Nou web de la Biblioteca Virtual: test amb usuaris, desembre 2013

Informe de l'anàlisi realitzat sobre el nou web de la Biblioteca Virtual de la UOC, per tal d'avaluar el grau d'usabilitat de la nova eina. És el segon test amb usuaris que es realitza del nou web i s'han analitzat els següents aspectes: l'accés a la col·lecció digital, les cinc funcionalitats més utilitzades del web i les cinc funcionalitats menys visibles del web.

The effect on lower spine muscle activation of walking on a narrow beam in virtual reality

To what extent do people behave in immersive virtual environments as they would in similar situations in a physical environment? There are many ways to address this question, ranging from questionnaires, behavioral studies, and the use of physiological measures. Here, we compare the onsets of muscle activity using surface electromyography (EMG) while participants were walking under three different conditions: on a normal floor surface, on a narrow ribbon along the floor, and on a narrow platform raised off the floor. The same situation was rendered in an immersive virtual environment (IVE) Cave-like system, and 12 participants did the three types of walking in a counter-balanced within-groups design. The mean number of EMG activity onsets per unit time followed the same pattern in the virtual environment as in the physical environment-significantly higher for walking on the platform compared to walking on the floor. Even though participants knew that they were in fact really walking at floor level in the virtual environment condition, the visual illusion of walking on a raised platform was sufficient to influence their behavior in a measurable way. This opens up the door for this technique to be used in gait and posture related scenarios including rehabilitation.

Identifying Specific Cues and Contexts Related to Smoking Craving for the Development of Effective Virtual Environments

Craving is considered the main variable associated with relapse after smoking cessation. Cue Exposure Therapy (CET) consists of controlled and repeated exposure to drug-related cues with the aim of extinguishing craving responses. Some virtual reality (VR) environments, such as virtual bars or parties, have previously shown their efficacy as tools for eliciting smoking craving. However, in order to adapt this technology to smoking cessation interventions, there is a need for more diverse environments that enhance the probability of generalization of extinction in real life. The main objective of this study was to identify frequent situations that produce smoking craving, as well as detecting specific craving cues in those contexts. Participants were 154 smokers who responded to an ad hoc self-administered inventory for assessing craving level in 12 different situations. Results showed that having a drink in a bar/pub at night, after having lunch/dinner in a restaurant and having a coffee in a cafe or after lunch/dinner at home were reported as the most craving-inducing scenarios. Some differences were found with regard to participants' gender, age, and number of cigarettes smoked per day. Females, younger people, and heavier smokers reported higher levels of craving in most situations. In general, the most widely cited specific cues across the contexts were people smoking, having a coffee, being with friends, and having finished eating. These results are discussed with a view to their consideration in the design of valid and reliable VR environments that could be used in the treatment of nicotine addicts who wish to give up smoking.

Exploring new criteria to design materials for online education

Peer-reviewed

University teacher competences in a virtual teaching/learning environment : analysis of a teacher training experience

This paper attempts to shed light on the competencies a teacher must have inorder to teach in online university environments. We will relate a teacher trainingexperience, which was designed taking into account the methodological criteriaestablished in line with previous theoretical principles. The main objective of ouranalysis is to identify the achievements and difficulties of a specific formativeexperience, with the ultimate goal of assessing the suitability of this conceptualmethodologicalframework for the design of formative proposals aiming to contribute tothe development of teacher competencies for virtual environments.

Creating a research network for a successful e-portfolio design and implementation

The presence of e-portfolios in educational centres, companies and administrations has emergedstrongly during the last years by creating very different practices coming from different objectives and purposes. This situation has led researchers and practitioners to design and implement e-portfolios with little reference to previous knowledge of them; consequently, developments are disparate with many of the processes and dimensions used both in development and use being unnecessary complex. In order to minimize the inconveniences, unify these developmental processes and improve the resultsof implementation and use of e-portfolios, it seemed necessary to create a network of researchers, teachers and trainers coming from different universities and institutions of different kinds who are interested in the investigation and the practice of e-portfolios in Spain. Therefore, The Network on e-portfoliowas created in 2006, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and led by the UniversitatOberta de Catalunya. Besides the goals associatedwith the creation of this network and which wewanted to share with other European researchers and experts of other continents, we will also present in this paper some data concerned with the first study carried out on the use of e-portfolios in our country that shows where we are and which trends are the most important for the near future.

Impacto de la interactividad de un entorno virtual, en el fomento del aprendizaje colaborativo en la Universidad Santiago de Cali

En este estudio se analiza el impacto de la interactividad de un entorno virtual, el fomento del aprendizaje colaborativo de un grupo conformado por diez y seis (N=16) estudiantes del segundo semestre del programa de Ingeniería Industrial de la universidad Santiago de Cali. Se planteó como objetivo, establecer un foro virtual con una actividad de aprendizaje colaborativo, basada en un problema a resolver como tarea conjunta.La experiencia se desarrolló mediante un diseño de tipo exploratorio y descriptivo, enfocado en recolectar y analizar información que permitió comprender y valorar el impacto de la interactividad en el aprendizaje colaborativo de los estudiantes. Con el estudio, se apertura un espacio de discusión en torno al impacto real de las interacciones en el fomento del aprendizaje, durante la realización de tareas colaborativas de los estudiantes, utilizando el foro virtual como herramienta de apoyo.

Visualitzador de molècules d'ADN per laboratori virtual

Com a continuació del treball de final de carrera “Desenvolupament d’un laboratori virtual per a les pràctiques de Biologia Molecular” de Jordi Romero, s’ha realitzat una eina complementaria per a la visualització de molècules integrada en el propi laboratori virtual. Es tracta d’una eina per a la visualització gràfica de gens, ORF, marques i seqüències de restricció de molècules reals o fictícies. El fet de poder treballar amb molècules fictícies és la gran avantatge respecte a les solucions com GENBANK que només permet treballar amb molècules pròpies. Treballar amb molècules fictícies fa que sigui una solució ideal per a l’ensenyament, ja que dóna la possibilitat als professors de realitzar exercicis o demostracions amb molècules reals o dissenyades expressament per a l’exercici a demostrar. A més, permet mostrar de forma visual les diferents parts simultàniament o per separat, de manera que ofereix una primera aproximació interpretació dels resultats. Per altra banda, permet marcar gens, crear marques, localitzar seqüències de restricció i generar els ORF de la molècula que nosaltres creem o modificar una ja existent. Per l’implementació, s’ha continuat amb l’idea de separar la part de codi i la part de disseny en les aplicacions Flash. Per fer-ho, s’ha utilitzat la plataforma de codi lliure Ariware ARPv2.02 que proposa un marc de desenvolupament d’aplicacions Flash orientades a objectes amb el codi (classes ActionScript 2.0) separats del movieclip. Per al processament de dades s’ha fet servir Perl per ser altament utilitzat en Bioinformàtica i per velocitat de càlcul. Les dades generades es guarden en una Base de Dades en MYSQL (de lliure distribució), de la que s’extreuen les dades per generar fitxers XML, fent servir tant PHP com la plataforma AMFPHP com a enllaç entre Flash i la resta de parts.