Referencing journals

An interactive tutorial on how to reference journal articles correctly. It begins with an example, and interactively draws the student through the stages of accessing the relevant information through to how to include the final citation in the bibliography. It concludes with a ‘test your knowledge’ set of activities. When you view this object note that the panel on the left generated by the repository can be dragged sideways to view the learning object full screen.

Opera-Learning : integración de estándares de distribución de contenidos multimedia y learning objects.

El artículo está incluido en un número monográfico especial con los trabajos del I Simposio Pluridisciplinar sobre Diseño, Evaluación y Descripción de Contenidos Educativos Reutilizables (Guadalajara, Octubre 2004).Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Workflow data exchange semantics, object discovery & integration architecture for cross media production & distribution

There has been a clear lack of common data exchange semantics for inter-organisational workflow management systems where the research has mainly focused on technical issues rather than language constructs. This paper presents the neutral data exchanges semantics required for the workflow integration within the AXAEDIS framework and presents the mechanism for object discovery from the object repository where little or no knowledge about the object is available. The paper also presents workflow independent integration architecture with the AXAEDIS Framework.

Ontology-based metadata for e-learning content

Nowadays, the popularity of the Web encourages the development of Hypermedia Systems dedicated to e-learning. Nevertheless, most of the available Web teaching systems apply the traditional paper-based learning resources presented as HTML pages making no use of the new capabilities provided by the Web. There is a challenge to develop educative systems that adapt the educative content to the style of learning, context and background of each student. Another research issue is the capacity to interoperate on the Web reusing learning objects. This work presents an approach to address these two issues by using the technologies of the Semantic Web. The approach presented here models the knowledge of the educative content and the learner’s profile with ontologies whose vocabularies are a refinement of those defined on standards situated on the Web as reference points to provide semantics. Ontologies enable the representation of metadata concerning simple learning objects and the rules that define the way that they can feasibly be assembled to configure more complex ones. These complex learning objects could be created dynamically according to the learners’ profile by intelligent agents that use the ontologies as the source of their beliefs. Interoperability issues were addressed by using an application profile of the IEEE LOM- Learning Object Metadata standard.

Teaching and learning data structures supported by computers: An experiment using CADILAG tool

This paper aims to present the use of a learning object (CADILAG), developed to facilitate understanding data structure operations by using visual presentations and animations. The CADILAG allows visualizing the behavior of algorithms usually discussed during Computer Science and Information System courses. For each data structure it is possible visualizing its content and its operation dynamically. Its use was evaluated an the results are presented. © 2012 AISTI.

Rich media content adaptation in e-learning systems

The wide use of e-technologies represents a great opportunity for underserved segments of the population, especially with the aim of reintegrating excluded individuals back into society through education. This is particularly true for people with different types of disabilities who may have difficulties while attending traditional on-site learning programs that are typically based on printed learning resources. The creation and provision of accessible e-learning contents may therefore become a key factor in enabling people with different access needs to enjoy quality learning experiences and services. Another e-learning challenge is represented by m-learning (which stands for mobile learning), which is emerging as a consequence of mobile terminals diffusion and provides the opportunity to browse didactical materials everywhere, outside places that are traditionally devoted to education. Both such situations share the need to access materials in limited conditions and collide with the growing use of rich media in didactical contents, which are designed to be enjoyed without any restriction. Nowadays, Web-based teaching makes great use of multimedia technologies, ranging from Flash animations to prerecorded video-lectures. Rich media in e-learning can offer significant potential in enhancing the learning environment, through helping to increase access to education, enhance the learning experience and support multiple learning styles. Moreover, they can often be used to improve the structure of Web-based courses. These highly variegated and structured contents may significantly improve the quality and the effectiveness of educational activities for learners. For example, rich media contents allow us to describe complex concepts and process flows. Audio and video elements may be utilized to add a “human touch” to distance-learning courses. Finally, real lectures may be recorded and distributed to integrate or enrich on line materials. A confirmation of the advantages of these approaches can be seen in the exponential growth of video-lecture availability on the net, due to the ease of recording and delivering activities which take place in a traditional classroom. Furthermore, the wide use of assistive technologies for learners with disabilities injects new life into e-learning systems. E-learning allows distance and flexible educational activities, thus helping disabled learners to access resources which would otherwise present significant barriers for them. For instance, students with visual impairments have difficulties in reading traditional visual materials, deaf learners have trouble in following traditional (spoken) lectures, people with motion disabilities have problems in attending on-site programs. As already mentioned, the use of wireless technologies and pervasive computing may really enhance the educational learner experience by offering mobile e-learning services that can be accessed by handheld devices. This new paradigm of educational content distribution maximizes the benefits for learners since it enables users to overcome constraints imposed by the surrounding environment. While certainly helpful for users without disabilities, we believe that the use of newmobile technologies may also become a fundamental tool for impaired learners, since it frees them from sitting in front of a PC. In this way, educational activities can be enjoyed by all the users, without hindrance, thus increasing the social inclusion of non-typical learners. While the provision of fully accessible and portable video-lectures may be extremely useful for students, it is widely recognized that structuring and managing rich media contents for mobile learning services are complex and expensive tasks. Indeed, major difficulties originate from the basic need to provide a textual equivalent for each media resource composing a rich media Learning Object (LO). Moreover, tests need to be carried out to establish whether a given LO is fully accessible to all kinds of learners. Unfortunately, both these tasks are truly time-consuming processes, depending on the type of contents the teacher is writing and on the authoring tool he/she is using. Due to these difficulties, online LOs are often distributed as partially accessible or totally inaccessible content. Bearing this in mind, this thesis aims to discuss the key issues of a system we have developed to deliver accessible, customized or nomadic learning experiences to learners with different access needs and skills. To reduce the risk of excluding users with particular access capabilities, our system exploits Learning Objects (LOs) which are dynamically adapted and transcoded based on the specific needs of non-typical users and on the barriers that they can encounter in the environment. The basic idea is to dynamically adapt contents, by selecting them from a set of media resources packaged in SCORM-compliant LOs and stored in a self-adapting format. The system schedules and orchestrates a set of transcoding processes based on specific learner needs, so as to produce a customized LO that can be fully enjoyed by any (impaired or mobile) student.

A policy-driven architecture for supporting joint degrees through e-learning services

En un mercado de educación superior cada vez más competitivo, la colaboración entre universidades es una efectiva estrategia para acceder al mercado global. El desarrollo de titulaciones conjuntas es un importante mecanismo para fortalecer las colaboraciones académicas y diversificar los conocimientos. Las titulaciones conjuntas están siendo cada vez más implementadas en las universidades de todo el mundo. En Europa, el proceso de Bolonia y el programa Erasmus, están fomentado el reconocimiento de titulaciones conjuntas y dobles y promoviendo la colaboración entre las instituciones académicas. En el imparable proceso de la globalización y convergencia educativa, el uso de sistemas de e-learning para soportar cursos tanto semipresencial como online es una tendencia en crecimiento. Dado que los sistemas de e-learning soportan una amplia variedad de cursos, es necesario encontrar una solución adecuada que permita a las universidades soportar y gestionar las titulaciones conjuntas a través de sus sistemas de e-learning en conformidad con los acuerdos de colaboración establecidos por las universidades participantes. Esta tesis doctoral abordará las siguientes preguntas de investigación: 1. ¿Qué factores deben tenerse en cuenta en la implementación y gestión de titulaciones conjuntas? 2. ¿Cómo pueden los sistemas actuales de e-learning soportar el desarrollo de titulaciones conjuntas? 3. ¿Qué otros servicios y sistemas necesitan ser adaptados por las universidades interesadas en participar en una titulación conjunta a través de sus sistemas de e-learning? La implementación de titulaciones conjuntas a través de sistemas de e-learning es compleja e implica retos técnicos, administrativos, culturales, financieros, jurídicos y de seguridad. Esta tesis doctoral propone una serie de contribuciones que pueden ayudar a resolver algunos de los retos identificados. En primer lugar se ha elaborado un modelo conceptual que incluye la información del contexto de las titulaciones conjuntas que es relevante para la implementación de estas titulaciones en los sistemas de e-learning. Después de definir el modelo conceptual, se ha propuesto una arquitectura basada en políticas para la implementación de titulaciones interinstitucionales a través de sistemas de e-learning de acuerdo a los términos estipulados en los acuerdos de colaboración que son firmados por las universidades participantes. El autor se ha centrado en el componente de gestión de flujos de trabajo de esta arquitectura. Por último y con el fin de permitir la interoperabilidad de repositorios de objetos educativos, los componentes básicos a implementar han sido identificados y validados. El uso de servicios multimedia en educación es una tendencia creciente, proporcionando servicios de e-learning que permiten mejorar la comunicación y la interacción entre profesores y alumnos. Dentro de estos servicios, nos hemos centrado en el uso de la videoconferencia y la grabación de clases como servicios adecuados para el desarrollo de cursos impartidos en escenarios de educación colaborativos. Las contribuciones han sido validadas en proyectos de investigación de ámbito nacional y europeo en los que el autor ha participado. Abstract In an increasingly competitive higher education market, collaboration between universities is an effective strategy for gaining access to the global market. The development of joint degrees is an important mechanism for strengthening academic research collaborations and diversifying knowledge. Joint degrees are becoming increasingly implemented in universities around the world. In Europe, the Bologna process and the Erasmus programme have encouraged both the global recognition of joint and double degrees and promoted close collaboration between academic institutions. In the unstoppable process of globalization and educational convergence, the use of e-learning systems for supporting both blended and online courses is becoming a growing trend. Since e-learning systems covers a wide range of courses, it becomes necessary to find a suitable solution that enables universities to support and manage joint degrees through their e-learning systems in accordance with the collaboration agreements established by the universities involved. This dissertation will address the following research questions: 1. What factors need to be considered in the implementation and management of joint degrees? 2. How can the current e-learning systems support the development of joint degrees? 3. What other services and systems need to be adapted by universities interested in participating in a joint degree through their e-learning systems? The implementation of joint degrees using e-learning systems is complex and involves technical, administrative, security, cultural, financial and legal challenges. This dissertation proposes a series of contributions to help solve some of the identified challenges. One of the cornerstones of this proposal is a conceptual model of all the relevant issues related to the support of joint degrees by means of e-learning systems. After defining the conceptual model, this dissertation proposes a policy-driven architecture for implementing inter-institutional degree collaborations through e-learning systems as stipulated by a collaboration agreement signed by two universities. The author has focused on the workflow management component of this architecture. Finally, the building blocks for achieving interoperability of learning object repositories have been identified and validated. The use of multimedia services in education is a growing trend, providing rich e-learning services that improve the communication and interaction between teachers and students. Within these e-learning services, we have focused on the use of videoconferencing and lecture recording as the best-suited services to support collaborative learning scenarios. The contributions have been validated within national and European research projects that the author has been involved in.

Enhanced recommendations for e-learning authoring tools based on a proactive context-aware recommender

Authoring tools are powerful systems in the area of e-Learning that make easier for teachers to create new learning objects by reusing or editing existing educational resources coming from learning repositories or content providers. However, due to the overwhelming number of resources these tools can access, sometimes it is difficult for teachers to find the most suitable resources taking into account their needs in terms of content (e.g. topic) or pedagogical aspects (e.g. target level associated to their students). Recommender systems can take an important role trying to mitigate this problem. In this paper we propose a new model to generate proactive context-aware recommendations on resources during the creation process of a new learning object that a teacher carries out by using an authoring tool. The common use cases covered by the model for having recommendations in online authoring tools and details about the recommender model itself are presented.

Conceptual Model and Security Requirements for DRM Techniques Used for e-Learning Objects Protection

This paper deals with the security problems of DRM protected e-learning content. After a short review of the main DRM systems and methods used in e-learning, an examination is made of participators in DRM schemes (e-learning object author, content creator, content publisher, license creator and end user). Then a conceptual model of security related processes of DRM implementation is proposed which is improved afterwards to reflect some particularities in DRM protection of e-learning objects. A methodical way is used to describe the security related motives, responsibilities and goals of the main participators involved in the DRM system. Taken together with the process model, these security properties are used to establish a list of requirements to fulfill and a possibility for formal verification of real DRM systems compliance with these requirements.

Mount Vernon Student Association

A collection of materials concerning the Mount Vernon Student Association during 1967-1969 maintained by the School of Theology Library and Archives.

Porque ler não chega… da biblioteca escolar à sala de aula: um percurso de leitura e escrita

Projeto de Intervenção apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para a obtenção de grau de Mestre em Didática da Língua Portuguesa no 1º e 2º CEB

Specifying a programming exercises evaluation service on the e-Framework

The e-Framework is arguably the most prominent e-learning framework currently in use. For this reason it was selected as basis for modelling a programming exercises evaluation service. The purpose of this type of evaluator is to mark and grade exercises in computer programming courses and in programming contests. By exposing its functions as services a programming exercise evaluator is able to participate in business processes integrating different system types, such as Programming Contest Management Systems, Learning Management Systems, Integrated Development Environments and Learning Object Repositories. This paper formalizes the approaches to be used in the implementation of a programming exercise evaluator as a service on the e-Framework.

PETCHA: a Programming Exercises Teaching Assistant

This paper presents a tool called Petcha that acts as an automated Teaching Assistant in computer programming courses. The ultimate objective of Petcha is to increase the number of programming exercises effectively solved by students. Petcha meets this objective by helping both teachers to author programming exercises and students to solve them. It also coordinates a network of heterogeneous systems, integrating automatic program evaluators, learning management systems, learning object repositories and integrated programming environments. This paper presents the concept and the design of Petcha and sets this tool in a service oriented architecture for managing learning processes based on the automatic evaluation of programming exercises. The paper presents also a case study that validates the use of Petcha and of the proposed architecture.

Composición funcional del grupo Polychaeta en la bahía de Paita y la plataforma adyacente (5°S), Perú. Febrero 2003 a octubre 2008.

El objetivo fue determinar la variación batimétrica y temporal de la composición funcional por gremios tróficos del grupo Poliquetos. Se colectaron muestras de macrobentos e información oceanográfica en tres estaciones ubicadas en la bahía (BH, 35 m), plataforma interna (PI, 65 m) y plataforma externa (PE, 117 m), de febrero 2003 a octubre 2008. Los resultados indicaron que la variabilidad estacional está sujeta a cambios de mayor escala, como el incremento de la producción primaria en primavera y verano, posibilitando un aumento de los depositívoros superficiales (SDF) en la BH durante primavera, por efecto de la acumulación de materia orgánica fitoplanctónica que llega al fondo. Asimismo, la disminución de los depositívoros superficiales (SDF) y el aumento de los suspensívoros (SF) en verano, en la BH y PI, se pueden explicar debido al incremento de la descarga de partículas terrígenas de origen vegetal, que afectan físicamente al sustrato. En tanto, los consumidores de interfaz (IF) que dominaron en verano/otoño en la PE, donde la influencia continental es menor, pueden haber sido favorecidos por la mayor calidad de flujo acumulado de fitodetritus en los sedimentos y a un menor contenido de OD, lo cual disminuyó quizás la presión por predación y competencia.

Guide à l'intention du personnel enseignant et de recherche 2003

Guide des collections et services offerts par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.