Several years ago we presented an experimental, discovery-learning approach to the active learning of greedy algorithms. This paper presents GreedEx, a visualization tool developed to support this didactic method. The paper states the design goals of GreedEx, makes explicit the major design decisions adopted, and describes its main characteristics…

Computer-based assessment of exams provides teachers and students with two main benefits: fairness and effectiveness in the evaluation process. This paper proposes a fully automatic evaluation tool for the Graphic and Virtual Design (GVD) curriculum at the First School of Architecture of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. In particular, the tool is…

Comprehension assessment is an essential tool in classroom learning. However, the judgment often relies on experience of an instructor who makes observation of students' behavior during the lessons. We argue that students should report their own comprehension explicitly in a classroom. With students' comprehension made available at the slide…

This research explores a new model for facilitating trust in online e-learning activities. We begin by protecting the privacy of learners through identity management (IM), where personal information can be protected through some degree of participant anonymity or pseudonymity. In order to expect learners to trust other pseudonymous participants,…

IMS Learning Design (LD) is the only available interoperability specification in the area of technology enhanced learning that allows the definition and orchestration of complex activity flows and resource environments in a multirole setting. IMS LD has been available since 2003, and yet it has not been widely adopted either by practitioners or by…

This paper explores the potential of Semantic Web technologies to support teaching and learning in a variety of higher education settings in which some form of case-based learning is the pedagogy of choice. It draws on the empirical work of a major three year research and development project in the United Kingdom: "Ensemble: Semantic Technologies…

Multimedia educational resources play an important role in education, particularly for distance learning environments. With the rapid growth of the multimedia web, large numbers of educational video resources are increasingly being created by several different organizations. It is crucial to explore, share, reuse, and link these educational…

In this paper, we present a novel approach for semiautomatic question generation to support academic writing. Our system first extracts key phrases from students' literature review papers. Each key phrase is matched with a Wikipedia article and classified into one of five abstract concept categories: Research Field, Technology, System, Term, and…

This paper discusses the development of LearnWeb2.0, a search and collaboration environment for supporting searching, organizing, and sharing distributed resources, and our pedagogical setup based on the multiliteracies approach. In LearnWeb2.0, collaborative and active learning is supported through project-focused search and aggregation, with…

This article presents an innovative project in the context of remote experimentation applied to control engineering education. Specifically, the authors describe their experience regarding the analysis, design, development, and exploitation of web-based technologies within the scope of automatic control. This work is part of an inter-university…

The paper presents the facilities offered by the open learner model maintained in the web-based, adaptive, activity-oriented learning environment SCALE (Supporting Collaboration and Adaptation in a Learning Environment), in order to guide online students who become disengaged and support their reengagement. The open learner model (OLM_SCALE)…

Recent research in learning technologies has demonstrated many promising contributions from the use of ontologies and semantic web technologies for the development of advanced learning environments. In spite of those benefits, ontology development and maintenance remain the key research challenges to be solved before ontology-enhanced learning…

In this research, we examine the design, construction, and implementation of a dynamic, easy to use, feedback mechanism for social software. The tool was integrated into an existing university's online learning community (OLC). In line with constructivist learning models and practical information systems (IS) design, the feedback system provides…

Tutorial Dialog Systems that employ Conversational Agents (CAs) to deliver instructional content to learners in one-on-one tutoring settings have been shown to be effective in multiple learning domains by multiple research groups. Our work focuses on extending this successful learning technology to collaborative learning settings involving two or…

Recent years have seen a surge in the use of intelligent computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) tools for improving student learning in traditional classrooms. However, adopting such a CSCL tool in a classroom still requires the teacher to develop (or decide on which to adopt) the CSCL tool and the CSCL script, design the relevant…