Mar Pérez-Sanagustín

Analysing the Impact of Built-In and External Social Tools in a MOOC on Educational Technologies

MOOCs have been a disruptive educational trend in the last months. Some MOOCs just replicate traditional teaching pedagogies, adding multimedia elements like video lectures. Others go beyond, trying to engage the massive number of participants by promoting discussions and relying on their contributions to the course. MOOC platforms usually provide some built-in social tools for this purpose, although instructors or participants may suggest others to foster discussions and crowdsourcing. This paper analyses the impact of two built-in Q&A and forum and three external social tools Facebook, Twitter and MentorMob in a MOOC on educational technologies. Most of the participants agreed on the importance of social tools to be in touch with their partners and share information related to the course, the forum being the one preferred. Furthermore, the lessons learned from the enactment of this MOOC employing social tools are summarized so that others may benefit from them.

4SPPIces: A Case Study of Factors in a Scripted Collaborative-Learning Blended Course across Spatial Locations

Computer-Supported Collaborative Blended Learning (CSCBL) scripts are complex learning situations in which formal and informal activities conducted at different spatial locations are coordinated and integrated into one unique learning setting through the use of technology. We define a conceptual model identifying four factors to be considered when addressing the design of these CSCBL scripts and of the technological system for supporting their enactment: the space, the pedagogical method, the participants and the history (4SPPIces factors). This paper presents and evaluates a CSCBL script designed according to the 4SPPIces factors. The script is proposed for extending the learning of geographic fieldwork in a geography course at a high school. In this script, students reflect about the urbanism and the socio-geographic characteristics of a Barcelona neighborhood. The script blends individual and collaborative activities supported by mobile and computer-based technologies conducted in the classroom, home and city. The script is evaluated in a case study involving thirty-four students and two teachers. The case study reports: (1) the CSCBL script designed with the teachers, considering the 4SPPIces factors and the associated technological environment and (2) the results of enacting the script in the actual learning context and analysing whether it fulfils the targeted learning objectives. The results from this case study show the impact of considering the 4SPPIces factors to enhance a real practice providing new learning and motivational benefits. The CSCBL script presented is an example that can encourage other practitioners and researchers to adopt the 4SPPices factors in similar educational situations.

Recommending Self-Regulated Learning Strategies Does Not Improve Performance in a MOOC

Many committed learners struggle to achieve their goal of completing a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This work investigates self-regulated learning (SRL) in MOOCs and tests if encouraging the use of SRL strategies can improve course performance. We asked a group of 17 highly successful learners about their own strategies for how to succeed in a MOOC. Their responses were coded based on a SRL framework and synthesized into seven recommendations. In a randomized experiment, we evaluated the effect of providing those recommendations to learners in the same course (N = 653). Although most learners rated the study tips as very helpful, the intervention did not improve course persistence or achievement. Results suggest that a single SRL prompt at the beginning of the course provides insufficient support. Instead, embedding technological aids that adaptively support SRL throughout the course could better support learners in MOOCs.

Experiences of running MOOCs and SPOCs at UC3M

The appearance of MOOCs has boosted the use of educational technology in all possible contexts. Universities are trying to understand this new phenomenon, while carrying out the first trials. Best practices are still scarce and will be developed in the coming months. In this paper, we present first experiences carried out at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, both with MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and with SPOCs (Small Private Online Courses), which are MOOC counterparts for internal use.

Augmenting Reality and Formality of Informal and Non-Formal Settings to Enhance Blended Learning

Visits to museums and city tours have been part of higher and secondary education curriculum activities for many years. However these activities are typically considered “less formal” when compared to those carried out in the classroom, mainly because they take place in informal or non-formal settings. Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and smartphones can transform such informal and non-formal settings into digitally augmented learning settings by superimposing “digital” layers of information over physical objects or spaces. At the same time, the formality of these settings increases when connected to formal settings through these digital layers. The right combination of AR and mobile technologies with computer-based educational tools such as Learning Management Systems (LMSs) drives this digital connection, leading to articulated blended learning activities across formal, non-formal and informal settings. This paper contributes to the TEL field with: (1) three blended learning activities illustrating the idea of augmented informal/non-formal settings; (2) results from the cross-analysis of these activities that evidence the impact of technology to enhance blended learning; and (3) a set of lessons learned about the possibilities of NFC/GPS AR technologies and LMSs for blended learning. This work provides insights for the design and implementation of similar technology-enhanced blended learning activities.

etiquetAR: Tagging Learning Experiences

etiquetAR is an authoring tool for supporting the design and enactment of mobile context-based learning experiences based on QR tags. etiquetAR enables creating, managing, and sharing personalized QR tags attachable to any object or physical geographical location. Tags are digital layers of contextualized information that transforms any physical space into a digitally augmented learning environment. This demonstration paper presents etiquetAR first working prototype of this application. In particular, the paper details: 1 how etiquetAR web-based application can be used to edit a tag, associate different resources to it, and relate resources information to a particular profile for adaptive learning experiences; and 2 how users can access and contribute to the information hidden in the tags using the mobile-based application. This demonstration will show the audience how etiquetAR is a simple tool designed to encourage practitioners to create their own tag-based learning experiences.

Recommendations for the design and deployment of MOOCs: insights about the MOOC digital education of the future deployed in MiríadaX

This paper reports the insights of the experience of designing and deploying the MOOC Digital Education of the Future, which was deployed in the platform MiríadaX in early 2013. This MOOC was delivered by several professors from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and was supported by several external social tools that promoted the creation of a community of learners as part of it. The contribution of this study is a list of insights and recommendations about both the design and deployment of MOOCs. These insights and recommendations are built upon those presented in previous works by the authors. The design recommendations include information about the overall course structure, the assessment activities, the certification of the course, and the use of complementary social tools. The deployment recommendations mainly focus on the role of the teaching staff when running the course and on the importance of social tools and communication tools as a mechanism for participant engagement throughout the course. These recommendations aim to be useful for other practitioners, instructional designers and policy makers addressing the challenge of designing and deploying a MOOC from scratch.

Considering the Intrinsic Constraints for Groups Management of TAPPS and Jigsaw CLFPs

When applying a Collaborative Learning Flow Pattern (CLFP) to structure the sequence of activities in a real context, one of the tasks is to organize groups of students according to the constraints imposed by the pattern. Sometimes,unexpected events occurring on runtime force this pre-defined distribution to be changed. In such situations, a re-definition of the group structure for adjusting the activity to the actual context is needed. This paper proposes a flexible solution for supporting teachers in the group organization and adaptation profiting from the intrinsic constraints defined by a CLFPs codified in IMS Learning Design. A prototype of a web-based tool for the TAPPS and Jigsaw CLFPs and the preliminary results of a controlled user study are also presented as a first step towards flexible solutions in this context.

Modeling the Computing Based Testing domain extending IMS QTI: Framework, models and exemplary implementations

Using technology to create new types of questions is important, but also exploring new types of test representations or analyzing the most adequate technological device to support a specific assessment activity based on tests. This paper presents a conceptual model that defines and relates three dimensions to be considered for advancing on Computing-Based Testing (CBT): the Question-item, the Test and the Activity. The framework assists in the categorization and design of advanced CBT scenarios and opens a new domain for questions and tests supported by ICT. Besides, the paper proposes two models for the technological design and implementation of the Test and Question-item dimensions. The models represent an extension of the IMS Question and Test Interoperability standard. They are platform-independent models (PIMs) that formulate the elements that can be mapped to platform-specific models (PSMs) for implementing advanced CBT solutions. To show the relevance, value and usability of the contributions, the paper also describes the application of the framework and PIMs to design and implement three exemplary CBT scenarios with their corresponding CBT-PSMs. Within the global scope of the CBT conceptual model, the first scenario shows how question-items can be enriched with specific multimedia information (web maps). The second scenario illustrates another particular case of the CBT domain where a test can be augmented with real physical elements. And finally, the third scenario describes an implementation that combines advanced question-items and tests using virtual worlds.

System Orchestration Support for a Flow of Blended Collaborative Activities

The introduction of portable devices in education opens up new possibilities for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning by providing advanced learning scenarios with activities in different spatial locations. However, organizing and structuring collaborative learning adaptive flows in these innovative scenarios represents also a workload for practitioners, which hinder the adoption of these technologies. As a step forward to alleviate this workload, this paper analyzes the limitations and bottlenecks detected in an actual collaborative blended learning experience carried out in a previous study and proposes a technological solution for solving them. The resulting solution is presented as a concept proof consisting of a Unit of Learning suitable to be instantiated with IMS Learning Design and complemented by a Generic Service Integration system. The paper also discusses to which extent the proposed solution covers the limitations detected in the previous study and how useful could be for reducing the orchestration effort in future experiences.