Showing papers in "IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies in 2009"
TL;DR: Three key issues should be addressed to enable universities to deliver engineers who have a solid documented laboratory experience enabling them to design goods and services complying with the requirements of a sustainable society.
Abstract: Three key issues should be addressed to enable universities to deliver engineers who have a solid documented laboratory experience enabling them to design goods and services complying with the requirements of a sustainable society. First, introduce learning objectives of engineering instructional laboratories in courses including laboratory components. Second, implement individual student assessment. Third, introduce free access to online experimental resources as a supplement to the equipment in traditional laboratories. Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Sweden and the University of South Australia (UniSA) have created online laboratory workbenches for electrical experiments that mimic traditional ones by combining virtual and physical reality. Online workbenches not only supplement traditional ones, but they can also be used for low-cost individual assessment. BTH has started a project disseminating the BTH workbench concept, The Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR) Open Laboratory Platform, and invites other universities to set up replicas and participate in further development and standardization. Further, online workbenches offer additional learning possibilities. UniSA has started a project where students located in different countries can perform experiments together as a way to enhance the participants' intercultural competence. This paper discusses online laboratory workbenches and their role in an engineering education appropriate for a sustainable society.
200 citations
TL;DR: The architectures of remote laboratories, the shortcomings of existing implementations, and the opportunities which these technologies provide in moving beyond both existing remote laboratories and existing proximal laboratories are considered to create opportunities which were not previously possible.
Abstract: There is growing research into, and development of, the use of the Internet to support remote access by students to physical laboratory infrastructure. These remote laboratories can, under appropriate circumstances, support or even replace traditional (proximal) laboratories, provide additional or improved access at reduced cost, and encourage interinstitutional sharing of expensive resources. Effective design of remote laboratories requires attention to the design of both the pedagogy and the technical infrastructure, as well as how these elements interact. In this paper, we consider the architectures of remote laboratories, the shortcomings of existing implementations, and we argue that emerging internet technologies can assist in overcoming these shortcomings. We also consider the opportunities which these technologies provide in moving beyond both existing remote laboratories and existing proximal laboratories, to create opportunities which were not previously possible.
150 citations
TL;DR: The main findings are that the amount of learning objects is distributed among repositories according to a power law, the repositories mostly grow linearly, and the amountof learning objects published by each contributor follows heavy-tailed distributions.
Abstract: This paper conducts the first detailed quantitative study of the process of publication of learning objects in repositories. This process has been often discussed theoretically, but never empirically evaluated. Several question related to basic characteristics of the publication process are raised at the beginning of the paper and answered through quantitative analysis. To provide a wide view of the publication process, this paper analyzes four types of repositories: Learning Object Repositories, Learning Object Referatories, Open Courseware Initiatives, and Learning Management Systems. For comparison, Institutional Repositories are also analyzed. Three repository characteristics are measured: size, growth, and contributor base. The main findings are that the amount of learning objects is distributed among repositories according to a power law, the repositories mostly grow linearly, and the amount of learning objects published by each contributor follows heavy-tailed distributions. The paper finally discusses the implications that this findings could have in the design and operation of Learning Object Repositories.
118 citations
TL;DR: An extensive experimental evaluation of LS-Plan is performed, performed by integrating it in an educational hypermedia, the LecompS web application, and using it to produce and deliver several personalized courses in a educational environment dedicated to Italian Neorealist Cinema.
Abstract: LS-Plan is a framework for personalization and adaptation in e-learning. In such framework an Adaptation Engine plays a main role, managing the generation of personalized courses from suitable repositories of learning nodes and ensuring the maintenance of such courses, for continuous adaptation of the learning material proposed to the learner. Adaptation is meant, in this case, with respect to the knowledge possessed by the learner and her learning styles, both evaluated prior to the course and maintained while attending the course. Knowledge and Learning styles are the components of the student model managed by the framework. Both the static, precourse, and dynamic, in-course, generation of personalized learning paths are managed through an adaptation algorithm and performed by a planner, based on Linear Temporal Logic. A first Learning Objects Sequence is produced based on the initial learner's Cognitive State and Learning Styles, as assessed through prenavigation tests. During the student's navigation, and on the basis of learning assessments, the adaptation algorithm can output a new Learning Objects Sequence to respond to changes in the student model. We report here on an extensive experimental evaluation, performed by integrating LS-Plan in an educational hypermedia, the LecompS web application, and using it to produce and deliver several personalized courses in an educational environment dedicated to Italian Neorealist Cinema. The evaluation is performed by mainly following two standard procedures: the As a Whole and the Layered approaches. The results are encouraging both for the system on the whole and for the adaptive components.
98 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on research, development, and deployment of remote laboratories undertaken by the authors since 2000, and highlight the key lessons for remote labs drawn from this.
Abstract: This paper draws on research, development, and deployment of remote laboratories undertaken by the authors since 2000. They jointly worked on the PEARL project (http://iet.open.ac.uk/pearl/) from 2000 to 2003 and have worked on further projects within their own institutions (the Open University, United Kingdom, and the University of Porto, Portugal, respectively) since then. The paper begins with a statement of the rationale for remote experiments, then offers a review of past work of the authors and highlights the key lessons for remote labs drawn from this. These lessons include (1) the importance of removing accessibility barriers, (2) the importance of a pedagogic strategy, (3) evaluation of pedagogic effectiveness, (4) the ease of automation or remote control, and (5) learning objectives and design decisions. The paper then discusses key topics including assessment issues, instructional design, pedagogical strategies, relations to industry, and cost benefits. A conclusion summarizes key points from the paper within a review of the current status of remote labs in education.
89 citations
TL;DR: This project investigates whether the process of authoring an ITS can be simplified, while at the same time maintaining the characteristics that make ITS effective, and also maintaining the ability to support large-scale tutor development.
Abstract: Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), which provide step-by-step guidance to students in complex problem-solving activities, have been shown to enhance student learning in a range of domains. However, they tend to be difficult to build. Our project investigates whether the process of authoring an ITS can be simplified, while at the same time maintaining the characteristics that make ITS effective, and also maintaining the ability to support large-scale tutor development. Specifically, our project tests whether authoring tools based on programming-by-demonstration techniques (developed in prior research) can support the development of a large-scale, real-world tutor. We are creating an open-access Web site, called Mathtutor (http://webmathtutor.org), where middle school students can solve math problems with step-by-step guidance from ITS. The Mathtutor site fields example-tracing tutors, a novel type of ITS that are built "by demonstration," without programming, using the cognitive tutor authoring tools (CTATs). The project's main contribution will be that it represents a stringent test of large-scale tutor authoring through programming by demonstration. A secondary contribution will be that it tests whether an open-access site (i.e., a site that is widely and freely available) with software tutors for math learning can attract and sustain user interest and learning on a large scale.
83 citations
TL;DR: This work presents two case studies that provide rigorous and quantitative evaluations of learning-style-adapted e-learning environments and believes that the null results of both these studies indicate a limited usefulness in terms of learning styles for user modeling.
Abstract: It is a widely held assumption that learning style is a useful model for quantifying user characteristics for effective personalized learning. We set out to challenge this assumption by discussing the current state of the art, in relation to quantitative evaluations of such systems and also the methodologies that should be employed in such evaluations. We present two case studies that provide rigorous and quantitative evaluations of learning-style-adapted e-learning environments. We believe that the null results of both these studies indicate a limited usefulness in terms of learning styles for user modeling and suggest that alternative characteristics or techniques might provide a more beneficial experience to users.
78 citations
TL;DR: This article presents the main characteristics of the mechanism that suggests the most suitable activities at each situation, the system in which this mechanism has been implemented, the authoring tool to facilitate the specification of context-based adaptive m-learning environments, and two environments generated following this approach.
Abstract: In this paper, we describe a system to support the generation of adaptive mobile learning environments. In these environments, students and teachers can accomplish different types of individual and collaborative activities in different contexts. Activities are dynamically recommended to users depending on different criteria (user features, context, etc.), and workspaces to support the corresponding activity accomplishment are dynamically generated. In this article, we present the main characteristics of the mechanism that suggests the most suitable activities at each situation, the system in which this mechanism has been implemented, the authoring tool to facilitate the specification of context-based adaptive m-learning environments, and two environments generated following this approach will be presented. The outcomes of two case studies carried out with students of the first and second courses of ldquoComputer Engineeringrdquo at the ldquoUniversidad Autonoma de Madridrdquo are also presented.
78 citations
PARC1
TL;DR: The results indicate that CoScribe imposes only minimal overhead on traditional annotation processes and provides for a more efficient structuring and retrieval of documents.
Abstract: This paper presents CoScribe, a concept and prototype system for the combined work with printed and digital documents, which supports a large variety of knowledge work settings It integrates novel pen-and-paper-based interaction techniques that enable users to collaboratively annotate, link and tag both printed and digital documents CoScribe provides for a very seamless integration of paper with the digital world, as the same digital pen and the same interactions can be used on paper and displays As our second contribution, we present empirical results of three field studies on learning at universities These motivated the design of CoScribe and were abstracted to a generic framework for the design of intuitive pen-and-paper user interfaces The resulting interaction design comprising collaboration support and multiuser visualizations has been implemented and evaluated in user studies The results indicate that CoScribe imposes only minimal overhead on traditional annotation processes and provides for a more efficient structuring and retrieval of documents
74 citations
TL;DR: The experience in the development of a reusable framework for remote laboratories, which has been adopted as a case study in two different scenarios at the university is described.
Abstract: The development of a reusable collaborative software framework for the remote control of a large range of laboratory equipments is an interesting topic to teach information technologies in an engineering school. The design and implementation of this kind of framework, in fact, requires the ability to integrate skills about software engineering, computer networks, human-computer interaction, distributed architectures, and remote control of hardware devices (i.e., laboratory equipments). In the paper, we describe our experience in the development of a reusable framework for remote laboratories, which has been adopted as a case study in two different scenarios at our university.
61 citations
TL;DR: The ASSISTment Builder is a tool designed to effectively create, edit, test, and deploy tutor content, and new features that work toward supporting the life cycle of content creation through maintaining and improving content as it is being used by students are described.
Abstract: Content creation is a large component of the cost of creating educational software. Estimates are that approximately 200 hours of development time are required for every hour of instruction. We present an authoring tool designed to reduce this cost as it helps to refine and maintain content. The ASSISTment Builder is a tool designed to effectively create, edit, test, and deploy tutor content. The Web-based interface simplifies the process of tutor construction to allow users with little or no programming experience to develop content. We show the effectiveness of our Builder at reducing the cost of content creation to 40 hours for every hour of instruction. We describe new features that work toward supporting the life cycle of ITS content creation through maintaining and improving content as it is being used by students. The variabilization feature allows the user to reuse tutoring content across similar problems. The Student Comments feature provides a way to maintain and improve content based on feedback from users. The Most Common Wrong Answer feature provides a way to refine remediation based on the users' answers. This paper describes our attempt to support the life cycle of content creation.
TL;DR: It is argued that concerns that remote access will be substituted for "hands-on¿ practical work, and reduce interaction between students can be avoided if remote labs are used appropriately, as with any other pedagogical method.
Abstract: Remote laboratories are increasingly being developed to provide students with Web-based access to real laboratory experiments. The demonstrable advantages (e.g., increased accessibility) are tempered by concerns that remote access will be substituted for "hands-on? practical work, and reduce interaction between students. We argue that these concerns can be avoided if remote labs are used appropriately, as with any other pedagogical method. We review studies that have made direct comparisons between remote and hands-on labs, and analyze the important similarities and differences by considering the students' physical and psychological experiences. A case study is presented: "ReLOAD?, which has been in operation since 2001 providing remote operation of dynamic experiments in Mechanical Engineering, featuring personalized experiments, immediate automated grading and feedback, and collaborative learning. We present results from online surveys and from focus groups of students' opinions and experiences with hands-on and remote labs. Drawing from this experience, the characteristic properties of remote-access labs are investigated from a pedagogical perspective. We find that many of the differences and similarities between the modalities are controllable factors, to greater or lesser extents, and provide examples of remote labs offering some valuable educational advantages which are not possible with traditional labs.
TL;DR: Two versions of a system, called iList, that helps students learn linked lists, an important topic in computer science curricula, are developed that are effective, considered interesting and useful by the students, and its performance is getting closer to the performance of human tutors.
Abstract: We developed two versions of a system, called iList, that helps students learn linked lists, an important topic in computer science curricula. The two versions of iList differ on the level of feedback they can provide to the students, specifically in the explanation of syntax and execution errors. The system has been fielded in multiple classrooms in two institutions. Our results indicate that iList is effective, is considered interesting and useful by the students, and its performance is getting closer to the performance of human tutors. Moreover, the system is being developed in the context of a study of human tutoring, which is guiding the evolution of iList with empirical evidence of effective tutoring.
TL;DR: This paper proposes a general purpose pedagogical agent architecture and implements it in the multimedia medical simulation Web-based learning system called health information network teaching system (HINTS) to further facilitate students' learning and thereby make the HINTS a more helpful educational tool.
Abstract: In medical education, pedagogical agents are widely used by computer learning systems to simulate tutors and/or mimic tutoring interactions, as well as offering just-in-time and adaptive feedback. Although the theoretical aspect of the pedagogical agents has been well-documented in literature, relatively fewer efforts have been made on how a pedagogical agent should be implemented in a real multimedia computerized simulation learning environment. In this paper, we propose a general purpose pedagogical agent architecture and implement it in the multimedia medical simulation Web-based learning system called health information network teaching system (HINTS) to further facilitate students' learning and thereby make the HINTS a more helpful educational tool. Our focus is the design of the general purpose pedagogical architecture and its implementation in a multimedia computerized simulation learning environment. A preliminary students' performance evaluation result is also reported. We analyzed how to evaluate the students' performance and how the hints were given by the pedagogical agent. The system has been installed in the National Cheng Kung University Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan for trial purposes. Some experiments have been conducted and the results have shown that the pedagogical agent indeed help the students in their learning process.
TL;DR: This paper outlines how CAVIAr captures adaptive courseware authoring concerns and validates courseware using a constraint-based approach, and describes how it can be integrated with the state of the art in adaptive e-learning and evaluates the validation approach.
Abstract: Personalised e-learning allows the course creator to create courseware that dynamically adapts to the needs of individual learners or learner groupings. This dynamic nature of adaptive courseware makes it difficult to evaluate what the delivery time courseware will be for the learner. The course creator may attempt to validate adaptive courseware through dummy runs, but cannot eliminate the risk of pedagogical problems due to adaptive courseware's inherent variability. Courseware validation checks that adaptive courseware conforms to a set of pedagogical and non-pedagogical requirements. Validation of adaptive courseware limits the risk of pedagogical problems at delivery time. In this paper, we present our approach to adaptive courseware validation using the Courseware Authoring Validation Information Architecture (CAVIAr). We outline how CAVIAr captures adaptive courseware authoring concerns and validates courseware using a constraint-based approach. We also describe how CAVIAr can be integrated with the state of the art in adaptive e-learning and evaluate our validation approach.
TL;DR: This paper presents an intelligent tutoring approach for training Portuguese control center operators in tasks like incident analysis and diagnosis, and service restoration of power systems.
Abstract: The activity of control center operators is important to guarantee the effective performance of power systems. Operators' actions are crucial to deal with incidents, especially severe faults like blackouts. In this paper, we present an intelligent tutoring approach for training Portuguese control center operators in tasks like incident analysis and diagnosis, and service restoration of power systems. Intelligent tutoring system (ITS) approach is used in the training of the operators, having into account context awareness and the unobtrusive integration in the working environment. Several artificial intelligence techniques were criteriously used and combined together to obtain an effective intelligent tutoring environment, namely multiagent systems, neural networks, constraint-based modeling, intelligent planning, knowledge representation, expert systems, user modeling, and intelligent user interfaces.
TL;DR: This paper presents an empirical study that illustrates how learner mood may be predicted during online self-assessment tests and indicates that ldquoexponential logicrdquo may help produce more efficient models, if integrated adequately with affective modelling.
Abstract: Individual emotions play a crucial role during any learning interaction. Identifying a student's emotional state and providing personalized feedback, based on integrated pedagogical models, has been considered to be one of the main limits of traditional tools of e-learning. This paper presents an empirical study that illustrates how learner mood may be predicted during online self-assessment tests. Here a previous method of determining student mood has been refined based on the assumption that the influence on learner mood of questions already answered declines in relation to their distance from the current question. Moreover, this paper sets out to indicate that ldquoexponential logicrdquo may help produce more efficient models, if integrated adequately with affective modelling. The results show that these assumptions may prove useful to future research.
TL;DR: The e-LD system is presented, which provides a graphical notation to design or redesign learning designs, an import-modification-export process to reengineer IMS LD learning designs and a tool to generate and analyze dependencies between different IMSLD elements.
Abstract: Educational Modeling Languages (EMLs) are notations that allow instructors to formally describe educational processes, including teaching and learning interactions and activities. The description of a specific teaching process using an EML is called a learning design. EMLs, where IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) is becoming a "de facto" standard, address aspects such as the interoperability and reusability of teaching practices across learning management systems. However, the actual application of EMLs is being hindered by different problems such as the technical skills required to use typical EMLs and the difficulty of understanding and maintaining preexisting learning designs. Thus, to promote the adoption of EMLs, it is necessary to provide more user-friendly tools and methodologies to facilitate their assimilation and reduce the workload required to use them. In this paper, we present the e-LD system, which provides a graphical notation to design or redesign learning designs, an import-modification-export process to reengineer IMS LD learning designs, and a tool to generate and analyze dependencies between different IMS LD elements.
TL;DR: It is argued that individual differences at this intrinsic level are important and adaptation on these parameters through personalization technologies may have a positive effect on learning performance.
Abstract: In order to assess the positive effect and validity of personalization on the basis of users' cognitive and emotional characteristics, this study presents three subsequent experiments. The first experiment explores the relationship of cognitive style and users' eye gaze behavior as to validate this specific psychological construct in the context of educational hypermedia. The second and third experiments present the effect of a set of human factors (cognitive style, visual working memory span, control/speed of processing, and anxiety) in an adaptive educational system. The eye tracking experiment demonstrated that eye gaze patterns are robustly related to cognitive style (n = 21), while matching the instructional style to users' characteristics was revealed to be statistically significant in optimizing users' performance ( n = 219), with the exception of control/speed of processing. Based on this empirical assessment, this paper argues that individual differences at this intrinsic level are important and adaptation on these parameters through personalization technologies may have a positive effect on learning performance.
TL;DR: The remote laboratory eLab is a flexible measurement platform that permits to run more than 130 experiments in the fields of electronics and microelectronics, and offers a unique measurement solution, which can be combined to traditional circuit simulation sessions.
Abstract: This paper presents the remote laboratory eLab, dedicated to electrical engineering education. eLab is a flexible measurement platform that permits to run more than 130 experiments in the fields of electronics and microelectronics. The instructor can choose or create different types of pedagogical scenarios, covering teaching requirements from undergraduate to graduate levels. Furthermore, eLab implementation and use do not require any commercial software. Its reliability has been proven during many practical classes in France and other countries. eLab is now a key component of the Bordeaux University e-Learning material in electrical engineering. In the field of analog integrated circuits design, eLab offers a unique measurement solution, which can be combined to traditional circuit simulation sessions.
TL;DR: It is shown that the fine-grained model could improve prediction compared to other coarser grained models and an IRT-based model and it is concluded that this intelligent tutoring system can be a good predictor of performance.
Abstract: Student modeling and cognitive diagnostic assessment are important issues that need to be addressed for the development and successful application of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS). ITS needs the construction of complex models to represent the skills that students are using and their knowledge states, and practitioners want cognitively diagnostic information at a finer grained level. Traditionally, most assessments treat all questions on the test as sampling a single underlying knowledge component. Can we have our cake and eat it, too? That is, can we have a good overall prediction of a high stakes test, while at the same time be able to tell teachers meaningful information about fine-grained knowledge components? In this paper, we introduce an online intelligent tutoring system that has been widely used. We then present some encouraging results about a fine-grained skill model with the system that is able to predict state test scores. This model allows the system track about 106 knowledge components for eighth grade math. In total, 921 eighth grade students were involved in the study. We show that our fine-grained model could improve prediction compared to other coarser grained models and an IRT-based model. We conclude that this intelligent tutoring system can be a good predictor of performance.
TL;DR: It is found that while there are differences by teaching status, all three groups make contributions of worth, and the tailoring feature leads contributors to tailor materials with greater potential to engage students.
Abstract: Personalizing learning to studentspsila traits and interests requires diverse learning content. Previous studies have demonstrated the value of such materials in learning but a challenge remains in creating a corpus of content large enough to meet studentspsila varied interests and abilities. We present and evaluate a prototype Web-based tool for open authoring of learning materials. We conducted a study (an open web experiment) to evaluate whether specific student profiles presented in the toolpsilas interface increase the diversity of the contributions, and whether authors tailor their contributions to the features in the profiles. We report on the quality of materials produced, authorspsila facility in rating them, effects of author traits, and impact of the tailoring feature. Participants were professional teachers (math and non-math) and amateurs. Participants were randomly assigned to the tailoring tool or a simplified version without the tailoring feature. We find that while there are differences by teaching status, all three groups make contributions of worth. The tailoring feature leads contributors to tailor materials with greater potential to engage students. The experiment suggests that an open access Web-based tool is a feasible technology for developing a large corpus of materials for personalized learning.
TL;DR: The nine papers in this special issue focus on the many facets of remote laboratories in online engineering education.
Abstract: The nine papers in this special issue focus on the many facets of remote laboratories in online engineering education.
TL;DR: Due to the increasing demand for RFID expertise and the existence of a knowledge gap between industry and academia in this domain, work has been stimulated to help spread understanding in this field and bridge the gap between theoretical examinations and industrial practices.
Abstract: Due to the increasing demand for RFID expertise and the existence of a knowledge gap between industry and academia in this domain, work has been stimulated to help spread understanding in this field and bridge the gap between theoretical examinations and industrial practices. Among the encouraged work, there is the Integrated Auto-ID Technology for Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Studies (I-ATMUS) project that involved developing an online learning environment for RFID technology with a remotely controllable laboratory system. Technological resources can now be accessed by learners through the Web technology to apply appropriate configurations to the system, conduct experiments using RFID technology, and perform statistical analysis on the acquired data. The developed educational tool was used by two sets of students, who showed improvements in their confidence, knowledge, and skills.
TL;DR: The context of industrial IC testing is introduced and the introduction of labs in Electrical Engineering curricula is justified and practical information regarding IC testing and network setup for remote access are detailed.
Abstract: This paper deals with the remote access to an Integrated Circuits (ICs) Automated Test Equipment (ATE) for both educational and engineering purposes. This experience was initiated in 1998 in the context of a French network (CNFM) in order to provide a distant control to industrial equipment to academic and industrial people. The actual shared resource is a Verigy V93K System-on-Chip (SoC) tester platform. The cost of such equipment is close to 1 million dollar, without taking into account the maintenance and attached human resources expenses to make it work properly daily. Although the sharing of such equipments seems to be obvious for education, the French experience is quite a unique example in the world. The paper introduces the context of industrial IC testing and justifies the introduction of labs in Electrical Engineering curricula. Practical information regarding IC testing and network setup for remote access are detailed, together with lab contents.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the interactive problem solving support offered by an adaptive educational hypermedia system called MATHEMA, which supports the students in solving electromagnetism problems individually and/or collaboratively.
Abstract: This paper describes the interactive problem solving support offered by our adaptive educational hypermedia system called MATHEMA. The general goal of the MATHEMA is the support of senior high school students or the beginners of higher education, through an interactive and constructivist environment, in learning physics (electromagnetism) individually and/or collaboratively, and to overcome their possible misconceptions and learning difficulties. Initially, a review of related work about the implemented AEHS/ITS and the didactic design principles of the MATHEMA are presented. Through the interactive problem solving, the system supports the students in solving electromagnetism problems, individually and/or collaboratively, by following an activity that is based on the experimentation with simulations, explorations, guided discovery, and collaboration didactic approaches. An experimental study with senior high school students showed that they improve their performances when following this activity. A questionnaire that we gave to the students to express their opinion about our system helped us to improve the quality of the courses.
TL;DR: There is a clear difference in the level of interactions and types of skills addressed by ITS and other e-learning systems.
Abstract: Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) appeared during the 1970s, most driven by the success of knowledge-based systems and expert systems. ITS are able to instruct and train students and professionals without the intervention of human beings. ITS introduced a set of ideas, like the use of computational models of domains, allowing the possibility of reasoning and explaining domain problems automatically. Developments were made in trainees' models, instructional and pedagogical planning, and user interface. In the 1990s, with the Web boom, some ITS ideas were incorporated in new computer-aided instruction paradigms, like e-learning and distributed learning. However, there is a clear difference in the level of interactions and types of skills addressed by ITS and other e-learning systems.
TL;DR: A team of researchers used the QFD method to translate multidimensional and interdependent user requirements into the RL design model-MIRACLE, and this model brings satisfaction, raises effectiveness and motivation, and makes electrical engineering courses appealing to students.
Abstract: Emersion of Websites that enable users to easily participate in creation of their content moved individuals on a scale rarely seen before. Web 2.0 transformed the passive reader into an active user and millions of users were drawn into a community previously reserved for professionals only. Users became able to experiment with data, collaborate with other users, and add value to a community of users. A similar revolution is needed in the electrical engineering education. In this field, courses offer a significant amount of theory and generally an unstimulating content to the students. Remote laboratories (RLs) could, however, make a difference. Instead of being passive collectors of the theory, students could become active builders of their own knowledge. At this point, the design of such a laboratory becomes important. Without a detailed user-oriented design, RL could have a counterproductive effect, generating frustration instead of motivation. A team of researchers used the QFD method to translate multidimensional and interdependent user requirements into the RL design model-MIRACLE. The MIRACLE model is based on survey results, instructional design, and good e-learning practice, and as such this model brings satisfaction, raises effectiveness and motivation, and makes electrical engineering courses appealing to students.
TL;DR: This work has created two prototype activities that allow students to explore aspects of different sound and acoustics concepts: the ldquococktail party problemrdquo (sound source identification within mixtures) and the physics of musical instruments.
Abstract: Online collaborative game-based activities may offer a compelling tool for mathematics and science education, particularly for younger students in grades K-12. We have created two prototype activities that allow students to explore aspects of different sound and acoustics concepts: the ldquococktail party problemrdquo (sound source identification within mixtures) and the physics of musical instruments. These activities are also inspired by recent work using games to collect labeling data for difficult computational problems from players through a fun and engaging activity. Thus, in addition to their objectives as learning activities, our games facilitate the collection of data on the perception of audio and music, with a range of parameter variation that is difficult to achieve for large subject populations using traditional methods. Our activities have been incorporated into a pilot study with a middle school classroom to demonstrate the potential benefits of this platform.
TL;DR: This paper presents an initial development of a complete open-source software platform called the Open University Project, which contains software that precisely fulfills user requirements in the higher education sector.
Abstract: The higher education community is concerned about the cost and performance of commercial software products. A common view is that existing proprietary options do not have the features required by instructors and students or allow for cost-effective customization. One way to address these problems in poorer countries, and hence improve their quality of education and access to knowledge, would be to consider the modern educational tools available with no license fees through open-source software. This paper presents an initial development of a complete open-source software platform called the Open University Project, which contains software that precisely fulfills user requirements in the higher education sector. The paper also highlights the financial advantages of introducing open-source software in developing countries and its positive impact on educational quality.