Formazione, apprendimento e nuove prospettive e-learning. Lo sviluppo delle nuove tecnologie didattiche e la creazione di sistemi di apprendimento lungo l’intero arco della vita

The thesis of this paper is based on the assumption that the socio-economic system in which we are living is characterised by three great trends: growing attention to the promotion of human capital; extremely rapid technological progress, based above all on the information and communication technologies (ICT); the establishment of new production and organizational set-ups. These transformation processes pose a concrete challenge to the training sector, which is called to satisfy the demand for new skills that need to be developed and disseminated. Hence the growing interest that the various training sub-systems devote to the issues of lifelong learning and distance learning. In such a context, the so-called e-learning acquires a central role. The first chapter proposes a reference theoretical framework for the transformations that are shaping post-industrial society. It analyzes some key issues such as: how work is changing, the evolution of organizational set-ups and the introduction of learning organization, the advent of the knowledge society and of knowledge companies, the innovation of training processes, and the key role of ICT in the new training and learning systems. The second chapter focuses on the topic of e-learning as an effective training model in response to the need for constant learning that is emerging in the knowledge society. This chapter starts with a reflection on the importance of lifelong learning and introduces the key arguments of this thesis, i.e. distance learning (DL) and the didactic methodology called e-learning. It goes on with an analysis of the various theoretic and technical aspects of e-learning. In particular, it delves into the theme of e-learning as an integrated and constant training environment, characterized by customized programmes and collaborative learning, didactic assistance and constant monitoring of the results. Thus, all the aspects of e-learning are taken into exam: the actors and the new professionals, the virtual communities as learning subjects, the organization of contents in learning objects, the conformity to international standards, the integrated platforms and so on. The third chapter, which concludes the theoretic-interpretative part, starts with a short presentation of the state-of-the-art e-learning international market that aims to understand its peculiarities and its current trends. Finally, we focus on some important regulation aspects related to the strong impulse given by the European Commission first, and by the Italian governments secondly, to the development and diffusion of e-learning. The second part of the thesis (chapters 4, 5 and 6) focus on field research, which aims to define the Italian scenario for e-learning. In particular, we have examined some key topics such as: the challenges of training and the instruments to face such challenges; the new didactic methods and technologies for lifelong learning; the level of diffusion of e-learning in Italy; the relation between classroom training and online training; the main factors of success as well as the most critical aspects of the introduction of e-learning in the various learning environments. As far as the methodological aspects are concerned, we have favoured a qualitative and quantitative analysis. A background analysis has been done to collect the statistical data available on this topic, as well as the research previously carried out in this area. The main source of data is constituted by the results of the Observatory on e-learning of Aitech-Assinform, which covers the 2000s and four areas of implementation (firms, public administration, universities, school): the thesis has reviewed the results of the last three available surveys, offering a comparative interpretation of them. We have then carried out an in-depth empirical examination of two case studies, which have been selected by virtue of the excellence they have achieved and can therefore be considered advanced and emblematic experiences (a large firm and a Graduate School).

Pedagogical quality in e-learning

The article is concerned with design and use of e-learning technology to develop education qualitatively. The purpose is to develop a framework for a pedagogical evaluation of e-learning technology. The approach is that evaluation and design must be grounded in a learning theoretical approach, and it is argued that it is necessary to make a reflection of technology in relation to activities, learning principles, and a learning theory in order to qualitatively develop education. The article presents three frameworks developed on the basis of cognitivism, radical constructivism and activity theory. Finally, on the basis of the frameworks, the article discusses e-learning technology and, more specifically, design of virtual learning environments and learning objects. It is argued that e-learning technology is not pedagogically neutral, and that it is therefore necessary to focus on design of technology that explicitly supports a certain pedagogical approach. Further, it is argued that design should direct its focus away from organisation of content and towards design of activities.

Berufsschulen auf dem Weg zum E-Learning

Das Primärziel des BLK-Modellversuchs „E-Learning zur Unterstützung des Lernfeldkonzepts (ELLFE)“ ist die Entwicklung und Ausgestaltung des Lernfeldkonzepts durch E-Learning-gestützte Lernsituationen. Der mediale Schwerpunkt soll erprobt werden, da angenommen wird, dass der Lernfeldunterricht durch die Potentiale des E-Learning flankiert werden kann. Der Artikel stellt neben den theoretischen Vorüberlegungen zu dem Projekt einige konkrete Umsetzungsbeispiele sowie gegenwärtige Evaluationsbefunde vor.

Berufsschulen auf dem Weg zum E-Learning

Das Primärziel des BLK-Modellversuchs „E-Learning zur Unterstützung des Lernfeldkonzepts (ELLFE)“ ist die Entwicklung und Ausgestaltung des Lernfeldkonzepts durch E-Learning-gestützte Lernsituationen. Der mediale Schwerpunkt soll erprobt werden, da angenommen wird, dass der Lernfeldunterricht durch die Potentiale des E-Learning flankiert werden kann. Der Artikel stellt neben den theoretischen Vorüberlegungen zu dem Projekt einige konkrete Umsetzungsbeispiele sowie gegenwärtige Evaluationsbefunde vor.

(Lifelong) learning in your pocket?

Der Beitrag fokussiert die Entwicklung, den Einsatz und die Nutzung von innovativen Technologien zur Unterstützung von Bildungsszenarien in Schule, Hochschule und Weiterbildung. Ausgehend von den verschiedenen Phasen des Corporate Learning, Social Learning, Mobile Learning und Intelligent Learning wird in einem ersten Abschnitt das Nutzungsverhalten von Technologien durch Kinder, Jugendliche und (junge) Erwachsene in Schule, Studium und Lehre betrachtet. Es folgt die Darstellung technologischer Entwicklungen auf Basis des Technology Life Cycle und die Konsequenzen von unterschiedlichen Entwicklungszuständen und Reifegraden von Technologien wie Content Learning Management, sozialen Netzwerken, mobilen Endgeräten, multidimensionalen und -modalen Räumen bis hin zu Anwendungen augmentierter Realität und des Internets der Dinge, Dienste und Daten für den Einsatz und die Nutzung in Bildungsszenarien. Nach der Darstellung von Anforderungen an digitale Technologien hinsichtlich Inhalte, Didaktik und Methodik wie etwa hinsichtlich der Erstellung von Inhalten, deren Wiederverwendung, Digitalisierung und Auffindbarkeit sowie Standards werden methodische Hinweise zur Nutzung digitaler Technologien zur Interaktion von Lernenden, von Lehrenden, sozialer Interaktion, kollaborativem Autorieren, Kommentierung, Evaluation und Begutachtung gegeben. Abschließend werden - differenziert für Schule und Hochschule - Erkenntnisse zu Rahmenbedingungen, Einflussgrößen, hemmenden und fördernden Faktoren sowie Herausförderungen bei der Einführung und nachhaltigen Implementation digitaler Technologien im schulischen Unterricht, in Lehre, Studium und Weiterbildung im Überblick zusammengefasst.

Moodle & Co. auf dem Weg zur Personal Learning Environment

Ausgehend von der typischen IT‐Infrastruktur für E‐Learning an Hochschulen auf der einen Seite sowie vom bisherigen Stand der Forschung zu Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) auf der anderen Seite zeigt dieser Beitrag auf, wie bestehende Werkzeuge bzw. Dienste zusammengeführt und für die Anforderungen der modernen, rechnergestützten Präsenzlehre aufbereitet werden können. Für diesen interdisziplinären Entwicklungsprozess bieten sowohl klassische Softwareentwicklungsverfahren als auch bestehende PLE‐Modelle wenig Hilfestellung an. Der Beitrag beschreibt die in einem campusweiten Projekt an der Universität Potsdam verfolgten Ansätze und die damit erzielten Ergebnisse. Dafür werden zunächst typische Lehr‐/Lern‐bzw. Kommunikations‐Szenarien identifiziert, aus denen Anforderungen an eine unterstützende Plattform abgeleitet werden. Dies führt zu einer umfassenden Sammlung zu berücksichtigender Dienste und deren Funktionen, die gemäß den Spezifika ihrer Nutzung in ein Gesamtsystem zu integrieren sind. Auf dieser Basis werden grundsätzliche Integrationsansätze und technische Details dieses Mash‐Ups in einer Gesamtschau aller relevanten Dienste betrachtet und in eine integrierende Systemarchitektur überführt. Deren konkrete Realisierung mit Hilfe der Portal‐Technologie Liferay wird dargestellt, wobei die eingangs definierten Szenarien aufgegriffen und exemplarisch vorgestellt werden. Ergänzende Anpassungen im Sinne einer personalisierbaren bzw. adaptiven Lern‐(und Arbeits‐)Umgebung werden ebenfalls unterstützt und kurz aufgezeigt.

Mobile Games for Learning

Today, pupils at the age of 15 have spent their entire life surrounded by and interacting with diverse forms of computers. It is a routine part of their day-to-day life and by now computer-literacy is common at very early age. Over the past five years, technology for teens has become predominantly mobile and ubiquitous within every aspect of their lives. To them, being online is an implicitness. In Germany, 88% of youth aged between 12-19 years own a smartphone and about 20% use the Internet via tablets. Meanwhile, more and more young learners bring their devices into the classroom and pupils increasingly demand for innovative and motivating learning scenarios that strongly respond to their habits of using media. With this development, a shift of paradigm is slowly under way with regard to the use of mobile technology in education. By now, a large body of literature exists, that reports concepts, use-cases and practical studies for effectively using technology in education. Within this field, a steadily growing body of research has developed that especially examines the use of digital games as instructional strategy. The core concern of this thesis is the design of mobile games for learning. The conditions and requirements that are vital in order to make mobile games suitable and effective for learning environments are investigated. The base for exploration is the pattern approach as an established form of templates that provide solutions for recurrent problems. Building on this acknowledged form of exchanging and re-using knowledge, patterns for game design are used to classify the many gameplay rules and mechanisms in existence. This research draws upon pattern descriptions to analyze learning game concepts and to abstract possible relationships between gameplay patterns and learning outcomes. The linkages that surface are the starting bases for a series of game design concepts and their implementations are subsequently evaluated with regard to learning outcomes. The findings and resulting knowledge from this research is made accessible by way of implications and recommendations for future design decisions.

Learning in Virtual Worlds: Research and Applications

Three-dimensional (3D) immersive virtual worlds have been touted as being capable of facilitating highly interactive, engaging, multimodal learning experiences. Much of the evidence gathered to support these claims has been anecdotal but the potential that these environments hold to solve traditional problems in online and technology-mediated education—primarily learner isolation and student disengagement—has resulted in considerable investments in virtual world platforms like Second Life, OpenSimulator, and Open Wonderland by both professors and institutions. To justify this ongoing and sustained investment, institutions and proponents of simulated learning environments must assemble a robust body of evidence that illustrates the most effective use of this powerful learning tool. In this authoritative collection, a team of international experts outline the emerging trends and developments in the use of 3D virtual worlds for teaching and learning. They explore aspects of learner interaction with virtual worlds, such as user wayfinding in Second Life, communication modes and perceived presence, and accessibility issues for elderly or disabled learners. They also examine advanced technologies that hold potential for the enhancement of learner immersion and discuss best practices in the design and implementation of virtual world-based learning interventions and tasks. By evaluating and documenting different methods, approaches, and strategies, the contributors to Learning in Virtual Worlds offer important information and insight to both scholars and practitioners in the field. AU Press is an open access publisher and the book is available for free in PDF format as well as for purchase on our website: http://bit.ly/1W4yTRA

Contribución al diseño y modelado de plataformas de gestión e impartición de titulaciones conjuntas en ambientes de e-learning

Las Tecnologías de la Información y de las Comunicaciones, ofrecen una buena oportunidad para el desarrollo de comunidades virtuales de aprendizaje, especialmente en el caso de las titulaciones conjuntas entre organizaciones. Estas comunidades permiten a las organizaciones aprovechar mejor las oportunidades de aprendizaje que brindan las tecnologías de Internet, aportando mejores contenidos y experiencias de aprendizaje (Recursos de aprendizaje) tanto para los profesores como para los alumnos. Sin embargo, actualmente no existe una tecnología clara con la que poder federar plataformas de gestión e impartición de titulaciones virtuales (LMS), con la que dar un adecuado soporte a las titulaciones conjuntas. En este trabajo, se presenta una metodología y una arquitectura de federación de plataformas LMS para poder gestionar titulaciones conjuntas en ambiente de e-learning. Actualmente, existe escaso conocimiento acerca de los problemas que están imposibilitando la utilización de estos escenarios. Por ello, este trabajo se presenta como una solución para los miembros de la comunidad (directores, docentes, investigadores y estudiantes), ofreciendo un marco conceptual, que ayuda a entender estos escenarios e identifica los requisitos de diseño que son útiles para generar servicios de aprendizaje accesibles a los miembros de la comunidad (Grid de recursos de aprendizaje) y para integrar los LMS en una nube de titulaciones conjuntas en ambientes de e-learning. Así mismo, en el presente documento se presentan varias experiencias, en las que se han implementado comunidades virtuales de aprendizaje en la ciudad de Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), que han servido para inspirar y validar la solución propuesta en este trabajo. ABSTRACT Information and communication technologies offer a great opportunity for the development of virtual learning communities, like as joint degrees between Organizations. Virtual Learning Communities allow organizations to be more cooperative during training activities via the Internet, with the provision of their learning expertise (learning resource). Internet enables multiple organizations to share their learning expertise with others. In these cooperative knowledge spaces, each organization contributes with their partners providing learning resources that they offer to students and teachers. However, currently there is no clear technology with which to federate Learning Management Systems (LMS) to give adequate support to joint degrees. In this work, we present a description of the problems that would face the generation of the Joint degrees in e-learning environments. Currently little is known about the problems that prevent the formation of virtual learning communities generated from the experience contributed by multiple organizations, so, this work is important for community members (Directors, Teachers, Researchers and practitioners) because it offers a conceptual framework that helps understand these scenarios and can provide useful design requirements when generating learning services for the community (Grid of Learning Resources) and to integrate the LMS in a cloud of joint degrees in e-learning environments. We also propose various experiences in which virtual learning communities have been integrated in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) which have served to inspire and validate the solution proposed in this paper.

Problem-based learning supported by semantic techniques

Problem-based learning has been applied over the last three decades to a diverse range of learning environments. In this educational approach, different problems are posed to the learners so that they can develop different solutions while learning about the problem domain. When applied to conceptual modelling, and particularly to Qualitative Reasoning, the solutions to problems are models that represent the behaviour of a dynamic system. The learner?s task then is to bridge the gap between their initial model, as their first attempt to represent the system, and the target models that provide solutions to that problem. We propose the use of semantic technologies and resources to help in bridging that gap by providing links to terminology and formal definitions, and matching techniques to allow learners to benefit from existing models.

Using online presence to improve online collaborative learning

Social software tools have become an integral part of students? personal lives and their primary communication medium. Likewise, these tools are increasingly entering the enterprise world (within the recent trend known as Enterprise 2.0) and becoming a part of everyday work routines. Aiming to keep the pace with the job requirements and also to position learning as an integral part of students? life, the field of education is challenged to embrace social software. Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) emerged as a concept that makes use of social software to facilitate collaboration, knowledge sharing, group formation around common interests, active participation and reflective thinking in online learning settings. Furthermore, social software allows for establishing and maintaining one?s presence in the online world. By being aware of a student's online presence, a PLE is better able to personalize the learning settings, e.g., through recommendation of content to use or people to collaborate with. Aiming to explore the potentials of online presence for the provision of recommendations in PLEs, in the scope of the OP4L project, we have develop a software solution that is based on a synergy of Semantic Web technologies, online presence and socially-oriented learning theories. In this paper we present the current results of this research work.

Web-based education in Spanish Universities. A Comparison of Open Source E-Learning Platforms

Web-based education or „e-learning‟ has become a critical component in higher education for the last decade, replacing other distance learning methods, such as traditional computer training or correspondence learning. The number of university students who take on-line courses is continuously increasing all over the world. In Spain, nearly a 90% of the universities have an institutional e-learning platform and over 60% of the traditional on-site courses use this technology as a supplement to the traditional face-to-face classes. This new form of learning allows the disappearance of geographical barriers and enables students to schedule their own learning process, among some other advantages. On-line education is developed through specific software called „e-learning platform‟ or „virtual learning environment‟ (VLE). A considerable number of web-based tools to deliver distance courses are currently available. Open source software packages such as Moodle, Sakai, dotLRN or Dokeos are the most commonly used in the virtual campuses of Spanish universities. This paper analyzes the possibilities that virtual learning environments provide university teachers and learners and offers a technical comparison among some of the most popular e-learning learning platforms.

E-MIS validity applied to TELMA enhanced learning environment

Enhanced learning environments are arising with great success within the field of cognitive skills training in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) because they provides multiple benefits since they avoid time, spatial and cost constraints. TELMA [1,2] is a new technology enhanced learning platform that promotes collaborative and ubiquitous training of surgeons. This platform is based on four main modules: an authoring tool, a learning content and knowledge management system, an evaluation module and a professional network. TELMA has been designed and developed focused on the user; therefore it is necessary to carry out a user validation as final stage of the development. For this purpose, e-MIS validity [3] has been defined. This validation includes usability, contents and functionality validities both for the development and production stages of any e-Learning web platform. Using e-MIS validity, the e-Learning is fully validated since it includes subjective and objective metrics. The purpose of this study is to specify and apply a set of objective and subjective metrics using e-MIS validity to test usability, contents and functionality of TELMA environment within the development stage.

Incorporating proactivity to context-aware recommender systems for e-learning

Recommender systems in e-learning have proved to be powerful tools to find suitable educational material during the learning experience. But traditional user request-response patterns are still being used to generate these recommendations. By including contextual information derived from the use of ubiquitous learning environments, the possibility of incorporating proactivity to the recommendation process has arisen. In this paper we describe methods to push proactive recommendations to e-learning systems users when the situation is appropriate without being needed their explicit request. As a result, interesting learning objects can be recommended attending to the user?s needs in every situation. The impact of this proactive recommendations generated have been evaluated among teachers and scientists in a real e-learning social network called Virtual Science Hub related to the GLOBAL excursion European project. Outcomes indicate that the methods proposed are valid to generate such kind of recommendations in e-learning scenarios. The results also show that the users' perceived appropriateness of having proactive recommendations is high.