t eacher

Teacher

Intelligent

Web

Microsoft Academic Days

Segrate 22-14 November 2004Speaker: Pierluigi Ritrovato

Research and Technology Director

2/23Microsoft Academic Days – Segrate 22-24 November 2004

Agenda

The motivation– Analysis of current learning practices and e-learning

solutions– Our vision of the Learning

The innovation in IWT– The Architecture– The personalisation of the learning experience– The adaptability of the platform for learning in a

specific domain

IWT Grid aware


Analysis of Current Learning practices Based on the information transfer paradigm

with focus on the content and the “teacher”– Find the best way for presenting contents in order to

transmit information to learners– Contents are passive: books, pictures, audio, etc.

Passive role of the learner

listenreadimitatememoriserehearserecall

– No individual support of the students’ learning process

– Everything is predetermined– No possibility to change the process for

accommodating specific needs


Analysis of Current e-Learning practices

Technology driven approach– e-Learning becomes an activity in which

teachers produce, and students consume, multimedia books on the Web

– Missing specific didactical models– Not any support of pedagogical aspects– Suppose that the cognitive transfer occurs

without evaluating the effectiveness


Analysis of Current e-Learning practices

Inappropriate use of technology – Available solutions supports actively the

contents management only– Finds its perfect technical mirror in the Web

“page oriented approach”– Personalisation and individualisation of the

learning path is a myth– Solutions are closed and difficult to integrate


There is a common thread in the development

of our understanding of learning

How we conceive the Learning

Learners need to be• engaged in goal-oriented tasks• practising skills• exploring and experimenting• using feedback to adapt what they do• discussing what they do• reflecting on what happens• articulating what happens

- The learner as active agent in the learning process- Knowledge construction through conversations,

collaborations and direct experience in a social context

Inquiry-based education

Constructivism

Mediated learning

Discovery learning

Learning as problematization

Learning as conversation

Problem-based learning

Reflective practice

Metacognition

Experiential learning

Learner-oriented approach

Social constructivism

Situated learning



We are moving our attention from a strictly concept oriented “teaching” to user centred “learning”

– the past: the focus was on finding better ways for presenting concepts to learners

– The present: recognised the learner role and they active participation in the process

– The future: more emphasis on learning as a potential side effect of interactions and conversations, experiences and social reflections on them, also in Virtual Communities



the focus will be on a constructivist learning theory, with a socio-cultural and situational approach

– Confucius’s dictum: Tell me and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand!

It is important to define a model that considers in a unified way the characteristics of the learning (i.e. active, situated, collaborative)

– "Situations Theory” of Brousseau – 1986 for Virtual Scientific Experiments for e-learning


The technical solution?


IWT overview

Intelligent Web TeacherIntelligent Web Teacher is an extensible application framework for building learning solutions

– software and technologies building blocks It doesn’t exist a product that fit all need!

It has been designed for supporting the emerging learning scenarios for knowledge constructions

– personalised learning path – knowledge representation models– any time, any place and any pace access to learning

services– Learning Objects reuse


The Architecture: Extensibility and Customisability

At a Portal Level

At a Content Level

What’s Really New in IWT?

Building Blocks for personalising the Learning Experience Indexing Content Management through Explicit Knowledge Modeling and

Metadata

Student model management

Automatic Student Evaluation

Automatic customisability of the Didactic Experience on real Students Needs and Learning Preferences

At a Services level

At a Device level


IWT: The Open Architecture

Data

Base Services

Infr

astr

uct

ure

Other Services

InternalPlug-Ins

Plug-InDrivers

ExternalPlug-Ins

Drivers

Applications

Interoperable with domain specific external solutions

New technologies based

Extensible with new learning object and content types

Extensible with new functionalities


IWT Architecture details

Document Drivers manage IWT resources as Passive Learning Object, Multiple Choice Test, Didactical Courses, etc…

Plug-In Drivers manage IWT services as CBR, ITS, Collaboration Services, etc…

We add resource types to IWT coding and integrating document drivers

We add services to IWT coding and integrating plug-in and plug-in drivers

Base Services

MetadataServices

Account &Group

Services

File SystemServices

DriverServices

Resource &Permission

Services

CommonServices

Infr

astr

uct

ure

Other Service

InternalPlug-Ins

Plug-InDrivers

ExternalPlug-Ins

Dat

aD

rive

rs

Object Drivers Aggregate Drivers

…

Ap

plic

atio

ns

CourseManager

Application

VirtualClassroom English

LanguageTeaching

IWT DBObject Repository

PortalServices

Portal

BusinessGame

Application


IWT Architecture and technologies

Data

Base Services

Infr

as

tru

ctu

re

Other Services

Internal Plug-Ins

Plug-In Drivers

External Plug-Ins

Drivers

Applications

ASP.NET

ASP.NETC# Components

C# ComponentsADO.NET

SQL Stored ProcedureXML


Document Driver life cycle

DriverFactory

Driver #1Driver #2

Driver #3

Driver #1Driver #2

Driver #3

K nowledge base

Driver #1

IWT Web GUI

Requests a Driver for Resource X

Retrieves information about type of Resource X

Instantiates a suitable driver for Resource X

Builds Web GUI for delivery of Resource X

Data

Base Services

Infr

astr

uct

ure

Other Services

Internal Plug-Ins

Plug-In Drivers

External Plug-Ins

Drivers

Portal modules

Driver #1Delivery GUI

Requests the delivery of Resource X


Plug-in Driver life cycle

IWT Web GUI

DriverFactory

Requests for service Y provided by engine X

Retrieves information about engine X

Instantiates plug-in driver for engine X

Knowledge base

Driver #1 Driver #2

Driver #3

Plug-in Driver #1

Plug-in Driver #2

Plug-in Driver #3

Data

Rendering …

Data

Base Services

Infr

ast

ruct

ure

Other Services

Internal Plug-Ins

Plug-In Drivers

External Plug-Ins

Drivers

Portal modules

Requests for service

Y


Student Modeling Cognitive State

– Maintains students knowledge in relation to domain Concepts

– It is updated after each test activity

Preferences

– Maintains students preferences in relation to significant pedagogical parameters like: media, didactic approach, interactivity level, semantic density, difficulty etc.

– It is updated after each sequence of testing activities


Knowledge Modelling: A Sample Ontology

Limits

Integrals

Series

Derivatives

Analysis

RR

RSO

B

B

B

B

MT1 MT2 MT3 MT4 MT5 MT6

LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 First Level

Third Level

Second Level


Personalised Learning path creation

● The teacher fixes target concepts

● IWT creates learning path (the sequence of concepts) removing what the student knows

● IWT creates the course (the sequence of resources) respecting their learning preferences

Limits

Integrals

Series

Derivates

Analysis

RR

R

OS

S

S

S

S

Limits IntegralsDerivates

Theorem--------------------

Explaining--------------------

Test---- x---- o---- x


What’s Really New in IWT?

IWT Domain Platforms They offer resources and services to facilitate e-learning in a

specific domain

Available Domain Platforms:

Domain Platform for Simulation and Virtual Scientific Experiments: integrates simulation environments and 2D and 3D rendering engines

Domain Platform for Mathematics and Science: integrates numeric and symbolic computation engines


Examples of usage of IWT Domain Platforms

IWT Domain Platforms

Simulation Simulation modelsmodels

Simulation Simulation ViewerViewer

Mathematical Mathematical Analysis Analysis ExerciseExercise


IWT Resources and Services: MS ConferenceXP integration

Audio

Video

Slide Feedback

“Live” material is stored and assembled in a learning object REUSABLE in synchronous events


ConferenceXP integration in IWT the idea

AudioVideo

Slide Feedback

To integrate into a Learning Object(CXPLesson) resources created by ConferenceXP during a live lessonThis Learning Object could be included together with other

resources within a course delivered by the platform


ConferenceXP: Integration in IWTLesson delivery


Examples of access through different devices

IWT Device Independence

HandheldsHandheldsSmart PhonesSmart Phones

Extensibiliy and Customisability


IWT Grid-Aware What it is?

– It is an extensible, open, distributed and service oriented framework for building learning solutions

– It is compliant with the Open Grid Service Architecture (OGSA) and based upon the Web Services Resource Framework (WSRF) infrastructure

Why IWT Grid-Aware?– It could be a fundamental component for the implementation of a learning

paradigm shift where learning is a social activity consumed in communications and collaborations

based dynamic Virtual Communities learners, through direct experiences, create and share their knowledge in a

contextualised and personalised way– Services and resources can be selected and provided on the basis of their

characteristics and taking into account quality aspects– Openness and standards of the OGSA model allow an easy integration of

services and contents (no need for plug-in mechanism)– Improvement of scalability, computational power, storage capabilities, …


IWT Grid-Aware - Architecture


IWT Grid-Aware – Key aspects of refactoring of each layer 1/3 Data layer

– two OGSA Data Services (DS) to virtualize the two storage mechanisms of IWT:

DataBase DS to virtualize the IWT DB Repository DS to virtualize the Object Repository

– Based on recommendations of the OGSA-DAIS WG Infrastructure layer

– composed by two sets of services: IWT Base services providing the functionalities of IWT

– Content management, accounting and group, resource and permission, user profile, …

Core OGSA Services providing functionalities to manage a VO– Service and resource location, dynamic instantiation, service compositions,

…

– Both the sets rely upon WS-Standards (WSDL, SOAP, WS-Addressing) and interfaces and behaviors specified by WSRF


IWT Grid-Aware – Key aspects of refactoring of each layer 2/3 Learning Services layer

– provides some services specific for the learning domain (e.g. LIA and CBR) that rely upon the functionalities of Infrastructure and Data layers

– provides services to completely manage a particular type of resources more or less complex such as learning object (LO), courses, etc.. These services are named Drivers

– main features of a Driver: transient and stateful implementing the interfaces and behaviors of

WSRF able to generate events implementing the interfaces and behaviors

of WS-Notification able to produce GUI implementing the behaviors of Web Services

for Remote Portlets (WSRP)– two kinds of Driver:

Simple Driver to manage simple resources (e.g. passive LO) Composed Drivers to manage aggregated resources (e.g. a course,

that is aggregation of passive LOs)– obtained by orchestration of Simple Drivers acting on the atomic resources


IWT Grid-Aware – Key aspects of refactoring of each layer 3/3

Application layer– No substantial changes

redesign of the IWT Portal to allow aggregation of the GUIs produced by the Drivers implementing the behaviors of WSRP Consumer

Security– managed in all the architecture’s layers

Single Sign On (SSO) secure communication among the services based on

VO policies adoption of WS-Security


Contacts and Further Info

Info about IWTwww.momanet.it/iwt

[email protected]

Info About this Talk

[email protected]


We don’t reject the traditional “information transfer” approach

– Passive activities

It Needs to be complemented with active activities facilitating knowledge construction

– Decide on actions needed to achieve a given goal– Reflect on the feedback on their actions– Adapt their actions on the basis of reflection– Experiment to achieve a goal – Discuss what they are doing– Articulate their understanding of what is happening



Resources and services in IWT IWT Resource

– Abstraction for content (atomic) or experience (workflow)

– Managed by document drivers

– Examples: doc, audio file, course, etc.

IWT Service

– Abstraction for Infrastructure/Additional/Application services

– Managed by base services, plug-in and plug-in drivers

– Examples: messaging, math-engine, chat, forum, videoconference etc.

t eacher

Documents

learning path

constructivist learning

emerging learning scenarios

elearning solutionsour

learningthe focus

presenting contents

oriented teaching

active agent