Tecnologías de la información aplicadas a los servicios bibliotecarios

La Biblioteca Virtual, és el resultat de l'entorn d'aprenentatge i de model pedagògic dissenyat per a la comunitat virtual de la UOC que fa imprescindible la creació, disseny i organització de serveis bibliotecaris àgils i adaptats al perfil de l'usuari virtual, i amb la capacitat d'anticipar-se a les seves necessitats.

Escriptura de la tesi doctoral, benestar i context d'aprenentatge: Un estudi des de les percepcions dels doctorands

Les representacions que els estudiants es fan sobre les tasques acadèmiques són cabdals per entendre com les desenvolupen. Creiem que això no és una excepció en estudiants de doctorat amb les seves tesis i és per això que en aquesta recerca estem interessats en investigar com els estudiants entenen els estudis de doctorat. La literatura revisada preocupada per l’experiència del doctorat, és a dir, com els doctorands perceben aquest procés, se centra en variables de benestar, context d’aprenentatge i escriptura. Amb el propòsit d’obtenir un quadre complert sobre com els doctorands entenen fer una tesi, 627 doctorands han completat El Qüestionari de l’Experiència Doctoral (Lonka i altres, 2007) que hem procedit a adaptar a la població espanyola. Aquest instrument mesura les tres variables esmentades (al llarg de 49 enunciats de resposta Likert) i de forma general algunes qüestions del procés doctoral (8 preguntes de resposta oberta) que complementen/donen llum a la interpretació de les dades quantitatives. A més, es demana informació del context del doctorand (18 preguntes) que ajuda a entendre millor el desenvolupament de la tesi en cada cas. Donat que algunes dificultats que els estudiants manifesten en el doctorat tenen a veure amb la percepció de no disposar d’estratègies suficients per regular el procés d’escriptura, ens hem plantejat recollir dades més específiques en relació a l’escriptura de la tesi entrevistant 10 doctorands per separat i posteriorment junts en un focus grup. Pensem que la nostra investigació pot contribuir en la reflexió de la qualitat dels programes de doctorat ja que creiem que els estudiants tenen molt a dir i que cal escoltar les seves veus. A més, si els tutors disposen d’informació sobre com els seus alumnes viuen els estudis de doctorat, segurament entendran millor com porten a terme les seves tesis i podran oferir-los ajudes més ajustades.

Adaptive integral assessment package for the A2UN@ project

This paper presents a first approach of Evaluation Engine Architecture (EEA) as proposal to support adaptive integral assessment, in the context of a virtual learning environment. The goal of our research is design an evaluation engine tool to assist in the whole assessment process within the A2UN@ project, linking that tool with the other key elements of a learning design (learning task, learning resources and learning support). The teachers would define the relation between knowledge, competencies, activities, resources and type of assessment. Providing this relation is possible obtain more accurate estimations of student's knowledge for adaptive evaluations and future recommendations. The process is supported by usage of educational standards and specifications and for an integral user modelling

El aprendizaje híbrido y los nuevos espacios personales de aprendizaje: entre el aula, la red y la calle

El trabajo colaborativo en las aulas de formación universitarias configura gran parte de las propuestas metodológicas de e-learning. En la actualidad, las plataformas que Internet ofrece hacen pensar que hay escenarios nuevos que permiten otro tipo de experiencias a nivel de docencia. Es imprescindible tener en cuenta los espacios personales de aprendizaje, pero también podemos hacer el ejercicio de utilizarlos para generar sinergias entre los aspectos educativos formales, no formales e informales por los que pasa una persona. Este aspecto pasa por introducir un modelo híbrido de enseñanza donde el aula virtual o la presencial utilice las informaciones que existen fuera de ella. La utilización de microbloggings, medios de comunicación mediante Internet y medios de comunicación “tradicionales” o “en papel” pueden conseguir un enlace entre la virtualidad y la presencialidad.

Generación de cursos virtuales adaptativos en SCORM e IMS-LD

The use of virtual learning environments it’s more and more frequent in all education levels. However, this increasing use of such environments also implies that the different stages now used in the processes of teaching-learning need to be considered. Student users in a virtual learning environment are faced, not only to the problems related to acquire the knowledge of their course, but also to technological problems as information overloading, getting used to web surfing, computer use, etc. One way to minimize the impact caused by heterogeneity existing in virtual learning environments is to adapt several aspects to the specific characteristics from the user and his context. From this point of view, this work shows a model for an integral user that has been used to generate a virtual course that can interoperate between ELearning platforms. This course has been created using the SCORM reference model and the IMSLD specification

Vehicle de guiat automàtic (AGV)

Aquest projecte documenta la simulació d'un AGV (vehicle de guiat automàtic). Mitjançant un robot educatiu programat en Basic Stamp es simula un entorn d'anàlisi clínic a on el robot gestiona de forma automàtica les estacions d'anàlisi d'una hipotètica mostra de sang.

Desarrollo de aplicaciones móviles con herramientas del Campus UOC

El objetivo de este trabajo es implementar una herramienta segura, intuitiva y útil de dispositivo electrónico móvil para que un alumno interactúe con el entorno educativo virtual creado por el Campus de Trabajo UOC. La herramienta ayuda al alumno a trabajar con la UOC sin necesidad de conectarse directamente desde un portátil, desde cualquier lugar, siempre y cuando, se tenga conexión a Internet. El TFG está enfocado a desarrollarse en el entorno de Windows Phone.

Technology educational affordance: Bridging the gap between patterns of interaction and technology usage

Peer-reviewed

Evaluation of the Development of Metacognitive Knowledge Supported by the KnowCat System

The aim of this study was to examine the development of the metacognitive knowledge of a group of higher education students who participated actively in an experiment based on a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning environment called KnowCat. Eighteen university students participated in a 12-month learning project during which the KnowCat learning environment was used to support scaffolding process among equals during problem-solving tasks. After using KnowCat, the students were interviewed over their work in this shared workspace. Qualitative analysis revealed that the educational application of KnowCat can favour and improve the development of metacognitive knowledge.

Implantación del sistema VLE Moodle para la Escuela Internacional de Medios Audiovisuales (EIMA) : Administración de web y de comercio electrónico en entornos de software libre

Implantación de un virtual learning environment (VLE), en concreto Moodle, para la Escuela Internacional de Medios Audiovisuales (EIMA).

Towards personalization in digital libraries through ontologies

In this paper we describe a browsing and searching personalization system for digitallibraries based on the use of ontologies for describing the relationships between all theelements which take part in a digital library scenario of use. The main goal of thisproject is to help the users of a digital library to improve their experience of use bymeans of two complementary strategies: first, by maintaining a complete history recordof his or her browsing and searching activities, which is part of a navigational userprofile which includes preferences and all the aspects related to community involvement; and second, by reusing all the knowledge which has been extracted from previous usage from other users with similar profiles. This can be accomplished in terms of narrowing and focusing the search results and browsing options through the use of a recommendation system which organizes such results in the most appropriatemanner, using ontologies and concepts drawn from the semantic web field. The complete integration of the experience of use of a digital library in the learning process is also pursued. Both the usage and information organization can be also exploited to extract useful knowledge from the way users interact with a digital library, knowledge that can be used to improve several design aspects of the library, ranging from internal organization aspects to human factors and user interfaces. Although this project is still on an early development stage, it is possible to identify all the desired functionalities and requirements that are necessary to fully integrate the use of a digital library in an e-learning environment.

Web and education, a successful open entanglement

E-learning, understood as the intensive use of Information and Communication Technologies in mainly but not only) distance education, has radically changed the meaning of the latter. E-learning is an overused term which has been applied to any use of technology in education. Today, the most widely accepted meaning ofe-learning coincides with the fourth generation described by Taylor (1999), where there is an asynchronousprocess that allows students and teachers to interact in an educational process expressly designed in accordance with these principles. We prefer to speak of Internet-Based Learning or, better still, Web-Based Learning, for example, to explain the fact that distance education is carried out using the Internet, with the appearance of the virtual learning environment concept, a web space where the teaching and learning process is generated and supported (Sangrà, 2002). This entails overcoming the barriers of space and time of brickand mortar education (although we prefer the term face-to-face) or of classical distance education using broadcasting and adopting a completely asynchronous model that allows access to education by many more users, at any level (including secondary education, but primarily higher education and lifelong learning).

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

Peer-reviewed

Utilización de software de corrección automática en el campo de las ciencias de la salud

We live in an era of profound changes in university education. The implementation of Bologna plan has led us to raise new teaching methodologies, to review the role of the student, competency assessment, the incorporation of ICT. Unthinkable acts, one or two decade ago. The TIC concept is very broad and is attributed to the media, processes and content usage. Inside the supports and platforms, we stress tools that allow automatic correction of exercises, because they are instruments of great educational value because instantly they assess students and provide instant feedback about the knowledge that they have either as message support or note. If the power of these tools, we add the Internet, using e-learning environment, the results allow us to work, edit, evaluate, resolve doubts, and so on, anywhere, anytime. We present part of a platform and the results of its use in the field of health sciences

Digital learner portfolio as a tool for inovating assessment in the European Higher Education Area

The present article comes from a doctoral thesis that turns on digital learner portfolio, which is an innovating methodology from the perspective of European Higher Education Area. First, the educative concept of eportfolio is described in the sense of its procedure and its structure, by means of the technological support of a platform of virtual campus. Second, it is shown the pedagogical model of an eportfolio that adapts subjects with an instrumental character to one organization based on tasks and reflections. This design of virtual learning environment is based on a teaching- learning methodology sustained in the activity of the student, which tries to give support to the management of his or her own process of learning and assessment. Finally, the article illustrates the experience of implementation of the first digital learner portfolios in the University of Barcelona and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, with the objective of reflecting about the pedagogical consequences that this assessment model with technological support has in a traditional higher education institution.