Promoting Collaborative Learning in Software Engineering by Adapting the PBL Strategy

Software engineering education not only embraces technical skills of software development but also necessitates communication and interaction among learners. In this paper, it is proposed to adapt the PBL methodology that is especially designed to be integrated into software engineering classroom in order to promote collaborative learning environment. This approach helps students better understand the significance of social aspects and provides a systematic framework to enhance teamwork skills. The adaptation of PBL facilitates the transition to an innovative software development environment where cooperative learning can be actualized.

Personal Knowledge Management among Adult Learners: Behind the Scene of Social Network

The burst of Web 2.0 technology and social networking tools manifest different styles of learning and managing knowledge among both knowledge workers and adult learners. In the Western countries, open-learning concept has been made popular due to the ease of use and the reach that the technology provides. In Malaysia, there are still some gaps between the learners- acceptance of technology and the full implementation of the technology in the education system. There is a need to understand how adult learners, who are knowledge workers, manage their personal knowledge via social networking tools, especially in their learning process. Four processes of personal knowledge management (PKM) and four cognitive enablers are proposed supported by analysed data on adult learners in a university. The model derived from these processes and enablers is tested and presented, with recommendations on features to be included in adult learners- learning environment.

Integrating E-learning Environments with Computational Intelligence Assessment Agents

In this contribution an innovative platform is being presented that integrates intelligent agents in legacy e-learning environments. It introduces the design and development of a scalable and interoperable integration platform supporting various assessment agents for e-learning environments. The agents are implemented in order to provide intelligent assessment services to computational intelligent techniques such as Bayesian Networks and Genetic Algorithms. The utilization of new and emerging technologies like web services allows integrating the provided services to any web based legacy e-learning environment.

Integrating Computational Intelligence Techniques and Assessment Agents in ELearning Environments

In this contribution an innovative platform is being presented that integrates intelligent agents and evolutionary computation techniques in legacy e-learning environments. It introduces the design and development of a scalable and interoperable integration platform supporting: I) various assessment agents for e-learning environments, II) a specific resource retrieval agent for the provision of additional information from Internet sources matching the needs and profile of the specific user and III) a genetic algorithm designed to extract efficient information (classifying rules) based on the students- answering input data. The agents are implemented in order to provide intelligent assessment services based on computational intelligence techniques such as Bayesian Networks and Genetic Algorithms. The proposed Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used in order to extract efficient information (classifying rules) based on the students- answering input data. The idea of using a GA in order to fulfil this difficult task came from the fact that GAs have been widely used in applications including classification of unknown data. The utilization of new and emerging technologies like web services allows integrating the provided services to any web based legacy e-learning environment.

A Formative Assessment Model within the Competency-Based-Approach for an Individualized E-learning Path

E-learning is not restricted to the use of new technologies for the online content, but also induces the adoption of new approaches to improve the quality of education. This quality depends on the ability of these approaches (technical and pedagogical) to provide an adaptive learning environment. Thus, the environment should include features that convey intentions and meeting the educational needs of learners by providing a customized learning path to acquiring a competency concerned In our proposal, we believe that an individualized learning path requires knowledge of the learner. Therefore, it must pass through a personalization of diagnosis to identify precisely the competency gaps to fill, and reduce the cognitive load To personalize the diagnosis and pertinently measure the competency gap, we suggest implementing the formative assessment in the e-learning environment and we propose the introduction of a pre-regulation process in the area of formative assessment, involving its individualization and implementation in e-learning.

Virtual Learning Process Environment: Cohort Analytics for Learning and Learning Processes

Traditional higher-education classrooms allow lecturers to observe students- behaviours and responses to a particular pedagogy during learning in a way that can influence changes to the pedagogical approach. Within current e-learning systems it is difficult to perform continuous analysis of the cohort-s behavioural tendency, making real-time pedagogical decisions difficult. This paper presents a Virtual Learning Process Environment (VLPE) based on the Business Process Management (BPM) conceptual framework. Within the VLPE, course designers can model various education pedagogies in the form of learning process workflows using an intuitive flow diagram interface. These diagrams are used to visually track the learning progresses of a cohort of students. This helps assess the effectiveness of the chosen pedagogy, providing the information required to improve course design. A case scenario of a cohort of students is presented and quantitative statistical analysis of their learning process performance is gathered and displayed in realtime using dashboards.

Search Engine Module in Voice Recognition Browser to Facilitate the Visually Impaired in Virtual Learning (MGSYS VISI-VL)

Nowadays, web-based technologies influence in people-s daily life such as in education, business and others. Therefore, many web developers are too eager to develop their web applications with fully animation graphics and forgetting its accessibility to its users. Their purpose is to make their web applications look impressive. Thus, this paper would highlight on the usability and accessibility of a voice recognition browser as a tool to facilitate the visually impaired and blind learners in accessing virtual learning environment. More specifically, the objectives of the study are (i) to explore the challenges faced by the visually impaired learners in accessing virtual learning environment (ii) to determine the suitable guidelines for developing a voice recognition browser that is accessible to the visually impaired. Furthermore, this study was prepared based on an observation conducted with the Malaysian visually impaired learners. Finally, the result of this study would underline on the development of an accessible voice recognition browser for the visually impaired.

The Future of Blended Learning

The emergence of blended learning has been influenced by the rapid changes in Higher Education within the last few years. However, there is a lack of studies that look into the future of blended learning in the Saudi context. The most likely explanation is that blended learning is relatively new and, with respect to learning in general, under-researched. This study addresses this gap and explores the views of lecturers and students towards the future of blended learning in Saudi Arabia. This study was informed by the interpretive paradigm that appears to be most appropriate to understand and interpret the perceptions of students and instructors towards a new learning environment. While globally there has been considerable research on the perceptions of e-learning and blended learning with its different models, there is plenty of space for further research specifically in the Arab region, and in Saudi Arabia where blended learning is now being introduced.

The Impact of e-Learning and e-Teaching

With the exponential progress of technological development comes a strong sense that events are moving too quickly for our schools and that teachers may be losing control of them in the process. This paper examines the impact of e-learning and e-teaching in universities, from both the student and teacher perspective. In particular, it is shown that e-teachers should focus not only on the technical capacities and functions of IT materials and activities, but must attempt to more fully understand how their e-learners perceive the learning environment. From the e-learner perspective, this paper indicates that simply having IT tools available does not automatically translate into all students becoming effective learners. More evidence-based evaluative research is needed to allow e-learning and e-teaching to reach full potential.