Sandra Aguirre

A Web Collaboration Architecture

Computer supported collaborative work (CSCW) has typically been bound within organizations. Groupware applications are designed with organizational structures in mind, in a top-down approach that predicts communication and collaboration interactions between people. With Internet adoption in society, CSCW overflows organizational borders towards Internet supported collaborative work (ISCW), where the organization of work becomes decentralized, centered on individual interests and pretty dynamic. This paper proposes a Web collaboration architecture for the new Web environment. The article reviews common groupware problems and reflects recent organizational changes. It presents Web 2.0 features and technical state-of-the-art. Then, it describes the architecture proposed, to finish with conclusions and future research lines

A model for generating proactive context-aware recommendations in e-Learning systems

A proactive recommender system pushes recommendations to the user when the current situation seems appropriate, without explicit user request. This is suitable in e-Learning scenarios in which a great amount of learning objects are available but it is difficult to find them according to the users needs. In this paper, we present a model for generating proactive context-aware recommendations in the Virtual Science Hub (ViSH), a educational platform related to the GLOBAL excursion European project. The model relies on domain-dependent context modeling in several categories to generate personalized recommendations to teachers and scientists that will produce the learning resources the students will consume. The recommendation process is divided into three phases. First, the generation of the social context information related to the users in the platform. Then, the current situation considering the social, location and user context is analyzed. Finally, the suitability of particular learning objects to be recommended is examined. Therefore, details about the recommendation model proposed and advantages related to applying the model in ViSH can be found in the paper, in addition to some conclusion remarks and outlook on future work.

Building Blocks for a Smart Space for Learning^TM

This case study summarizes the demonstration of a semantic network of interoperable educational systems referred to as Smart Space for Learningtrade. We started connecting several educational nodes in projects such as Elena, Prolearn, and Icamp. Integration was achieved by using the interaction standard SQI, common schemas for querying and results presentation, and query exchange language, e.g. QEL. The paper particularly focuses on how heterogeneous nodes can be made interoperable by reusing generalizations of mediating components - building blocks for a Smart Space for Learningtrade

Joint Degrees in E-Learning Systems: A Web Services Approach

In order to allow the development of joint degrees through heterogeneous e-learning systems, we propose a federation services architecture whose implementation will be based on Web services. Our main objective is to allow e-learning systems to be able to work in a collaborative way; combining their data and functionality through the integration of their services. These services will be combined and federated, according to collaboration agreements between Universities. Joint degrees through e-learning systems will allow the development of new joint curricula and the participation in the convergence of higher education

Integrated study programs through e-Learning

In the unstoppable process of globalization and educational convergence, the use of e-Learning as a support tool in educational programs is becoming a growing trend. A wide diversity of proprietary and open-source e-Learning platforms are available. However, these platforms are generally developed independently by different organizations, and different technologies are used in them. As a result, the implementation of integrated study programs by means of e-Learning systems requires the solution of several technical difficulties generated by the heterogeneity of systems. In order to identify the variables, rules and components that should be taken into account in our proposal, we have analyzed several collaboration agreements between universities at national, European and international levels as well as e-Learning frameworks. This paper introduces the design of a federated service-oriented architecture, whose implementation will be based on Web Services. We have developed a prototype that allows the implementation of this architecture. To achieve this goal, we have used an open source platform, such as Moodle and a proprietary platform like Blackboard.

Work in progress - developing Joint Degrees through e-Learning systems

The development of joint degrees is an important mechanism for opening higher education systems nationwide, adapting them to the international standard, and promoting quality assessment to a broader environment. Since e-learning systems covers a wide range of academic programs, and as joint degrees such as e-learning are rapidly growing trends, finding a suitable solution that enables universities to design joint degrees through their own e-learning systems becomes necessary. This paper introduces the design of a federated service-oriented architecture, which through collaboration agreements, will allow the development of new curricula and the participation in the unstoppable process of globalization.

Work in progress — Exploiting videoconferencing possibilities to promote the European convergence process

This paper introduces the experience of using videoconferencing and recording as a mechanism to support courses which need to be promoted or discontinued within the framework of the European convergence process. Our objective is to make these courses accessible as live streaming during the lessons as well as recorded lectures and associated documents available to the students as soon as the lesson has finished. The technology used has been developed in our university and it is all open source. Although this is a technical project the key is the human factor involved. The people managing the virtual sessions are students of the courses being recorded. However, they lack technical knowledge, so we had to train them in audiovisuals and enhance the usability of the videoconferencing tool and platform. The validation process is being carried out in five real scenarios at our university. During the whole period we are evaluating technical and pedagogical issues of this experience for both students and teachers to guide the future development of the service. Depending on the final results, the service of lectures recording will be available as educational resource for all of the teaching staff of our university.

The usefulness of usability and user experience evaluation methods on an e-Learning platform development from a developer's perspective: A case study

The development of a web platform is a complex and interdisciplinary task, where people with different roles such as project manager, designer or developer participate. Different usability and User Experience evaluation methods can be used in each stage of the development life cycle, but not all of them have the same influence in the software development and in the final product or system. This article presents the study of the impact of these methods applied in the context of an e-Learning platform development. The results show that the impact has been strong from a developers perspective. Developer team members considered that usability and User Experience evaluation allowed them mainly to identify design mistakes, improve the platforms usability and understand the end users and their needs in a better way. Interviews with potential users, clickmaps and scrollmaps were rated as the most useful methods. Finally, these methods were considered unanimously very useful in the context of the entire software development, only comparable to SCRUM meetings and overcoming the rest of involved factors.

Next-Generation Educational Web

The paper proposes the characterization of a converging approach for adult learning in both corporate and institutional environments and briefly presents iCamp - innovative, inclusive, interactive & intercultural learning Campus - project as the first implementation of an actual Next Generation Educational Web, supported by the emergent Web 2.0 “paradigm” and the social software technology behind it. It is intended to show you how the key elements under this blurry umbrella-like concept of Web 2.0 permeate the educational domain, allowing us to develop innovative pedagogical models, designed to be the basis of higher education, or adult learning in the same terms. The paper shows the first stages of our research efforts in iCamp through an integrated pedagogical model for supporting both, the traditional Learning Management Systems (LMS) / Learning Object Respositories (LOR), and the Personal Educational Environments (PLE) that comprise blogging and wiki tools as well as social networking services.