Designing for user engagement: The ALTC exchange for higher education

The Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite) has recently completed research to inform development of the ALTC Exchange, a new online service for learning and teaching in Australia. The research investigated resource identification and contribution, engagement with the repository and user community, and associated peer review and commentary processes. This article focuses on the data obtained and recommendations developed for engagement of potential end users. It reports a literature review and findings, including an international perspective on the ALTC Exchange, with specific focus on prospective user needs, contexts of use and policies necessary to facilitate engagement of the higher education sector with the ALTC Exchange

Zero knowledge one time digital signature scheme

In many applications, when communicating with a host, we may or may not be concerned about the privacy of the data but are mainly concerned about the integrity of data being transmitted. This paper presents a simple algorithm based on zero knowledge proof by which the receiver can confirm the integrity of data without the sender having to send the digital signature of the message directly. Also, if the same document is sent across by the same user multiple times, this scheme results in different digital signature each time thus making it a practical one-time signature scheme.

Student research into the use of technology in higher and further education

Jisc conducted a study into the use of technology in higher and further education to mark the launch of the Jisc Digital Festival.

Effective Practice in a Digital Age

Effective Practice in a Digital Age is designed for those in further and higher education who aim to enhance the student learning experience through apt and imaginative uses of technology. A visually rich publication, Effective Practice in a Digital Age outlines key aspects of designing learning in a technology-rich context and is structured to address the needs of experienced practitioners as well as those new to technology-based learning and teaching – the ten newly researched case studies offer a choice of pathways reflecting the diversity of approaches taken by practitioners in current UK practice.

The Computer Input/Output Subsystem Education in an undergraduate introductory course: a Multiperspective Study

240 p.

Atlas digital: uma contribuição para o sistema de informação do município de São João de Meriti-RJ

Um Atlas Digital é um atlas que foi concebido através de técnicas computacionais e que, consequentemente, pode ser acessado através de um computador. Estruturado em um ambiente gráfico, além dos mapas, pode-se contar também com textos, fotografias, dados estatísticos, gráficos e tabelas. Por estar em meio digital existe a possibilidade de utilização de uma expressiva gama de temas, formatos e escalas. Nesta dissertação apresenta-se um protótipo de Atlas Digital como uma colaboração ao Sistema de Informação Municipal SIM, para o município de São João de Meriti, RJ. O referido SIM, que tem como meta os serviços municipais, visa atender ao próprio município, ao cidadão e a outros interessados na cidade, sendo as suas informações fundamentais para a melhoria da gestão das prefeituras. A pesquisa foi direcionada para o tema da habitabilidade, que consiste num conjunto de condições voltadas para a construção de habitat saudável, abrangendo temas físicos, psicológicos, sociais, culturais e ambientais. Dentro do tema habitabilidade, foram trabalhados os subtemas relativos a infraestrutura de abastecimento de água, esgoto, coleta de lixo, saúde e educação, esses subtemas foram confrontados entre si para uma comparação entre os bairros do município. O SIM e a habitabilidade são contemplados no plano diretor da cidade e representa uma grande parte da sustentação teórica da dissertação. A modelagem e implementação do protótipo do Atlas Digital foram feitas com auxílio de softwares gratuitos, sendo possível acessar mapas temáticos e outras informações sobre São João de Meriti

Sentimental education: a study of George Eliots Daniel Deronda

A dissertação analisa Daniel Deronda, de George Eliot, identificando o conceito de maleabilidade como idéia chave para o entendimento dos ideais morais do romance. Discussão do papel desempenhado pelo conceito de maleabilidade no processo de transição da infância para a idade adulta e na apreensão especifica da amizade apresentados no romance

European Newspapers’ Digital Transition: New Products and New Audiences

The adaptation of traditional newspapers to new digital media and its interface, far from being a mere technical transformation, has contributed to a gradual change in the media themselves and their audiences. With a sample including the top general information pay newspaper in each of the 28 countries of the European Union, this research has carried out an analysis using 17 indicators divided in 4 categories. The aim is to identify the transformations that the implementation of digital media have brought to the top European newspapers. In general terms, the results show that most dailies have managed to keep their leadership also in online environment. Moreover, an emerging group of global media is growing up, based in preexisting national media. Digital and mobile media have contributed to the appearance of new consumption habits as well, where users read more superficially and sporadically. The audience uses several formats at a time, and digital devices already bring the biggest amount of users to many media. The Internet-created new information windows –search engines, social networks, etc. –are also contributing to the change in professional work routines.

Experiência de leitura: entre o digital e o tradicional

Perceber a leitura como prática social, histórica e cultural a partir da evolução e das variações textuais construídas e exercidas junto à sociedade é o primeiro caminho para discutir os reflexos dos processos da leitura.Revisando a história da leitura, em autores como Fischer, Chartier e Manguel, busca-se uma imersão na construção da leitura ao longo de alguns séculos. Ao comparar os usos e as apropriações da leitura ao longo da história da escrita percebe-se que o indivíduo é fator determinante nas práticas da utilização da tecnologia. Tendo como objeto de estudo dois grupos de alunos de pós-graduação do Centro Universitário Geraldo Di Biase, onde pela primeira vez foi inserida a tecnologia digital como ferramenta didática, observa-se, com esse trabalho, uma nova experimentação da leitura. Dessa forma, o tablet como suporte de leitura é ferramenta pontual na observação in loco, de forma que a própria sala de aula é local de observação. Para as práticas metodológicas buscou-se na pesquisa empírica de observação não participante e participante meios de perceber o cotidiano dos alunos e professores inseridos em tal prática. Formado por diversas ações culturais e oriundo de uma educação tradicional, encontra-se um indivíduo proveniente da exclusão digital, que está sendo inserido constantemente num processo de inclusão digital, de forma frágil, mas reforçado pelas práticas do consumo e de marketing.Leitores cercados por leituras efêmeras e fragmentadas estão imersos numa era em que a concepção de quantidade é sobreposta à qualidade levando a um questionamento quanto às diversas leituras ou a procedência dos textos. De forma que até mesmo as relações sociais são estimuladas pela multisensorialidade midiática, encontra-se a tela como espaço de escrita e de leitura, mas essa não garante uma efetiva imersão tecnológica, mas um processo cognitivo que tenta inserir no cotidiano dos indivíduos o letramento digital.

Criação de um atlas pedagógico do Município do Rio de Janeiro, dentro da arquitetura do sistema brasileiro de televisão digital terrestre.

Esta dissertação visa levantar as possibilidades de uso da Geomática no ambiente de interatividade do Sistema Brasileiro de TV Digital Terrestre (SBTVD), definido pelo Decreto Presidencial 5.820, de 29 de Junho de 2006. O produto desta dissertação compreende a implementação de um Atlas, que terá como seu maior objetivo, o auxílio ao processo pedagógico e de Educação à distância (EAD), democratizando o conhecimento da Cartografia. A metodologia de desenvolvimento terá como base o estudo do município do Rio de Janeiro e como público alvo, professores e jovens de 8 a 12 anos de idade. Entretanto, poderá ser facilmente adaptado para outras regiões e diferentes níveis educacionais. No estudo foram utilizados os fundamentos da Geomática, com suas origens estruturais baseadas em uma natureza multidisciplinar, que é ponto de convergência da Informática, de Geografia, do Planejamento Urbano, das Engenharias, das Estatísticas e das Ciências do Ambiente, focadas em fases de produção definidas e divididas em: Coleta, Análise, Distribuição e Uso. Nesse contexto estudaremos como a Cartografia e o SBTVD terrestre vão se incorporar tecnologicamente na distribuição desses dados.

Traversing digital learning landscapes: an Institutional and faculty case study.

Within the UK, there is a growing awareness to better understand what online educational technologies can offer in relation to learning and teaching, and how social technologies are changing communication and collaboration out with formal education. The concept of the ‘digital university’ is being widely debated within the UK Higher education sector (McCluskey and Winter, 2012), becoming embedded in educational policy, and beginning to be explored within many institutions. This session will report on one such institutional initiative, undertaken at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. A Digital Futures Working Group was established to: benchmark best practice in key areas including digitally enhanced education and digital literacies development; identify areas for short term action; and to produce a robust ‘digital agenda’ to inform the future direction of the university. Pivotal to this was the recognition to evolve staff digital pedagogical practices and to harness emerging digital opportunities, meet learner expectations, and meet wider expectations for contemporary able citizens. This session will be delivered in two parts. Firstly we will provide an insight into the focus of the project and the rich picture methodology used to consult with staff and students. Secondly we will specify the outcomes produced, and provide a case study of how the Faculty of Health, Life and Social Sciences engaged with the process and the progression of their digitally enabled educational practices.

Ethnomathematical research and drama in education techniques: developing a dialogue in a geometry class of 10th grade students

Ethnomathematical research, together with digital technologies (WebQuest) and Drama-in- Education (DiE) techniques, can create a fruitful learning environment in a mathematics classroom—a hybrid/third space—enabling increased student participation and higher levels of cognitive engagement. This article examines how ethnomathematical ideas processed within the experiential environment established by the Drama-in-Education techniques challenged students‘ conceptions of the nature of mathematics, the ways in which students engaged with mathematics learning using mind and body, and the ̳dialogue‘ that was developed between the Discourse situated in a particular practice and the classroom Discourse of mathematics teaching. The analysis focuses on an interdisciplinary project based on an ethnomathematical study of a designing tradition carried out by the researchers themselves, involving a search for informal mathematics and the connections with context and culture; 10th grade students in a public school in Athens were introduced to the mathematics content via an original WebQuest based on this previous ethnomathematical study; Geometry content was further introduced and mediated using the Drama-in-Education (DiE) techniques. Students contributed in an unfolding dialogue between formal and informal knowledge, renegotiating both mathematical concepts and their perception of mathematics as a discipline.

Digital Forestry: A white paper

Digital Forestry has been proposed as “the science, technology, and art of systematically acquiring, integrating, analyzing, and applying digital information to support sustainable forests.” Although rooted in traditional forestry disciplines, Digital Forestry draws from a host of other fields that, in the past few decades, have become important for implementing the concept of forest ecosystem management and the principle of sustainable forestry. Digital Forestry is a framework that links all facets of forestry information at local, national, and global levels through an organized digital network. It is anticipated that a new set of principles will be established when practicing Digital Forestry concept for the evolution of forestry education, research, and practices as the 21st century unfolds.

Creating a suitable and successful solution for the integration of podcasting and vidcasting in a higher education e-learning environment

A small research project is currently taking place within a department of the University of Greenwich. The project involves using current technology (Apple’s xServe, iPhones, iPod touch, Podcast Producer application and some 3rd party capture software) with the intention to provide a solution for quick and simple podcasting. This paper also aims to investigate the use of podcasting to help promote and extend the e-learning provision within the school. In short this project aims to justify the use of podcasting as a teaching and learning tool to help enhance student learning while identifying the most appropriate manner to integrate podcasting within an e-learning environment.

Rethinking the digital divide

The ALT-C 2008 conference theme of 'Re-thinking the Digital Divide' was highlighted in relation to the Greenwich conference theme of ‘Learning from the Learners' Experience of eLearning’ in a plenary session in which the Co-Chair of ALT-C 2008 introduced the forthcoming ALT-C conference at Leeds.