Miguel Ángel Olabe

Telecommunications network design using modeling and simulation

This paper is intended to help instructors integrate the use of computer simulation methodologies in senior and graduate level courses in telecommunications and computer networks design. It outlines how the course and its laboratory can be organized, and recommends a set of projects, textbooks, and articles that could be used in the course. This paper reviews the obstacles that for years have prevented the successful use of computer simulation in the design and management of communication networks and offers strategies to overcome them.

Computational Thinking in pre-university Blended Learning classrooms

This article describes the implementation of various core elements of Computational Thinking (CT) in the classrooms of schools of Latin America and USA in two specific courses: PC-01 and ECE130. These courses were designed for students of primary and secondary education, as well as for students of high school as part of a dual enrollment program with a local university. Both courses introduce the core concepts and processes of CT aided by the visual programming environments Scratch and Alice. The courses are facilitated by the classroom teacher with the support of a learning platform. This platform is configured to provide innovative pedagogical strategies based on emerging educational technologies. This article describes the concepts integrated under the term CT, and discusses the benefits of learning environments used to incorporate CT in the classroom. It describes as well the syllabi and assessments of both courses, and analyzes their impact of these courses on the educational institutions, the teachers and the students.

Transition to a Modern Education System through e-Learning

All around the world, governments are using international benchmarking of education systems as the method to identify the top performing countries. After the world best education systems have been identified, they are used as models for the rest of the countries. This procedure has an obvious limitation: if the rankings are obtained assessing content and methods already established, these are perpetuated. New curriculum and methodologies are difficult to integrate into existing education systems. Research in the last two decades has shown the limitations of the current education systems and the need to incorporate new paradigms. However, the current method that the governments use to design their education systems makes the adoption of radically new paradigms a highly risky proposition. This paper reviews the limitations of the current education systems, in particular in the area of mathematics. It discusses a set of fundamental changes in curriculum and teaching methodology. Finally, it reviews the role of e-learning as an integral part of the transition from traditional education systems to modern systems.

Mobile locator: Helping the context awareness

This paper presents a work related to context-awareness developed by Multimedia-EHU research group at the University of the Basque Country. The proposed context-awareness is oriented to acquire and utilize information about the physical position of the users through their wireless mobile devices in order to provide services that support users in their activities. In particular the context awareness includes the users location based on a local Wi-Fi communication network interface to gather indoor location information capitalizing both the wireless Wi-Fi network of the buildings and the users mobile devices. This technology could help improve the services of scenarios such as: hospitals, trade fair with several multi-storey buildings and enterprises.

In Search of a New Space of K-12 Mathematics in the Classroom

When proposing structural changes in an educational system three elements are required: a set of oppositional principles to evaluate alternatives; a formal analysis of the status quo; and a comprehensive description and evaluation of proposed spaces. Using this three-phase approach, this paper proposes a set of alternative spaces of mathematics for K-12 education in which the skills demanded by today’s society are taken into consideration. In addition, these spaces of mathematics supplement the traditional and limited fields of arithmetic, Euclidean and Cartesian geometries, algebra, and basic trigonometry. The cognitive capabilities and limitations of the human mind that in the last two decades have been identified are described and illustrated as guide for the evaluation of oppositional principles. This paper formally evaluates both the cognitive demands and the potentials for growth and development of areas in mathematics in current and alternative educational spaces, and uses specific educational examples to illustrate the mathematical, pedagogical and cognitive potentials and limitations of current and alternative mathematical educational systems.