[CfP] The PLE Conference

I like to announce the Call for Papers for the first “PLE Conference” in Barcelona, Spain this year.

Personal Learning Environments (PLE) include the tools, communities, and services that constitute the individual educational platforms learners use to direct their own learning and pursue educational goals. The idea of the PLE represents a shift away from the model in which students consume information through independent channels such as the library, a textbook, or an LMS, moving instead to a model where students draw connections from a growing matrix of resources that they select and organize. Because they emphasize relationships, PLEs can promote authentic learning by incorporating expert feedback into learning activities and resources. A PLE also puts students in charge of their own learning processes, challenging them to reflect on the tools and resources that help them learn best. By design, a PLE is created from self-direction, and therefore the responsibility for organization—and thereby for learning—rests with the learner ….

[publication] Microblogs in Higher Education – a chance to facilitate informal and process oriented learning?

We are happy to announce that our publication “Microblogs in Higher Education – a chance to facilitate informal and process oriented learning?” published in Journal Computer & Education is now online available.
Abstract:

Microblogging is one of the latest Web 2.0 technologies. The key elements are online communication using 140 characters and the fact that it involves “following” anyone. There has been a great deal of excitement about this in recent months. This paper reports on a research study that was carried out on the use of a microblogging platform for process-oriented learning in Higher Education. Students of the University of Applied Sciences of Upper Austria used the tool throughout their course. All postings were carefully tracked, examined and analyzed in order to explore the possibilities offered by microblogging in education. It can be concluded that microblogging should be seen as a completely new form of communication that can support informal learning beyond classrooms.

Reference: Martin Ebner, Conrad Lienhardt, Matthias Rohs, Iris Meyer (2010), Microblogs in Higher Education – a chance to facilitate informal and process oriented learning?, Computers & Education, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 4 January 2010, ISSN 0360-1315, DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2009.12.006.
Online available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VCJ-4Y34W8F-1/2/799ab0b1112d5696a251fca84be472c3

E-Learning bei der Langen Nacht der Forschung

Lange Nacht der ForschungWir sind der heurigen Einladung gefolgt und werden auch aktiv am 7. November an der österreichweiten “Langen Nacht der Forschung” teilnehmen. Hier findet man die Details wann wo wer sein wird.
Das Ziel ist einerseits zu zeigen was in Sachen e-Learning bereits umgesetzt wird und dann auch noch Einblick in die Forschung zu geben, Trends und zukünftige Entwicklungen aufzuzeigen.

E-Learning ist heute bereits mehr als nur ein Schlagwort und aus dem alltäglichen Lehr- und Lernbetrieb nicht mehr wegzudenken. Im Rahmen dieser Station wird sowohl der Stand der Technik (wie wird heute bereits Lehre mithilfe digitaler Technologien umgesetzt) als auch aktuelle Forschung gezeigt. Mit einem speziellen Augenmerk auf mobile Technologien können BesucherInnen selbst praktische Erfahrungen sammeln.

Wir freuen uns auf möglichst viele Besucher die interessiert sind wie Lehren und Lernen in Zukunft aussehen kann – auf viele Diskussionen und unterschiedliche Sichtweisen 🙂 .

[publication] Personal Learning Environments for Higher Education: A Mashup Based Widget Concept

Our paper about “Personal Learning Environment for Higher Education – A MashUp Based Widget Concept” within the MUPPLE 09 Workshop at this year ECTEL conference is now online available (presentation).
Abstract:

Due to the enormous growth of distributed applications, services, tools and resources, it is not easy for end users to come across existing services, manage and use them in a matter which is customized according to their personal needs. Mashups can be a very interesting approach to overcome challenges of distributed (unknown) services. Using mashups in a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) can help to connect resources and applications in one environment customized to the needs of individual users. In this paper a first approach and the concept of a PLE especially for higher education is described. The technological concept is introduced and design issues are pointed out as well as the first prototype is described.

Reference:Taraghi, B.; Ebner, M.; Schaffert, S. (2009) Personal Learning Environment for Higher Education – A MashUp Based Widget Concept, Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Mashup Personal Learning Environments (MUPPLE09), Nice, France, 2009, ISSN 1613-0073, Vol-506, https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-506/

Summary of Special Track MASHL 2009

The Special Track on “MashUps for Learning (MASHL09)” within the ICL 2009 conference is over and Sandra and I are very happy that we had a great time, great presentations as well as discussions. We like to thank also our “Best Paper Award” sponsored by ROLE project (represented by Ralf Klamma) for their help.

Again, thanks to Michael Auer to be part of his conference, to all presenters for their great work as well as all participants to create such successful sessions.
A special thanks also to Sandra from mine for creating the overview slides, the YouTube Video and for the great team work – it was simply a pleasure to work with you:

[publication] Personal Learning Environment – A Conceptual Study

Our publication about “Personal Learning Environment – A Conceptual Study” at the Special Track on “MashUps for Learning (MASHL09)” within the ICL 2009 conference is now online available.
Abstract:

The influence of digital technologies as well as the World Wide Web on education rises dramatically. In former years Learning Management Systems (LMS) were introduced on educational institutes to address the needs both their institutions and their lecturers. Nowadays a shift from an institution-centred approach to a learner- centred one becomes necessary to allow individuality through the learning process and to think about learning strategies in general. In this paper a first approach of a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is described. The technological concept is pointed out as well as a study about the graphical user-interface done at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz). It can be concluded that PLEs are the next generation environments, which help to improve the learning and teaching behaviour.

Reference:Taraghi, B., Ebner, M., Till, G., Mühlburger, H. (2009) Personal Learning Environment – A Conceptual Study, International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Learning (ICL 2009), Villach, AT

[ebook, workshop] e-Learning, Lernen heute/morgen

Ich bin gebeten im Rahmen des 30. österreichischen Bibliothekertag hier in Graz einen Workshop rund um das Thema e-Learning, Technology Enhanced Learning und wie Lernen in Zukunft ausschaut zu halten.
Die Unterlagen habe ich in ein eBook rund um das Thema zusammengefasst und diese sind hier öffentlich zugänglich. Weiters gibt es auch ein .pdf mit dem Nachteil dass die vielen Filme und eingebetteten Präsentationen nicht abgebildet sind.