Interactive Collaborative Learning

With the development of digital technologies in recent decades, there has been drastic change in the mode of communication and usages of digital accessories in our today lives. It is sure that invention of mobile phone/smart phone has enhanced our life standard and made life easier. The main aim of this research paper is to analyze, design, build and test Bluetooth chat software. The software has been developed as an Interactive and collaborative learning aid. That tool could benefit students in general specially students with disability. Using the developed system, disable students can connect with their peer students, who are within Bluetooth range, without having access to Wi-Fi or Internet. The application does not require any Internet connection, the application works just with Bluetooth connectivity, users can send free message to their friends sitting over classroom, school playgrounds and festivals, when nearby, without a cellular connection or Wi-Fi. Moreover, the application is very easy to use. Bluetooth messaging is also great for making new friends in a library or chatting up someone in crowded places, because one can hook up with anyone who has a Bluetooth-enabled phone. There were previous attempts to create a similar product with little success. Short Messaging Service (SMS) offers the same services as Bluetooth Chat for a fee; but the developed Bluetooth Chat Messenger is free. The research will elaborate on the details.

Teaching information and communication technologies (ICT) is a challenging task, especially when we focus on technological innovation. This work presents a learning experience for students with different backgrounds, such as Advertising, Audiovisual Communication, Journalism, Engineering, and Documentation. They are pursuing a Master’s degree on Mobile Communications and Digital Contents, an interdisciplinary course combining subjects from Communication Science and Computer Science. Due to the lack of knowledge about the details of several information technologies, especially those related to the mobile ecosystem, it was decided to follow a student-driven approach. Project-Based Learning (PBL), refined using a methodology called spiral of projects, would help to develop their own interests, which would be mainly based on their previous education. This paper describes the main features of the different stages composing the methodology and also the results of this successfully implemented experience, as well as a discussion about the suitability of this approach for other areas.

Information and communication technologies underwent over the last few years a rapid development with consequences also for the sphere of education and upbringing. It is necessary to emphasize that this happened not only at the level of technological thinking. Reflection on the modern didactical trends takes place on the boundaries of the pedagogical, psychological and also sociological disciplines. The development has been considerably accelerating in consequence of the ongoing technological changes and innovations.Masaryk Institute of Advanced Studies at Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU MIAS) has been currently working with Microsoft Corporation in the Czech Republic. The aim of this cooperation is to acquaint students with modern didactic technologies. The target respondents are students of accredited study programs, students of further teacher education and the University of Third Age. The partnership also means that tablets will be included in the teaching, where students will have the opportunity to work with Microsoft applications, as well as with third-party apps.

The changes in our world are prerequisites for reforms in the educational system as a whole and in teaching approaches. It is easy to lost interest and motivation when the teacher uses old fashion methods. Some of the students find mathematics difficult and dull. The teachers have to adapt to the high technologies, to look for new educational methods. One of the goals of our study is to analyse new trends in mathematics education. In the focus of the paper we put the gamification in math lessons and their influence on the students’ achievements and emotions. The results show that gamification in mathematics lesson with Kahoot! follows to the effective educational process. The students are more motivated and concentrated. They are happy to study mathematics, nevertheless that their interest is not related with mathematics.

This work in progress describes the ongoing initiative at CUAS to use Pocket labs in Master degree programs. First, it describes the relevance of Pocket labs in education, next it focuses on substantial differences between Pocket labs in Bachelor vs. Master programs. The main part describes three different case studies in Microcontrollers, Real-Time Systems, and Electrical Engineering involving three different types of Pocket labs: Raspberry Pi, NI myRIO, and ADALM 1000. Finally, the student perception and some outlooks are given.

Online systems such as massive open online courses (MOOCs) are new innovative learning technology in education. With the proliferation of MOOC systems, little has been mentioned about blended MOOC system and how it enhances students’ performance. Blended classroom is a form of learning taking place between two different activities of which one is online and the other is traditional teaching method using bricks and mortal classroom settings. This study reveals the effectiveness of blended classroom teaching for an undergraduate course. The module was embedded in an eLDa MOOC platform, which is a platform for delivery computing concepts, and Python programme course. This research aims to investigate students’ perceptions of self-regulated learning (SRL) habits. A multi-dimensional survey was designed to evaluate each aspect of SRL skills, motivation and attaining better grades within the course. This research analysis explores (a) cognitive process of students improving their self-regulated learning skills (b) potential of students’ preparedness and motivation to engage with the course content in a blended context (c) potential difference in addressing the relation among the methods of engagement and achievement in their weekly assessment results. The research applied an online self-regulated learning questionnaire (OSLQ) as the instrument for measuring the self-regulated learning skills of the students in the learning platform environment. In relation to developing a revised OSLQ to address the use of the instrument to measure self-regulated learning in an online blended classroom context. Data collection process was conducted on a sample of first year undergraduate students who took a seminar module via a blended course format. The results indicate the level of self-regulated learning explored from the measure of the self-regulation in the blended learning environment in this study.

In this paper we describe how we used the technique of “non linear story telling” in medical education in a course on “first aid”, which medical students have to take in their first year of studying human medicine. We show how we technically adapted the method for our students, how we produced 5 non-linear stories with a minimum of technical resources within the open source learning management system Moodle. Furthermore we show that this methodology is not restricted to medical education but can be also adapted to other fields of education. Finally we will present the evaluation results of the course together with conclusions and recommendations.

A quantitative research study was conducted to examine how emotional intelligence and learning styles effect the learning of generationals. The study had two research questions: What factors of Emotional Intelligence are significantly different between Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z? and Will the learning styles of Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z be significantly different? The study had two hypotheses: There is a significant relationship between learning style and emotional intelligence and There are significant differences in learning styles based on generational factors. The study had 72 participants who completed demographic information, the EI 2.0 assessment and the LSI 4.0 online assessment. The participants were chosen using social media. The participants were given a link to Survey Monkey where they completed a confidentiality form, demographic information and the two assessments. The results of the study indicated that hypotheses two was supported. Other findings were demonstrated in the study that could lead to further research.

This team learning and team entrepreneurship model of education has been deployed at the Bachelor’s level in the degree programmes of IT and Business Administration (BA). In BA studies the students who take part in team learning have specialized in marketing since 2009 at the Saimaa University of Applied Sciences (SUAS). The model called ICT entrepreneurship study path (ICT-ESP) has been developed for IT education. The ICT-ESP has been built on the theory of experiental learning and theories of knowledge creation and knowledge management. The students study and complete their degree as team entrepreneurs. The model has been further developed in the Business Administration Degree Programme with students who specialize in marketing. The Degree Programme in IT at the Bachelor’s level was terminated in 2011 by Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. Currently, there are severe discussions on bringing it back – not as an IT but as an ICT Degree Programme.This article makes a cross-section of what has already been explored with the team learning and team entrepreneurship model and what the next steps will be. It makes a comparison of two originally separately developed models and discusses their best practices. The article also argues whether the upcoming ICT education should be organized in a conventional way – as curriculum of courses, or as expansion of the current team learning and team entrepreneurship model. The data consists of field notes, meeting memos, and dozens of unofficial discussions with colleagues and company representatives. Literature studies made during the ongoing research, development, and innovation (RDI) projects offered an extra view of how the business context is changing and what should be done to make benefit out of the change.The results suggest that the upcoming ICT Degree Programme at SUAS should be integrated into the existing deployment of team learning and team entrepreneurship learning environment. This would foster collaboration between different disciplines, e.g. marketing and ICT. Furthermore, the emerging ideation, service design and experimentation ecosystem which we are developing in ongoing RDI projects, would be strengthened by adding more students focused on ICT competencies into it.

Since 2011, we have been educating mentor teachers. Mentor teachers can support the preparation process of our engineering teacher students in secondary vocational schools by coaching their teaching practice. I am responsible for teaching six subjects. They have high standard expectations to learn the newest knowledge based on the most modern educational technology. It was important and interesting to be acquainted with ICT culture of Mentor Teachers, what kind of technical background and tools they have got and how they use and apply in their daily work. In 2015 we had organized a comprehensive research together with my colleagues, measuring their ICT application in teaching learning process.

Modern fast-paced technological world poses new requirement to graduates and their qualification. The educational systems of all countries accept the challenge by the national labour market. Tertiary education systems are forced to adapt to the requirements from employers. They are always looking for ways to accelerate students deepening their knowledge, sometimes by reducing their erudition and outlook. Thus, education is often focused on a particular client (employer, company, etc.). Russian universities resist this tendency. Wide basic training allows graduates to adapt quickly to any developing technologies and changing conditions of the labour market. At the same time, graduates have very low practical skills and employers need to retrain specialists. Nowadays, the market has changed. It requires graduates who are ready to use their skills immediately. The Russian education system is forced to innovate and use new educational technologies to correspond to the new economic conditions. Despite this, it is also very important to save the traditions of the Russian school. In this paper we research students’ attitude towards blended learning, based on survey results. B-learning is a new promising approach to studying Mathematics with continuous access to the course material from any device with an Internet connection. It is concluded that b-learning is currently the most preferable form of studying. We discuss the advantages of b-learning over the traditional forms and over pure e-learning. Grade ratings of Mathematics students that use b-learning tend to be higher, due to the fact that b-learning facilitates regular and systematic work during semester. Additionally, b-learning increases transparency in evaluation of students’ work. We establish that elements of e-learning in mathematical disciplines have their own peculiarities in comparison to other sciences, especially humanities.

A digital textbook is an educational tool and possible to convey knowledge through a variety of teaching and learning media such as texts, graphs, figures, audios, and videos attached as digital data embedded in the contents. We might feel like we can understand other people’s experiential knowledge through their verbal explanations or expository text with those additional supportive media. However, it is uncertain what we obtained is actually the same as what to be conveyed, because this knowledge is subjective and appears different in the human sensors or receptors. For example, if we obtained knowledge through haptic perception then it will be difficult to explain because of its implicit and subjective characteristics. Even if visual or audio media are used to support the explanation, it is still insufficient and the receivers usually cannot understand it objectively. A new medium such as using a haptic device along with an expository text might help in this case. However, up to now there is no digital textbook equipped with such supporting media. Toward the future of digital textbooks, a new medium to pass on subjective knowledge such as feeling of touch or sense of force will be desired. Therefore firstly, it is necessary to investigate the possibility of a new medium to convey such an intuitive knowledge. In this paper, we present our studies of knowledge acquisition using an experimental system which helps acquire verbal explanation along with haptic or sense of force knowledge. Taking an example of conveying a potter’s knowledge, specifically skills in forming clay cup with a trowel, our preliminary results showed that it is promising to use haptic support for verbal explanations in some situations.

Formula Student is known worldwide as a design contest for engineering students, in which they train technical skills and engineering thinking by developing and manufacturing a single-seated race car every year. The efficient transfer of highly specialized and professional knowledge about physics and manufacturing has to be ensured every year, as the members turn into alumni. This requires much more than only technical skills.In this contribution, we want to present how the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences supports its Formula Student team in order to foster and exploit its great potentials with a systematic approach, under the supervision of its team faculty advisor. We show how senior students learn how to teach their fellow students in their highly specialized skills in a so called “Race Academy”. This aims at the evolution of teaching content, and the art of teaching itself, by systematically involving peers in the teaching process.

This paper introduces a process of building a prediction model for student’s final grade and time of finishing, based on students’ previous behavior. Prediction model was developed using data mining with regression analysis, principle component analysis and hierarchical clustering of symbolic histogram valued data. 35 different features of students’ activates was considered but only the 9 most important, so called principle components, were used in the model. Then, using histogram valued data - a type of symbolic data that allows learning processes to be described in a more natural form, and a hierarchical clustering, previous students’ behaviors were grouped. For an accurate prediction, a closest cluster to student’s current progress was found. To verify the model’s correctness, predictions were tested on a largest course in e-learning system in 2015 fall semester. The model was found to work sufficiently.

The article describes some of the results from the analysis of research on the possibility of an increased interest in technical studies. In the contribution there is mainly accomplished the analysis of facts that influence decision of students of secondary schools to study at technical universities after they have finished their secondary education. The analysis is based on present curricula of various types of primary and secondary schools in Czech republic. The research was conducted in 2015 and continued in 2016. The achieved results of the research were analyzed and measures outlined to improve awareness of future applicants for studying at schools with technical orientation.

In this paper, we present the results of an experiment that took place in a classroom of a junior high school. Instead of using the traditional methods where the teacher presents the knowledge (of a daily lesson) and the students assimilate in a passive mood, we set students to active hypothesis searching, thinking, exploring, trying and proving rules. As ontologies gather the information in a well-organized form, where relations between geometrical objects are exposed and explained, we took advantage of the properties of the circle’s central and inscribed angles, we connected them to the notion of regular polygons and created the liaison between the two ontologies of the circle and the regular polygons. The purpose of this assignment was to improve the students’ view of Mathematics. This process allowed the students to realize that Mathematics is a subject worthy of exploration and not just memorizing properties of a geometrical object. In this assignment, the students undertook activities that allowed them to observe, cooperate, speculate, verify and connect geometrical meanings with mathematical concepts.

Learning to prioritize different activities effectively can help many students to become more efficient towards their work, managing time, energy, and stress. This paper presents an automated tool that helps students and teaches them how, as a team, can prioritize group work. The tool is based on a formal prioritization mechanism that encompasses a model and related process that takes into account the relative importance of each activity from each individual of the group. From individual judgment, the tool works out a prioritized list that reflects the group prioritization. The model is based on a sound mathematical basis to provide the automated support for the prioritization process that will be conducted by each team member while keeping the subjective viewpoint of each member. As a final step, the tool automatically computes the group final prioritized list of activities that reflects the team consensus.

This work discusses the applicability of the augmented reality technology as a tool for learning/teaching and its role in engineering training. Online Experimentation Resources at the Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto permits and fosters contact with technologies that are used currently in industry, medicine, development, services and research by providing remote, virtual and augmented reality experiments. The available resources are diverse and they offer an “all-purpose” structure in order to be easily adapted and so, allowing the teacher to frame it according the resource applicability perspective in the context of his/her course curriculum. In this context some augmented reality applications had been used by engineering students to familiarize them with this type of tools based in emerging technology that can be playing an important role in later students’ labor environment. To evaluate the reaction of students to the contact with this kind of technology a twenty four items questionnaire was prepared, filled by students and evaluated. Finally, the results were analyzed and briefly reported here.

The Maker Movement or do-it-yourself culture is a concept uses novel, mostly via digital applications and tools to emphasize the learning-through-doing in the social environment. This culture inspires teachers through learning by construction and is seen as an important driver for education. In this chapter, we introduce the Maker Movement and describe how it contributes to the STEM education. The authors recite their experience through the project “Maker Days for Kids” which after that, was served as a fundamental base for a following Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This online course brought some of the emerging technologies together with an appropriate didactical project about “Making activities for classrooms” to the public. It can be concluded that the MOOC assists in fostering the STEM education by rapidly transferring knowledge to the involved teachers.

During our three years’ research we have refined our on-line learning model based on the reflections of students and teachers. The aim of this paper is to present the evolution process of our model and our final model integrated with gamification and flipped classroom methods. We present (a) the milestones of the process; (b) reflection of the participants; (c) our final model.

Serious games can help to foster entrepreneurial thinking and the understanding of business procedures.

The landscape of higher education is shifting as the expectations of modern students move towards increased integration of digital technology in their learning environments. As such, there is a strong need for Next Generation Digital Learning Environments (NGDLEs). Two examples of NGDLEs are Motivational Active Learning (MAL) and Task-Test-Monitor (TTM). Each was designed with a foundation of established learning theories. For these systems to be effective in improving student motivation and engagement however, they need to be persuasive. In this study, we evaluate the inherent persuasion of these two NGDLEs using the Persuasive Systems Design framework. The results show that MAL features more persuasive system characteristics than TTM. However, both are likely to persuade students. MAL’s use of gamification adds a considerable amount of persuasiveness by leveraging social support, and provided justification for future NGDLEs to follow a similar path. This could lead to improvements in the design of e-learning systems in general.

In the present paper we discuss some ideas about the evolution of “Hardware – Software reconfigurable” and from the teaching point of view to correlate these ideas with the new developments connected with the new compiler from LabVIEW to Raspberry PI. This new development helps the university teachers to better introduce students to the concepts of new reconfigurable devices based on LabVIEW and using powerful and low price devices like Arduino and/or Raspberry PI 3 Model B. This methodology helps our students to develop their skills in Graphical Programming Language (LabVIEW) at the same time that also efficiently develop educational and industrial applications.

Kolb and Fry (1975) showed that experiment – based learning is a good way to improve the accumulation of knowledge. The concept succeeds to direct attention on the fact that education is a conservative system based on routines and habits. Creative thinking is not manifested in this environment, so the question is the following: is it necessary to renounce at these routines and habits? Ancient Greeks said that “…from nothing is born… nothing…” encouraging knowledge accumulation. The knowledge base is formed using convergent thinking which introduced learning routines and habits that eliminate possible variations and, step by step, to reach the final point of the demonstration. But creativity is based on divergent thinking. This paper does not aim to cover the entire educational landscape and principles, but wants to illustrate the manner in which a piece of technology, that began to support more and more learning by experience, can increase creativity potential. It is about remote experiment. Analysis of the relationship between remote experiment, as a tool to stimulate creativity, and the classic learning shows that this instrument represents a good connection with the real world in spite of the fact that it is manifested in the virtual environment. The effects of the experiments in virtual environment, positive in general, are limited by the problems of the Internet connectivity and by the laboratories unequally endowment.

During the last years, we focused our efforts on encouraging the development of spatial abilities. We have created several programs and games to support the ability to realize movement and position in space. Another, and an even more challenging, way of training and applying spatial abilities is trying to solve abstract spatial problems. The ability to solve spatial geometry problems is very important, for example, for engineering students. We encourage teachers to include new types of tasks in their math lessons, which is the main idea of this paper.

E-learning includes elements of both on-line and off-line learning (and/or distance learning). Various Learning and Course Management Systems (LCMS) are used for blended or hybrid learning in Science, Technology and Engineering (STE) disciplines, where they provide a defined (guided) path of study intended for collaborative groups of learners (such as a typical classroom) within the confines of a closed web-based (online) environment. In the blended learning approach, e-learning platforms augment or enhance the face-to-face (traditional) approach to teaching, focusing on the adaptation and delivery of pedagogical material. Key challenges affecting the wider use of e-learning platforms in STE disciplines include lack of adequate support for practical/laboratory work, the need to reformat/transform existing pedagogical content for on-line use, the added demands of on-line interactivity on the part of instructors/providers of content and the accessing them from resource constraint environments. This paper presents two techniques that could be used to reduce the overhead of reformatting or adapting pedagogical material for use as learning objects, as well as, addressing the fundamental challenge of accessing/using online educational resources from resource constrained environments. The results obtained from experimental study are also presented and discussed as potential enhancements for self/personal and group learning.

Manufacturers have been making effort for several years to integrate in their equipment Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for remote access. Therefore, it is possible to command any kind of electronic equipment remotely. We believe that it is possible to find applications in the control of remote lab equipment in the context of e-learning activities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In addition, more and more companies are interested in manufacturing laboratory equipment; which shows that there is indeed a market in this sector.Our main purpose in this paper is to suggest specifications for a standard manufacturers of laboratory equipment should take into account. When laboratory equipment is being made, the producer should integrate an additional layer to enable the remote user to access and perform eLearning activities on it. This kind of equipment would be used by both traditional and virtual universities.To show relevance and feasibility of our proposal, we embedded an Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) implementation with asterisk open source in TP-Link (TL-MR3020) router with OpenWRT. In fact, OpenWRT is the Linux distribution for embedded devices. To achieve our goal, we described scenarios of hands-on laboratory experiments in telecommunications where students perform activities with real laboratory equipment through internet in real time. We also showed how students control remote equipment through web portal. Preliminary experimental results confirmed that the proposed solution could be integrated in laboratory equipment.

Many engineering students at third-level institutions across the world will not have the advantage of using real-world experimentation equipment, as the infrastructure and resources required for this activity are too expensive. This paper explains how the FORGE (Forging Online Education through FIRE) FP7 project transforms Future Internet Research and Experimentation (FIRE) testbed facilities into educational resources for the eLearning community. This is achieved by providing a framework for remote experimentation that supports easy access and control to testbed infrastructure for students and educators. Moreover, we identify a list of recommendations to support development of eLearning courses that access these facilities and highlight some of the challenges encountered by FORGE.

The recent development of Internet has increased exchanges. This new configuration has permitted to develop new services for virtual universities. The Senegalese government has achieved policies to encourage young people to be interested in Science, Technology, and Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Thus, nowadays STEM education becomes a national priority. However, the STEM disciplines demand students to carry out hands-on experiments in laboratories. It goes without saying that integrating STEM education in the context of virtual universities needs implementation of remote laboratory platforms to perform e-learning activities. So, this paper suggests a new unified access platform. This is to control real and virtual components from any university working in partnership; which will facilitate hands-on experiments. To make our approach more relevant, some concrete scenarios of both real and virtual laboratory experiences were set to be applied for mathematics and computer science students of Senegal Virtual University (UVS). Those students were taught how to achieve the remote laboratory experiments through the present platform. Students were also given full access to physical and virtual machines of the laboratory to perform hands-on experiments.

Neither university can afford the necessary infrastructure, clean rooms, technology and experts in all fields of this multidisciplinary science. Sharing of laboratory experiences, CAD tools, project ideas, and a common infrastructure represents a sort of “educational cloud” on top of the cloud software/hardware infrastructure.8 European HEIs and 8 enterprises are developing e-learning materials for 21 courses on: CAD systems, microelectronics technologies, test, characterisation and application of integrated circuits and systems, and we will provide them as open educational resources to strengthen the virtual mobility. Each university will provide remote access to its facilities, laboratory experiments or software systems for the partners in a cloud teaching system, giving them access to new resources. The common ones can be optimized, reducing the singular cost per institute and increasing the available computational and structural power.

The objective of this paper is to design and develop a new concept for an educational platform, where the focus is to engage students into learning by shifting the current paradigm of learning methodologies, enabling new ways to organize information into a more intuitive fashion, leveraging the usage of gamification techniques, and the power of social networks.

The main objective of this paper is to present the concept of ESP instruction at the Faculty of Informatics and management, University of Hradec Kralove, and results of monitoring the state-of-art in learning foreign languages before students’ university study; within the university study; and students’ plans on how to exploit their knowledge of English/ESP in the future. Data were collected by the questionnaire containing 20 items structured in three areas. The results provide additional data to the concept so as the ESP instruction could be efficiently conducted.

This paper presents results of a study conducted on a common learning platform that was developed for students of German as a Foreign Language at the Department of Modern Languages, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. German is offered as a main subject for the three year Bachelor of Arts Degree Programme, four year Honours Degree Programme, and a two year Certificate Course for students of all faculties. There is no pre-requisite for prior knowledge of the language when offering German as a Foreign Language in the first year of university as the language is started at beginner level. Consequently, the teachers face a major challenge to facilitate students in achieving the learning outcomes and competency levels designated for each academic year with only 5–7 h per week allocated in the general time table for each year. Thus, studies on integrating web-based learning for advanced learners and use of interactive online exercises have been conducted for over a decade at the university to enhance student performance. These pilot studies mainly focused on advanced learners from the third and fourth years in the degree programmes. The present study broadens the focus on learners of German from Beginner to Advanced Level to benefit over 250 students of German in the entire Bachelor Degree Programme aiming at providing resources for enhanced student performance while promoting autonomous learning. The common learning platform was developed to enable students to access additional authentic material, interactive exercises to further improve language competency, exposure to native speaker environment and increase the number of hours dedicated to language learning. This also facilitates the teachers of different course units to follow the progress of each level, monitor individual student performance and offer reinforcement wherever necessary.

This research is about a comparative study between four groups of learners regarding English. Specifically, it investigates the impact of power point on Vocational Secondary School learners’ communicative competence. Two schools with 68 students, forming two control and two experimental groups, randomly selected, participated in the research. Pre and post-tests were given to learners, notes were taken during the lessons and a focus group discussion was conducted with the learners. The results revealed the positive effect ppt. use had to learners who found it motivating and interesting as a tool, enhancing their participation and speaking skills in English.

The present work focuses on a survey conducted with 157 Vocational school students and six teachers, all randomly selected. Interviews were conducted with the teachers the aim of which was to detect why teachers suggest mobile learning, how they exploit mobile devices for instructive purposes and their opinion on the effect mobile learning has on their learners’ participation and motivation. The questionnaire to the learners aimed to detect their opinion on mobile learning. The answers revealed that students consider it an easy, interesting, innovative and useful method which helps vocabulary and all four skills though to a lesser extent writing. The thematic analysis of the interviews revealed teachers use mobile devices to enhance learners’ level, minimize distances and cover for students’ absences. They suggest detailed instructive scenarios, for differentiated teaching the implementation of which they found motivating and useful for their learners, weak students and employed learners.

Developmental dyslexia is defined as an unexpected specific and persistent failure to acquire efficient reading skills despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and sociocultural opportunity. The main aim of the present research protocol was to construct a web screening battery of tests in order to screen children’s reading, orthographic and cognitive skills. The main hypothesis of the present study was that Greek students that were already diagnosed as dyslexic, shall present significantly lower scores. A total of sixty, right handed children (30 male and 30 female, age range 8–11 years old M = 8.93, SD = 0.83) participated in this study. Reading, cognitive and orthographic skills of children with dyslexia and typically achieving children were examined, using a battery that consisted of seven tasks. Subsequent analysis of variance revealed that the children with dyslexia had statistically significant (p < 0.01) lower mean scores of correct answers and larger latencies in all tasks compared to their average peers that participated at the control group.

The system of the higher education continuously changes therefore there is a requirement of creation of new methods of training. Development of a control algorithm of process of formation of the most effective individual educational trajectory is very actual task. Results of scientometric researches allow to transform on the basis of modular approach variable part of the curriculum taking into account requirements of the most popular fields of activity. Formalization of model of information streams for the purpose of the choice of an optimal variant of network interaction when forming educational trajectories is offered.

Cloud computing is a set of IT services offered to users over the WWW on a rented base. Cloud computing has many advantages such as flexibility, efficiency, scalability, integration, and capital reduction. Moreover, it provides an advanced virtual space for organizations to deploy their applications and to run their systems. For secure communication over Cloud network, data can be protected by the method of encryption. Encryption exchanges that data by any encryption algorithm using the key in twisted form. Only user can access the key used to decrypt the encrypted data. The purpose of encryption is used to preventing leak or secrecy in communications. Encryption algorithms play a huge role in providing data security against bad and malicious attacks. This paper studies the basic concepts and analyzes the essentials of data security issues pertaining to Cloud Computing. Then we elaborate on each issue by discussing its nature. Specifically, we emphasize on issues of protecting data such as: data confidentiality, data integrity, data availability, securing data access, data auditing, enforcing the regulations and compliances regarding to data security and privacy.

The objective of this paper is to describe the engineering program designed by COPEC – Science and Education Research Council’s education research team, in which the so called ‘Working with Communities’ course is included early in the third year of engineering program. It provides students the chance to work as consultants to foster an entrepreneurial community in the city. The idea is to create an Innovative Office, to which local entrepreneurs can resort to in order to discuss and find sustainable solutions for a specific problem or a project. So far, the project has worked relatively well. Student groups are working hard and the results have been positive.

We consider the ultimate goal of introducing as a service to the academic community online formal summative assessments in a blended-learning context at the scale of a higher education institution. In a first stage, we explore the perceptions of e-assessment by two primary stakeholders: academics and students. We conjecture that a successful global implementation of e-assessment relies on the simultaneous adoption by academics and students. To test this hypothesis, we: (1) define a technological framework that is able to support e-assessment for the whole academic community; (2) identify three main e-assessment scenarios that cover a range of possible domains and contexts; (3) implement experiments with early adopting teachers and collect qualitative and quantitative surveys from students. The results are analysed and discussed in order to assess the current framework and adapt it further to deploy it at faculty level.

Nanotechnology is an emergent technology that manipulates matter at nanometer scale (1 × 10−9 m). The introductory course of nanotechnology is at the core of the chemical engineering program for senior students at Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Colombia. In the nanotechnology syllabus, synthesis, characterization and application of nanomaterials are studied. In the middle of the course, blind students from high school were invited to participate in a class of characterization of nanomaterials, in order to share experience about nanotechnology concepts (senior students) and experience of life as a blind person. Because characterization of nanomaterials is a blind manipulation, due its atomic size, it is suitable activity for both the sighted and the visually impaired. Thus, the experience and different capabilities of blind students were of great interest to seniors that needed to learn above other possibilities and opportunities within characterization of nanomaterials. The visit of blind students made for a significant and emotive characterization class, specifically related to the concept and use of the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), which is known as a blind tool. Similarly, there was an empowerment of blind students in studying science such as physics or chemistry, because from their life experience, they can give another perception of materials that are invisible for all of us and very few of them have been successfully educated in science at different education levels, because there is not a clear social inclusion of this population within different capabilities in education and research at least in Colombia. Last but not least, senior students of the course of Project Management of systems engineering program at Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano managed the project and processed the scope, budget, schedule, logistics and tools to successfully carry out this activity, as a Problem-Based-Learning (PBL) activity of this course.

TC – Tax Compliance – an exclusive, certified education, following the idea of “Entrepreneurship for Engineers”. A partner-project with the federal ministry of finance, Vienna. Successful students are going to present the importance of those key tools at the IGIP, as a going-concern idea in a globalized economy.

Encouraging entrepreneurship has become a topic of high priority in university policy. Entrepreneurial activities are regarded as a driving force of innovation. The popularity of entrepreneurship education is reflected in the large and growing number of institutes of higher education that offer courses on the topic. However, entrepreneurship is still underrepresented in engineering education. This paper presents and evaluates entrepreneurial activities at Graz University of Technology.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for high school learners in developing countries is a challenge for two significant reasons: equipment for education is expensive and complex, and economically-marginalized youth must be integrated in pre-engineering programs to prepare them for technical programmes at university. The goal of establishing AfrikaBot is to prepare high school learners to study engineering at the University of Johannesburg; thus to train teenagers from disadvantaged communities with no prior experience in STEM to participate in a challenge to build and program a robot. Also, AfrikaBot aims to equip teenagers from low-income households with technology and entrepreneurial skills in a repressed economy. AfrikaBot achieves the above with a build-it-yourself robot that can be used after the competition to invent systems with real world applications. Anticipated long-term outcomes of the AfrikaBot program will influence the structure of future robotics challenges, and promote a higher number of technical candidates from marginalized communities. By transferring enabling technology skills in a fun and engaging way, participants will rapidly build the confidence to pursue careers in STEM fields. Participants can also acquire entrepreneurial skills that may lead to the establishment of new businesses and the creation of local jobs in both the formal and informal sectors in Africa. This paper presents the organizational and physical design of AfrikaBot, a robotics challenge that will be held in the latter half of 2016.

Introductory physics courses are a fundamental offering in physics departments around the globe. Most often, introductory physics is offered as a two-semester sequence with basic mechanics being taught in the first semester and electricity and magnetism in the second. Introductory physics is required for students pursuing engineering and many other STEM disciplines. There are timeless questions that arise pertaining to these foundation courses in physics. These questions include: What topics should be taught? When should these topics be taught? This paper will address these questions and include a brief discussion on student learning in a second-semester algebra-based physics course. An additional question to be raised is: Does taking the introductory course sequence “out of order” have an impact on student learning in physics? Finally broader implications regarding the content and topic order in introductory physics will be explored. This exploration will also include implications for the larger STEM communities.

The year 2016 marks the thirty-year anniversary of the explosion of reactor four at the Chernobyl power plant, the subsequent evacuation of the surrounding region, and the dispersion of radioactive material across Europe. As an attempt to integrate history as a motivator in computer science, this work describes a two-day excursion to the Chernobyl exclusion zone to gather background radiation data as a part of an Operating Systems class project, as well as creating radiation, photographic, and location data sets for use in subsequent classes.

The objective of this work is to perceive the importance of an outlier behaviour in engineer students’ perception during the university course regarding: Teacher Involvement Perception, Student Interest, Student-Teacher interaction, Course organization and functioning Infrastructures, and Overall Satisfaction. The study was performed based on a questionnaire. A discussion on the presence of outliers for each of the items is also presented. Questions like: Are outliers important? Similar behaviour is founded independently of the student academic year?, and others, will be investigated and answered.

This paper presents a structured tool envisaged to self-paced learning of web based information systems, targeted to students of all areas of engineering, namely non information and communications technologies students.Hands on experience is the dominant feature of the tool, with the user being conducted through the following methodological steps: (i) Web based information systems development roadmap; (ii) Building blocks, procedures and resources; (iii) Commented sets of links to other resources available via the Internet; (iv) Illustrative application examples.Preliminary trials indicate that involved students are reacting very positively to the utilization of the tool.There is the intention of congregating the interest of other higher education institutions, involving them in the subsequent consolidation and improvement of the tool, making it also available to students of other areas where web based information systems might play an important role.

Serious games are one of the new learning tools used to teach complex procedures which are costly and hard to reproduce in traditional practical trainings. In our research, we are interested in serious games that teach industrial procedures involving both software tutorials and real world operations. Our objective is to introduce an authoring tool which assists trainers to model their serious game scenarios (i.e. both the activities to be performed and the associated pedagogical feedback) with as much expressiveness and efficiency as possible. In order to reach this goal, we have implemented several automatic features. The main one is a process that allows trainers to record entire parts of the scenario directly from an existing virtual environment and domain specific software. Scenarios can finally be generated automatically in a specific graphical representation and then in a Domain Specific Modelling Language without the need of specific computing skills.

Implementation of competence-based approach in Higher Engineering Education System has caused the challenges of assessing the level of competence formation. One of the ways of solving this issue is using the functional and activity approach for assessing the level of competence formation.

The concept of remote laboratories exists for some time with an increasing importance for contemporary education in various fields and at various levels. Advance of remote labs is based on technology development and conceptual improvements with possible mutual influences such as when new technologies make new concepts possible. Arduino is a family of small inexpensive single board computers (SBC) based on microcontrollers with added Linux platforms on some boards for improved processing and Internet accessibility. A number of other brands with quite similar concepts exist, with Arduino as one of very well-known and widespread. Arduino based remote lab concept relies on “Arduino only” implementation which is possible for many not too demanding applications. Such concept has many implications like project cheap price, small consumption, autonomy, small dimensions, low installation requirements and similar. This paper discusses some Arduino based remote experiments in physics and engineering.

The purpose of this paper is to present a framework that can be used to embed an adaptivity mechanism to Moodle so as to achieve better learning results. This mechanism adapts the presentation and the proposed navigation within a course, to students’ different learning preferences as they are expressed by their leaning styles and their educational objectives. An evaluation study was conducted in the context of an introductory programming course in order to examine the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism and students’ feedback on it. Two groups of students were formed, namely the experimental and the control group. The first had access to a Moodle course that exploited the adaptivity mechanism, whereas the second had access to the standard version of a Moodle course. The results were encouraging since they indicated that our extension affected students’ motivation and performance while their feedback about its usability was positive.

This paper presents an IT-based learning approach to both theory and application of Finite State Machines (FSM). We determined the most important learning objectives about FSMs, described them according to the taxonomy of Bloom and Krathwohl, and implemented them as a serious game called ‘Finite State Trading Game’ (FSTG). Our approach was verified based on a lesson that was conducted at the Technical University of Munich with upper vocational school students. The results indicate a major improvement in the students´ knowledge about FSMs. Thus, the FSTG approach proves to be a suitable supplement or even a substitution for teaching the topic of FSM in traditional classroom settings.

This study examines two open-access websites that host online public-facing courses at the university level. Online learning environments are replacing or enhancing many physical classrooms within higher education, but these learning environments are not necessarily free, open-access, or publicly available on the open web. Considering two organizations that host free and open websites available to use by any member of the public, this study demonstrates how open-access and public-facing pedagogy on the web is in-line with student-centered practices. Network analysis, website structure, content analysis, and surveys suggest that students can be equally and potentially more empowered as practitioners in their own education by sharing their knowledge-building with a wider audience on the open web. Open web communities can enable student-centered pedagogy practices to freely evolve outside of a hierarchical and institutional structure, and can work to further student-centered goals through producing knowledge for anyone to access and contribute to on the open web.

In professional environments, collaboration contributes to the growth of the activity. Enterprise social networks seek the automation of collaboration by providing a common workspace for users, with a transversal visibility of the skills, the activities and the collaboration opportunities. In this work, we propose developing an academic social network in the spirit of enterprise social network, in order to automate the creation of collaboration opportunities between the students of a same institution. The grouping criteria’s will be based on the users personal information and their activities history. Developing an academic social network was motivated by the increasing interest of the academic actors to social media as a communication tool, and the negative assumptions on the social network impact on the productivity and on the privacy of personal data. A first version of the social platform was developed and presented in EDUCON 2016 under the Name SLNet. The SLNet 2.0 is the second version of the social platform with a special focus on the improvement of the grouping engine by reducing the searching set of collaborators by an intermediate clustorization of the users.

The physiological phenomena are the result of complex interactions between several components in wider biological scales, which is challenging, for the human eye, to understand. Consequently, in biomedical engineering, given the massive amount of contexts and different areas to integrate, comes often the need for teaching approaches and resources out of the traditional scenario. Currently, there is an increasing growth of computer-based instructions and it is already known numerous of its advantages. This multimedia learning, in addition to take a leading role in the demonstration of complex physiological processes and simulation of biological settings, can also save learning time and make tuition more motivating. In the last few years, e-learning platforms have increased attractiveness, appearing several alternatives, such as theoretical approaches based on multimedia resources, computational modeling tools and virtual/remote laboratories. This work intends to present an online platform that applies the features stated above to specific scientific papers and perform a critical review to its content. The platform must store all these data and interact with the user through a web-based interface.