Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Location-aware application ns need not only rapid location-related query, but also proactive spatial event service, both of which the traditional database system does not excel at. Aiming at the deficiencies of database system, we present a light-weighted proactive spatial service model for Smart Classroom: ASMod. This model adopts such new technologies as combined spatial index, refreshing-up & suspension-notification service process method and smart active update policy. Consequently it can not only proactively provide spatial event service, but also offer more efficient location-related query service than database system. Besides, it is facilely integrated into a multi-agent system, which makes it convenient to be applied into Smart Classroom.

Today, computers and Internet technology have an established presence in higher education. Most of the universities and tertiary institutions have enhanced their classroom courses with online learning systems. It takes time to familiarize people with any young technology and there is no exemption for the academic. This case study provides an in-depth understanding on the implementation of an e-learning platform in a post-secondary college for its first year adoption. Traditional systems are often slow to change and subject to various existing constraints. The study especially emphasizes on investigating the student adoption of this web-based learning system and seeks to find out the crucial factors influencing student adoption. It appeared that there was resistance to accept the new technology by the teaching staff and the students. Lecturers have been unable to find effective ways to use the system in their courses and students have encountered problems in using the system.

In the context of higher education, the current manual system of allocating labs to students is not only time consuming but is also inefficient and inconvenient. In this paper, we present a web-based lab administration system, ALIAS, which provides a flexible and comprehensive tool to assist e-learning. The tool solves most, if not all, problems related to the administration of lab allocation. It also provides functions that cannot be achieved manually, such as the multiple lab allocation strategies. These strategies make the system flexible and comprehensive. This innovative tool not only enriches student experience through interactive learning but also assists both the student and staff in making the process less time consuming; the end result is higher efficiency and more time for academic learning.

This paper presents an online authoring system that allows users to create interactive course content and course structure on the Internet in a fast and easy way without any programming knowledge. The underlying CMS (Content Management System) provides the flexibility of XML-based application interface to publish content for Flash courseware or other online learning systems such as WebCT. An extensive library of Flash Templates is provided for course presentation and interactivity. With the templates and the CMS, this online authoring system allows minimum course development efforts from tutors and delivers interesting learning experience to students. In this paper, a primary school courseware is developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system.

Nowadays e-learning is playing an important role in remote education, group training and tertiary education. In this paper, we first address the importance and functionality of e-learning in modern education; we then present an e-learning tool—network teaching platform ETP, which is implemented by techniques of J2EE, analyze the system functionality, and give the details of system design. Our practice shows that the platform is functionally stable for practical usage.

In this paper, we describe a web based virtual classroom environment, called WTS (Web-based Teaching Support), to enhance classroom based residential teaching and learning. WTS implements an online view of physical classrooms with the “desks” and “seats”. Teaching information associated with “classrooms” is managed by a database system. WTS also includes such capabilities as online attendance check, personalized notification for course participants, as well as a variety of tools to facilitate lecture preparation and post-lecture processing for teachers. We discuss the main design issues and the implementation details. We also evaluate its usefulness by analysis of real-world teaching data.

The increasing popularity of online courses has highlighted the lack of collaborative tools for student groups. In addition, the introduction of lecture videos into the online curriculum has drawn attention to the disparity in the network resources used by students. We present an e-Learning architecture and adaptation model called AITV (Adaptive Internet Interactive Team Video), which allows virtual students, possibly some or all disadvantaged in network resources, to collaboratively view a video in synchrony. AITV upholds the invariant that each student will view semantically equivalent content at all times. Video player actions, like play, pause and stop, can be initiated by any student and their results are seen by all the other students. These features allow group members to review a lecture video in tandem, facilitating the learning process. Experimental trials show that AITV can successfully synchronize video for distributed students while, at the same time, optimizing the video quality, given fluctuating bandwidth, by adaptively adjusting the quality level for each student.

This paper demonstrates an attempt to implement a training platform for marine education and training on the web. A 3D Web virtual training environment for marine education and training is created by re-using high fidelity shiphandling simulation software from existing marine simulators, combining e-learning tools and distributed virtual environment technology. The paper focuses on the 3D modeling, the creation of 3D worlds, the interaction design and the user interface layout of this system. A real-time interactive VR marine environment is critical to this training system. However, 3D multi-user online training on the web is a real challenge for the low network bandwidth and high network latency, which will certainly affect the interactivity of training. Many approaches are employed to optimize the usage of network bandwidth and to minimize the effect of network latency, such as LOD and image-based impostor (billboard) modeling technique, dead reckoning algorithm, partition the VE into areas of interest (AOI) and 2D visibility culling. Finally, a prototype system is implemented based on VRML and Java cooperation.

We previously developed a collaborative virtual environment (CVE) for small-group virtual classrooms, intended for distance learning by geographically dispersed students. The CVE employs a P2P approach to the frequent real-time updates to the 3D virtual worlds required by avatar movements (fellow students in the same room). This paper focuses on our extensions to support group viewing of lecture videos, called VECTORS, for Video Enhanced Collaboration for Team Oriented Remote Synchronization. VECTORS supports viewing of lecture videos, so the students all see “the same thing at the same time”, and can pause, rewind, etc. in synchrony while discussing the lecture via “chat”. We are particularly concerned with the needs of the technologically disenfranchised, e.g., whose only Internet access if via dialup networking. Thus VECTORS employs semantically compressed videos with meager bandwidth requirements.

There is increasing recognition of the need for laboratory experience that is through these experiences that students could deepen their understanding of the conceptual material, especially for the science and engineering courses. Virtual Experiment has advantages over physical laboratory at many aspects. Nowadays virtual experiments are mostly stand-alone applications without standard interface, which are difficult to reuse. Moreover it is a challenging for compute and data intensive virtual instruments to be reasonably responsive. In this paper, we propose a virtual experiment model based on novel grid service technology. In this model we employ two-layered virtual experiment services to provide cheap and efficient distributed virtual experiment solution. This model could reuse not only virtual instruments but also compositive virtual experiments. In order to reuse successfully-deployed virtual experiment, we advance a uniform schema to describe a virtual experiment plan and process.