Ein weiterer Artikel mit dem ich mich im Zuge der Lehrveranstaltung “Technology Enhanced Learning“, abgehalten an der Technischen Universität Graz (TU Graz), beschäftigt habe, ist: “Information and communication technologies in the life of university freshmen: An analysis of change“ [1]. Die Studie versucht Antworten auf die folgenden Fragen zu finden:

What is the self-perception of ICT competences among freshmen and is there a change in this self-perception 6 months after entering the university?

How often and for what purpose do freshmen use a computer and is there a change in the frequency of the use of the computer?

What factors might influence this attitude, behaviour, and possible change?

Es wurde eine Studie mit 714 “freshmen” einer großen Universität durchgeführt um die Antworten auf diese Fragen zu finden. So wird gezeigt, dass der Computer ein persönliches Lernwerkzeug für Studierende wird und Studierende konnten einerseits nach 6 Monaten ein höheres Wissen im Umgang mit dem Computer aufweisen, womit auch die Internetkompetenz geschult wurde.

Autoren:
Jef C. Verhoeven and Dirk Heerwegh and Kurt De Wit

Referenz:
[1] Jef C. Verhoeven and Dirk Heerwegh and Kurt De Wit. Information and communication technologies in the life of university freshmen: An analysis of change. Computers & Education, (55)1:53 – 66, 2010. [BibSonomy: communication information lifetechnologies tel2010 university] URL

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Diese Woche habe ich mich im Zuge der Lehrveranstaltung “Technology Enhanced Learning“, abgehalten an der Technischen Universität Graz (TU Graz), mit dem Artikel “Toward deep learning for adult students in online courses“ [1] beschäftigt. Der Artikel beschäftigt sich mit Methoden, die speziell im e-Learning für den Erwachsenenbereich angewendet werden können. Die steigende Bedeutung der Erwachsenenbildung soll durch verschiedenen, in der Publikation behandelten Strategien, unterstützt werden. Die Ergebnisse der empirischen Studie können für die Entwicklung von adaptiven e-Learning Systemen eingesetzt werden.

Autoren:
Fengfeng Ke, Kui Xie

Referenz:
[1] Fengfeng Ke and Kui Xie. Toward deep learning for adult students in online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, (12)3-4:136 – 145, 2009. [BibSonomy: algorithms courses deep learning online tel2010] URL

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Diese Woche habe ich mich im Zuge der Lehrveranstaltung “Technology Enhanced Learning“, abgehalten an der Technischen Universität Graz (TU Graz), mit dem Artikel “Peer Assessment System for Modern Learning Settings: Towards a Flexible E-Assessment System” [1] beschäftigt. In diesem Artikel beschreiben die Autoren PASS (Peer ASsessment System), einen Prototypen eines Peer Assessment Systems, der im Zuge der Lehrveranstaltung “Information Search and Retrieval” an der TU Graz zur Beurteilung der Studierendenleistungen eingesetzt wurde.

Die Beurteilung beruhte auf einem Experiment das die folgenden acht Phasen durchlief:

• Einführungsvortrag des Lehrveranstaltungsbetreuers (10 Minuten)
• Online Lerneinheit (45 Minuten)
• Online Test (15 Minuten)

• Pause (15 Minuten)
• Online Erstellung von Referenzantworten (15 Minuten)
• Online Peer Assessment Einheit (45 Minuten)

• Fragebogen bezüglich des Experimentes (10 Minuten)
• Präsentation der Resultate

Neben diesen acht Phasen wurden Referenzantworten von 5 Tutoren (PhD Studenten mit Dipl.-Ing. Abschluss in Informatik) erstellt, die in der späteren Evaluierung als Basisvergleichswerte für die Bewertung dienen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass Studenten durch die Peer Assessment Einheit mehr vom Lehrveranstaltungsstoff behielten. Durch die wiederholte Beurteilung (Assessment) von Fragen der Mitstudenten, wurden verschiedene Sichtweisen auf ein und dasselbe Thema deutlich.

Autoren:
Mohammad Al-Smadi, Christian Guetl, Frank Kappe

Referenz:
[1] Al-Smadi, M., Guetl, C., & Kappe, F. (2010). Peer Assessment System for Modern Learning Settings: Towards a Flexible E-Assessment System. International Journal Of Emerging Technologies In Learning (IJET), 5(6). Retrieved May 4, 2010, from http://online-journals.org/i-jet/article/view/1229

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Im Zuge der Lehrveranstaltung “Technology Enhanced Learning“ an der TU Graz , abgehalten von Dr. Martin Ebner (@mebner) habe ich den Artikel “Learning Management Systems: Are They Knowledge Management Tools?” als Leitartikel zum Thema Lern-Management-Systeme (LMS) ausgewählt.

Dieser Artikel beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, ob Lern-Management-Systeme (LMS) zu Wissensmanagement Werkzeugen gezählt werden sollten. Die Autoren definieren zunächst Wissensmanagement und Lernen auf Grundlage vorhandener Literatur, bevor auf eLearning und dort im speziellen auf LMS eingegangen wird. Die Autoren beschreiben ein an der Arab Open University (AOU), auf Moodle basierendes und um spezielle Funktionalitäten erweitertes LMS (AOL-LMS). Dieses System bietet die Grundlage für die beantwortung der oben erwähnten Fragestellung. Hervorzuheben sind vor allem die folgenden beiden Stellen:

Als Grundlage für Wissensmanagement Innovation und Transformation wird in dem Artikel folgendes erwähnt:

Anschließend werden vier Aspekte beschrieben, die in jedem Wissensmanagement System (somit auch in jedem LMS) berücksichtigt werden müssen. Diese sind:

People: knowledge users, knowledge authors, and knowledge analyst. In our case its students, professors, and administrators consequently. For dedicated systems, the role of knowledge analyst is not covered by the administrator; a specialized content management analyst may exist.

Culture: create a culture where knowledge sharing is the norm. AOU adopts the open learning trend as a culture of teaching, where in this culture sharing knowledge through LMS is the norm.

Content: creating and managing data, information, and knowledge. This is achieved through professors and administrators of AOU-LMS.

Technology: technical infrastructure that enables the capture, storage, and delivery of content to those who need it, when they need it. The AOU-LMS is the technological infrastructure used to access educational contents any time any where.

Am Ende wird noch angemerkt, dass die Autoren des Artikels der Überzeugung sind, dass das AOU-LMS ein Wissensmanagement Werkzeug darstellt und damit auch die zu Beginn gestellte Frage beantwortet wird.

Autoren:
B. A. AbuShawar, and J. A. Al-Sadi (Arab Open University, Amman, Jordan)

Referenz:
[1] Abu Shawar, B., & Al-Sadi, J. (2010). Learning Management Systems: Are They Knowledge Management Tools?. International Journal Of Emerging Technologies In Learning (IJET), 5(1). Retrieved April 27, 2010, from http://online-journals.org/i-jet/article/view/887

This time I discovered a great application developed by Microsoft Live Labs called Pivot. Pivot enables users to discover huge information spaces by different visual filtering options. You are able to look at hundred thousands of information space entities such as pictures, … and filter these in different ways (zoom in/out, create links between different information items, …). The following video describes Pivot in more detail:

For the fasted nine users I will share my installation code:

• Installation Code: B6B0 E779 CA5B BBD3

Have fun with Pivot and let me know if you like it or what you think of it in the comments below.

I have just added a new site to my this weblog called “Web Science Reading List“. This reading list collects a lot of interesting information on web science and similar topics. Since I do not have time to read all of the articles immediately I am going to collect them on this site and bookmark them on delicious too. If you are interested in this topic as well do not hesitate to contact me or to subscribe to my delicious bookmarks and to the feed of this weblog.

David Leggett tried to answer this question in a blogpost written for uxBOOTH. He writes:

The future of how we interact with computers is exciting to say the least. What once seemed like nonsense outside of Hollywood and Science Fiction is now starting to find it’s way into reality, and some of the technology is a bit overwhelming. Have a taste of what the future of interface design has to offer:

Here are some of the most interesting videos from the post as well as some additional ones i have found:

Head Up Displays for Consumer Vehicles

The following video is showing an Apple iPhone App using the concept of Heas Up Displays. Working not so bad actually.

Originally Head Up Displays were developed for military use:

Gesture Based Interfaces

Applications like the following are geture based and increasingly becoming populous.

Another very interesting type of gesture based interfaces are multitouch screens like seen in the following video:

Spatial Motion Interfaces

In Spatial Motion Interfaces the user becomes the controller and can controll the application through movements the user is performing. Check out the following video for a demonstration. Lookes really interesting.

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is brings virtual reality and the real work together and makes it possible to build great applications. As mobile devices increase in computing power this applications are becoming more and more popular:

Other sensor Based Interfaces

Other sensor Based Interfaces are Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) enabling to communicate with an application through just thinking of specific commands:

B2B – BrainToBrain: A BCI Experiment

Mind Control Device Demonstration – Tan Le

Smart Surfaces

Smart Surfaces are becoming more and more popular too. Here is a video showing this concept:

Feel free to add some interesting videos which you have found on the web. I am happy if you post them in the comments.

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Since few time I am coding an extension to the open-source e-porfolio software Mahara. Therefore I have searched for a video explaining what an e-porfolio stands for and how it can be used:

Here is a video that explains it:

Few time ago Mahara UK 09, the very first conference covering the e-portfolio system Mahara, took place in the United Kingdom. It was organised by the University of London Computer Centre (ULCC) and the University of London Institute of Education (IOE).

The Event Report can be found here and some of the keynote slides can be found below:

Wired.com states in an article (found by ReadWriteWeb) as follows:

LONG BEACH, California — Students at the MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable computing system that turns any surface into an interactive display screen. The wearer can summon virtual gadgets and internet data at will, then dispel them like smoke when they’re done.

Pattie Maes of the lab’s Fluid Interfaces group said the research is aimed at creating a new digital
“sixth sense” for humans.

In the tactile world, we use our five senses to take in information about our environment and respond to it, Maes explained. But a lot of the information that helps us understand and respond to the world doesn’t come from these senses. Instead, it comes from computers and the internet. Maes’ goal is to harness  computers to feed us information in an organic fashion, like our existing senses.

The prototype was built from an ordinary webcam and a battery-powered 3M projector, with an attached mirror — all connected to an internet-enabled mobile phone. The setup, which costs less than $350, allows the user to project information from the phone onto any surface — walls, the body of another person or even your hand.

I’ve found some great videos demonstrating the Sixth Sense, a research project from Fluid Interfaces Research Group at MIT Media Lab. They demonstrate a wearable computing system which turns any surface into an interactive display screen. The great thing: It costs less than $350 …

Pattie Maes demonstrating the “Sixth Sense” at TED Talks:

(via TED)

ReadWriteWeb writes in an article called:  The Wearable Internet Will Blow Mobile Phones Away the following:

We at ReadWriteWeb are very excited about next-generation Internet interfaces, such as augmented reality and so-called cross reality. These wearable devices strike me as being the most impressive future Web interface that I’ve seen in a while. Check out the video and see if you agree.

I find it extremely interesting because this kind of user interface is build up with very low cost and can therefore be spread easily.

The first video demonstrating the “Sixth Sense”

Here you can see the first video which demonstrates how a wall is being used to project and interact with several applications. Using a really small projector enables people to project to walls while speaking to a friend standing nearby to someone. Using a projector integrated into a helmet is not very applicable because while you are speaking to your friend the projection is made on your friend’s face. Thus switching to a smaller device hanging around your neck is more applicable as your head is free fro movements.

(via Wired.com)

Another video demonstrating the “Sixth Sense”

For example someone being in a supermarket and heading from product to product trying to find the cheapeast or most appropriate one is done easily by just scanning the product and retrieving real time information directly from the internet. This has great potential and can be used in a variety of applications.

(via Wired.com)

More ressources can be found on Wired.com, on ReadWriteWeb as well as on the Sixth Sense Project Website, on the Fluid Interfaces Research Group Website and at the official site of MIT Media Lab.

Few time ago we got the review on our paper submitted to the 9th International Conference on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Technologies (I-KNOW ’09). The paper is titled “Will Personal Learning Environments become ubiquitous through the use of Widgets?” and was accepted as follows:

We are pleased to inform you that your paper
Title: Will Personal Learning Environments become ubiquitous through the use of Widgets?
has been accepted for publication as short paper (max. 6 pages) in the conference proceedings on condition of integrating the recommendations of the reviewers.

The conference is located in Graz (Austria) from the 2nd – 4th of September 2009. By the way, it is my first publication which I very happy about! For everybody who is interested in the field of Knowledge Management and Knowledge Technologies should register for the conference as registration has just been opened.

Check out my colleagues on e-Learning Blog as well)

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