Ole Borch

Full scale experiences with didactic changes in distance education in Master of Industrial Information Technology (MII)

This paper reports the main results of didactic changes in the first year of an experiment in ICT-based distance learning. The results are based on a full scale experiment in the education, Master of Industrial Information Technology (MII). The experiment transforming the well functioning on-campus engineering program based on project organized collaborative learning to the technology supported distance education program failed. Despite of many miner didactic changes, we did not obtain the same self regulating learning effect in the group work among the off-campus students as is the case for on-campus students. For the first time, we have deviated from the normal Aalborg University problem based learning model by separating course study and project work. The feedback from the students was very positive but we did expect that the collaboration and discussion on the Internet would increase as well. Questionnaires, discussions and measurements of the Internet activities show results which are contradictory compared to expectations.

Dedicated Programming Language for Small Distributed Control Devices

Small control computers are more and more used in modern households. These computers are for instance in washing machines, heating systems, secure systems, televisions and stereos. In the future all these computers will communicate with each other to implement the intelligent house. This can only become a reality if each of these controlling computers can be configured to perform a cooperative task. This again requires the necessary communicating facilities. In other words this requires that all these simple and distributed computers can be programmed in a simple and hardware independent way. This paper describes a new, flexible and simple language for programming distributed control tasks. The compiler for this language generates a target code that is very easy to interpret. An interpreter, that can be easy ported to different hardwares, is described. The new language is simple and easy to learn, but, on the other hand, it is general enough to be used in a large group of house control systems.

Comparing On-Campus and Distance Education assessment in the form of Project Organized Problem Based Learning (POPBL)

This paper describes the first experiences in on-line assessment in the POPBL distance education: Master of Industrial Information technology (Mil) at Aalborg University, Denmark (AAU). The accomplished assessment of some projects and some courses has been changed from a normal on-campus seminar activity to an on-line event. The modifications in roles for teacher, censor and student are reported and some recommendations and unsolved problems are identified.

Changes in roles and behavior of learners and teachers when going for POPBL

It is accepted world wide; that project-organized problem-based learning (POPBL) is the right method to improve learning and satisfy the customers being more innovative and creative. Shifting to POPBL in universities seems uncomplicated when it comes to changes in materials and procedures, but for the people involved, mentally, it is a very difficult change in behavior and attitudes. Organizations and staff in many universities are skeptical about POPBL concerning student competence measurement and assessments. On the personal level the teachers major apprehension is the loss of prestige, templates, and traditions. Students need to be more active in the learning process so the concern is more work. It is always difficult to make major changes in an (mature) educational institution, but shifting to POPBL collaborative learning has been proven to be a successful learning method at Aalborg University, Denmark (AAU) for more than 30 years and it has provided great satisfaction for all parties including students and customers. Although, it was difficult in the beginning and after much iteration, AAU is now the leading university in on-campus POPBL, as well as on-line POPBL. However, the ongoing development of information technology (IT), pedagogy and didactic methods requires new demands to all parties in openness, willingness, and readiness in adapting new roles and behavior. This article describes challenges and changes in roles and behavior when going for and maintaining a modern and successful POPBL environment. Based on years of POPBL development and experience - methods and recommendations will be presented to staff and students when working with the courses and projects in an on-campus, as well as on-line POPBL educational environment.

Collaboration Layer for Robots in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

Abstract In many applications multiple robots in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks are required to collaborate in order to solve a task. This paper shows by proof of concept that a Collaboration Layer can be modelled and designed to handle the collaborative communication, which enables robots in small to medium size networks to solve tasks collaboratively. In this proposal the Collaboration Layer is modelled to handle service and position discovery, group management, and synchronisation among robots, but the layer is also designed to be extendable. Based on this model of the Collaboration Layer, generic services are provided to the application running on the robot. The services are generic because they can be used by many different applications, independent of the task to be solved. Likewise, specific services are requested from the underlying Virtual Machine, such as broadcast, multicast, and reliable unicast. A prototype of the Collaboration Layer has been developed to run in a simulated environment and tested in an evaluation scenario. In the scenario five robots solve the tasks of vacuum cleaning and entrance guarding, which involves the ability to discover potential co-workers, form groups, shift from one group to another, and communicate among group members. The successful outcome of the evaluation scenario indicates that a generic Collaboration Layer may be realisable.