A Virtual World Environment for Group Work

This article seeks to show that a virtual world can provide a useful addition in the use of computermedi ated learning tools. We discuss the underlying educational context and link this to the properties of virtual worlds and, in particular, that of Second Life. We report on the progress of a project for developing group work that seeks to link affordances in the environment to learning outcomes and employs a socially situated, constructivist, pedagogical framework. We found that a virtual world environment can enable autonomous, differentiated learning through the use of suitably structured tasks, and postulate that an individual’s depth of engagement with the environment may be linked to the learning style.

Implementation of Efficient Proactive Computing Using Lazy Evaluation in a Learning Management System

In Zampunieris (2006) we proposed a new kind of learning management system, proactive LMS, designed to help users to better interact online by providing programmable, automatic, and continuous analyses of the users’ actions, augmented with appropriate actions initiated by the LMS itself. The proactive part of our LMS is based on a dynamic rules-based system. However, the main algorithm we proposed in order to implement the rules-running system suffers some efficiency problems. In this article, we propose a new version of the main rules-running algorithm that is based on lazy evaluation in order to avoid unnecessary and time-costly requests to the LMS database when a rule is not activated, that is, when its actions part will not be performed because preliminary check(s) failed.

Some Key Success Factors in Web-Based Corporate Training in Brazil

Brazilian companies are increasingly turning to Web-based corporate training by virtue of the fact that they need to train their employees within tight budget constraints in a country of continental dimensions. However, most of these companies do not know what the critical success factors in these endeavors are. Therefore, this article seeks to investigate some key success factors associated with such digital enterprises. In order to achieve this, the multiple case study method is used, whereby two cases, both conducted within the same Brazilian company, leading to opposite outcomes—a success and a failure—are analyzed in depth. The conclusions reached in this article were that goal orientation, source of motivation, and metacognitive support were the three critical dimensions in these two Web-based corporate training programs under analysis. Lastly, some managerial implications of these results are outlined.

Management of Lecture Time

The variety of new technologies available for classroom use requires a choice not just between the technological options, but among them as well, since an educator may choose a single option or include a mix of media. In this study we investigate a particular mix of advanced technology and its effect on student learning outcomes. Our experimental design compares outcomes from a traditional teaching format with those of a more advanced web-based format. Our model is based on cognitive load theory, is developed from perceptions of the students, and is analyzed using factor analysis. The results based on this qualitative model show promise for delving further into the assessment of learning. This would provide researchers with additional tools to help evaluate their results and educators with a basis on which to make decisions regarding which advanced technologies to use.

Teaching Dimension in Web-Based Learning Communities

The article tackles the issue of the teaching dimension in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) contexts. In particular, it describes two Web-based courses that were held in 2006—one by the Istituto Tecnologie Didattiche – CNR and one by the University of Genoa, which, while sharing the socioconstructivist theoretical framework, adopt different approaches as far as the teaching dimension is concerned: While in the former course tutors were asked to cover all the functions typically required by e-tutors, in the latter, experience functions were distributed across a variety of actors. The aim of the work is to foster reflections about strong points and weaknesses of the two approaches, thus leading to considerations concerning the applicability of the models even in contexts different from the original ones.

EVAWEB V2

Security is one of the main problems in Web-based assessment systems, particularly in guaranteeing the non-repudiation of test submissions. The authors have developed EVAWEB, a Web-based assessment sys tem that addresses this issue by using digital signatures. Moreover, the use of this technology in EVAWEB provides a real context to students for learning how digital signatures work. This article focuses on the enhancements that have been incorporated into EVAWEB in order to develop an improved second version of the system.

Bridging the Gap between Instructional Design and Double-Loop Learning

The implementation of double-loop-learning-based educational scenarios in instructional design in workflow-like e-learning systems appears to be showing a gap; whereas the former assumes that processes can be reflected upon and can be modified or amended by the learners, the latter only predefines a limited set of rigid instructional processes. However, an important advantage of instructional designs implemented in workflow-like e-learning systems using modeling standards is the ease with which they can be exchanged with other (educational) institutions. The workflow environment described here aims to make learner reflection and change to instructional processes feasible while maintaining portability. We present a description of the implementation of the educational scenario of the virtual company in our workflow environment that makes use of dynamic workflow processes. Learners are provided with process building blocks, called “atomic actions,” which they can use to create and revise processes on the fly, thus supporting double-loop learning.

Towards Automated Specifications of Scenarios in Enhanced Learning Technology

Recent standardization efforts in e-learning technology have resulted in a number of specifications, how ever, the automation process that is considered essential in a learning management system (LMS) is a less explored one. As learning technology becomes more widespread and more heterogeneous, there is a growing need to specify processes that cross the boundaries of a single LMS or learning resource repository. This article proposes to obtain a specification orientated to automation that takes on board the heterogeneity of systems and formats and provides a language for specifying complex and generic interactions. Having this goal in mind, a technique based on three steps is suggested. The semantic conformance profiles, the business process management (BPM) diagram, and its translation into the business process execution language (BPEL) seem to be suitable for achieving it.

Profiling Group Activity of Online Academic Workspaces

All undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Hellenic Open University (HOU) attend courses at a distance. The lack of a live academic community is reported by many as a drawback in their studies. Systematic exploitation of new communication and collaboration technologies is desirable in HOU but cannot be imposed universally as the average student’s IT competence level is relatively low. In this work, we present a key aspect of the development of an integrated communication environment in which collaboration spaces serving as open communities play a key role in user engagement in the whole communication environment. To track and evaluate user participation, we propose to use indices drawn from inexpensively collected usage data. Such indices, when combined with our detailed knowledge of the internal workings of user groups, provide concrete evaluation of the community online activity.

Integrating awareness mechanisms in web-based argumentative collaboration support environments

Much research has been performed on how computer-based technologies might facilitate awareness among cooperating actors. However, existing approaches in providing awareness services prove to be inadequate in data-intensive instances of argumentative collaboration. Moreover, they fail to address the needs of dynamic, web-based communities. In this context, this chapter presents a list of awareness mechanisms that have been integrated in an innovative web-based collaboration support tool, namely CoPe_it!, the ultimate aim being to satisfy the requirements associated to the above remarks. The proposed mechanisms are described and elaborated with respect to various awareness types reported in the literature.