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2018 | Buch

Teaching and Learning in a Digital World

Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning – Volume 2

herausgegeben von: Prof. Michael E. Auer, Dr. David Guralnick, Prof. Dr. Istvan Simonics

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing

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SUCHEN

Über dieses Buch

This book gathers the Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2017), held in Budapest, Hungary on 27–29 September 2017. The authors are currently witnessing a significant transformation in the development of education. The impact of globalisation on all areas of human life, the exponential acceleration of technological developments and global markets, and the need for flexibility and agility are essential and challenging elements of this process that have to be tackled in general, but especially in engineering education.
To face these current real-world challenges, higher education has to find innovative ways to quickly respond to them. Since its inception in 1998, this conference has been devoted to new approaches in learning with a focus on collaborative learning. Today the ICL conferences offer a forum for exchange concerning relevant trends and research results, and for sharing practical experience gained while developing and testing elements of new technologies and pedagogies in the learning context.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Educational Virtual Environments

Frontmatter
The Use of Software to Create E-Learning Courses on Technical Subjects at University

This article proposes an integrated approach regarding the use of different software for practice-oriented training in engineering disciplines. Emphasis is placed on the formation of a unified educational space for training in engineering disciplines. An approach to the integration of a large number of application software solutions based on the “Moodle” distance learning shell was developed. Examples include the use of the proposed approach for “Machine Parts” and “Theory of Machines and Mechanisms” technical training courses in terms of practice-based learning.

Leonid Leonidovich Khoroshko, Peter Alexandrovich Ukhov, Alexey Leonidovich Khoroshko
The Digital University Agreen U How to Build an Innovative Knowledge Sharing and Learning Project in Agribiosciences? Case Study

The Agronomic, Veterinary and Forestry Institute of France (Agreenium), representing eighteen French public research and higher education institutions in Agribiosciences decided to create a unique portal to the digital university in Agribiosciences, agreen U (https://agreenium.fr/u/accueil). Its objective is to encourage digital education in this sector to accompany the evolution of teaching practices but also contribute to the strengthening of the international visibility of French research and higher agricultural and veterinary education, and to develop the international attractiveness of the French training offer in the scope of Agribiosciences. The paper explores the identification of functional specifications necessary to attract learners in a such e-learning ecosystem by an international comparative analysis of fifteen universities and institutes and their online courses offers. The paper concludes that we can propose a framework of the functional specifications dedicated of an e-learning project.

Caroline Martin, Camille Hervé, Philippe Prévost
Software Tools for Creating and Presenting Virtual 3D Models

The authors of the article define the criteria for a selection of the most suitable software tool for creating and presenting virtual 3D models in educational research. Geomagic Design system is presented as a software that meets the specified selection criteria to create 3D models and the software environment of Adobe Acrobat Reader is a convenient means of their presentation. The experience of the authors from the research application of virtual 3D models in the educational process confirms, that the pupils can work with the mentioned software products without any problems and without any instructions.

Peter Kuna, Tomáš Kozík, Silvia Kunová, Miroslav Šebo
Teaching Design Project in Introductory Engineering Course Using 3D Modeling and Immersive Virtual Reality

This paper presents a new approach for delivering the project component in introductory engineering course. The approach is based on using 3D modeling software to create the prototype of the product. Furthermore, immersive VR display were utilized to enable the students to explore and inspect their design in different stages and discover the problems in the design. The approach enabled the students to get perception of their design and interact with the model from different angle and navigate around which gave them closer look at the design that usually impossible using the traditional 2D display. The results showed that the VR approach increased the attainment of the students in the project.

Osama Halabi, M. Samir Abou El-Seoud, Vladimir Geroimenko
Low Cost Industrial Interface Design and Graphical Programming for Arduino

This paper consists of the development and design of a low cost programmable logic controller device. For this purpose, we designed an electronic circuit to make the inputs and outputs of the Arduino platform compatible to industrial standards of electrical signals. In addition, the programming of the electronic device uses a graphical diagram interface to facilitate the interaction with the user. In order to design this embedded system, the choice of accessible, low-cost and open-source components was of great relevance, as is the case with ladder programming software. The fact of being open-source enhances collaboration and adaptation for specific applications. This project applied as a tool for teaching in engineering has generated promising results.

Carina Carla Aparecida Felipe da Silva, Alan Kardek Rêgo Segundo, Vinícius Nunes Lage
Conceptualising Design of Learning Management Systems to Address Institutional Realities

There is growing interest in the use of E-Learning in higher educational institutions. However, studies have shown mismatches between Learning Management System (LMS) design and the general institutional context in developing countries. In this paper, we assess the design and implementation requirements for Makerere University LMS against the overall institution context. This research follows a qualitative method (interviews) and uses case study. We employ the design reality gap model to investigate the design requirements of the LMS against current institutional realities. A design reality gap of 46 was obtained implying ad-hoc measures need to be put in place otherwise the failure/stagnation of LMS is eminent. The study concludes with the need to identify hybrid approaches to LMS contextualization including use of tactical plus Strategic Information system plan (SISP), selecting/building hybrid staff and blended learning.

Gerald Gwamba, Godfrey Mayende, Ghislain Maurice Norbert Isabwe, Paul Birevu Muyinda
Feasibility Study of Virtual Collaboration Concept of Academic Institutions from the Point of View of Students

Student mobility programs allow students to travel abroad and to attend part of their studies on foreign academic institutions learning to know other countries, cultures and people. It enhances personal development with priceless experiences and provides a unique opportunity to interact in international and multicultural environment. Yet, study exchange programs are limited to a relatively small number of applicants. Possible solution proposed recently, a concept of virtual collaboration and teaming among academic institutions across the globe, may provide the possibility of collecting multicultural and international experiences to a wider range of students. This paper analyzes students’ attitude towards this concept.

Monika Dávideková, Michal Greguš ml., Eleonóra Beňová
Teaching Aviation Engineering with Remote Access to Physical Systems

This paper presents an alternative teaching method through a virtualized remote laboratory for engineers in aviation, mechanics, control and analytics. In practical conditions, it is difficult for students to access a physical turbojet engine in a testing facility and study its operation on-site. Either the operation rooms lack the space for observers and operators, or only some specific personnel are permitted to access the operation room, thus rendering the students unable to gain practical experiences on-site.Our goal is to provide a set of applications to enable students’ passive and active remote access to the turbojet engine testing facility. To achieve lowest network traffic possible in real-time, we use TCP and UDP protocols. We tested the throughput of this solution with a distribution server but some testing from the students’ point of view is also necessary to obtain suitable feedback.

Vladimír Gašpar, Rudolf Andoga, Ladislav Főző
Introduction and Implementation of a Multi-leveled E-learning Environment Based on the Open Content Development Model Principles

In our paper we introduce a new multi-leveled e-learning environment, called Sysbook. It is an open-access surface, available on the internet for any users. Its main topic covers the field of systems and control, some mathematical and even philosophical sciences. The purpose of the Sysbook is to present systems and controls on different levels, addressing readers of different backgrounds and interests. There are four surfaces (levels): “Comics”, “What we are talking about”, “Control course” and “Mathematical representations, examples”. In the same time two of them are displayed on the screen. These surfaces are extended with case studies for different fields and a student area where the users can also contribute. We would like to show that this conception can also be used in other fields of interest.

David Sik
The Correlation Between Concepts of Resilience and Remote Experiment in Education

The role of virtual environment in relation with the resilience concept of has not yet been analyzed in depth. Educators cannot determine the resilience level of students as the trademark earned or inherited. But instead, they can create the educational conditions, enabling the resilience manifestation at higher level when the circumstances requires. The remote experiment, as a component brought in education by the virtual environment, are included in the present analyze, with them relevant benefits. The paper illustrates the fact that the problems, generated by the educational environment that aims at resilience education, are partly satisfied by the virtual environment qualities. Was succeeds to illustrate that the virtual environment (remote experiment) might contribute at resilience level increasing.

Cornel Samoila, Doru Ursutiu, Vlad Jinga
Benefits of Using Remote Labs in Intelligent Control Teaching

The use of remote and virtual labs in teaching and learning activities can be very useful in different high education courses, especially in engineering courses. This paper presents the use of a remote experiment in a laboratory work of Intelligent Control subject of an engineering course. A remote lab system can represent an important tool to be used in practical classes, complementing the experiments in the lab and contributing to the enhancement of the students’ experimental skills. For this purposes, a remote setup was considered to provide the interaction with the remote lab through the Internet, where students can visualize the lab using a Web camera and observe data in real time from the remote system and download it. Different type of experiments can be accomplished using this setup. This work includes some preliminary results about the assessment of the use of the remote lab by students of an engineering subject. The results are encouraging to continue to use this kind of online experimentation resource for teaching activities in different areas of engineering courses.

Alberto Cardoso, Paulo Gil, Diana Urbano, Luís Brito Palma
Elements of Gamification in Virtual Learning Environments
A Systematic Review

Information technologies have introduced several changes in teaching and learning environments. In this scenario, the gamification technique emerges as a promising approach, considering the impact on the students’ motivation and appealing to their participation. This paper describes a systematic review addressing gamification in virtual learning environments (VLE), presenting an overview on how gamification has been applied in these scenarios. This review was based on papers published in highly scored journals in the field of computers in education. The papers were selected according to the gamification theme, and the content was analyzed and a state of the art built, according to the retrieved qualitative data. The results seem to reveal that there are significant gains derived from the adoption of gamification in VLE. However, some gains are not unanimous and it depends on how the elements are applied. This paper also suggests a basis for future work aiming at applying gamification in a VLE.

Marcos Mincov Tenório, Francisco Antonio Fernandes Reinaldo, Lourival Aparecido Góis, Rui Pedro Lopes, Guataçara dos Santos Junior

Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment

Frontmatter
Heuristics Discovered from Prototyping an Interactive System

Etymologically, the term “heuristics” is derived from a Greek term “heuriskein” which means “to discover”. Heuristics refer to the specific “rules-of-thumb” discovered from knowledge or experience in order to solve a problem. In this study, a set of heuristics had been discovered by end-users while developing a series of prototypes of an interactive system called web-based test blueprint system. The heuristics are considered as minimum requirements that are deemed essential for a usable system.This study suggests that the design process of an interactive system should cater to its technical domain as well as to its specialized domain. Thus, apart from proficiency in technical skills (e.g. user interface design), the designer of an interactive system must also demonstrate appropriate knowledge within the realm of the specialized domain (e.g. classroom assessment). Throughout the design process of the test blueprint, the underlying classroom assessment standards, theories, principles, and concepts had been highly considered while in consultation with the intended users and double experts. The end-users and the double experts have the strong knowledge and experience about the specialized domain and are also well-versed about the business processes, policies, standards, and organizational structure. The intended users from whom requirements are best captured should always be positioned at the center of the interactive system’s development.

Amando Pimentel Singun Jr.
Plagiarism Detection in SQL Student Assignments

An original method for plagiarism detection in SQL student assignments has been proposed. The method is based on identifying so-called “SQL lexemes” - persistent elements of an SQL statement, and “SQL variables” - easily modifiable elements of SQL statements. Thus, any SQL statements can be replaced with a so-called token - sequence of SQL lexemes and SQL variables. Distance between SQL tokens can be calculated using such a well-known algorithm as Levenshtein Metric. Small values of Levenshtein distance between tokens detect such SQL statements that were built by modifications of others.We also present first practical results of actual application of the algorithm, and discuss further developments of the method.

Nikolai Scerbakov, Alexander Schukin, Oleg Sabinin
Quantitative Evaluation of University Lecturing

In this paper we present a method for evaluating the quality of university lectures. The method is based on an analysis of students’ behavior during working with online materials after visiting the classroom lectures or viewing prerecorded lectures. The students’ behavior is monitored via analysis of Log files, and via special extensions of e-book readers and online movie viewers. All the data are recorded on a web site. The gathered data is analyzed to draw conclusions about the quality of lecturing.

Frank Kappe, Nikolai Scerbakov
School Development by Evaluation
Competences Individual Treatment to Ensure Final Degree

Successfully reaching the final degree is an essential topic in education at the Higher Technical College EUREGIO HTBLVA Ferlach. This aspect is measured by “school achievement” which represents the proportion between the young people who have been trained in the first years and the pupils who finally graduate. This figure is, however, in practice dependent on many different factors. Factors such as the class climate, school climate, but also the handling of diversity and language sensitivity play an important role in classroom. For the development of these factors, social learning and problem based learning was implemented by projects. The evaluation shows, that the class climate felt by the students is getting better and project based learning is implemented and accepted by pupils and teachers. The value of “school achievement” was varying between 70% and 100% during the last 10 years. As preconditions of the pupils arriving at the Higher Technical College are decisive factors, there are actions planned and set to support pupils especially during the first year. To move on further to Industry 4.0 students competences in Information Technology are evaluated and simulation as well as data management is integrated in lecturing.

Monika Grasser, Florian Mayer, Silke Bergmoser
Impact of Motivation, Gamification and Learning Style on Students’ Interest in Maths Classes – A Study in 11 High School Grade

In the age of dynamic development of information and communication technologies, students get bored quickly and easily lose their interest and motivation for learning when the taught material gets presented in the traditional ways. The purpose of the following study is to determine the level of impact of gamification on the process of studying Mathematics, and on the emotional condition of students with certain motivation and learning styles. The results of the study show that the evaluation and implementation of the gamification, achieved with the usage of Kahoot! in the process of studying Mathematics, do not affect the academic achievements of students with low intrinsic motivation in terms of studying mathematics, however, positively affect their emotional state, stimulate their interest and promote active learning.

Maya Stoyanova, Daniela Tuparova, Kostadin Samardzhiev
Using Formal Concept Analysis in the Evaluation Process

Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) is a framework of knowledge processing and knowledge representation based on order and lattice theory. FCA methods can be adopted successfully in numerous areas of pedagogical work. This paper focuses on methods that can help teachers in the evaluation process. When a teacher evaluates a test, the results of the students are presented in a student assessment table. We create a question skill table as well, which shows the learning skills needed to answer the questions of the test. Combining these matrices, we construct a formal context and using its concept lattice we can make a deeper analysis of the test results. The obtained concept lattice visualizes the knowledge hierarchy of the class and the teacher can immediately determine the knowledge level of the class and its members individually.

Attila Körei
Improving the Quality of Engineering Education by Developing the System of Increasing Students’ Motivation

Currently, intellectualization processes cover all areas of activity, which is accompanied by an increase in the requirements for the competence of engineers. At the same time, interest of young people in obtaining an engineering education has decreased in many countries. The authors have studied the causes of this phenomenon. The article is devoted to analysis of relation between the quality of engineering education and the level of students motivation. Ways to increase motivation through the application of innovative technologies and creation the learning outcomes monitoring system are considered.

Irina Makarova, Ksenia Shubenkova, Danila Tikhonov, Polina Buyvol
Data Processing, Systematic Errors, and Validity of Conclusions in Education Research

The aim of the present study is the investigation of the validity of various results in education research, due to the way these have been derived from the data taken. The use of simple statistical tools for data analysis is seen as the mail culprit, leading to results that are not supported by the quality of the data taken. The repeated use of purely statistical tools, albeit simple in execution and convenient as they really are, ignores the presence of systematic (non-statistical) measurement errors. It is precisely this failure during data analysis that very often leads to erroneous results. The non-repeatability of various experiments is thus explained, while some suggestions are offered to improve the situation.Systematic error estimation and Random error computation should be used to determine the total experimental error (or uncertainty) for each and every data-point of primary experimental data-plot. Subsequently, full error-propagation techniques need to be used to find the final error for each point, so as these can be reliably utilised to make valid comparisons and finally derive valid experimental results.Naive utilisation of simplistic statistical functions is to be curtailed, while more precise information needs to be factored in and be properly evaluated, so as conclusions would be unequivocally valid.

George S. Ioannidis
Data-Mining Possibilities in Blended Learning

During our three years’ research, we have refined our on-line learning model based on the reflections of students and teachers. After the 3rd year, we examine not only the reflections but also the huge amount of data we collected during the semester. The aim of this paper is to present the data-mining tools we used, the results of our examinations and the next version of our model.

Gabriella Baksa-Haskó, Brigitta Baranyai
Follow-up on Rubric-Based Assessment of Student Outcomes by Senior-Year Graduation Design Project and Continuing to Improve by Performance Indicator Breakdown-Based Assessment

The study is a follow-up on rubric-based assessment of level of attainment of Student Outcomes (SOs) in Environmental Engineering undergraduate education by the senior-year Graduation Design Project (GDP): the focal points are the process of and results from incorporation of additional assessment tools and implementation of “Performance Indicator (PI)-breakdown” to continue improving the SO Assessment and Evaluation (A&E) process. For several consecutive cycles, A&E to define attainment level of total of seven SOs by the GDP gave results below the set thresholds for some of them (SO1, 5, 8), which indicated a discrepancy and a need for improvement in the assessment tools and processes. Accordingly, two remedial actions were undertaken to meet those needs and the SOs were re-assessed. Results of the previous and improved SO A&E process revealed a clear progress in SO attainment addressed by the GDP, from 2014–15 to 2015–16, upon choice and addition of other tools. Yet, those still gave a general sense of deficiencies at SO-level. Therefore, some additional tools were added and the “PI-breakdown”-based approach was implemented. Those informative results are combined successfully with the formerly improved SO A&E process, facilitating attainment of more realistic results and further fine tuning of the SO A&E process.

Ebru Dulekgurgen, Cigdem Yangin-Gomec, Özlem Karahan Özgün, Basak Aydin, Huseyin Guven
Evaluation of International Master Thesis in the Program “Entrepreneurs for Tomorrow”

The project “Entrepreneurs for Tomorrow” aims to establish a new Master program for Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the Volga Region (Russian Federation). The program E4T has been already running for two and a half years in three main cities in the Volga Basin, (Nizhniy Novgorod, Samara and Saransk). Its main objective is to contribute significantly to a sustainable economic development of this region. This research focuses on the aspects of evaluation of international Master thesis in the program “Entrepreneurs for Tomorrow” within the framework of TEMPUS IV grant. The authors have developed a system of Master thesis’s evaluation and worked out a check list (an evaluation grid), which can be used as a basis for comprehending the criteria of marking the final thesis. The purpose of this work is to make master students’ outcomes assessment objective and accurate.

Julia Lopukhova, Elena Makeeva

Knowledge Management and Learning

Frontmatter
Conceptual Modelling: Common Students’ Mistakes in Visual Representation

Knowledge based systems’ design requires the developer’s advanced analytical skills. The efficient development of those skills within university courses needs a deep understanding of main pitfalls and drawbacks, which students make during their analytical work in form of visual modeling. Thus, it was necessary to hold an analysis of 5-th year students’ learning exercises within courses of “Intelligent systems” and “Knowledge engineering” in Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University. The analysis shows that both lack of system thinking skills and methodological mistakes in course design cause the errors that are discussed in the paper.

Tatiana Gavrilova, Vadim Onufriev
On Mind Maps Evaluation: A Case of an Automatic Grader Development

Nowadays, mind mapping is a rather popular educational technique. Moreover, mind maps became a part of modern educational trends like blended learning and computer-supported collaborative learning. Lots of mind mapping software tools are adopted to teaching and learning routines such as educational content delivery or assessment. This paper focuses on the additional automatic evaluation of digital educational mind maps gained from the existing procedures of assessments. The review of automatic graders which support the evaluation process demonstrated that some systematical work is done in automation grading by comparing students’ mind maps with a template. But lots of questions about automatic mind maps’ scoring by retrieving the data from a scored mind map are still open. This paper introduces the automatic grader for educational mind maps (AGEMM) which acts like a teacher’s assistant and calculates several quantitative metrics. The AGEMM is implemented as a web-service and interacted with digital mind maps prepared in the Coggle web-service through its API. The AGEMM is adopted to the Scientific Research Seminar of “Marketing” bachelor program in National Research University Higher School of Economics (Perm). Results demonstrate that scores from the AGEMM may be transformed to scales or criterial levels which are used to evaluation. Moreover, the AGEMM application revealed several problems and shew lines of development which we discuss in the paper.

Olga Maksimenkova, Alexey Neznanov, Iuliia Papushina, Andrei Parinov
Training in Research on Cognitive Control Systems

In the coming decades, a new round of scientific and technological revolution is expected in the world. A person will be surrounded by artificial intellectual systems based on knowledge — cognitive systems. The existing education system is focused on giving knowledge about previous generations of intelligent systems — IoT, CPS, and should be transformed. The required amount of knowledge can no longer be transferred to a trained specialist within the framework of existing teaching technologies. Therefore, skills of using, extracting and transforming knowledge become the basis of promising technologies of continuous self-education. To determine a direction of studying cognitive control systems, a model of a structure of such system is proposed, based on control levels. Each level of this model corresponds to procedures for transforming forms of knowledge that need to be studied by a future engineer. To favour the development of students’ self-education skills, it is suggested to sharply increase the amount of research assignments in the practice of teaching almost all technical curricula studied at universities. Examples of such tasks in physics, electrical engineering and other disciplines are given. Some of these examples are about “black box” objects; another need the application of a non-standard approach to ADC. Besides, a way of using ternary logic and logical inference to assess the quality of knowledge obtained by the cognitive control system is considered.

Mykhailo Poliakov, Sergii Morshchavka, Oksana Lozovenko
Engineering Education Program Promoting the Profession

Many Engineering colleges have been facing the retention issue because of difficulties and lack of knowledge about what really means being an engineer. The first 3 years are particularly intense and hard. A possible way to overcome this period is to implement a new kind of course, more enticing and dynamic, which is the idea of COPEC’s engineering education research team, to embed a course with a more interesting activity for students in the first year. Current students have access to multiple ways of learning. They make use of a range of learning sites, both physical and virtual. Currently, students are very smart users of modern technology and are well connected with the online world. They are already international. However, an international experience adds a lot to their reality. It also promotes an early picture of the profession in their minds. So, this program provides students the possibility to perform as engineers in an international environment. It is a project developed for a private university in order to foster the retention rate in their engineering courses.

Claudio R. Brito, Melany M. Ciampi, Rosa M. Vasconcelos, Luis A. Amaral, Henrique D. Santos, Victor A. Barros
High Quality Engineering Program Achievement

Buildings and bridges are often the first constructions that come to mind, as they are the most visible creations of structural engineering. Civil engineers design roads, railways, subway systems and airports. And there are also less visible designs, just like every time people turn on a water tap waiting for the water to flow, without thinking that civil engineers made it possible. Finally, civil engineers are still of fundamental necessity for the construction of the civilized world. The goal of this paper is to describe a program, specially designed for a private engineering school, whose aim is to become the best one in the region, once there are other universities at the same level competing for students. COPEC – Science and Education Research Council’s Engineering Education Team has designed a new engineering program, knowledge centered and specially challenging, which integrates classical engineering approaches and real experience, in order to achieve a high level of engineers ready to perform as professionals or researchers. It aims to form the Engineer – a professional that is capable to learn for life and be creative in many ways.

Melany M. Ciampi, Claudio R. Brito, Rosa M. Vasconcelos, Luis A. Amaral, Henrique D. Santos, Victor A. Barros
Academic Performance Assessment Based on Accumulative Rating System at Polytechnic University

Continuing change of quality requirements in engineering education makes it necessary to substantially reform the educational process in technical universities. This change should be built on the basis of identifying the conditions in which the competences of the future professionals can be formed and developed. Effective implementation of these processes requires continuous monitoring of the learning outcomes. But traditional final control, which is still widely used in the higher educational institutions, is insufficient and does not allow applying corrections in the learning process in a timely manner. The resolution of this contradiction can be made possible by introducing an accumulative rating system (ARS) to evaluate students academic performance, using weighting factors, records of timing labor costs and modified website to host individual learning outcomes. This study deals with the application of the above mentioned tools for assessing students academic learning outcomes in the teaching of social and arts disciplines at polytechnic university.

Elena B. Gulk, Pavel M. Kasyanik, Konstantin P. Zakharov, Marina V. Olennikova, Denis A.  Nazarov
Knowledge Management and Learning in Urban Revitalization Processes of Selected Non-profit Cultural Organizations in Slovakia

The aim of this paper is to present selected revitalization processes of inadequately used city buildings reflecting the implementation of lessons learned and effective knowledge management tools. We focus on the leaders of non-profit organizations who together with their teams have participated in successful conversions of historical buildings to alive cultural and community centers. Our research, covering a period of the years 2013–2016, has primarily concentrated on defining, delivering and exploiting tacit and explicit knowledge in certain revitalizing and operating stages of the studied venues in three Slovak cities – Bratislava, Žilina and Košice. On the basis of Nonaka-Takeuchi SECI model, a set of case studies and interviews as well as monitoring stakeholders’ opinions and observing more than 200 events, the authors designed a tailored knowledge management model for non-profit organizations. The model has an ambition to serve as a framework to present best practices and to assist in managing urban revitalizing and sustainable approaches in the field of non-profit organizations. The crucial elements of such effort are creative and innovative actors with interdisciplinary thinking, who emphasize responsible and transparent organizational behavior and who, therefore, gain a necessary stakeholders’ support. Outputs from our research have led us to generalizing and designing a knowledge management model that allows us to recommend it as an effective and inspiring learning tool for other non-profit organizations and useful material for students of management.

Maria Olejarova
Data Visualization and Enhanced Learning in Engineering Education Through Oil Pollution Studies and Environmental Impact Assessment

Big Data and Data Analytics have in recent times become important areas of focus in academia, in business and in society. This paper utilises experiments involving data visualisation of oil pollution studies and their effects on environment for enhanced learning in engineering education. Tracking and analysis of images and the use of accessible applications for the analysis of acquired data revealed the level of impact of the different types of oil pollution on grass vegetation. In accounting for these changes the primary RGB colours and corresponding values are used. The use of spectral analysis applications available in spectroscopy and comparison of results would in future prove useful in assessing some aspects of these changes in relation to wavelength and colours changes. The results of these studies would contribute in no small measure to the determination of best cleaning strategies for oil spills.

James Uhomoibhi, Conor White
Universities Should also Learn

The political changes after the fall of Communist command found their institutions of tertiary education unprepared. Often, their “spirit of obedience” still survives and have various consequences including their mental disability to accept innovative teaching methods including e-learning, massive open online courses, etc. As a case, our paper analyzes the situation at Slovak universities from the point of view of Knowledge Management. We propose Organizational Learning as a method expecting the universities to become “living bodies” using the trial and error methods in order to learn from their own experience as well as from experience of sister institutions around the World. As we believe, it is the only way leading to their development and prosperity. We present four roles of universities that could serve as potential transition models and a framework that supports building an “atmosphere of learning”.

Jozef Hvorecký, Emil Višňovský
Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation in Collaborative Learning

This research was developed considering the relationship that exists between the style of students learning evaluation and its influence on the development of collaborative learning. Nowadays education seeks to focus on collaborative processes, because they provide the student with the possibility of a holistic process. The proposed hypothesis suggests that quantitative and qualitative evaluation influences collaborative learning. The research was carried out in two periods: in 2014 at the Marqués de Selva Alegre School and in 2017 in the Manuela Espejo School. The methodology was applied to a population of 220 individuals, consisting of a survey for teachers and students with continuous items validated using Cronbach’s Alpha. The objective was to demonstrate how the teacher’s evaluation methods condition the type of work of the students, being this individual or collaborative. It was determined that the evaluation in the educational process must contain quantitative and qualitative elements, because it allows the execution of a cooperative work and generates meaningful learning; while maintaining an evaluation model focused only on quantitative instruments induces an individual practice and promotes rote learning.

Patricia Amores Guevara, Susana Arias Tapia, Javier Sánchez Guerrero, Medardo Mera Constante, José Vega Pérez, Corina Núñez Hernández, María Vargas Ramos
Traditions and Experience in Studying Metric Intellect in Students

Intellectual activity is the leading employment for the students. The success of learning depends on the intellectual level, while there is a reciprocal influence of the learning process on the development of the students’ intellectual potential. This research was performed with the purpose of comparing the level and structural parameters of intellect in modern Russian students and in the students of the ‘70s. We also compared the intellectual parameters of modern students in the engineering and liberal arts education, as well as the gender specific difference. The study was based on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) method, and involved 1,040 students of Russian universities. It was discovered that no significant difference exists between the integral full-scale IQ parameters of the modern students and the students of the ‘70s, while there is a significant difference in the structural parameters determined by the educational specialty. We have come to a conclusion that the professional orientation has a stronger effect on the intellectual level and structure than the gender identity.

Marina V. Olennikova, Pavel M. Kasyanik, Elena B. Gulk, Konstantin P. Zakharov, Viktor N. Kruglikov

Learning Culture and Diversity

Frontmatter
Factors and Barriers of Inbound International Student Mobility in Russia

Global integration and globalization in politics, economics and culture expand international contacts and result in higher education internationalization through export of educational programs and academic mobility. International student mobility is a complex, controversial and dynamic process. There is more global data on inbound than outbound student mobility. According to UNESCO Institute of Statistics, the number of internationally mobile students more than doubled from 2 to 4.3 million in the period between 1999 and 2014. Russia hosts 5% of the total number of mobile students; most of them come from Asia, the region which traditionally demonstrates the highest interest in and demand for the Russian higher education. The paper aims at distinguishing the pull factors and barriers (push factors) of inbound international student mobility in Russia by summarizing the experience of one of the leading engineering universities through analyzing the statistics and sociological survey results. The authors draw their conclusions on inbound academic mobility dynamics and give their recommendations on improving its intensity.

Julia Ziyatdinova, Petr Osipov, Anna Gornovskaya, Natalia Zolotareva
Female Participation in Engineering Fields: Successes, Challenges, and Recommendations in a Non-western Context

This paper describes a collaborative faculty-student research project examining female students’ perspectives on their academic and social experiences studying engineering at an American branch campus in Qatar. It draws on data collected from a series of focus groups, an anonymous survey, and self-reflexive research team meetings. The experiences are discussed in relation to the university’s institutional strengths and challenges in terms of supporting female students for working in engineering-related careers in the Arab Gulf and recommendations are given.

Sara Hillman, Ghada Salama
Professors’ Competences Through the Perspective of STEM Students

Tertiary education institutions educate a great number of individuals of all ages every year with the aim to assist them in developing a set of skills, knowledge, competences and attitudes. The overall aim of the education process is dual: employment and contribution to society. Actors with a direct impact in this process are the professors, teachers with various roles, lecturers or heads of laboratories, supervisors or examiners.While teachers in all levels of formal education are trained in specialised institutions and acquire formal teaching qualification, higher education professors lack such education in most cases. Consequently, the question raised is what competences a university professor should have in order to reach a quality teaching practice. In modern times, these competences are not limited to teaching, since professors perform multiple roles. Interpersonal competences, designing and implementing the learning process as well as innovation are also in demand.This study will reflect how students in European STEM education perceive professors’ competences within the given framework, based on their university, field of study and degree. The conclusion is reached on which competences are of more importance and which should be reinforced in order to improve the quality of transmitting the knowledge in higher educational institutions.

Sofia Antera, Dragana Manasova, Sonja Mihajlov
Training the Achievement-Oriented Engineers for the Global Business Environment

To meet the global labor market requirements and to be able to contribute to the economical development of the mother country a contemporary engineer should enlarge his/her general outlook and be socially and professionally mobile. In order to be ready to be employed by the international European companies, the students alongside with acquiring the specialized engineering competences have to be familiar with the common characteristics of the European markets, to be competent in cross-cultural professional and business communications and to share European values. The new original academic course “Psychology of Professional Success” aimed to contribute to the engineering students’ participation in the International European projects was introduced to some engineering curriculums. Empiric study showed that the course as a part of a comprehensive system of educational measures to train global engineers is efficient and helpful.

Farida T. Shageeva, Dilyara R. Erova, Inna M. Gorordetskaya, Natalia V. Kraysman, Lilia V. Prikhodko
Factors Affecting Student Engagement in Online Collaborative Learning Courses

Student engagement is a crucial precondition for successful learning. However, the discussion of engagement in online learning contexts has been limited. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to contribute to the current understanding of what affects online students’ engagement. The paper reports on a case study conducted in the context of Uganda. A focus group interview was carried out with 14 participants of online collaborative learning courses. I identified four categories of factors affecting online students’ engagement: (1) the online course environment, (2) informal online groups established by students, (3) interactions with co-located peers, and (4) online group dynamics. Thus, one of the main factors contributing to student engagement was scaffolding from an experienced peer and support of co-located classmates. On the contrary, the main challenge was the use of the course learning management system (LMS). Access issues led to the establishment of informal online groups. While students were generally motivated by the collaborative nature of the course, they also experienced challenges in their online groups in terms of cohesiveness.

Aleksandra Lazareva
Teaching Software Engineering in a Multicultural Environment

Education in multicultural environments poses challenges for both educators and students. Similarly to other subjects, software engineering teaching is faced with difficulties in the need to adapt the teaching style and contents to the various cultural backgrounds of the students. Based on a small-scale study, this paper attempts to highlight perspectives of students belonging to various cultural backgrounds on software engineering, as well as their views on the practicalities of software development.

Simona Vasilache
Stress Coping Strategies in University Students

Psychological stress accompanies many typical activities of the students including examination, assignments and projects deadlines, prospective job’s practice applications etc. Individual stress coping strategies depend on personality traits, personal maturity and stress management experience. Among personal traits significant influence on stress coping strategies have Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) which develop in early childhood under the influence of the family relations and temperamental features. For effective academic counseling and tutoring it is necessary to take into account these factors.

Elena V. Romanova, Pavel M. Kasyanik, Maria V. Galimzyanova
Continuous Assessment in Computing and Engineering Education for Improved Students’ Engagement and Enhanced Learning

The aim of this paper is to discuss the approach undertaken for a number of years at two different universities, by the use of continuous assessment, to require as well as to encourage student motivation and improve learning throughout the units. The additional aim was to improve attendance that normally leads to better results for the students, which was achieved, at least partially, on the three study units considered in this paper. There is a need also to reduce the “strain” on the students as they approach the period of the majority of multiple assessments, often all at the end of the semester or the year, each of these being critical to the students passing the particular units.

James Uhomoibhi, Margaret Ross

Lifelong Learning

Frontmatter
Curricula Design of Teacher Training in the Area of Didactic Technological Competences

The authors in their contribution present conceptual and methodological background of a research aimed at improving pre-graduate teacher training in the area of didactic technological competences. The main goal of the prepared research is to modernize and optimize relevant parts of study programs of teacher trainees at Slovak higher education institutions, i.e. to optimize inclusion of the relevant subjects into the study programs as to both their content and time allocation. Following this goal, in the first phase of the research there has been prepared a questionnaire survey of the current state and perspectives of the continuing professional development of primary and secondary school teachers contributing to their didactic technological competences improvement and development. In the paper there are summarized main results of the pilot test of the created questionnaire, the purpose of which was to verify the questionnaire reliability. The data gathered in the pilot test were processed and the reliability of the created questionnaire was approved by means of reliability/item analysis. The total reliability of the questionnaire was calculated through the Cronbach alpha coefficient. The obtained results show a high level of the internal consistency of the created research tool and ensure a reliability of the broader research data collection which will follow.

Ján Záhorec, Alena Hašková, Michal Munk
OntoCIP - An Ontology of Comprehensive Integrative Puzzle Assessment Method Suitable for Automatic Question Generation

Application of the Comprehensive Integrative Puzzle (CIP) assessment method is novel in medical education. Because of its high discriminatory quality, its application in medical education increases. However, creating a CIP question can be very labor intensive and time consuming while a team of experts is needed. On the other hand, Semantic web and ontologies have proven their usefulness in fine-grain knowledge management and reasoning. This paper describes a concrete development of ontology for Comprehensive Integrative Puzzle assessment method, called OntoCIP. This ontology supports automatic question generation that will reduce workload for teachers as well as engage domain experts while keeping feasibility, reliability, and validity of CIP assessment method. Conducted evaluation of OntoCIP shows that it is suitable for the purpose.

Maja Radovic, Milorad Tosic, Danijela Milosevic, Dragan Jankovic
Mobile Applications for the Prediction of Learning Outcomes for Learning Strategies and Learning Achievement in Lifelong Learning

In the age of the Internet and communication technology, changes in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and Lifelong Learning Styles (LLS) are becoming a part of education and everyday life. The objectives of this paper were to develop a mobile application and provide perspectives for Learning Strategies (LS) and Learning Achievement (LA) in lifelong learning at the high school level in Maha Sarakham Province, Thailand. This research focused on the identification of the initial steps required to build academic achievement. Data collection was divided into two parts, comprised of (1) data sets for model analysis and application development from 668 students at Phadungnaree School in Maha Sarakham, and (2) data sets for application testing and level of satisfaction collected from 23 IT specialists and 72 general users at Rajabhat Mahasarakham University, Thailand. The research methodology consisted of five principal steps including (1) data collection, (2) model analysis, (3) model performance, (4) mobile application development, and (5) application implementation. The results from the model analysis showed that the research models displayed high accuracy equal to 94.51%. When developed as an association rule, the model could predict with increased accuracy equal to 98.35%. At the same time, the level of satisfaction for the developed applications was also high, equal to 4.61. Therefore, it could be concluded that this application is appropriate and reasonable for recommendation to interested parties in the future.

Pratya Nuankaew, Wongpanya Nuankaew, Kanakarn Phanniphong, Sittichai Bussaman
Evidence of Learning Progress in Project-Based Learning on a Study Abroad Program

This paper presents a methodology using various tools to gather evidence of project-based learning for developing engineering problem-solving skills. It is part of a study abroad program designed for Japanese engineering students from mechanical, electrical and IT disciplines. In a project-based activity, the final product is assessed for learning outcomes, but the processes used to arrive at the final product also need to be evaluated carefully. In this case study, we used learner-centered processes to enable us to observe progress towards learning outcomes, and to gain insight into the thinking processes that enable success in project-based learning. Central to evaluating this process is a team workbook (either physical or electronic) including drawings, photographs and descriptions, which records all decisions, discussions and rationales for the complete design lifecycle of the project. The workbook enables us to review rejected designs, and to discuss with students both during and after the project reasons for rejections and revisions. Our case study includes three projects; The main project currently consists of conceiving, designing, building and testing a drone using a 3D printer. As students become familiarized with using the 3D printer, they recognize the need to optimize its operation to overcome printer limitations. The CAD designs are revised several times before students produce parts that can be used in the final product assembly. Keeping copies of early CAD designs serves as an excellent record of learning progress, and gives good insight into the thinking processes of project-based problem solving. The use of the 3D printer for rapid prototyping also enable students to observe directly the results of poor decision-making, without compromising their final product. If a good record of these early rejected parts is kept, together with the CAD design files, these can be used both as useful evidence of learning, and as a powerful teaching tool to explain theory and reasons for industry practice.

Avinda Weerakoon, Nathan Dunbar
International Informatic Challenge in Hungary

The significant role of ICT in everyday life could change concepts about skills, education, and learning.The changing of definitions about necessary ICT skills (from digital fluency to computational thinking) shows that ICT skills are more about thinking and expressing yourself, exploring the range of computers and yourself, involving external representation of problem solving processes, and reflecting on your own thinking – and even thinking about thinking itself.One possible tool to change education-paradigm, renew our thinking about ICT, about ICT education and thinking itself and to motivate kids in ICT and STEM education is the international Bebras challenge. It can be found in more than 50 countries over the world and plays a significant role in the education system of most countries.Some aims of this initiation is to move the ever-changing paradigms of education towards a more innovation-driven and sustainable development and to point out the importance of ICT education and express the necessary role of it in everyday life, as well as how specialists use ICT skills in different areas of works.This study focuses on Bebras background and the workflow, its changes in the Hungarian Bebras Challenge, the experiences and results of competitions in the last 5 years and the extension-activities.

Zsuzsa Pluhár, Barnabás Gellér
Self-evaluation of Pedagogical Competencies of Academic Staff in the Context of Career Management

The model of Assessment of Academic Staff Work Performance and Feedback has been designed at Tallinn University of Technology (TTU). The model links the main stages of the assessment process from collecting data for compiling a personal portfolio and analyzing personal training needs, to conducting the development and career interview and finalizing with attestation interview. Professional Competencies Self-Evaluation Questionnaire for evaluation of pedagogical/professional competencies of academic staff has been designed based on the model of IGIP competencies of engineering educators’ obtained by passing the IGIP curriculum. The main emphasis of this paper lies on training needs analysis pilot survey, carried out by implementing Professional Competencies Self-Evaluation Questionnaire for academic staff members in TTU in March 2017. The results of the analysis of the pilot survey are presented in the paper.

Tiia Rüütmann, Merle Lõhmus, Raivo Sell, Ija Stõun, Mare Pihel
Learning to Program with Lego Mindstorms – Difference Between K-12 Students and Adults

In this paper, a workshop that was originally designed for K-12 students as a first introduction into programming by using Lego Mindstorms is conducted on adults coming from different companies. The aim of the study is to compare attitudes and results of adult learners with K-12 students and to see how their interests and understanding of programming concepts differ from the original audience. It is found that the exact same workshop is suitable for older audience and, as expected, the adults are showing slightly better learning outcomes. Using Lego as a tool for teaching is not a problem for adults.

Kadri Umbleja
Work-in-Progress: Classroom-Based Experiential Education

Field-based Experiential Education has been used in higher education for decades in the form of internships, service-learning, etc. However not all students are in a position to take advantage of these opportunities. Classroom-based experiential learning activities offer students another way to deepen their learning. However, these activities need to be carefully designed, aligned to the course learning objectives and assessments, and include a meaningful reflective component. The purpose of this study is to identify examples of classroom-based experiential learning across disciplines. The first part of the study includes a search of the experiential education literature. Next steps will include semi-structured interviews and document analysis with professors who are willing to share their successful plans with colleagues. Ultimately the information gathered from the literature and interviews will be placed in a repository as a resource for faculty members.

Barbara Kerr

Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL)

Frontmatter
Engineering Pedagogy Terminology

English has become the main working language of IGIP, which contributed greatly to the dissemination of Engineering Pedagogy ideas all over the world. But at the same time, it has caused some problems with proper understanding and usage of Engineering Pedagogy terminology. In order to overcome these difficulties, the authors suggest compiling “IGIP Multilingual Glossary”. For that purpose we propose to use the approach already applied in English-Russian and Russian-English Learners’ Concise Terminology Dictionary “Engineering Pedagogy” that has been worked out in Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI). It is intended for university educators who teach technical disciplines in English, as well as for post graduate students who are trained for pedagogical activities. The paper describes the lexicographic concept, similarities and differences of the structure and contents of the two dictionaries.

Tatiana Y. Polyakova, Viacheslav M. Prikhodko, Andrey N. Rementsov, Elizaveta A. Bogacheva
On-line Testing of Engineering Students as a Form of Assessment when Studying English in Distant Form

One of the most significant aspects of training foreign language is the objective assessment of the knowledge. Assessment in the form of on-line testing leads to reducing time spent on it, quick feedback and analysis of results, individualization of the assessment procedure, and developing self-discipline. The purpose of the study is to analyze the assessment procedure of future engineers who study English in the framework of distant program “Translator in the sphere of professional communication”. As personal interaction between a student and a teacher is limited, the online assessment in the form of testing that is able to measure the knowledge of students effectively stands forward. Incoming, intermediate and final tests are analyzed; results of students and their feedback are examined. A multiple-choice testing task is selected for thorough examination as the most commonly used.

Elena Y. Semushina, Julia N. Ziyatdinova
Engineering Students’ Needs in Foreign Language Studying in Russia

The foreign language training system in engineering education is based on the research of engineers’ needs in foreign language implementation in their professional activities. Further development of the system requires also determination of engineering students’ needs in foreign language studying. The research is conducted as a joint Russian-Czech project with two Universities involved (MADI and the University Hradec Kralove). The purpose of the project is to identify the needs of learners of engineering universities in studying foreign languages depending on the level of higher education, their specialty, etc. In order to achieve the research objectives, a survey method is used and a questionnaire has been worked out. Three groups of questions give the opportunity to collect information to find out the students’ foreign language background; learners’ current goals and level of foreign language competency; the obstacles in the achievement of student’s own goals and ways to overcome them. The interpretation of the survey results and the conclusions made allow introducing relevant alterations in the process of foreign language teaching and learning. The survey undertaken makes it possible to develop new methods and techniques of training in foreign languages with regard to modern standards and the needs of learners.

Tatiana Y. Polyakova, Dina G. Karelova
Wither Textbooks in Language Teaching? A Closer Look at Teaching German as a Foreign Language in Sri Lanka in the Digital Age

Textbooks continue to be an integral part of language teaching and a main resource available to teachers and students. In this digital age the presentation of textbooks also have undergone many changes. In addition to the workbooks, audio CDs and teachers’ guides, the books are accompanied by CD-ROMs and additional downloadable material from the publishers’ sites. Nevertheless, there are several limitations in the textbooks especially when teaching advanced learners. Thus, the teachers opt for online material available today for language teaching. This paper examines whether the textbooks are becoming obsolete in this digital age with data obtained from Teaching German as a Foreign Language in Sri Lanka.

Neelakshi Chandrasena Premawardhena
Study and Development of a Classroom Management System - Application for Programming Language Labs

In this work, we are interested to improve the pedagogical accompaniment of students in programming language labs by implementing a classroom management software. It consists of two applications. The teacher application allows teacher to create a classroom, connect student computers to the classroom, collect student works periodically in order to help them and to have an overall view of the student’s works progress. In addition, teacher can temporarily lock the student computers to attract student’s attention when he gives explanations. With this software, teacher does not move from one student to another. So, the moving time will be spent to improve student learning. The student application allows student computers to connect to teacher application, receive the comments and remarks sent by teacher. Each student can also send his final work to teacher at the end of the class. Thus, students do not need the internet connection or a USB key to return their work.

Lamia Mezai, Omar Bousbia Brahim, Abdallah Benhamouda

Ubiquitous Learning Environments

Frontmatter
Work-in-Progress: Needs and Training in Microelectronics Courses in the MicroElectronics Cloud Alliance

The MicroElectronics Cloud Alliance brings together eighteen partners from higher education institutions and enterprises to develop Cloud-based European infrastructure and a new educational system for micro and nanoelectronics, providing a range of open educational resources, remote access and sharing of educational and professional software as well as remote and practice-based learning facilities. The aim of the mClouds project is to define and develop this cloud-based European infrastructure. For this purpose, an analysis of institutions’, teachers’ and students’ needs was carried out in shared IT infrastructure, teaching materials and learning resources, thus meeting the requirements of enterprises in micro- nanoelectronics, and translated into functional specifications of mClouds, obtaining direct information from the users of the courses that allows a feedback and an improvement of the courses.

Rosario Gil Ortego, Manuel Alonso Castro Gil, María José Albert Gómez, Isabel Ortega Sánchez, María García Pérez, Slavka Tzanova
A Proposed Lightweight Cloud Security Framework to Secure Communications Between Internet of Things Devices

Cloud services can be categorized into Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), the Platform as a Service (PaaS) and the Software as a Service (SaaS). In (Iaas), the whole IT infrastructure can be delivered as a service. In (Paas), a virtual platform over the internet gives users the ability to develop and deploy applications. In (SaaS), it provides accessing an application through the internet on demand. In the (SaaS) layer, a single instance on the cloud for multiple users could be provided. Google Apps, one of the most powerful (SaaS) that is used by many institutes to provide a variety of Web-based applications for business, education, and government. Security in Cloud computing is an important and critical problem. Cloud service provider and the cloud service consumer should make sure that the cloud is safe enough from all the external threats so that the customer does not face any problem such as loss of data or data theft. Internets of Things (IoT) are small IP enabled devices that can cooperate to perform specific functions for various set of applications. This new emerging technology is strongly involved in applications that have direct impact on human welfare, such as business, education and government. Securing IoT device’s communications are becoming a must. In this paper a lightweight technique for secure and authentic communication between IoT devices. That lightweight technique is based on framework of ideas from virtual server, network management and cloud services.

Islam A. T. F. Taj-Eddin, M. Samir Abou El-Seoud, Hosam Elsofany
Comparable and Analytical Study Between Some Security Issues in Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing appears as a computational model and a distributive architecture framework. The main objectives of cloud computing are to provide secure, quick, convenient data storage and net computing service, with all computing resources visualized as services and delivered over the Internet. The term “Cloud Computing” has been in the spotlights of IT, CS and CE specialists in the last years because of its potential to transform this industry. Security in Cloud Computing is an important and critical aspect, and has numerous issues and problem related to it. Cloud service provider and the cloud service consumer should make sure that the cloud is safe enough from all the external threats so that the customer does not face any problem such as loss of data or data theft. This research presents and classifies the factors that affect the security of the cloud then it explores the cloud security issues and problems faced by cloud service provider and cloud service consumer. The main goal of this research study is to introduce a comparable analysis for the proposed security issues, the security categories, and the cloud computing services.

M. Samir Abou El-Seoud, Hosam F. El-Sofany, Islam A. T. F. Taj-Eddin
Designing and Delivering a Curriculum for Data Science Education Across Europe

Data is currently being produced at an incredible rate globally, fuelled by the increasing ubiquity of the Web, and stoked by social media, sensors, and mobile devices. However, as the amount of available data continues to increase, so does the demand for professionals who have the necessary skills to manage and manipulate this data. This paper presents the European Data Science Academy (EDSA), an initiative for bridging the data science skills gap across Europe and training a new generation of world-leading data scientists. The EDSA project has established a rigorous process and a set of best practices for the production and delivery of curricula for data science. Additionally, the project’s efforts are dedicated to linking the demand for data science skills with the supply of learning resources that offer these skills. In order to achieve this, EDSA is offering interactive tools for finding learning resources and building personalised learning pathways towards acquiring the skills that are currently in demand.

Alexander Mikroyannidis, John Domingue, Christopher Phethean, Gareth Beeston, Elena Simperl
BBVPhone: Video Digital Learning for Handicraft

In this modern era of information very quickly and easily obtained with available technology. Many ways to get such information from the print media, electronic media and online media. In the everyday life and in the company are required to support information technology so that jobs can be managed and resolved quickly and well. Environment where live many unused items that could be used, but with the lack of knowledge of a person, they consider the goods are not useful. Unwitting that by utilizing unused items that could support the spare time and earn extra income by selling these crafts. The purpose of this study is to develop BBVPhone application, which is utilizing electronic media as a medium of learning videos to learn to make handicrafts from unused goods and as a comparison that to gain knowledge skills do not have to follow a certain course. The method that use to develop the BBVPhone is combining forward chaining and backward chaining method. Another contribution of by optimizing the composition of materials and video tutorials for the purposes of making handicrafts according to the results. Information Systems. It is expected to help the public in the business of unused information into useful handicrafts.

Riyan Rizkyandy, Risald, Suyoto
Using Fault Injection for Programming Task Generation

In the programming exercise, it is needed to give programming tasks depending on student’s knowledge level of programming for more educational effect. However, it is almost impossible to prepare different programming tasks for every student in the big class. This paper presents an idea and a process to introduce fault injection, which has been used for software test, to produce variants of programming tasks depending on student’s knowledge level. The system contaminates student’s codes with faults intentionally, forces the student to remove them, and examines student’s knowledge level. It is confirmed that the prototype implementation of this system works as expected.

Baso Habibi, Tsuneo Nakanishi, Kenji Hisazumi, Hiroki Furusho, Akira Fukuda
A Mixed-Reality Environment for Personalised and Collaborative Learning in Science and Engineering

Mixed reality environments as in-betweens of real-world and virtual-reality (VR) environments are created by combining real world objects with computer generated ones. In general, mixed-reality along with VR technology provides innovative ways of showing relationships and connections in the real world, mainly by complimenting real objects with additional information (text, audio and video overlays). In Science Technology and Engineering (STE) disciplines, collaborative learning is about learners working together in teams or groups on structured learning tasks, that typically have a clearly defined goal and are arranged in such a manner that all members of the team are involved. A collaborative approach builds individual and group accountability in each learner as well as one or more soft skills such as communicating with peers, managing resources and the ability to make decisions. This paper presents the use of mixed-reality environments for personalised learning along with two approaches based on message passing paradigms for implementing collaborative learning in mixed-reality environments. The first approach shows the use of a pair of geographically distant mixed-reality environments for remote collaborative learning, while the second approach show multiple (independent) mixed-reality tools synchronised for co-located group work/learning. The statistical analysis of a research study with over 70 respondents from STE disciplines who were exposed to mixed-reality tools developed using mobile technology is also presented and discussed in the context of collaborative work within mixed-reality environments. The contributions includes unique implementations of mixed-reality based collaborative learning environments capable of providing similar experience to that obtained from traditional real-world environments.

Clement Onime, James Uhomoibhi, Hui Wang
Interactive Games as Educative Strategy to Motivate Students to Communicate Inside the Classroom

In the past years, English has been taught using the traditional methods and techniques, which has evoked low academic results in students’ performance in listening and speaking subject; thus, this study has been carried out with the aim to increase students’ motivation and participation inside the classroom through the use of interactive games based on deepening communicative skills. To conduct this study, a sample of one hundred students, who were randomly divided into two groups, the experimental and the control group as well as three English teachers of Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) participated in this study. The experimental and descriptive methods were employed to develop this research and a pre-test, an observation sheet, and a post-test were used as main instruments, which permitted to obtain information about the students’ progress in the listening and speaking classroom. The most important finding confirmed the fact that the use of interactive games is very productive since it allows students to increase interest and motivation in order to obtain better learning outcomes and raise students’ confidence at communicating in English.

Lida Solano, Eva Ulehlova, Verónica Espinoza
Communicative Style: Act Like a Pro
How Authenticity Management Can Support Students in Communicating Effectively in a Second Language

The present teaching case looks at how a social constructivist approach to language teaching can support students of industrial engineering in developing an effective communicative behavior which allows them to demonstrate authenticity in their second language. A specifically designed methodology mix of blended learning activities, including role play, poetry reading and reflective writing tasks, encourages students to step out of their comfort zone and adopt a playful and proactive attitude towards reaching their communicative goals in different social and corporate settings. Like this, students start to realize that exhibiting effective communicative behavior is a choice which requires an excellent command of the foreign language and the ability to decide which facet of one’s personality is best to be revealed to whom and in which moment.

Christina Merl

Remote and Virtual Laboratories

Frontmatter
Work-in-Progress: A Smart Scheduling System for Shared Interactive Remote Laboratories

Online laboratories are an innovative solution for providing hands-on experience in the STEM Education. A large number of students are using remote laboratories (RL) to meet their practical needs and enriching their learning. The deployment of a unique instance of the RL cannot provide all requirements for the growing number of students. For that purpose, the use of multiple instances of RLs can produce many advantages. We propose in this paper a new method for managing access to these RLs. The implemented system provides a central point of control all requests to access to the RLs. This approach is transparent to the user. The system under development supplies an abstraction layer. The goal of the work is to build a web service through which the access to RLs is granted. The student will don’t need to reserve a time slot to access the RL. In addition, the system supports the registration of new RLs in a transparent way for teachers.

Mohammed Moussa, Abdelhalim Benachenhou, Abderrahmane Adda Benatia
IoT Teaching with Pocket Labs

The IoT and Pocket Labs are popular buzzwords today with the IoT being much better known in wider circles, while the Pocket Labs is a relatively new concept offering new teaching opportunities which are to be further explored and analyzed. Although the IoT & Pocket Labs are not necessarily interconnected or mutually conditioned, this paper discusses such a real case of teaching practice, where the Pocket Labs are a natural solution for teaching of IoT. The paper deals with one semester teaching experience of IoT as a university course. Obtained results and experience may be quite general except for university students profile defined with their previous education and knowledge. Besides the main goal of the course which is an introduction to IoT, some other aims were exploring the social impact of IoT and emphasizing the importance of new original ideas and views being as important as mastering the IoT technologies.

Vladimir Miodrag Cvjetkovic
An Activity Tracking Infrastructure for Embedded Open Educational Labs Supporting the Needs of Lab Owners and Students

Remote labs are interactive Open Educational Resources, where user’s action generates a wealth of data belonging to two categories: interaction data resulting from the use of the client web app, and experimental data resulting from performing the experiment. Many entities are interested in deriving insights from the user’s generated data: students, teachers, institutions, and lab providers. In this work we consider to needs of students and lab owners as stakeholders. Through questionnaires we find out that students want to save and retrieve their experimental results and have awareness about their progress relative to others, while lab owners want to understand how their labs are used in order to provide better services and advertise their labs. Given that students and lab owners have different interests in the data, we address their differing needs by proposing an architecture for an activity tracking infrastructure, an accompanying vocabulary to formalize the tracks, and present a use case.

Wissam Halimi, Christophe Salzmann, Denis Gillet
Development and Use of a Virtual Laboratory of Measuring Devices

Development and extensive use of virtual laboratories (VLs) in various subject domains is a really actual practical task of our time. Universal platforms such as Unity, OpenSim as well as object-oriented and web-oriented high-level languages (C, Java, PHP) are used for VLs implementation. A significant progress has already been achieved in simulation (modeling) of real-world objects and systems, in providing a trainee’s interface, as well as in forming a bank of exercises and tasks. But the task of trainees’ actions assessment in VLs has not yet been solved in its full completeness. The goals of this research work are: to develop a mathematical model of a virtual laboratory, which includes a complex of computer-based simulation systems of measuring devices; to develop a method of trainee’s actions assessment in a virtual laboratory; to realize and integrate a virtual laboratory into the learning process.

Alexander Afanasyev, Nikolay Voit, Dmitry Kanev, Tatyana Afanasyeva
20 Years of Co-creation Using Case Based Learning
An Integrated Approach for Teaching Innovation and Research in Product Generation Engineering

The teaching program IP - Integrated Product Development has been implemented annually with great success for 20 years, which means that this format has gained a high level of acceptance among companies from a wide range of industries. The participating students acquire professional skills in the area of PGE - Product Generation Engineering through the experience of the real development project and by applying activities and methods of product development, combined with a lecture that deals with the most recent cases from the business world. With the aim of bringing the co-creation formats to further student target groups with diverse needs, the format IP was analyzed and a general valid co-creation approach for case-based learning, was characterized by relevant success factors. Based on this, it was possible to transfer the success factors from IP contextual into the breadth (reaching a high number of students) and into the depth (gain of research competences) by means of two further formats.

Albert Albers, Nikola Bursac, Jonas Heimicke, Benjamin Walter, Nicolas Reiß
Self-testing System Application to Remote Laboratory NetLab

Remote laboratories consist of a system of real equipment that can be operated over an internet connection by an offsite end user. However, their remoteness can make them inconvenient to maintain or repair should problems occur within the system. Self-testing systems can be used to detect possible problems and address them appropriately. With the aim of improvement, this paper considers the application of self-testing systems to remote laboratories. The paper starts with an investigative review of self-testing systems to highlight the key concepts and features within them. Following this is a discussion on the methodologies used by the self-testing systems. After which, observations are made of existing self-testing systems and how they are impacted by their own self-testing capabilities. Next, we consider the potential application of self-testing methodologies to a test case system, the remote laboratory NetLab, so as to theoretically demonstrate the practical application of integrating self-testing capability to an existing remote laboratory system. Finally, the paper forms a conclusion of self-testing system applications and their potential integration to remote laboratories.

Thomas Jonathan Zawko, Andrew Nafalski, Zorica Nedic, Hugh Considine
Design and Implementation of a Low-Cost and Modular Remote Lab Framework: Application to Electronic Sensors

In this paper, we propose a low-cost and modular remote lab framework, responding to the educational needs of technical disciplines and more particularly in electronics. It consists of two main parts: hardware and software. The hardware part is simple in its design, locally made, modular, scalable and can be easily integrated in with existing lab equipments. It is composed of a communication module and a configurable interface, linking this module to the experimental equipments. The interface is composed of a set of electronic boards each providing a specific function. The number and type of boards can be configured according to the educational needs.The software part is a website, designed to be easily integrated into an e-learning platform. It is on a web server, linked directly or indirectly to the lab equipments and interacts with him through a software application. The student accesses through his browser, after authentication, to the website of the remote lab. He can control the hardware and get the measurement values sent by the server. The teacher has a special space to design and configure the lab.The development of this framework is based on free software solutions and local developed hardware, thus avoiding the acquisition of costly digital equipment and expensive software licenses, consequently the development cost is reduced.

Abdallah Benhamouda, Badreddine Benmounah, Nada Baira, Sabrina Kahmous
Experiences with the Use of Pocket Labs in Engineering Education

This paper describes the two-year experience at CUAS regarding the use of Pocket Labs, which are small, portable pieces of hardware, combined with free or affordable software, thus enabling students to be free in place and time for carrying out laboratory exercises. Results from evaluation questionnaires show that Pocket Labs are widely accepted by students, especially time flexibility is an important issue for evening students.

Thomas Klinger, Christian Kreiter
Work in Progress: Pocket Labs in IoT Education

This work in progress describes the ongoing initiative at CUAS to use Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for educational purposes. First, it describes the relevance of Internet of Things technologies in education, next it focuses on different hardware platforms used by CUAS. The main part describes the implementation of one specific example developed by students, the MIA-project. Finally, it gives an outlook on how future student projects will benefit from the lessons learned.

Christian Madritsch, Thomas Klinger

Talking About Teaching

Frontmatter
Entrepreneurship in the Dual Engineering Training Curricula

The study presents the new experiences of the dual training model in engineering education as a best practice example. This new model has been introduced recently in the Hungarian higher education and has become a focus of interest. The dual education students study in the institutional academic period together with the normal full-time students at their higher education institute, and parallel to their academic education they participate in the practical training. It gives the students an opportunity to join a specific training program at an enterprise. Being involved in specific “operational” practical tasks and project-oriented work enhances independent work, learning soft skills and experiencing the culture of work. Among all these knowledge areas entrepreneurship studies have been added to both the academic and the practical curriculum. Our aim is to present this new type of engineering education compared to the traditional curriculum, focusing on entrepreneurship studies. We highlight the contents of the academic curriculum and its practical contents at different enterprises. The present paper examines the difference in terms of the entrepreneurial knowledge and learning process between the dual and traditional students after participating for a year in these different educational models.

Monika Pogatsnik
Serious Games for Reading Acquisition: A Tentative Prototype

In this paper preliminary results obtained with a prototype game developed for spelling training are presented. The game is played using an Android tablet and a joystick connected with it via Bluetooth, allowing the user to directly interact. Although in an early stage, the authors believe this approach to have a high motivational potential due to its interactivity with the child undergoing the training. The prototype was tested with second graders. All the children were highly motivated to play the game and the joystick use clearly increased their level of interest. The development of this serious game seems to be a promising approach to early intervention on spelling and reading acquisition difficulties.

Ana Sucena, João Falcão Carneiro, M. Teresa Restivo
Effectiveness of Traditional Laboratory Classes to Learn Basic Concepts of Electric Circuits: A Case Study

The main goal of the study here reported is to measure the effectiveness of hands-on laboratory classes to learn basic concepts of electrical circuits. Pre- and post-test methodology is used as an instrument to evaluate knowledge gain. Students of a Chemical Engineering Course answered conceptual tests covering three different electric circuits’ contents before and after performing the laboratory experiments. The results show that a significant change in the number of correct answers occurs in less than half of the questions. Overall, the normalized gain is low. Some significant differences were found in the performance of female and male students in pre- and post-tests. However, there is no such difference in the normalized gain. The results are discussed taking into account the instructional environment, the framework of the course and of the engineering program where the experiments took place.

Diana Urbano
Friend or Foe?
Multitasking and the Millennial Learner

Rapid changes in technology over the past two decades have provided many benefits. For many of us, the transformation to the digital age has been gradual; and, most often, welcomed. We have discovered innovative ways to make use of technology in our classes with the aim of enhancing the learning experience for our students. But what about today’s students, often referred to as millennials, who have never known anything but instant access to information? Computers, smart phones, iPads, and other technologies offer their users immediate access to information. These technologies can also be seen as a significant distraction to whatever the task at hand. Could these distractions be to blame for the perception of many millennials that they must multitask in order to get everything done? Could the effects of instant access to information through the use of various forms of technology be casting a cloud on student learning? If so, does this cloud have a silver lining? The aim of this paper is to address these types of questions using survey data obtained from students enrolled in a second-level physics course.

Teresa L. Larkin, Benjamin R. Hein
Enhancing a Shared-Access, Hardware-Based, Random Number Generation System
Operating Systems FUSE File-System Development Support

High quality random numbers form a critical foundation for computing in applications such as data encryption, simulation, and modeling. Recognizing the import of random numbers we have integrated hardware-based random bit generation into a major file system project for the Operating Systems class. Originally built around background radiation events detected by a Geiger counter, we are in the process of extending this to additional hardware-based random number generators configured for shared access by student teams. This work-in-progress documents the most recent deployment of this technology.

James Wolfer
Comprehensive Course in Power Electronics and Its Impact on Learning Outcomes

Power Electronics plays a major role in various important and popular fields of application such as, power generation from renewable sources, electric vehicles, automation etc., especially aiding their operation at high levels of energy efficiency. The engineers specialized in power electronics have a bright future due to the possible evolution of innovative power electronic products that are cost effective with a reduction in size possible, due to the availability of highly advanced and fast acting power semiconductor devices. This mandates the requirement of highly knowledgeable and skilled manpower with an ability to cope with the quick pace of developments. Hitherto, a basic course in Power Electronics was a single traditional theory course with a lab integrated to it. This structure has undergone a change by the introduction of a comprehensive course titled Power Electronics-I in the third year of a four-year course, followed by a more advanced course titled Power Electronics-II in the final year. The newly introduced comprehensive courses have theory, lab and self-study component all integrated and each one subjected to independent assessments. The course learning outcomes for the new course are enhanced in number and redefined. This paper presents the details of the methodology adopted to enhance the learning and a comparison of the effectiveness with that of the previous model of the same course that had a limited number of course learning outcomes. The results obtained are indicative of the success and scope of the new approach.

Meena Parathodiyil
The Development of ICT Tools for E-Inclusion Qualities
Work in Progress

With the diversity and increasing use of different information and communication technologies (ICT) in the educational sector, new pedagogic approaches are also being introduced and have had a major impact on the educational sector, focusing on different perspective including improved educational methods and in both schools and homes, information and communication technologies (ICT) are widely seen as enhancing learning, fulfilling their rapid diffusion and acceptance throughout developed societies. But the need to utilize ICT tools to support and guide educators in finding the right support for students with special individual needs is still a challenge, investigating different challenges that are presented to teachers in their working environment is an ongoing matter. One of these challenges that teacher face frequently is creating an inclusive environment. An “inclusive education” is a process of strengthening the capacity of the education system to reach out to all learners involved. It changes the education in content, approaches, structures and strategies, with a common vision that covers all children of the appropriate age range. Inclusion is thus seen as a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all children. Therefore an inclusive education system can only be created if schools become more inclusive, in other words, if they become better at educating all children in their communities with their individual needs. Therefore, creative forms of communication should be encouraged to promote personalized care, hence the focuses of this research is to investigate the use of data process flow map with the aim to guide the teacher towards an inclusive way of thinking.

Dena Hussain
Common Misunderstandings and Challenges in Learning Gauss’s Law in a Junior Level Electromagnetic Engineering Course

Common misunderstandings when learning Gauss’s Law in a college junior level electromagnetic engineering course are identified by observing normal course assessments and conducting one on one student interviews. Additionally, the extent to which students in this course struggle to translate prior mathematics is investigated by codifying student performance on normal assessments using a rubric developed by the authors based on Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) Criterion 3 (a) and (e). Five misconceptions are identified, three of which agree with physics educational literature, as well as a need for better scaffolding the translation of calculus II and multidimensional calculus material. Future work and possible intervention strategies are discussed.

Jennifer Anne Byford, Premjeet Chahal

Technical Teacher Training

Frontmatter
Aligning Training of Teachers of Technical Institutions with Outcome Based Education

This study emphasis the need for changing design approach of training of teachers of technical institution for effective implementation of Outcome Based Education (OBE) in India and suggests student focus approach for designing teachers’ training for assuring teachers support towards attainment of learning outcomes of student.

Urmila Kar, Priti Das
Substantiating Standards for Training PhDs in Technical Universities of Ukraine (Case Study of the National Mining University, Dnipro, Ukraine)

The paper focuses on substantiation and implementation of the standards of the scientific and educational programme for training PhDs in technical sciences into the process of research engineers’ instruction at NMU. The template curriculum has been developed with due regard to the holistic education paradigm and the synthesis of professional, social and worldview competences. PhD training is based on scientific and educational programme intended to build up integral, general and professional competences of young scholars. The syllabus for the course “Philosophy of Science and Fundamentals of Professional Ethics” has been compiled as a worldview foundation for shaping the mind of a scholar in technical sciences according to the topical issues of co-evolutionary development.

Yuliia Shabanova
Involving Students in Research with Elements of Game-Based Learning for Engineering Education

This work describes the experience of Tomsk Polytechnic University in involving students in scientific research. The involvement is to be achieved by including scientific research elements into laboratory class programs, game-based learning, conducting laboratory classes in real-life scientific research facilities, including “Scientific research work for students” into Bachelor’s curriculum (starting the second grade) and other actions. The experience described should be considered a success, as over the last decade the number of Bachelor’s graduates at TPU willing to pursue the Master’s degree has multiplied. The competition for enrolling into postgraduate studies has increased as well.

Petr Bychkov, Maria Netesova, Anna Sachkova, Carlo Mapelli, Irina Zabrodina
The Issues of Teaching English and German for Specific Purposes to the Academic Staff of a Technical University

Due to internationalization of higher education foreign language communicative competence of the university staff is beginning to be viewed as an integral component of their professional competence. The paper discusses the experience of National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) in implementing Foreign Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) courses for the academic staff as a part of their professional development training in English and in German. The aim of the paper is to introduce a model of LSP courses appropriate for the TPU faculty and staff.

Elena Zakharova, Anna Bogdanova, Maria Netesova
Professional Technical Teacher Education at CTU in Prague

Czech Technical University (CTU in Prague), Masaryk Institute of Advanced Studies (MIAS), Department of pedagogical and psychological studies, prepares students for the profession of technical teacher in the bachelor study programme Specialization in Pedagogy. Thus, the current state of knowledge of Educational Science is applied into specialized areas of technical disciplines. Actually, technical knowledge is a prerequisite for the field of study Technical Teacher Education, and Vocational Teacher Education. A structure and the content of teacher preparation is systematically modernized due to development of humanities and technical sciences.This paper presents an overview of current activities of the Czech Technical University in Prague, three-year project (2014–2016) Readiness of Technically Educated Students for the Teacher Profession, Management and Motivation as a part of the TQM of under-graduate teacher preparation within the Fund of Educational Policy of Ministry of Education. This indicates the specific of education in the Czech Republic. Technical teacher education is highly relevant from many perspectives nowadays.

Pavel Andres, Petr Svoboda
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Teaching and Learning in a Digital World
herausgegeben von
Prof. Michael E. Auer
Dr. David Guralnick
Prof. Dr. Istvan Simonics
Copyright-Jahr
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-73204-6
Print ISBN
978-3-319-73203-9
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73204-6