Lucie Rohlíková

Factors influencing acceptance of e-learning by teachers in the Czech Republic

Effects of various factors on the acceptance of e-learning (AEL) were studied.Prior experience with e-learning has no effect on AEL.Positive expectations before an e-learning course have significant effect on AEL.Teachers working individually through the courses exhibit higher level of AEL.Positive subjective evaluation of various aspects of the course lead to high AEL. The goal of this study was to explore the factors which impact the acceptance of an e-learning course by teachers of elementary and secondary schools in the Czech Republic. The survey involved 228 teachers from 68 different primary and secondary schools. These teachers took part in some of 16 different asynchronous on-line courses aimed at the use of modern technologies in education. It was found that the factors with major impact on the e-learning course acceptance include the voluntary participation of teachers in the course and the positive expectations held before the course start (p<0.001). Working through the course on ones own and the subjective evaluation of various aspects of the course plays an important role as well (p<0.001). The factors which had no statistically significant impact (p0.05) included the teachers age, gender, type of school, prior experience with e-learning, individual habits in terms of completing voluntary tasks and taking notes, the involvement in discussions during the course and the time schedule of the course. We conclude that considerable attention should be paid to the psychological aspects of further education of Czech teachers using e-learning.

Constructivist and Person-Centered Learning in Higher Education – Using Indicators and Case Examples for Comparing Good Practice

Constructivist and humanistic, person-centered education stand out as two well-known educational paradigms. Their commonalities and differences, however, have not yet been systematically investigated. Thus we compare principles and our experiences in facilitating constructivist and person-centered learning in order to derive implications for educational practice, research, and technology support. Results suggest that while the two paradigms overlap considerably, they exhibit subtle differences concerning the paths to reach their primary objectives. With numerous illustrations we aim at inspiring educators to move forward in their educational offerings and grow cognitively as well as (inter)personally with their students.

Using process mining to analyze students' quiz-taking behavior patterns in a learning management system

Cilem clanku je prozkoumat chovani a způsoby interakce studentů v různých typech on-line testových aktivit v ramci systemu pro řizeni výuky (LMS). Problematika analyzovani chovani studentů v on-line ucebnich aktivitach a detekovani specifických forem interakci v ramci LMS je intenzivně řesena v ramci výzkumných oblasti oznacovaných jako dolovani dat ve vzdělavani (educational data mining) a analytika uceni (learning analytics). Dosavadni studie se vsak zaměřovaly předevsim na frekvencni analýzy, aniž by se podrobněji zabývaly casovým aspektem chovani studentů v průběhu plněni testových aktivit. Z toho důvodu v tomto clanku zaujimame procesně orientovaný přistup a zaměřujeme se na možnosti využiti metod dolovani procesnich dat (process mining) v kontextu on-line uceni a hodnoceni studijnich výsledků. Za ucelem prozkoumani siroke skaly možných vzorců chovani analyzujeme interakci studentů v několika on-line testech, ktere pochazeji z různých kurzů a jsou použivany pro různe ucely. S využitim metod dolovani procesnich dat pak identifikujeme specificke typy interakcnich sekvenci, ktere vrhaji nove světlo na strategie studentů při vyplňovani testů v LMS. Domnivame se, že tato zjistěni maji zasadni význam pro výzkumniky, kteři studuji chovani studentů v on-line prostředi, jakož i pro vzdělavatele v praxi, kteři využivaji on-line testy pro ucely uceni a hodnoceni studentů.

Digital Factory and Virtual Reality: Teaching Virtual Reality Principles with Game Engines

Virtual reality (VR) is widely used in various industrial applications. All leading industrial manufacturing companies today have a strategy called the ‘concept of a digital factory’ where all aspects of manufacturing are digitally verified on digital mockups prior to physical manufacturing. Other than that, it is a rapidly developing new medium and further development of VR and IT will open up new possibilities. The new concept of Industry 4.0 is based on using approaches like the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Cyber-Physical Systems and Virtual Reality. With the decreasing cost of VR devices, even smaller businesses are able to implement such technologies. It is therefore crucial that mechanical engineering graduates are familiar with these new technologies and trends. We had to use unconventional methods to educate mechanical engineering students in the latest trends in IT and VR. Back in 2010, there were almost no tools available for teaching how to create industry-themed VR environments, which did not require complicated coding, so we decided to make our own. To simplify the development, we used Source Engine as the core and enhanced it with a library of textures, models and scripts we called DigiTov. Although Source Engine is a game engine, the master logic of VR development is the same as for professional SW products. In autumn 2015, a group of 10 students modified the DigiTov for Unity3D, forming a team made up of different roles.