The HoTEL Use Cases
Real-world needs, scenarios and use cases to inspire you!
Alice learning tool- Adaptive Learning via Intuitive/Interactive, Collaborative and Emotional systems
ALICE learning tool is the outcome of a project co-funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technology Development.
Project Number: 257639; Call (part) Identifier: FP7-ICT-2009-5; Funding Scheme: Collaborative Project. The partnership is composed by TU Graz, COVUNI, UOC, MOMA, CRMPA
It is aimed to define models, methodologies and prototype software components able to solve some of the most relevant problems of current e-learning systems and tools such as:
• Lack of Interaction: most of the times the only interaction available is to click on “next” button to step through the material presented
• Lack of Challenge: unchallenging material makes the learning experience unattractive and discourages progression
• Lack of Empowerment: the learner expects to control the learning experience, while, often, the learning experience controls and limits the learner
• Lack of Social Identity: the learner is often isolated from his/her peers reducing the collaboration and the learning achieved through social interaction.
ALICE learning tool enhances current e-learning platforms and systems by providing an integrated solution leveraging on collaborative learning, simulation and serious games, storytelling, affective and emotional approaches and new forms of assessment.
In ALICE the Intelligent Web Teacher technology and reference platform – IWT- takes care of services, tools, subsystems, interfaces, content and data involved in definition, delivery and reconfiguration of personalized learning experiences. IWT follows the principles of e-learning service-oriented architectures so its architecture is natively extensible.
The IWT Learner Intelligent Advisor (LIA) uses a Learner Profile in order to define a personalized learning activity workflow for a specific learner. The workflow definition also takes care of specific didactic methods selected with respect to the learning style of the learner. During the execution-phase, the personalized learning activity workflow is instantiated by the Delivery System that manages learning content, complex learning object, tools and services in a coordinated way in order to realize a Personalized Learning Experience. Furthermore, the Learner interacts with the Delivery System in order to advance with respect to the learning activity workflow, to assess his/her knowledge, to collaborate with other learners and so on. The Learner’s interactions are captured by the Delivery System interfaces and forwarded to the Profiling Service. The Profiling Service (by using the Learner Model) is able to update the right Learner Profile that is newly used in order to adapt the Personalized Learning Experience exploiting the learner’s feedbacks and behaviour.
ALICE results will enrich the IWT system itself. More in details, the set of available learning objects and complex learning objects will be extended with Storytelling C-LOs, Collaborative C-LOs and Simulations/Serious Games by instantiating the models defined in the ALICE project. Some C-LOs will need tools or support services. For instance, in order to create a Collaborative C-LO we need to extend collaboration tools and to provide specific authoring tools, while Simulations may need the computation provided by Symbolic Calculus Engines. Furthermore, authoring tools able to establish semantic connections between Learning Objects will be also released as project results.
The innovation was tested in the Secondary school and in the University and it could be “transferred” to the Corporate Learning Laboratory.
The main motivation that inspired the project was the observation of regular and casual use but often not really conscious of the technological tools by young people.
The realization by the students of audio/video podcast that describes the city of Asti.
Students, under the slogan of “Know, live and tell your own city”, run a number of activities:
• Realization of audio and video podcast related to geographical, historical, artistic, environmental and cultural aspects of the city
• Usage of the developed products to promote tourism
• Dissemination of the products through the realization of “guidance totems” placed in strategic points of the city
The project promotes a new learning culture able to foster the use of multimedia languages and communication technologies in school activities, with a critical and productive attitude. Moreover new styles of learning with ICT are promoted (acquisition of awareness in the technology use) and it promotes search and learning by doing, not only the attainment of good school results. The idea is to integrate traditional knowledge transmission in classroom settings with new practices of shared collaboration and networking, going beyond the usual teaching activity, and to start a process of cultural mediation able to catch every learning occasion (formal and informal) putting young people at the centre main character of the learning process through the development of today required competences.
The innovation could be “transferred” to the higher education sector, in the field of tourism or cultural studies. It should be tested in the HE Laboratory.