Dafinka Miteva

User-oriented service composition platform

Currently teachers and students encounter some difficulties in the identification of tools that best fit their needs on the one hand and the composition of these tools into more complex educational processes on the other hand. The so-called service composition platforms offer a promising possibility to overcome this problem. Although numerous service composition platforms already exist, they are still not completely appropriate for application in the learning domain. In this paper we define the requirements for a service composition platform that could be used in learning, and make the first steps for its development - architecture and UI design.

Mobile technologies supporting research approach in teaching and learning: weSPOT inquiry-based study

The paper presents an inquiry-based research approach designed and conducted in accordance with an educational model which uses weSPOT inquiry workflow engine, smartphones and tablets. Presented study shows how mobile technologies are able to support teaching and learning. It also discusses challenges from teachers point of view for using mobile technologies in general and weSPOT environment in particular.

Data analytics support for inquiry based learning

This article presents a research done during a pilot of the inquiry-based learning model and by the means of European project Working Environment with Social and Personal Open Tools. The focus is put on approbation of available data analytics methods supporting young researchers in their desktop and mobile activities. Results and analysis are discussed, recommendations for the system improvement are given.

e-Analytics for e-Learning

Nowadays education is inconceivable without the use of e-environment and all the benefits it can ensure. Modern learning systems are featured with a wide range of resources for gathering relevant user traces for data analysis. The main goal of the research described in this paper is to explore how the learning analytics methods can be used to improve the results of e-Learning. The novel method for cross-system data collection is accomplished in a newly designed database/system e-Analytics. Using the data collected, various analyses and reports are presented and discussed, aiming to disclose important learners behaviors and regularities during the educational process. Recommendations are made for further improvements of the teaching and learning process. The paper concludes by enumerating some challenges and further works for creating effective Learning Analytics tools.

Teacher-Oriented Data Services for Learning Analytics

Modern education is benefitted from using Learning Management Systems (LMS) enabling automatic collection of large amount of data about students’ activities, progress and results. However, currently there is a lack of enough means for teachers to effectively analyze and assess results from such data. This paper presents a research aiming to design and develop a new Learning Analytics (LA) solution which uses the existing LMS as distributed systems and storages of data through user-oriented services. It integrates the best features from LA and data visualization applications, from service composition platforms empower users to build complex business processes. Using teacher-oriented services data is retrieved directly from the relevant LMS as a response to educator’s request and are visualized in appropriate way for fast and easy adoption. The paper describes the new approach and functionalities of this solution and ends with some challenges and conclusions.