Finding suitable ways to achieve particular learning goals is not an easy task, both in initial e... more Finding suitable ways to achieve particular learning goals is not an easy task, both in initial education and lifelong learning. To facilitate selection, personalisation and navigation of learning paths we propose to describe learning paths in a formal and uniform way by means of a learning path specification. This paper explains the rationale behind the Learning Path Specification. Based on a framework developed for the evaluation of the specification the paper describes a study that was carried out to establish pragmatic quality, i.e. whether stakeholders can understand and use the specification. The paper explores the relationship between the concepts pragmatic quality, usability, and desirability, and distinguishes first-order and secondorder pragmatic quality, relating it to different stakeholders: software developers and end-users. First-order pragmatic quality of the Learning Path Specification was evaluated during the process of developing a tool that describes learning paths according to the specification: the Learning Path Editor. Second-order pragmatic quality was evaluated through workshop sessions with end-users involving some hands-on experiences with this tool. The paper describes adaptations made to the specification in the process of developing the Editor. Enduser evaluations were quite positive, leading to one more adaptation.
International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals, 2014
These informal activities contribute to the development of self-regulated learning that can help ... more These informal activities contribute to the development of self-regulated learning that can help productivity in different environments. As this kind of apprentices grow, the need to keep track of this developed knowledge is becoming vital. This paper presents a study on the perception and usage of a tool that would help keeping track of learners' informal learning. This study was conducted both within academic and professional contexts and was developed within the European Commission funded TRAILER project. The contexts were similar regarding the importance and perception of informal learning, but differed concerning tool usage and the usefulness of such a platform. The overall idea of managing one's informal learning was well accepted and welcomed, which validated the emerging need for a tool with this purpose.
Informal Learning is present in everyone's life but its awareness only recently has been reported... more Informal Learning is present in everyone's life but its awareness only recently has been reported. The need to keep track of the knowledge acquired this way is increasing as its sources diversity also increases. This work presents the pilots trials on the use of a tool developed to help keeping track of the learners' informal learning, within a number of companies spread out in three countries. This tool developed through the European Commission funded project TRAILER, is still under development, which will allow integrating the set of improving suggestions obtained from users during the piloting phase. The overall idea of managing one's informal learning was well accepted and welcomed, which validated the emerging need for a tool with this purpose.
Proceedings of the First International Conference on Technological Ecosystem for Enhancing Multiculturality - TEEM '13, 2013
ABSTRACT Informal Learning plays an important role in everyone's life and yet we ofte... more ABSTRACT Informal Learning plays an important role in everyone's life and yet we often are unaware of it. The need to keep track of the knowledge acquired through informal learning is increasing as its sources become increasingly diverse. This paper presents a study on a tool developed to help keeping track of learners' informal learning, both within academic and professional contexts, This tool, developed within the European Commission funded TRAILER project, will further integrate the improvements suggested by users during the piloting phase.
The evolution of new technology and its increasing use, has for some years been making the existe... more The evolution of new technology and its increasing use, has for some years been making the existence of informal learning more and more transparent, especially among young and older adults in both Higher Education and workplace contexts. However, the nature of formal and non-formal, coursebased, approaches to learning has made it hard to accommodate these informal processes satisfactorily. The project aims to facilitate first the identification by the learner (as the last responsible of the learning process), and then the recognition by the institution, in dialogue with the learner, of this learning. To do so a methodology and a technological framework to support it have been implemented. This project have been tested in several context and it is possible to say that an informal learning dialogue between learners and people in chargé of the institutions is possible
International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals (IJHCITP), 2014
Even though informal learning plays an important role in everyone's life, not everyone is aware o... more Even though informal learning plays an important role in everyone's life, not everyone is aware of its importance. These informal activities contribute to the development of self-regulated learning that can help productivity in different environments. As this kind of apprentices grow, the need to keep track of this developed knowledge is becoming vital. This paper presents a study on the perception and usage of a tool that would help keeping track of learners’ informal learning. This study was conducted both within academic and professional contexts and was developed within the European Commission funded TRAILER project. The contexts were similar regarding the importance and perception of informal learning, but differed concerning tool usage and the usefulness of such a platform. The overall idea of managing one’s informal learning was well accepted and welcomed, which validated the emerging need for a tool with this purpose.
People do not learn only in formal educational institutions, but also throughout their lives, fro... more People do not learn only in formal educational institutions, but also throughout their lives, from their experiences, conversations, observations of others, exploration of the Internet, meetings and conferences, and chance encounters etc. However this informal and non-formal learning can easily remain largely invisible, making it hard for peers and employers to recognize or act upon it. The TRAILER project aims to make this learning visible so that it can benefit both the individual and the organization. The proposed demonstration will show a software solution that (i) helps the learners to capture, organize and classify a wide range of 'informal' learning taking place in their lives, and (ii) assists the organization in recognizing this learning and use it to help managing human resources (benefiting both parts). This software tool has recently been used in two phases of pilot studies, which have run in four different European countries.
Proceedings of the Workshop on Solutions that Enhance Informal Learning Recognition (WEILER 2013). Co-located with 8th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2013)
The evolution of new technology and its increasing use, has for some years been making the existe... more The evolution of new technology and its increasing use, has for some years been making the existence of informal learning more and more transparent, especially among young and older adults in both Higher Education and workplace contexts. However, the nature of formal and non-formal, coursebased, approaches to learning has made it hard to accommodate these informal processes satisfactorily. The project aims to facilitate first the identification by the learner (as the last responsible of the learning process), and then the recognition by the institution, in dialogue with the learner, of this learning. To do so a methodology and a technological framework to support it have been implemented. This project have been tested in several context and it is possible to say that an informal learning dialogue between learners and people in chargé of the institutions is possible.
Proceedings of the First International Conference on Technological Ecosystem for Enhancing Multiculturality (TEEM'13)
Informal Learning plays an important role in everyone's life and yet we often are unaware of it. ... more Informal Learning plays an important role in everyone's life and yet we often are unaware of it. The need to keep track of the knowledge acquired through informal learning is increasing as its sources become increasingly diverse. This paper presents a study on a tool developed to help keeping track of learners’ informal learning, both within academic and professional contexts, This tool, developed within the European Commission funded TRAILER project, will further integrate the improvements suggested by users during the piloting phase. The two studied contexts were similar regarding the importance and perception of Informal Learning, but differed concerning tool usage. The overall idea of managing one’s informal learning was well accepted and welcomed, which validated the emerging need for a tool with this purpose.
Since the publication of the IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) specification in 2003 many initiatives ... more Since the publication of the IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) specification in 2003 many initiatives have been undertaken to build authoring tools that are simple enough to be used by non-technical instructors and teachers. IMS LD’s technical complexity is believed to be a major burden for the adoption of the specification. We have developed a new approach for course authoring and delivery that hides most of the complexities and is powerful enough to create highly flexible online courses. Key aspects in this approach are (1) integration of IMS LD authoring and delivery tools in order to enable teachers to adapt courses in runtime, (2) the use of templates to standardize aspects of the learning design. This article reports on the research and development of this approach, as well as a first implementation by the Open University of the Netherlands as part of an integrated e-learning system.
Following earlier studies aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of digital competence through a... more Following earlier studies aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of digital competence through a review of literature and current digital competence frameworks, this paper focuses on experts’ views on digital competence. It describes the results of a Delphi study investigating experts’ ideas on what it means to be digitally competent today. The study involved two online consultations, one directed at gathering individual ideas and one directed at validating the aggregated mapping of digital competence, established through various qualitative and quantitative data analysis steps. The paper describes and discusses the final results from the Delphi study involving 95 experts from across Europe and beyond. Results indicate that digital competence is built up of knowledge, skills, and attitudes pertaining to twelve different areas. Besides, results show that several issues of debate can be identified when it comes to establishing the boundaries of digital competence.
Abstract Open and distance learning (ODL) gives learners freedom of time, place and pace of study... more Abstract Open and distance learning (ODL) gives learners freedom of time, place and pace of study, putting learner self-direction centre-stage. However, increased responsibility should not come at the price of over-burdening or abandonment of learners as they progress along their learning journey. This paper introduces an approach to recommending the sequencing of e-learning modules for distance learners based on self-organization theory.
Page 1. Leernetwerken Peter Sloep Marcel van der Klink Francis Brouns Jan van Bruggen Wim Diddere... more Page 1. Leernetwerken Peter Sloep Marcel van der Klink Francis Brouns Jan van Bruggen Wim Didderen Houten 2011 Page 2.
The European TENCompetence Integrated Project (TENCompetence, 2005) focuses on building an infras... more The European TENCompetence Integrated Project (TENCompetence, 2005) focuses on building an infrastructure for lifelong learning. This entails for instance development of tools to support lifelong learners in finding suitable ways to develop themselves professionally or personally, in a formal educational setting or informally etcetera. A learning path can be defined as a set of one or more learning actions that help to achieve particular learning goals.
This report describes the TENCompetence project, present and future, in terms of goals and proces... more This report describes the TENCompetence project, present and future, in terms of goals and processes, activities and resources and investigates what organisational models are most adequate to realise the goal of transformation. It provides a descriptive model of the structures and control processes to be used in the TENCompetence organisation and identifies three different membership roles: subscribers, associate partners and full members.
New research drawing on theories of self-organisation and trail formation in social insects sugge... more New research drawing on theories of self-organisation and trail formation in social insects suggests an alternative to traditional design processes in e-learning. This short paper provides an introduction to this promising area, describes results from initial experimentation with the techniques and suggests a number of topics for further research.
Open and Distance Learning (ODL) gives learners freedom of time, place and pace of study, putting... more Open and Distance Learning (ODL) gives learners freedom of time, place and pace of study, putting learner self-direction centre-stage. However, increased responsibility should not come at the price of over-burdening or abandonment of learners as they progress along their learning journey. This paper introduces an approach to wayfinding support for distance learners based on self-organisation theory.
This deliverable reports on work carried out in TENCompetence work package 10, Dissemination and ... more This deliverable reports on work carried out in TENCompetence work package 10, Dissemination and Valorisation between months 13 and 30. Dissemination, as a subcomponent of Valorisation, refers to any activities directed at raising awareness of the project aims and objectives, as well as its outcomes, to the wider community. The work outlined in this report corresponds to five principal areas in which the work package is active, as defined in the Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) 2 and DIP 3.
Studenten kunnen tegenwoordig kiezen uit een steeds groter aanbod van cursussen en trainingen, di... more Studenten kunnen tegenwoordig kiezen uit een steeds groter aanbod van cursussen en trainingen, die vaak in de vorm van losse modules op verschillende manieren aan elkaar geschakeld kunnen worden. Dit biedt veel voordelen maar vormt ook de basis voor een keuzeprobleem: wat is de meest effectieve weg naar mijn doel? Dit artikel beschrijft de software architectuur die is ontworpen om Life-Long-Learners te ondersteunen bij het kiezen van hun leerpad in een leernetwerk.
Based on preliminary evaluation results and peer review of the schema, a second iteration of the ... more Based on preliminary evaluation results and peer review of the schema, a second iteration of the Leaning Path Specification has evolved (ID7. 12). Its applicability and benefits are currently demonstrated by the development of a Learning Path Editor, which allows authors to create learning paths that are structured according to the learning path specification. These learning paths are used by the PDP Planning tool for presenting lifelong learners with a personal development plan that they can further edit toward their needs.
Finding suitable ways to achieve particular learning goals is not an easy task, both in initial e... more Finding suitable ways to achieve particular learning goals is not an easy task, both in initial education and lifelong learning. To facilitate selection, personalisation and navigation of learning paths we propose to describe learning paths in a formal and uniform way by means of a learning path specification. This paper explains the rationale behind the Learning Path Specification. Based on a framework developed for the evaluation of the specification the paper describes a study that was carried out to establish pragmatic quality, i.e. whether stakeholders can understand and use the specification. The paper explores the relationship between the concepts pragmatic quality, usability, and desirability, and distinguishes first-order and secondorder pragmatic quality, relating it to different stakeholders: software developers and end-users. First-order pragmatic quality of the Learning Path Specification was evaluated during the process of developing a tool that describes learning paths according to the specification: the Learning Path Editor. Second-order pragmatic quality was evaluated through workshop sessions with end-users involving some hands-on experiences with this tool. The paper describes adaptations made to the specification in the process of developing the Editor. Enduser evaluations were quite positive, leading to one more adaptation.
International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals, 2014
These informal activities contribute to the development of self-regulated learning that can help ... more These informal activities contribute to the development of self-regulated learning that can help productivity in different environments. As this kind of apprentices grow, the need to keep track of this developed knowledge is becoming vital. This paper presents a study on the perception and usage of a tool that would help keeping track of learners' informal learning. This study was conducted both within academic and professional contexts and was developed within the European Commission funded TRAILER project. The contexts were similar regarding the importance and perception of informal learning, but differed concerning tool usage and the usefulness of such a platform. The overall idea of managing one's informal learning was well accepted and welcomed, which validated the emerging need for a tool with this purpose.
Informal Learning is present in everyone's life but its awareness only recently has been reported... more Informal Learning is present in everyone's life but its awareness only recently has been reported. The need to keep track of the knowledge acquired this way is increasing as its sources diversity also increases. This work presents the pilots trials on the use of a tool developed to help keeping track of the learners' informal learning, within a number of companies spread out in three countries. This tool developed through the European Commission funded project TRAILER, is still under development, which will allow integrating the set of improving suggestions obtained from users during the piloting phase. The overall idea of managing one's informal learning was well accepted and welcomed, which validated the emerging need for a tool with this purpose.
Proceedings of the First International Conference on Technological Ecosystem for Enhancing Multiculturality - TEEM '13, 2013
ABSTRACT Informal Learning plays an important role in everyone's life and yet we ofte... more ABSTRACT Informal Learning plays an important role in everyone's life and yet we often are unaware of it. The need to keep track of the knowledge acquired through informal learning is increasing as its sources become increasingly diverse. This paper presents a study on a tool developed to help keeping track of learners' informal learning, both within academic and professional contexts, This tool, developed within the European Commission funded TRAILER project, will further integrate the improvements suggested by users during the piloting phase.
The evolution of new technology and its increasing use, has for some years been making the existe... more The evolution of new technology and its increasing use, has for some years been making the existence of informal learning more and more transparent, especially among young and older adults in both Higher Education and workplace contexts. However, the nature of formal and non-formal, coursebased, approaches to learning has made it hard to accommodate these informal processes satisfactorily. The project aims to facilitate first the identification by the learner (as the last responsible of the learning process), and then the recognition by the institution, in dialogue with the learner, of this learning. To do so a methodology and a technological framework to support it have been implemented. This project have been tested in several context and it is possible to say that an informal learning dialogue between learners and people in chargé of the institutions is possible
International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals (IJHCITP), 2014
Even though informal learning plays an important role in everyone's life, not everyone is aware o... more Even though informal learning plays an important role in everyone's life, not everyone is aware of its importance. These informal activities contribute to the development of self-regulated learning that can help productivity in different environments. As this kind of apprentices grow, the need to keep track of this developed knowledge is becoming vital. This paper presents a study on the perception and usage of a tool that would help keeping track of learners’ informal learning. This study was conducted both within academic and professional contexts and was developed within the European Commission funded TRAILER project. The contexts were similar regarding the importance and perception of informal learning, but differed concerning tool usage and the usefulness of such a platform. The overall idea of managing one’s informal learning was well accepted and welcomed, which validated the emerging need for a tool with this purpose.
People do not learn only in formal educational institutions, but also throughout their lives, fro... more People do not learn only in formal educational institutions, but also throughout their lives, from their experiences, conversations, observations of others, exploration of the Internet, meetings and conferences, and chance encounters etc. However this informal and non-formal learning can easily remain largely invisible, making it hard for peers and employers to recognize or act upon it. The TRAILER project aims to make this learning visible so that it can benefit both the individual and the organization. The proposed demonstration will show a software solution that (i) helps the learners to capture, organize and classify a wide range of 'informal' learning taking place in their lives, and (ii) assists the organization in recognizing this learning and use it to help managing human resources (benefiting both parts). This software tool has recently been used in two phases of pilot studies, which have run in four different European countries.
Proceedings of the Workshop on Solutions that Enhance Informal Learning Recognition (WEILER 2013). Co-located with 8th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2013)
The evolution of new technology and its increasing use, has for some years been making the existe... more The evolution of new technology and its increasing use, has for some years been making the existence of informal learning more and more transparent, especially among young and older adults in both Higher Education and workplace contexts. However, the nature of formal and non-formal, coursebased, approaches to learning has made it hard to accommodate these informal processes satisfactorily. The project aims to facilitate first the identification by the learner (as the last responsible of the learning process), and then the recognition by the institution, in dialogue with the learner, of this learning. To do so a methodology and a technological framework to support it have been implemented. This project have been tested in several context and it is possible to say that an informal learning dialogue between learners and people in chargé of the institutions is possible.
Proceedings of the First International Conference on Technological Ecosystem for Enhancing Multiculturality (TEEM'13)
Informal Learning plays an important role in everyone's life and yet we often are unaware of it. ... more Informal Learning plays an important role in everyone's life and yet we often are unaware of it. The need to keep track of the knowledge acquired through informal learning is increasing as its sources become increasingly diverse. This paper presents a study on a tool developed to help keeping track of learners’ informal learning, both within academic and professional contexts, This tool, developed within the European Commission funded TRAILER project, will further integrate the improvements suggested by users during the piloting phase. The two studied contexts were similar regarding the importance and perception of Informal Learning, but differed concerning tool usage. The overall idea of managing one’s informal learning was well accepted and welcomed, which validated the emerging need for a tool with this purpose.
Since the publication of the IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) specification in 2003 many initiatives ... more Since the publication of the IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) specification in 2003 many initiatives have been undertaken to build authoring tools that are simple enough to be used by non-technical instructors and teachers. IMS LD’s technical complexity is believed to be a major burden for the adoption of the specification. We have developed a new approach for course authoring and delivery that hides most of the complexities and is powerful enough to create highly flexible online courses. Key aspects in this approach are (1) integration of IMS LD authoring and delivery tools in order to enable teachers to adapt courses in runtime, (2) the use of templates to standardize aspects of the learning design. This article reports on the research and development of this approach, as well as a first implementation by the Open University of the Netherlands as part of an integrated e-learning system.
Following earlier studies aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of digital competence through a... more Following earlier studies aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of digital competence through a review of literature and current digital competence frameworks, this paper focuses on experts’ views on digital competence. It describes the results of a Delphi study investigating experts’ ideas on what it means to be digitally competent today. The study involved two online consultations, one directed at gathering individual ideas and one directed at validating the aggregated mapping of digital competence, established through various qualitative and quantitative data analysis steps. The paper describes and discusses the final results from the Delphi study involving 95 experts from across Europe and beyond. Results indicate that digital competence is built up of knowledge, skills, and attitudes pertaining to twelve different areas. Besides, results show that several issues of debate can be identified when it comes to establishing the boundaries of digital competence.
Abstract Open and distance learning (ODL) gives learners freedom of time, place and pace of study... more Abstract Open and distance learning (ODL) gives learners freedom of time, place and pace of study, putting learner self-direction centre-stage. However, increased responsibility should not come at the price of over-burdening or abandonment of learners as they progress along their learning journey. This paper introduces an approach to recommending the sequencing of e-learning modules for distance learners based on self-organization theory.
Page 1. Leernetwerken Peter Sloep Marcel van der Klink Francis Brouns Jan van Bruggen Wim Diddere... more Page 1. Leernetwerken Peter Sloep Marcel van der Klink Francis Brouns Jan van Bruggen Wim Didderen Houten 2011 Page 2.
The European TENCompetence Integrated Project (TENCompetence, 2005) focuses on building an infras... more The European TENCompetence Integrated Project (TENCompetence, 2005) focuses on building an infrastructure for lifelong learning. This entails for instance development of tools to support lifelong learners in finding suitable ways to develop themselves professionally or personally, in a formal educational setting or informally etcetera. A learning path can be defined as a set of one or more learning actions that help to achieve particular learning goals.
This report describes the TENCompetence project, present and future, in terms of goals and proces... more This report describes the TENCompetence project, present and future, in terms of goals and processes, activities and resources and investigates what organisational models are most adequate to realise the goal of transformation. It provides a descriptive model of the structures and control processes to be used in the TENCompetence organisation and identifies three different membership roles: subscribers, associate partners and full members.
New research drawing on theories of self-organisation and trail formation in social insects sugge... more New research drawing on theories of self-organisation and trail formation in social insects suggests an alternative to traditional design processes in e-learning. This short paper provides an introduction to this promising area, describes results from initial experimentation with the techniques and suggests a number of topics for further research.
Open and Distance Learning (ODL) gives learners freedom of time, place and pace of study, putting... more Open and Distance Learning (ODL) gives learners freedom of time, place and pace of study, putting learner self-direction centre-stage. However, increased responsibility should not come at the price of over-burdening or abandonment of learners as they progress along their learning journey. This paper introduces an approach to wayfinding support for distance learners based on self-organisation theory.
This deliverable reports on work carried out in TENCompetence work package 10, Dissemination and ... more This deliverable reports on work carried out in TENCompetence work package 10, Dissemination and Valorisation between months 13 and 30. Dissemination, as a subcomponent of Valorisation, refers to any activities directed at raising awareness of the project aims and objectives, as well as its outcomes, to the wider community. The work outlined in this report corresponds to five principal areas in which the work package is active, as defined in the Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) 2 and DIP 3.
Studenten kunnen tegenwoordig kiezen uit een steeds groter aanbod van cursussen en trainingen, di... more Studenten kunnen tegenwoordig kiezen uit een steeds groter aanbod van cursussen en trainingen, die vaak in de vorm van losse modules op verschillende manieren aan elkaar geschakeld kunnen worden. Dit biedt veel voordelen maar vormt ook de basis voor een keuzeprobleem: wat is de meest effectieve weg naar mijn doel? Dit artikel beschrijft de software architectuur die is ontworpen om Life-Long-Learners te ondersteunen bij het kiezen van hun leerpad in een leernetwerk.
Based on preliminary evaluation results and peer review of the schema, a second iteration of the ... more Based on preliminary evaluation results and peer review of the schema, a second iteration of the Leaning Path Specification has evolved (ID7. 12). Its applicability and benefits are currently demonstrated by the development of a Learning Path Editor, which allows authors to create learning paths that are structured according to the learning path specification. These learning paths are used by the PDP Planning tool for presenting lifelong learners with a personal development plan that they can further edit toward their needs.
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Papers by José Janssen