Dialogic learning and interactive groups: an IMS LD template integrated in runtime systems

Dialogic learning and interactive groups have proved to be a useful methodological approach appliedin educational situations for lifelong adult learners. The principles of this approach stress theimportance of dialogue and equal participation also when designing the training activities. This paperadopts these principles as the basis for a configurable template that can be integrated in runtimesystems. The template is formulated as a meta-UoL which can be interpreted by IMS Learning Designplayers. This template serves as a guide to flexibly select and edit the activities at runtime (on the fly).The meta-UoL has been used successfully by a practitioner so as to create a real-life example, withpositive and encouraging results

Creativity in Collaborative Learning across the Life Span

Peer-reviewed

Identifying pedagogical, technological and organizational barriers in virtual learning environments

Virtual learning environments are online spaces where learners interact with other learners, teachers, resources and the environment in itself. Although technology is meant to enhance the learning process, there are important issues regarding pedagogical and organizational aspects that must be addressed. In this paper we review the barriers detected in a virtual university which exclusively uses Internet as the main channel of communication, with no face-to-face requirements exceptthose related to final evaluation.

Adult education policy in the European Union during the Lisbon decade : the shift to vocational adult learning and work skills matching

This doctoral dissertation investigates the adult education policy of the European Union (EU) in the framework of the Lisbon agenda 2000–2010, with a particular focus on the changes of policy orientation that occurred during this reference decade. The year 2006 can be considered, in fact, a turning point for the EU policy-making in the adult learning sector: a radical shift from a wide--ranging and comprehensive conception of educating adults towards a vocationally oriented understanding of this field and policy area has been observed, in particular in the second half of the so--called ‘Lisbon decade’. In this light, one of the principal objectives of the mainstream policy set by the Lisbon Strategy, that of fostering all forms of participation of adults in lifelong learning paths, appears to have muted its political background and vision in a very short period of time, reflecting an underlying polarisation and progressive transformation of European policy orientations. Hence, by means of content analysis and process tracing, it is shown that the new target of the EU adult education policy, in this framework, has shifted from citizens to workers, and the competence development model, borrowed from the corporate sector, has been established as the reference for the new policy road maps. This study draws on the theory of governance architectures and applies a post-ontological perspective to discuss whether the above trends are intrinsically due to the nature of the Lisbon Strategy, which encompasses education policies, and to what extent supranational actors and phenomena such as globalisation influence the European governance and decision--making. Moreover, it is shown that the way in which the EU is shaping the upgrading of skills and competences of adult learners is modeled around the needs of the ‘knowledge economy’, thus according a great deal of importance to the ‘new skills for new jobs’ and perhaps not enough to life skills in its broader sense which include, for example, social and civic competences: these are actually often promoted but rarely implemented in depth in the EU policy documents. In this framework, it is conveyed how different EU policy areas are intertwined and interrelated with global phenomena, and it is emphasised how far the building of the EU education systems should play a crucial role in the formation of critical thinking, civic competences and skills for a sustainable democratic citizenship, from which a truly cohesive and inclusive society fundamentally depend, and a model of environmental and cosmopolitan adult education is proposed in order to address the challenges of the new millennium. In conclusion, an appraisal of the EU’s public policy, along with some personal thoughts on how progress might be pursued and actualised, is outlined.

University students’ regulation of learning and text processing – examples from medical and teacher education

The general aim of the thesis was to study university students’ learning from the perspective of regulation of learning and text processing. The data were collected from the two academic disciplines of medical and teacher education, which share the features of highly scheduled study, a multidisciplinary character, a complex relationship between theory and practice and a professional nature. Contemporary information society poses new challenges for learning, as it is not possible to learn all the information needed in a profession during a study programme. Therefore, it is increasingly important to learn how to think and learn independently, how to recognise gaps in and update one’s knowledge and how to deal with the huge amount of constantly changing information. In other words, it is critical to regulate one’s learning and to process text effectively. The thesis comprises five sub-studies that employed cross-sectional, longitudinal and experimental designs and multiple methods, from surveys to eye tracking. Study I examined the connections between students’ study orientations and the ways they regulate their learning. In total, 410 second-, fourth- and sixth-year medical students from two Finnish medical schools participated in the study by completing a questionnaire measuring both general study orientations and regulation strategies. The students were generally deeply oriented towards their studies. However, they regulated their studying externally. Several interesting and theoretically reasonable connections between the variables were found. For instance, self-regulation was positively correlated with deep orientation and achievement orientation and was negatively correlated with non-commitment. However, external regulation was likewise positively correlated with deep orientation and achievement orientation but also with surface orientation and systematic orientation. It is argued that external regulation might function as an effective coping strategy in the cognitively loaded medical curriculum. Study II focused on medical students’ regulation of learning and their conceptions of the learning environment in an innovative medical course where traditional lectures were combined wth problem-based learning (PBL) group work. First-year medical and dental students (N = 153) completed a questionnaire assessing their regulation strategies of learning and views about the PBL group work. The results indicated that external regulation and self-regulation of the learning content were the most typical regulation strategies among the participants. In line with previous studies, self-regulation wasconnected with study success. Strictly organised PBL sessions were not considered as useful as lectures, although the students’ views of the teacher/tutor and the group were mainly positive. Therefore, developers of teaching methods are challenged to think of new solutions that facilitate reflection of one’s learning and that improve the development of self-regulation. In Study III, a person-centred approach to studying regulation strategies was employed, in contrast to the traditional variable-centred approach used in Study I and Study II. The aim of Study III was to identify different regulation strategy profiles among medical students (N = 162) across time and to examine to what extent these profiles predict study success in preclinical studies. Four regulation strategy profiles were identified, and connections with study success were found. Students with the lowest self-regulation and with an increasing lack of regulation performed worse than the other groups. As the person-centred approach enables us to individualise students with diverse regulation patterns, it could be used in supporting student learning and in facilitating the early diagnosis of learning difficulties. In Study IV, 91 student teachers participated in a pre-test/post-test design where they answered open-ended questions about a complex science concept both before and after reading either a traditional, expository science text or a refutational text that prompted the reader to change his/her beliefs according to scientific beliefs about the phenomenon. The student teachers completed a questionnaire concerning their regulation and processing strategies. The results showed that the students’ understanding improved after text reading intervention and that refutational text promoted understanding better than the traditional text. Additionally, regulation and processing strategies were found to be connected with understanding the science phenomenon. A weak trend showed that weaker learners would benefit more from the refutational text. It seems that learners with effective learning strategies are able to pick out the relevant content regardless of the text type, whereas weaker learners might benefit from refutational parts that contrast the most typical misconceptions with scientific views. The purpose of Study V was to use eye tracking to determine how third-year medical studets (n = 39) and internal medicine residents (n = 13) read and solve patient case texts. The results revealed differences between medical students and residents in processing patient case texts; compared to the students, the residents were more accurate in their diagnoses and processed the texts significantly faster and with a lower number of fixations. Different reading patterns were also found. The observed differences between medical students and residents in processing patient case texts could be used in medical education to model expert reasoning and to teach how a good medical text should be constructed. The main findings of the thesis indicate that even among very selected student populations, such as high-achieving medical students or student teachers, there seems to be a lot of variation in regulation strategies of learning and text processing. As these learning strategies are related to successful studying, students enter educational programmes with rather different chances of managing and achieving success. Further, the ways of engaging in learning seldom centre on a single strategy or approach; rather, students seem to combine several strategies to a certain degree. Sometimes, it can be a matter of perspective of which way of learning can be considered best; therefore, the reality of studying in higher education is often more complicated than the simplistic view of self-regulation as a good quality and external regulation as a harmful quality. The beginning of university studies may be stressful for many, as the gap between high school and university studies is huge and those strategies that were adequate during high school might not work as well in higher education. Therefore, it is important to map students’ learning strategies and to encourage them to engage in using high-quality learning strategies from the beginning. Instead of separate courses on learning skills, the integration of these skills into course contents should be considered. Furthermore, learning complex scientific phenomena could be facilitated by paying attention to high-quality learning materials and texts and other support from the learning environment also in the university. Eye tracking seems to have great potential in evaluating performance and growing diagnostic expertise in text processing, although more research using texts as stimulus is needed. Both medical and teacher education programmes and the professions themselves are challenging in terms of their multidisciplinary nature and increasing amounts of information and therefore require good lifelong learning skills during the study period and later in work life.

Os fatores que afetam a decisão dos estudantes do Ensino Superior ao escolherem cursos em regime de e-Learning

Este trabalho teve por objetivo identificar os fatores que afetam a decisão dos estudantes quando optam por cursos, parcial ou totalmente, em regime de e-learning e foi desenvolvido numa instituição de ensino superior portuguesa. Em Portugal existem cerca de milhão e meio de adultos com formação secundária candidatos potenciais a ingressar no ensino superior, muitos deles com família organizada e com responsabilidades profissionais, para quem a decisão de regressar à escola tem, normalmente, motivações relacionadas com o desenvolvimento da carreira. Neste estudo analisam-se os fatores que afetam essa decisão concluindo-se que os estudantes, ao optarem por cursos em regime de e-learning valorizam, em primeiro lugar, a redução de custos e a flexibilidade na gestão do tempo, seguindo-se a facilidade de utilização da tecnologia de suporte ao curso. Os resultados revelam ainda que os homens atribuem maior importância à facilidade de utilização da tecnologia de suporte ao curso do que as mulheres. Verifica-se ainda que os mais jovens (menos de 23 anos) tendem a valorizar mais a reputação da escola, enquanto os respondentes de idade compreendida entre os 30 e 39 anos são os que mais valorizam a reputação do curso. O desenvolvimento deste trabalho passa pelo aprofundamento do estudo, através da utilização de uma amostra mais representativa que possibilite a generalização dos resultados ao universo das IES portuguesas.

Learning for well being : Studies using the International Adult Literacy Survey

This thesis is a collection of five independent but closely related studies. The overall purpose is to approach the analysis of learning outcomes from a perspective that combines three major elements, namely lifelonglifewide learning, human capital, and the benefits of learning. The approach is based on an interdisciplinary perspective of the human capital paradigm. It considers the multiple learning contexts that are responsible for the development of embodied potential – including formal, nonformal and informal learning – and the multiple outcomes – including knowledge, skills, economic, social and others– that result from learning. The studies also seek to examine the extent and relative influence of learning in different contexts on the formation of embodied potential and how in turn that affects economic and social well being. The first study combines the three major elements, lifelonglifewide learning, human capital, and the benefits of learning into one common conceptual framework. This study forms a common basis for the four empirical studies that follow. All four empirical studies use data from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) to investigate the relationships among the major elements of the conceptual framework presented in the first study. Study I. A conceptual framework for the analysis of learning outcomes This study brings together some key concepts and theories that are relevant for the analysis of learning outcomes. Many of the concepts and theories have emerged from varied disciplines including economics, educational psychology, cognitive science and sociology, to name only a few. Accordingly, some of the research questions inherent in the framework relate to different disciplinary perspectives. The primary purpose is to create a common basis for formulating and testing hypotheses as well as to interpret the findings in the empirical studies that follow. In particular, the framework facilitates the process of theorizing and hypothesizing on the relationships and processes concerning lifelong learning as well as their antecedents and consequences. Study II. Determinants of literacy proficiency: A lifelong-lifewide learning perspective This study investigates lifelong and lifewide processes of skill formation. In particular, it seeks to estimate the substitutability and complementarity effects of learning in multiple settings over the lifespan on literacy skill formation. This is done by investigating the predictive capacity of major determinants of literacy proficiency that are associated with a variety of learning contexts including school, home, work, community and leisure. An identical structural model based on previous research is fitted to the IALS data for 18 countries. The results show that even after accounting for all factors, education remains the most important predictor of literacy proficiency. In all countries, however, the total effect of education is significantly mediated through further learning occurring at work, at home and in the community. Therefore, the job and other literacy related factors complement education in predicting literacy proficiency. This result points to a virtual cycle of lifelong learning, particularly to how educational attainment influences other learning behaviours throughout life. In addition, results show that home background as measured by parents’ education is also a strong predictor of literacy proficiency, but in many countries this occurs only if a favourable home background is complemented with some post-secondary education. Study III. The effect of literacy proficiency on earnings: An aggregated occupational approach using the Canadian IALS data This study uses data from the Canadian Adult Literacy Survey to estimate the earnings return to literacy skills. The approach adapts a labour segmented view of the labour market by aggregating occupations into seven types, enabling the estimation of the variable impact of literacy proficiency on earnings, both within and between different types of occupations. This is done using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). The method used to construct the aggregated occupational classification is based on analysis that considers the role of cognitive and other skills in relation to the nature of occupational tasks. Substantial premiums are found to be associated with some occupational types even after adjusting for within occupational differences in individual characteristics such as schooling, literacy proficiency, labour force experience and gender. Average years of schooling and average levels of literacy proficiency at the between level account for over two-thirds of the premiums. Within occupations, there are significant returns to schooling but they vary depending on the type of occupations. In contrast, the within occupational return of literacy proficiency is not necessarily significant. The latter depends on the type of occupation. Study IV: Determinants of economic and social outcomes from a lifewide learning perspective in Canada In this study the relationship between learning in different contexts, which span the lifewide learning dimension, and individual earnings on the one hand and community participation on the other are examined in separate but comparable models. Data from the Canadian Adult Literacy Survey are used to estimate structural models, which correspond closely to the common conceptual framework outlined in Study I. The findings suggest that the relationship between formal education and economic and social outcomes is complex with confounding effects. The results indicate that learning occurring in different contexts and for different reasons leads to different kinds of benefits. The latter finding suggests a potential trade-off between realizing economic and social benefits through learning that are taken for either job-related or personal-interest related reasons. Study V: The effects of learning on economic and social well being: A comparative analysis Using the same structural model as in Study IV, hypotheses are comparatively examined using the International Adult Literacy Survey data for Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The main finding from Study IV is confirmed for an additional five countries, namely that the effect of initial schooling on well being is more complex than a direct one and it is significantly mediated by subsequent learning. Additionally, findings suggest that people who devote more time to learning for job-related reasons than learning for personal-interest related reasons experience higher levels of economic well being. Moreover, devoting too much time to learning for personal-interest related reasons has a negative effect on earnings except in Denmark. But the more time people devote to learning for personal-interest related reasons tends to contribute to higher levels of social well being. These results again suggest a trade-off in learning for different reasons and in different contexts.

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).

The impact of new technologies on distance learning students

This is a European Commission Leonardo da Vinci Reference Material project on the impact of new technology on distance learning students. It is known that all the Ministries of Education of the 27 European Union countries pay millions of Euros annually in the provision of educational technology for their schools, colleges and universities. A review of the literature of the impact of technology, however, showed that the research in this field was unacceptably fragile. What research there was focused on the impact of technology on children in American schools. The project set out, therefore, to measure the impact of technology on adult education, lifelong learning and distance education, with a particular focus on adult distance learning.

Learning through life

Web 2.0 und soziale Netzwerke gaben erste Impulse für neue Formen der Online-Lehre, welche die umfassende Vernetzung von Objekten und Nutzern im Internet nachhaltig einsetzen. Die Vielfältigkeit der unterschiedlichen Systeme erschwert aber deren ganzheitliche Nutzung in einem umfassenden Lernszenario, das den Anforderungen der modernen Informationsgesellschaft genügt. In diesem Beitrag wird eine auf dem Konnektivismus basierende Plattform für die Online-Lehre namens “Wiki-Learnia” präsentiert, welche alle wesentlichen Abschnitte des lebenslangen Lernens abbildet. Unter Einsatz zeitgemäßer Technologien werden nicht nur Nutzer untereinander verbunden, sondern auch Nutzer mit dedizierten Inhalten sowie ggf. zugehörigen Autoren und/oder Tutoren verknüpft. Für ersteres werden verschiedene Kommunikations-Werkzeuge des Web 2.0 (soziale Netzwerke, Chats, Foren etc.) eingesetzt. Letzteres fußt auf dem sogenannten “Learning-Hub”-Ansatz, welcher mit Hilfe von Web-3.0-Mechanismen insbesondere durch eine semantische Metasuchmaschine instrumentiert wird. Zum Aufzeigen der praktischen Relevanz des Ansatzes wird das mediengestützte Juniorstudium der Universität Rostock vorgestellt, ein Projekt, das Schüler der Abiturstufe aufs Studium vorbereitet. Anhand der speziellen Anforderungen dieses Vorhabens werden der enorme Funktionsumfang und die große Flexibilität von Wiki-Learnia demonstriert.

Blended Learning in der Musiklehrerbildung. Erfahrungen und Perspektiven am Beispiel eines Praxisprojekts

In der Lehrerbildung zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts wird einem hohen Bezug zum Berufsfeld Schule, phasenübergreifender Zusammenarbeit und lebenslangem Lernen zunehmend Bedeutung geschenkt. Mehr und mehr kommt in Veröffentlichungen und auf den Internetseiten von Lehrerbildungszentren deutscher Universitäten ein umfassendes Verständnis von Lehrerbildung zum Ausdruck, das alle Phasen der Aus- und Fortbildung von Lehrkräften einschließt: Studium, Vorbereitungsdienst („Referendariat“) und Fortbildungen für Lehrkräfte im Schuldienst. Wenn Lehrerbildung in diesem Sinne gestaltet und nicht reduziert wird auf eine Phase der Ausbildung, die der Tätigkeit im Schuldienst vorangeht, wenn neben den Qualifizierungsmaßnahmen in Studium und Vorbereitungsdienst auch Fortbildungsangebote für bereits im Beruf stehende Lehrkräfte als Selbstverständlichkeit im Rahmen eines lebenslangen Lernprozesses aufgefasst werden, eröffnet die Implementierung digitaler Medien besondere Chancen – etwa im Hinblick auf kooperatives Lernen sowie auf die Arbeit mit und den Zugriff auf Unterrichtsmaterialien. Am Beispiel eines interdisziplinär angelegten Projekts, dessen Ausgangspunkt und Zentrum das Fach Musik bildet und in dem phasenverbindendes und lebenslanges Lernen einen hohen Stellenwert einnehmen, thematisiert dieser Beitrag Möglichkeiten, Perspektiven und Herausforderungen von Blended Learning in der Lehrerbildung. Es handelt sich um einen Einblick in die Verknüpfung von Präsenz- und Online-Anteilen des Projekts und in erste Ergebnisse aus der Projektevaluation. Vorgestellt werden Teilergebnisse aus einer explorativen Studie zur Bedeutung von Kooperationen und phasenübergreifender Vernetzung, im Rahmen derer unter anderem die Akzeptanz und die Relevanz des E-Learning-Angebots thematisiert wird.

Rahmenwerk für zielgruppenorientiertes Blended E-Learning im MINT-Bereich im Kontext des Lebenslangen Lernens

Das heutige Leben der Menschen ist vom Internet durchdrungen, kaum etwas ist nicht „vernetzt“ oder „elektronisch verfügbar“. Die Welt befindet sich im Wandel, die „Informationsgesellschaft“ konsumiert in Echtzeit Informationen auf mobilen Endgeräten, unabhängig von Zeit und Ort. Dies gilt teilweise auch für den Aus- und Weiterbildungssektor: Unter „E-Learning“ versteht man die elektronische Unterstützung des Lernens. Gelernt wird „online“; Inhalte sind digital verfügbar. Zudem hat sich die Lebenssituation der sogenannten „Digital Natives“, der jungen Individuen in der Informationsgesellschaft, verändert. Sie fordern zeitlich und räumlich flexible Ausbildungssysteme, erwarten von Bildungsinstitutionen umfassende digitale Verfügbarkeit von Informationen und möchten ihr Leben nicht mehr Lehr- und Zeitplänen unterordnen – das Lernen soll zum eigenen Leben passen, lebensbegleitend stattfinden. Neue „Lernszenarien“, z.B. für alleinerziehende Teilzeitstudierende oder Berufstätige, sollen problemlos möglich werden. Dies soll ein von der europäischen Union erarbeitetes Paradigma leisten, das unter dem Terminus „Lebenslanges Lernen“ zusammengefasst ist. Sowohl E-Learning, als auch Lebenslanges Lernen gewinnen an Bedeutung, denn die (deutsche) Wirtschaft thematisiert den „Fachkräftemangel“. Die Nachfrage nach speziell ausgebildeten Ingenieuren im MINT-Bereich soll schnellstmöglich befriedigt, die „Mitarbeiterlücke“ geschlossen werden, um so weiterhin das Wachstum und den Wohlstand zu sichern. Spezielle E-Learning-Lösungen für den MINT-Bereich haben das Potential, eine schnelle sowie flexible Aus- und Weiterbildung für Ingenieure zu bieten, in der Fachwissen bezogen auf konkrete Anforderungen der Industrie vermittelt wird. Momentan gibt es solche Systeme allerdings noch nicht. Wie sehen die Anforderungen im MINT-Bereich an eine solche E-Learning-Anwendung aus? Sie muss neben neuen Technologien vor allem den funktionalen Anforderungen des MINTBereichs, den verschiedenen Zielgruppen (wie z.B. Bildungsinstitutionen, Lerner oder „Digital Natives“, Industrie) und dem Paradigma des Lebenslangen Lernens gerecht werden, d.h. technische und konzeptuelle Anforderungen zusammenführen. Vor diesem Hintergrund legt die vorliegende Arbeit ein Rahmenwerk für die Erstellung einer solchen Lösung vor. Die praktischen Ergebnisse beruhen auf dem Blended E-Learning-System des Projekts „Technische Informatik Online“ (VHN-TIO).

Standards and specifications to manage accessibility issues in e-learning

Despite the acknowledged need of providing a personalized and adaptive learning process for all, current learning management systems do not properly cover personalization and accessibility issues and they are still struggling to support the reusability requirements coming from the pervasive usage of standards. There is a lack of frameworks for providing layered-based infrastructure covering the interoperability required to manage the whole range of standards, applications and services needed to meet accessibility and adaptations needs of lifelong learning services.

A holistic experience in the integrated learning of specialized English and content in Engineering degrees

This paper aims to outline a theory-based Content and Language Integrated Learning course and to establish the rationale for adopting a holistic approach to the teaching of languages in tertiary education. Our work focuses on the interdependence between Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), in particular regarding the learning of English within the framework of Telecommunications Engineering. The study first analyses the diverse components of the instructional approach and the extent to which this approach interrelates with technologies within the context of what we have defined as a holistic experience, since it also aims to develop a set of generic competences or transferable skills. Second, an example of a course project framed in this holistic approach is described in order to exemplify the specific actions suggested for learner autonomy and CLIL. The approach provides both an adequate framework as well as the conditions needed to carry out a lifelong learning experience within our context, a Spanish School of Engineering. In addition to specialized language and content, the approach integrates the learning of skills and capacities required by the new plans that have been established following the Bologna Declaration in 1999.

Learning and earning : analysis of HEA Title II-B Graduate Library Fellowship Program recipients, fiscal years 1985-1991 /

"PLLI 97-8014"--P. [4] of cover.