer del 2007. El projecte Barchito és un projecte Interrnacional que va involucrar tres universitats: La Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, la Universitat de Toronto (Canadà) i la Universitat de Roosevelt (USA). El seu objectiu principal era posar en contacte estudiants de les tres universitats (de tres cursos diferents) per discutir al voltant de temes com ara l'ensenyament/aprenentatge i elements culturals de cada país. Aquest projecte presenta la natura de l'experiència des de la visió dels participants: alumnat i professorat. Superant diferències inicials de llengua, els participants van aprendre d'altra cultura, van aprendre sobre altres maneres d'ensenyar i van aprendre, en definitiva, sobre ells mateixos. L'eina d'aprenentatge col.laboratiu els va ajudar a sobrepassar el context immediat, emprant per això, l'eina tecnològica anomenada: Knowledge Forum.

Implementació de cursos d'Electrònica i Tècniques de Microscòpia en modalitat docent semipresencial amb estratègies de treball cooperatiu i avaluació continuada en entorn de programari lliure Moodle

L’objectiu principal del present projecte MQD és la implementació de cursos semipresencials en el campus virtual MOODLE per a la docència de les assignatures d’Electrònica troncals de l’ensenyament de Física que depenen del nostre departament i de l’assignatura Tècniques de Microscòpia, que és optativa i comuna als Màsters de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia i d’Enginyeria Física. Plantegem metodologies docents basades en: (1) reduir la presencialitat, (2) afavorir l'autoaprenentatge, (3) aplicar estratègies d’avaluació formativa i avaluació acreditativa continuada i (4) fer ús de les TIC com a suport a la docència. La versatilitat de la plataforma Moodle per compartir recursos permetrà generar un material docent accessible per altres professors. D’altra banda, la possibilitat de Moodle per a la gestió de grups, organització i revisió de tasques facilitarà el seguiment de l’activitat d’autoaprenentatge i de treball cooperatiu així com de l’avaluació final dels aprenentatges. Durant la duració d'aquest projecte MQD s'han implementat els segúents entorns: - Curs d'Electrònica Física, semipresencial, amb treball cooperatiu i amb implantació d'avaluació continuada - Entorn de Coordinació del Master de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia - Curs de l'assignatura optativa de Màster Oficial de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia "Tècniques de Microscòpia"

Casa Museu Lluís Domènech i Montaner : Recurs electrònic

Treball de recerca que té com a principal objectiu elaborar una guia electrònica (pàgina web) de la Casa Museu Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Aquest treball està inscrit dins un aprenentatge museístic i informàtic. Serà un aprenentatge museístic per tot el que comporta la lectura de les sales i els materials que s'hi exposen, i informàtic perquè es tracta de dissenyar i elaborar un recurs electrònic que ha de permetre una presentació agradable, fàcil de progrés, harmoniosa i, alhora, concreta.

Una aproximació a l'alfabetització digital en l'àmbit educatiu no universitari de Catalunya (a partir de la recerca PIC escoles de la UOC)

Aquest treball s'estructura en tres parts. En la primera hi ha el projecte de treball. La segona part vol reflectir tot el marc conceptual elaborat i reelaborat amb profunditat entorn de la recerca, el qual és necessari per a estructurar, entendre i autoavaluar-la. El marc conceptual se centra bàsicament en tres aspectes: en primer lloc, el mètode de recerca emprat en la recerca PIC a les escoles; en segon lloc, l'evolució de les tecnologies en l'ensenyament paral·lelament a la mateixa concepció de l'ensenyament-aprenentatge, i, com a conseqüència dels dos anteriors, finalment, s'hi analitza l'evolució del concepte d'alfabetització, concretant l'estudi en l'alfabetització digital, com també la possibilitat ampliada per a les TIC de fomentar l'aprenentatge col·laboratiu. La tercera part del treball analitza la funció social de l'escola en la societat del coneixement.

Evaluar el trabajo con foros electrónicos: propuesta de un sistema

[spa] El presente texto resume la estrategia y resultados del trabajo con foros electrónicos entre octubre y diciembre del 2006 en dos grupos de una asignatura de la licenciatura de Pedagogía de la Universidad de Barcelona. En continuidad con proyectos anteriores, se partió de un objetivo inicial: facilitar un sistema de evaluación transparente y compartida con los estudiantes al usar el foro electrónico de la asignatura como instrumento de aprendizaje colaborativo.

An Empirical Study on Faculty Perceptions and Teaching Practices of Wikipedia

Some faculty members from different universities around the world have begun to use Wikipedia as a teaching tool in recent years. These experiences show, in most cases, very satisfactory results and a substantial improvement in various basic skills, as well as a positive influence on the students' motivation. Nevertheless and despite the growing importance of e-learning methodologies based on the use of the Internet for higher education, the use of Wikipedia as a teaching resource remains scarce among university faculty.Our investigation tries to identify which are the main factors that determine acceptance or resistance to that use. We approach the decision to use Wikipedia as a teaching tool by analyzing both the individual attributes of faculty members and the characteristics of the environment where they develop their teaching activity. From a specific survey sent to all faculty of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), pioneer and leader in online education in Spain, we have tried to infer the influence of these internal and external elements. The questionnaire was designed to measure different constructs: perceived quality of Wikipedia, teaching practices involving Wikipedia, use experience, perceived usefulness and use of 2.0 tools. Control items were also included for gathering information on gender, age, teaching experience, academic rank, and area of expertise.Our results reveal that academic rank, teaching experience, age or gender, are not decisive factors in explaining the educational use of Wikipedia. Instead, the decision to use it is closely linked to the perception of Wikipedia's quality, the use of other collaborative learning tools, an active attitude towards web 2.0 applications, and connections with the professional non-academic world. Situational context is also very important, since the use is higher when faculty members have got reference models in their close environment and when they perceive it is positively valued by their colleagues. As far as these attitudes, practices and cultural norms diverge in different scientific disciplines, we have also detected clear differences in the use of Wikipedia among areas of academic expertise. As a consequence, a greater application of Wikipedia both as a teaching resource and as a driver for teaching innovation would require much more active institutional policies and some changes in the dominant academic culture among faculty members.

Designing online interaction to address disciplinary competencies: A cross-country comparison of faculty perspectives

This study was conducted at colleges in three countries (United States, Venezuela, and Spain) and across three academic disciplines (engineering, education, and business), to examine how experienced faculty define competencies for their discipline, and design instructional interaction for online courses. A qualitative research design employing in-depth interviews was selected. Results show that disciplinary knowledge takes precedence when faculty members select competencies to be developed in online courses for their respective professions. In all three disciplines, the design of interaction to correspond with disciplinary competencies was often influenced by contextual factors that modify faculty intention. Therefore, instructional design will vary across countries in the same discipline to address the local context, such as the needs and expectations of the learners, faculty perspectives, beliefs and values, and the needs of the institution, the community, and country. The three disciplines from the three countries agreed on the importance of the following competencies: knowledge of the field, higher order cognitive processes such as critical thinking, analysis, problem solving, transfer of knowledge, oral and written communication skills, team work, decision making, leadership and management skills, indicating far more similarities in competencies than differences between the three different applied disciplines. We found a lack of correspondence between faculty¿s intent to develop collaborative learning skills and the actual development of them. Contextual factors such as faculty prior experience in design, student reluctance to engage in collaborative learning, and institutional assessment systems that focus on individual performance were some of these reasons.

Teaching how to learn with a wiki in Primary Education: what classroom interaction can tell us

Understanding how wikis are used to support collaborative learning is an important concern for researchers and teachers. Adopting a discourse analytic approach, this paper attempts to understand the teaching processes when a wiki is embedded in a science project in primary education to foster collaborative learning. Through studying interaction between the teacher and students, our findings identify ways in which the teacher prompts collaborative learning but also shed light on the difficulties for the teacher in supporting student collective collaboration. It is argued that technological wiki features supporting collaborative learning can only be realized if teacher talk and pedagogy are aligned with the characteristics of wiki collaborative work: the freedom of students to organize and participate by themselves, creating dialogic space and promoting student participation. We argue that a dialogic approach for examining interaction can be used to help to design a more effective pedagogic approach in the use of wikis in education, to shift into Web 2.0 learning paradigm and to equip learners with the competences they need to participate in knowledge co-construction.

El debat i l"evolució conceptual de la carpeta d"aprenentatge universitària: un reflex del procès de canvi del model educatiu

[cat] La carpeta d'aprenentatge representa un punt de trobada dels grans temes que han ocupat la Didàctica d'ençà dels anys 90 del segle passat: el caràcter formatiu de l'avaluació, l'assumpte de les competències, la metacognició i el pensament crític de l'estudiant, el paper desenvolupat per les TIC, i la concepció d'un aprenentatge col·laboratiu i plantejat a llarg termini. En aquest article de revisió, hom estudia com aquests temes s'han concretat en la carpeta d'aprenentatge i n'han determinat la seva evolució. [eng] The learning portofolio represents a meeting point for the big questions than have concernend teaching since the 1990s: the formative character of the assessment, the issue of competencies, metacognition and the students's critical thinking, the role played by ICTs, and the idea of collaborative learning considered in the long term. The article looks at how these subjects have taken shape in the learning portofolio and how they have determinded its evolutin.

The role of mentoring in facilitating the process of repurposing OER

This paper presents the initial data analysis of a research that is work in progress. It discusses the role of mentoring and peer support in facilitating the process of repurposing open educational resources (OER). It also reports on the lessons so far learned from the analysis of two distinct but related case studies on working with learners to use and disseminate OER.