26.01.2012 by Wolfgang Reinhardt | 0 comments
Elsevier published its vision of the scientific article of the future and provide some very interesting ideas for making interaction with scientific publications more fun.
Popularity: 1% [?]
21.01.2012
by Wolfgang Reinhardt
0 comments
The guest editors of the 2012 Young Researcher Special Issue on the State-of-the-Art in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) in the International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning (IJTEL) are calling for reviewers. The Call for Papers for the Special Issue can be found here.
Popularity: 1% [?]
16.01.2012
by Wolfgang Reinhardt
11 Comments
In our projects we often develop prototypes of systems and need to test the usability of the system. Often we use the System Usability Scale and Technology Acceptance Model to do so. The System Usability Scale is a very commonly used method for assessing the overall usability of technical systems. It consists of only 10 questions and after applying some really easy math it results in an overall usability score that can be used for further improving your system.
Popularity: 3% [?]
21.12.2011
by Wolfgang Reinhardt
1 Comment
Yesterday evening, at exactly 21:00:41 CET, I submitted my PhD thesis with the title “Awareness Support for Knowledge Workers in Research Networks“. Now it is the committee’s turn to assess it and given they will let me pass, the public defense will be on 05.04.2012. If you are interested in the content of my thesis, you’ll have to wait or read or have a look at the following word cloud…
Popularity: 2% [?]
08.12.2011
by Wolfgang Reinhardt
0 comments
Today I stumbled upon Cube, an Open Source system for visualizing time series data. The system is based on Node.js, MongoDB and D3.js. The developers of the “half-baked but still tasty” tool describe Cube as:
an open-source system for visualizing time series data, built on MongoDB, Node and D3. If you send Cube timestamped events (with optional structured data), you can easily build realtime visualizations of aggregate metrics for internal dashboards. Cube speaks WebSockets for low-latency, asynchronous input and output: new events are streamed in, and requested metrics are streamed out as they are computed. (You can also POST events to Cube, if that’s your thing, and collectd integration is included!) Metrics are cached in capped collections, and simple reductions such as sum and max use pyramidal aggregation to improve performance. Visualizations are generated client-side and assembled into dashboards with a few mouse clicks.
They also share a video on building an analytical dashboard in 60 seconds (the video is actually only 31 seconds long though), which shows the capabilities and speed of Cube.
I think it could be a strong candidate for future visualizations in the learning analytics / research analytics applications. What do you think?
Popularity: 3% [?]
27.11.2011
by Wolfgang Reinhardt
0 comments
I stumbled upon this great video today, produced by The Open University. The topics covered in the 6:40 minutes video are:
There is more similar content on the Free learning website from The Open University.
Popularity: 1% [?]
27.11.2011
by Wolfgang Reinhardt
2 Comments
In a recent blog post, Stephen Downes, discussed all you will ever need to know about selecting, submitting to, preparing for, traveling to, attending and coming back from conferences. I doubt that he wrote the article in just half an hour (just because of the sheer length), but this post is a definite must-read. I will try to stick to many of these points in 2012.
There are also Word and PDF versions of the post available.
Popularity: 3% [?]
25.11.2011
by Wolfgang Reinhardt
1 Comment
I’m happy to share the Call for Papers for another Young Researcher Special Issue in the International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning with you. This time we are searching for papers that review state-of-the-art topics and technologies in TEL. What is so very special about this Special Issue is the offering of a so-called ideas clinic in which authors can use group discussions to outline, discuss, and get feedback on their initial ideas. Furthermore, the clinic provides a platform for finding like-minded authors and potential co-authors. Potential authors are invited to a dedicated TELeurope group for the Special Issue.
IJTEL invites paper submissions for a special issue targeting young researchers in the community of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). This call encourages a review of the state-of-the-art in TEL topics, accompanied by a description of the current and future work carried out by the authors researching within these topics.
This special issue is directed at all young researchers such as post-graduate students, PhD students and post-docs working in topics related to TEL both in academia and industry, and from different disciplines of the community (technologists, educationists, psychologists, etc.).
The purpose of the issue is manifold: (a) to provide a better overview of TEL research lines; (b) to investigate and expand current TEL research themes; (c) to promote international and multidisciplinary collaboration and the exchange of ideas among young researchers; (d) to encourage young researchers to formalise their research questions, topics and methodologies.
Young researchers are invited to submit articles with reviews of state-of-the-art research in any TEL-related area. Each focal area covered in this issue shall provide an authoritative, timely, accessible and critical overview on recent developments that are pertinent for TEL. The reviews should not only summarize existing literature, but also analyze, synthesize and interpret the state-of-the-art in a novel framework for thought. For example this can be done:
- by identifying different theories and/or approaches;
- by classifying different research waves (see e.g. Lesk 1995);
- by elaborating different dimensions (see e.g. Sire et al. 2011);
- by developing a taxonomy;
- or by elaborating tensions, disagreements, etc. between the different works of the past.
It is furthermore expected that reviews are written from an interdisciplinary point of view. This means that every article is expected to provide references from at least three disciplines: education, psychology and technology. Furthermore, articles are required to include a section on research challenges that emerge from the state-of-the-art. These challenges must be substantiated by a concrete scenario. Articles that do not follow these basic guidelines will not be considered for publication.
References
Lesk, M. 1996. The seven ages of information retrieval. UDT Occasional Papers, 5.
Sire, S., Bogdanov, E., Gillet, D., Palmer, M., et al. 2011. Introducing qualitative dimensions to analyse the usefulness of Web 2.0 platforms as PLEs. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 3(1).Subject Coverage
Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
- Effective learning strategies, models and methodologies
- Deployment of ICTs in educational practice
- Web 2.0 and TEL
- Semantic web and TEL
- Computer-supported collaborative learning
- TEL and knowledge management
- Emotional and motivational aspects of TEL
- Adaptive and personalised hypermedia for TEL
- Ubiquitous and pervasive technologies for TEL
- Intelligent tutoring systems and automated feedback
- TEL practices in different educational/learning contexts
- Policies for the promotion of TEL in education
- Educational games
- 3D virtual environments
- Augmented reality in TEL
- Connecting learners through TEL
- Orchestrating TEL
- Interoperability in TEL
- Learning analytics and educational data mining
- Formative assessment and feedback
- Ambient displays and wearable devices
- Visualisation techniques for learning
- Awareness and reflection in TEL
Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N.B. Conference papers may only be submitted if the paper was not originally copyrighted and if it has been completely re-written).
All papers are refereed through a peer review process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the Author Guidelines page.
Submission deadline for full paper: 28 February, 2012
Authors’ notification for full paper: 16 April, 2012
Final paper submission: 5 June, 2012
Editors and Notes
All articles submitted for this special issue will be subject to a one-stage review process. Authors should submit a full article which will be subjected to a double blind peer review before publication. Articles must not exceed 15 pages,and in alignment with common standards for literature reviews, they are expected to include 50 or more references.
Authors may also register on TELeurope, login, and join the group “IJTEL Young Researcher Special Issue”. This call, as well as the submission instructions, can then be found on the group’s page “Call for Papers YRSI 2012″. Additionally, authors can use the group’s discussion section to outline, discuss, and get feedback on their initial ideas. Furthermore, the clinic provides a platform for furthering cross-fertilisation among authors. Authors who would like to invite co-authors to submit a joint paper can indicate that fact when discussing their ideas. People who are interested in a collaboration can then express their interest and leave their contact information, so that the proposal’s responsible authors can contact them.
Popularity: 4% [?]
21.11.2011
by Wolfgang Reinhardt
0 comments
When the Google Scholar team announced Google Scholar Citations back in July, everyone was kind of disappointed that they only offered very closed access to the service. You could check the h-index of Albert Einstein, but not create an own profile with your very own publications. Last week, Google Scholar Citations finally left closed beta and is now freely accessible for all.
I created my profile and was surprised by the inconsistent UI and how difficult they made the process of adding my publications. I could not just upload a BibTeX file or link to my Mendeley profile. No, I had to search for my publications in Google Scholar. There is no intelligent support to ease that process (e.g. looking at the co-authors of my already added publications and then do better recommendations). However, the features of Google Scholar Citations are very helpful in assessing your own work. I’m looking forward to what the Google Scholar team is doing with the service in the future….
Popularity: 3% [?]
07.11.2011
by Wolfgang Reinhardt
0 comments
Last week Peter Sloep invited me to his trusted network on Reference.me (here is the official announcement). I was thinking “Oh, no. Not another Social Network thing…” Addicted to all the web-stuff out there, I chose to give it a try and create an account (like so very often). There was the first surprise: no authentication via Twitter or Facebook was available. The only available option was Google. Well, um … I was surprised as normally I don’t use Google for authentication and professional stuff but in the end it worked just fine.
The really cool think about Reference.me is that it allows you to visually create networks of people that you trust (or worked with or just want to have in that network). There is no such thing as messaging or activity streams, in the first place it’s just a mere interactive network builder. Adding people to your trusted network, however, is big fun. It reminds of adding people to Google+ circles but each circle (actually it’s a box) is divided in four categories: 1) my co-worker, 2) my boss, 3) my report and 4) other). Reference.me calls those circles “skills groups” and aims at creating sub-networks of skillful people. Another interesting feature is to see which other people have in their trusted networks, check their profiles and check what they are looking for.
The third pillar of Reference.me are “Postings” where users can share what the are looking for (typically jobs). While the idea is good, the realization is not that helpful yet. There is no search available, no recommendations of jobs fitting my profile and so on. As the service is still in beta, I guess the folks at Reference.me are currently working on that. By all means, Reference.me is one of this recent startups that we should have an eye on, as it may add value to the way we connect to people and become aware of their relations and opportunities that may arise from our connections
Popularity: 3% [?]
