DECAD - Methodology of Open Learning and Distance Education in Tehnology and Engineering
Researcher: Göran Karlsson
Sponsor: COMETT II
In this project systems for education and education material has been developed to train and inform those responsible for continuing education about distance education and open learning. Within DECAD the development work was performed within modules. During autumn 1993 the five developed modules have been given as a course. Parallel to that DECAD also has run seminars and special courses during the development period. The DECAD courses are divided into five modules which are connected but may be taken independently.
Module 1: Open Learning and Distance Education for Competence Development; Module 2: The Process of Planning for Competence Development by Means of Open Learning and Distance Education; Module 3: Techniques for Distance Education and Computer Based Training Packages: Multimedia; Module 4: Organization and Competence Development Ð Implementation and Evaluation; Module 5: Techniques for Distance Education and Computer Based Training Packages: Computer Mediated Communication (CMC).
The following areas are covered:
Continuing education.
Distance education.
Open and flexible learning.
Learning theories.
Planning and realizing training.
Need of training in an organizational context.
Process of strategic planning, implementing and evaluating competence
development. Different media for distance education an open and flexible
learning. Advantages and short-comings of different media according to
technology, use and costs Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in a
learning perspective.
This development has been carried out in cooperation with several industrial and international partners; the total number of course and seminar participants during the project period (3 years) is 127.
Publications: 90, Eight booklets, several case booklets, two video tapes and two computer instructional programs have been developed; since most of the production has been performed by the other project partners this material is not listed in section 7.3.
SISYFOS
Researcher: Göran Karlsson, Ian Cohen, Christer Nyberg
Sponsors: (The Swedish) Council for the Renewal of Undergraduate Education
Interactive hypermedia use will lead to an epistemological quality raising since in that way students independence in planning, knowledge acquisition and problem solving might be facilitated and since at the same time tutorial supervision and guidance can be included. Hypermedia have possibilities to provide students with large information quantities. With network interfacing learning can take place independent of time and place and individualized education will be possible. Combined with CMC (Computer Mediated Communication) and educational software the student has a tool for life long education within a virtual classroom.
The aim of SISYFOS is also to cooperate with other environments and projects within and outside Sweden to (i) create efficient production environments; (ii) disseminate information about the potential of computer aided learning (CAL) for higher education; (iii) inform about the project development work; (iv) evaluate and disseminate information about existing software.
During the spring of 1994 simulations using Interactive Physics II have been demonstrated at most plenary lectures of mechanics basic course for chemists (at 12 of 18 lectures). Sometimes demonstrations have been done at class excercise hours. About 50 application files have been constructed: Ball trajectories without and with air resistance, moment of forces, sliding of vectors along line of action, planetary motion, work, conservative and non-conservative forces, equilibrium, constraints. A portable Macintosh 180 with LCD screen on OH porjector has been used.
Together with University of Växjö about 20 files for a falling bar and inverted double pendela on a sliding car have been developed for different initial conditions and systems designs. This material is developed to use in distance education in automatic control using Hyperbook (developed at University of Växjö) and within the SISYFOS project.
This project is carried out in cooperation with scientists at Dept. of Physics at KTH and scientists at the universities of Lund and Växjö in Sweden. The project continues for another year and an extension of it continues from 1994/95 in the project FLIP - Flexible Learning in Physics and Mechanics which also includes scientists from University of Stockholm (department of Physics) and University of Plymouth, UK.
Publications: 30,93,94,95
Establishing an information system and distance work network
Researcher: Göran Karlsson
Sponsors: NUTEK and DELTA
A national information system (FirstClass BBS from SoftArc Inc.) has been set up at KTH and telephone and Internet connections to similar systems in the other Nordic countries, to the central Nordic server in Nyköping and to the Open university in UK has been established. Similar connections are under configuration to Swedish nodes. The goal is to facilitae efficient information flow between all involved parties within the DELTA project NORDIC Information Broker Initiative. The network will also be set up and configured so it will be capable to function as a distance work arena for different grouping within the NORDIC project and thereby reduce the travel time or meetings among project staff as well as for other involved parties. The system also include fax/voice processing of client interfaces. Due to the developing Internet interface of FirstClass new interfaces information systems (Gopher, WWW, WAIS) will be added during the course of the project.
This project is Work Package 5A of the DELTA project (within the 3rd framework programme) NORDIC Information Broker Initiative: The intention of the project is to develop, through a concerted action programme within the Nordic countries, national and regional nodes for DELTA-related information brokerage and partnership support. The project also aims at facilitating information dissemination and experience exchange through seminars, workshops, and information exchange events on on-going DELTA initiatives. Within the project several educational software houses, UETPs (University Enterprise Training Partnership within the COMETT programme) and information broker companies participate.