In
Global Peace Through The Global University System
2003 Ed. by T. Varis, T. Utsumi, and W. R. Klemm
University of Tampere,
Hameenlinna, Finland
HUMAN LEARNING AS
A GLOBAL CHALLENGE:
EUROPEAN LEARNING GRID INFRASTRUCTURE
Colin Allison, Stefano A.
Cerri, Matteo Gaeta, Pierluigi Ritrovato, and Saverio Salerno
University of St. Andrews, Universite Montpellier II, University of Salerno
Abstract
The purpose
of this paper is to describe the E-LeGI (European Learning GRID Infrastructure)
Project
[1]
. E-LeGI has the ambitious goal of
developing software technologies for effective human learning and promoting and
supporting a learning paradigm shift.
A new paradigm focused on knowledge construction using experiential
based and collaborative learning approaches in a contextualised, personalised
and ubiquitous way will replace the current information transfer paradigm,
which is based on content, and on the key authoritative figure of the teacher
who provides information. We have chosen a synergistic approach, sometimes called "human-centred design", to replace the classical, applicative approach to learning. As humans are at its centre, learning
is clearly a social, constructive phenomenon. It occurs as a side effect of interactions, conversations
and enhanced presence in dynamic virtual communities. The new paradigm will be explored through the use of
experimental research concepts integrating new powerful developments of
services in the Semantic GRID, the leading edge of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs), with highly innovative and powerfully
significant scenarios of human learning.
The E-LeGI project has three
main objectives:
1)
To
study and define new models of human centred learning enabling ubiquitous and
collaborative learning, merging experiential, personalised, and contextualised
approaches.
2)
To
study, design and implement an advanced service-oriented Grid-based software
architecture for learning. This
will allow us to access and integrate different technologies, resources and
contents that are needed in order to realise the new paradigm outlined in
Objective 1.
3)
Within
the context of a single Integrated Project, we will research, develop, deploy,
validate, and evaluate the GRID-based software architecture for learning and
the human-centred approaches, through the use of SEES (Service Elicitation and
Exploitation Scenarios).
The Vision
E-LeGI is concerned with
developing and demonstrating a technical infrastructure able to support future
learning scenarios. Briefly, the infrastructure must support communities, realism, collaborative working, formal and informal learning, new effective pedagogies, and provide access modes that are adaptable to any users' personal needs, including their current location, their current interface device, their learning preferences and special physical needs.
This
section attempts to convey a feel for what the range and depth of a future
scenario may look like.
An Example Scenario - Learning About the Weather
Most of us
have an interest in the weather.
Given the opportunity (time and other resources) we would like to learn
more. So consider a community of learners who are all interested in learning about the weather - they look to the learning Grid for resources and a route to personal achievement.
The community
consists of a wide variety of members who have potentially very different
personal circumstances. They are
spread across different parts of Europe.
They speak different languages.
Some are from highly developed areas, some are from relatively deprived
regions. Some have special
learning and physical needs. All
members have access to a flexible set of high-quality learning resources,
provided as services.
As they are
a community they all have access to collaboration tools, allowing for mediated group
formation, group awareness, group selection and a choice of group communication
facilities, which transparently deal with language and special needs barriers.
The
community naturally devolves into groups.
Some are long-lived, some are transient, some overlap, some are mutually
exclusive, some are sponsored, some are essential, most are optional.
Some
members have access to the resources from their own home or work place, others
may need to attend a local facility, some use sophisticated interfaces capable
of immersive Virtual Reality, some use simple multimedia computers, some use
disposable handheld devices, some enjoy the facility of ambient intelligence in
their immediate environment.
Some
learners are fully committed to using a specific collection of the available
resources that have been grouped into a learning environment by a collection of
institutions that offer a prescribed set of learning goals with
accreditation. Others are pursuing
this area of study as part of their work skills improvement or simply out of
interest (quality of life).
All learners potentially have a
learning profile. This includes
learning preferences, special needs, prior accreditation and details of
personal circumstances that may be useful to the learning environment (if
revealed). The learning profile
and identity of each member is guaranteed privacy and integrity. It is dynamically maintained by the
infrastructure with regard to group membership, resource allocation and other
aspects. Trust contracts are of
course necessary for accreditation and miscellaneous other interactions.
Realism is
brought into the study environment by allowing learners to attempt their own
weather forecasting. A service
routinely provides remote sensing data for various regions across the
world. The data provided by the "learning" services has actually been filtered and formatted by processes created by experts to make it suitable for learners. Another service allows access to banks of super computers
and programs, which can analyse the data.
Groups of learners within the community select specific regions (from a
pool of geographic areas chosen by subject-specialists for their educational
attributes) to focus on and make their own weather predictions. Groups can compare the success of their
predictions with those of the established professional services behind public
media forecasts. They can compare
their success with other groups.
They can compare their success against the region being analysed. They can also delve into data banks for
historical patterns in order to test their understanding. The possibilities are large.
Realism is
also brought into the study environment by types of sophisticated simulation
that are predicated upon advanced technological infrastructure. Aspects of meteorology require the
understanding of physical processes that are difficult (or impossible) to
demonstrate by real experiment. In
this case Virtual Scientific Experiments and Immersive Virtual Reality can be
provided for the learners to help understand these processes, and digital
library content showing the manifestation of these processes e.g., sun spots,
cloud formation, can be selected.
At the same time, areas of mathematics and computing are also necessary
to understand the models used in meteorology. Accordingly, learning resources, which focus on the specific
areas of math and computing needed for weather models, are provided.
Some
members of the community are less pro-active with regard to forecasting but
follow the predictions closely through low-bandwidth mobile devices. They make observations and inform other
interested members.
Some
members see this as a long term study commitment, while others are only
planning on taking part for a few days, to get a feel for the business process
of forecasting and the schedules and resources involved.
Group
discussions are a routine feature.
This allows for division of labour and peer-mediated learning. Minimal delay means that a distributed
group can have an enhanced face-to-face meeting for discussion purposes. Simultaneous language translation,
where required, is transparent.
Tutors can
attend group discussions, offer advice, recommend assessment exercises and
levels, and if necessary identify and move disruptive or inappropriate members
to different learning situations.
Tutors enjoy predicate based monitoring of student progress - only special cases are immediately brought to their attention. Some learners are not associated with any tutor.
Experts
(real or virtual) may also be called in by a group when it wishes to understand
some very specific feature of the subject of study, and when the group has
demonstrated it is ready to benefit from expert intervention.
Advancing
Technology Enhanced Learning in Europe
The overall
aim of the project is to radically advance the effective use of
technology-enhanced learning in Europe through the design, implementation and
validation of a pedagogy-driven, service-oriented software architecture for
supporting ubiquitous, collaborative, experiential-based and contextualised
learning. Previous projects which
have set out to improve learning through novel technology have often failed to
leave any significant mark because they did not give priority to the social,
economic and technical perspectives of the key human actors. So, while the development and use of
appropriate technology must be pedagogically driven, at the same time those
involved in the formulation and evaluation of pedagogy must be made aware of, and
shown by demonstration, state-of-the-art technological possibilities. We address this pervasive learning
issue by explicitly listing the roles that actors play in the learning process
and illustrate with reference to future learning scenarios. This provides us with a focus for
formulating requirements in terms of didactical models, learning resources,
services, quality of service (QoS), and usability for end-users. It also provides a clear reference for the context of the project - open and flexible software architecture for creating learning environments that accommodate the roles implied by the new learning possibilities and that demonstrate state-of-the-art technology-enhanced learning.
Our approach to human learning considers it to be a side effect of interactions and conversations (dialogues) that are enabled, supported, or enhanced by technological services both when the human actor's intention is explicit and shared (as in the case of institutional teaching) and when it is implicit (as in the case in any other human collaborative activity). Similarly, we wish to address both measurable human learning - as when a certification of acquired knowledge and skills is expected to be issued on rational basis - as well as when it is not measurable - when motivation, enthusiasm and proactive initiative generates new, unforeseen learning events.
Pedagogical Goals and New Learning Modes
In order to
support the implementation of new learning modes related to ubiquitous,
collaborative, experiential and contextualised learning, it is necessary to
promote a paradigm shift in the general approach to teaching and learning.
Currently,
teaching and learning practices are based mainly on the information transfer paradigm. This focuses on content, and on the key authoritative figure
of the teacher that provides information.
Teachers' efforts are mainly devoted to find the best way for presenting content in order to transmit information to learners. This has been critically referred to as the "the hydraulic view of learning". It has its
roots in behaviourism, and even though it has enjoyed some success in special
circumstances, the approach is not generally effective, and therefore not
suitable for widespread adoption.
Unfortunately, this "product - teaching oriented view" finds its perfect technical mirror in the "page oriented approach to the Web" where the goal is to produce more and "better" static pages for the consumption of interested students. Learning is then
considered to be an activity, which helps teachers to produce, and students to
consume, multimedia books on the Web.
This paradigm has been popular in earlier e-Learning projects because it
is easy to implement with basic Internet facilities and it does not require any
change in the roles of the traditional actors. Its popularity is not due to its effectiveness.
The
information transfer paradigm is well understood and well supported by existing
e-Learning practice. In order to
advance effective learning we will promote another paradigm that focuses on the
learner and on new forms of learning.
In our approach the learner has an active and central role in the
learning process and the learning activities are aimed at facilitating the
construction of knowledge and skills in the learner, instead of the
memorisation of information.
Information transfer will still obviously exist in the new paradigm, but
only as a simple component, not the main goal. Accordingly we can say that the new paradigm subsumes the
old one in its displacement.
We are not
the first group to propose this approach: learning activities from the 1960s
based on Smalltalk, Dynabook and Logo started a debate between constructivists
and behaviourists. We believe that today - thanks to the emerging technologies - there is a much greater chance to succeed assuming that the human actors are sufficiently committed not just as users but as creators of new scenarios, particularly when attracted by goals and roles not necessarily linked to teaching.
Knowledge construction occurs through new forms of learning based on:
Furthermore, in our opinion, the collaborative approach is not in antithesis, but is complementary to a pure constructivist approach that considers human learning as an individual process.
Merging both approaches allows us to consider both the influence on
the learning process caused by the socio-cultural context and the autonomous
path followed by the learner.
It is clear for us that the learner's cognitive skills will improve with an increase in both the quantity and the quality of contexts where the learner acts. In this new scenario, the
meaning of collaboration becomes clearer. Indeed, as we consider human learning as a social process,
collaboration implies community membership, it means working together,
providing added value, sharing and executing tasks in order to reach a common
goal. Learning is no longer an isolated activity - it implies mutual trust, shared interests, common goals, commitments, obligations, exchanging of services, a genuinely proactive, motivated behaviour.
This
type of activity can be represented in different ways. Firstly, by using visual graph-like
knowledge representation formalisms such as ontologies, semantic networks and
conceptual graphs, (rather then opaque descriptive logic approaches);
secondly by using user-friendly annotation tools capable of extracting a
first approximation of syntactic and semantic information (metadata) directly
from the raw content (tools of this sort are under study with renewed impetus
in the era of the Semantic Web) and to let the user tune the obtained
representation.
Following the above outlined socio-constructivist contextualised learning approach (according to the current cognitivist approach), we will create contexts where the learner "achieves" knowledge and skills in an active way instead of simply storing information.
Communities will have the right to identify their goals, in terms of
knowledge and skills to be acquired, instead of just asking an authority to
define a curriculum for them.
Goals will therefore genuinely correspond to needs, and be highly dependent
on the local culture and its priorities.
According to this new learning
paradigm we consider realism as the cornerstone of the learning environment. For example, highly realistic virtual
scientific experiments have only recently become possible through use of
advanced technology. Innovative
aspects include the definition of a standard didactical model for the
achievement and representation of such experiments. In this type of model a learner is immersed in a specific
context, which through appropriate simulations, develops active learning
processes with progressive abstraction levels, leading to the construction of
their knowledge. In this learning mode the student can also receive the support of the other users (collaborative aspects) and from the comparison with them, s/he can build a new "mediated" knowledge.
The success of our project will
depend not only on the methodologies and tools for managing and representing
knowledge, (contents and interactive workflow of interactions), but must
address the need for these tools to be used by less technically competent
actors. Accordingly, our
ambition is to progress the autonomous construction of formalised, explicit knowledge by
unskilled users as far as the current (and the future) technologies will allow
it.
To
complement this freedom in knowledge construction, we allow the definition of
personalised and individualised learning paths. This means that in a specific context we need, from one side, to create learning conditions that are adequate for a learner's preferences (individualised learning) and, from the other, guarantee that the learner will reach a cognitive excellence through different learning paths according to their skills and knowledge. Accordingly, we will study and define specific models for
representing knowledge that takes learners preferred learning styles into
account. A beneficial result of
allowing learners the right to construct their own knowledge is that richer
and more diversified learning contexts can arise, necessitating the dynamic
integration of different kinds of information and communication
technologies. The dynamics of
intertwined, controlled and secure construction and use of subsequent
versions of our systems, by skilled as well as unskilled human actors, and of
the services enabling them, constitutes our methodological approach for
future effective developments to adaptive technology-enhanced solutions.
Socio-Cultural Issues
We
have analysed many scientific reports suggesting that in those less
favourable areas, the non-verticalised access to information by means of
Internet technologies has had an enormous beneficial effect on their durable
development, i.e., a social, cultural and economic development allowing local
empowerment and the preservation of biodiversity. In other words, the catalyzing factor for empowerment, the
generation of local businesses (mainly in agriculture and tourism) and the
preservation of cultural heritage including minority languages, has been
enabled by access to non-vertical information. Technology enhanced learning has emerged in those areas as
a side effect of wealth and the need for multiplying the human resources
available within a resurgent economical, social and cultural context. Easter Island is a prime example, but
there are many others, which we discuss elsewhere.
We
therefore conclude that we have strong scientific support in favour of our
view that the informed use of ICT has an important and beneficial impact in
its facilitation of unstructured, non-vertical information flows such as
those found in emerging communities, and that we may multiply its potential
within similar communities in Europe and elsewhere, encouraging, implementing
and supporting the spontaneous, autonomous development of human virtual
communities where learning occurs and is demonstrably highly effective even
in non-institutional contexts.
Ambient Intelligence
Finally, we believe that with the E-LeGI project a significant and concrete step towards the Ambient Intelligence vision envisaged by the ISTAG (Information Society and Technology Advisory Group) committee can be achieved. We will address the main aspects for introducing the Ambient Intelligence concept in the learning domain. We start from a socio-constructivist, personalised and contextualised learning-centred paradigm, trying to adapt the didactical approach to the learner's preferences and learning styles. This will be achieved through an extensive use of knowledge and semantic technologies for standardised representations, using ontology and metadata, domains and related contents as well as the learner's knowledge and related skills.
The pedagogical goals outlined above have highly demanding technical requirements. We believe that these can best be addressed by building on the open distributed service model that has evolved from the Grid. The Grid was originally designed for e-Science and was primarily concerned with supercomputing applications, but the framework it engendered to realise effective sharing of distributed heterogeneous resources (OGSA: the Open Grid Services Architecture) is now being applied to many other areas, especially enterprise computing and e-Commerce. Reciprocally, by progressing Grid technologies for learning, we will also contribute towards the advancement of the open Grid service model itself. We see the use of the Grid to support a paradigm shift in pedagogy to advance effective learning as a natural step in the recent historical progress of technology enhanced learning:
| 1960s | Plato, Dynabook, Smalltalk, Logo |
| 1970s | video-tape based interactive training; TV-based Open University lectures; on-line mainframe help systems |
| 1980s | the emergence of the personal computer; text-based computer self-learn systems; graphics-rich personal-computer based interactive learning tools for the sole learner e.g., HyperCard-based Maths tutors |
| 1990s | the Internet explosion and the Web; multimedia file types; interactive networked groupware and CSCW - Computer Supported Collaborative Work technologies (e-mail lists, bulletin boards, chat) used in educational contexts; emergence of interactive web-based learning environments; the Web as a vast repository of digitised lecture notes; the emergence of e-Learning as a manifestation of the information transfer paradigm |
| 2000s | Grid technologies - resources on tap; radical new technological possibilities for learning which go far beyond simple information transfer; the inclusion of pedagogy and use of state-of-the-art distributed technology for effective learning: the prototype European Learning Grid Infrastructure. |
The Internet is perhaps the most
transformative technology in history, reshaping business, media,
entertainment, and society in an astonishing way. Unfortunately, its basic best-effort, data-transfer nature has required substantial programming effort and significant software engineering expertise to achieve learning support systems that are anything more than content-repositories, e-mail, or bulletin board facilities.
The Web has added great value to the usability and accessibility of the Internet, through the standardisation of interfaces and multimedia tagging. This has resulted in a critical mass. However, it still has major inadequacies with respect its use for supporting effective learning: i) it lacks direct support for conversational threads, acting as a barrier to the formation of virtual communities; and ii) its static nature stands in opposition to the dynamic essence of information and knowledge.
Of course, impressive learning support systems have been constructed which work around these inadequacies and facilitate activities beyond the information transfer paradigm, and we certainly do not mean that it is impossible to build conversational and dynamic systems on the Web; on the contrary.What these statements underline is
that the creative and inventive exploitation of Internet and Web technologies
for effective learning is still the exception and we need a much
higher-level, and more appropriate, software architecture, and infrastructure
(because deployment is an issue), in order to move towards the new paradigm
for effective learning.
The Open Grid Service Architecture (OGSA) was introduced in the working paper "Physiology of the Grid" (Foster, 2002), and complements the earlier "Anatomy of the Grid" paper (Foster 2001). Together they form a state-of-the-art philosophy that has the potential to add great value to the existing Internet and Web infrastructure. Indeed, OGSA leverages W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) open standards and languages (Talia, 2003). Our proposal seeks to develop a high-level OGSA compliant framework and realise a corresponding prototype infrastructure in order to support effective learning.
The next generation of Grid solutions will increasingly adopt the service-oriented model for exploiting commodity technologies. Its goal is to enable as well as facilitate the transformation of information into knowledge, by humans as well as - progressively - by software agents, providing the electronic underpinning for a global society in business, government, research, science, education and entertainment (semantic aspects). This process coincides with the collective construction, negotiation and agreement of a semantic for any Information, be it a datum or a program. Indeed, the flexible assembly of Grid resources into a Grid application requires information about the functionalities, availability and interfaces of the various components, and this information must have an agreed interpretation, in order for it then to be processed by machine.
OGSA provides a holistic view of Grid computing based on the concepts of 'Services', 'Distributed Collaboration' and 'Virtual Organisation'. This view opens the way to new applications of Grid technologies, which will be no longer be a niche technology used solely for scientific high performance applications. OGSA provides the missing link enabling the Grid to become, in the next few years, a fundamental infrastructure not only for e-Science, but also for e-Business, e-Government and e-Life. It is therefore imperative that we promptly and thoroughly progress our understanding and expertise in the use of OGSA for learning, because human learning pervades each and all these developments of human activities mediated by technologies.
At this point, new learning scenarios enter the picture: the user-centred, contextualised and experiential based approaches for ubiquitous learning imply the full exploitation of emerging networking facilities and the location-transparent access to advanced and distributed software solutions such as simulation environments, real-world input, and 3D visualisation systems as well as digital libraries, in the framework of a Virtual Organization. This allows a transition from current content-oriented e-Learning solutions towards a user-centred collaborative model based on active collaboration, resource sharing, visualisation, virtual laboratories for experiential simulations, and real world input.
Moreover, Grid technologies will facilitate the implementation of CSCL (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning) environments facilitating the development and/or the integration of services for synchronous and asynchronous communication over wireless and broadband network (such as GEANT - the European high speed research network infrastructure or Internet2). Early attempts to support such environments (without adopting an open Grid service approach) include tools from the Open University Knowledge Media Institute that form part of this proposal, and also early experimental versions of software such as Microsoft's Conference XP framework. The significance of OGSA in this context is that it is genuinely "open".
In summary, we propose to research, develop and deploy an OGSA-based software architecture, as technology glue, seamlessly combining wireless and broadband networks with advanced software solutions for personalised ubiquitous learning, providing the user with a uniform way to access these resources by means of several kinds of devices. We note that in this respect we will contribute towards the evolution of OGSA in the European context by giving particular emphasis to the usability and quality-of-service issues, which at present are only vaguely referred to in the current OGSA drafts.Towards Ambient Intelligence
The software architecture constitutes the technical complement of the methodological part mentioned in the previous section for implementing the Ambient Intelligence vision envisaged by the ISTAG committee. Indeed, in order to take advantage of this semantically enriched environment we need an powerful software infrastructure, namely the Grid, which allows transparent access to heterogeneous resources such as multimedia content, data repositories, instruments, applications, networks and people at any time and any place, independently from the device and technology used. In this scenario the Ambient becomes the virtual collaborative learning community that is progressively aware of member's needs, preferences and expectations, supporting each member as well as subsets of the community, to construct and increase their knowledge and skills. In the near future, the realisation of this scenario will be synergistic with research activities in the fields of knowledge management and the semantic Grid.
Methodology: Test-Beds and Demonstrators
Test-beds
As we are working towards a
service-oriented framework we refer to the test-beds as Service Elicitation
and Exploitation Scenarios (SEES).
By focusing on a relatively small number of SEES we can set out clear
and measurable milestones, which are achievable within the lifetime of the
project. The service has to
stimulate, evaluate and credit human learning, knowledge and skills. We believe that nothing is more
context dependent as human knowledge and skills, as well as the associated
emotional aspects (motivation, cultural awareness, ...). It is evident that no educational
model will ever be successful for human learning if not highly linked to the
socio-economic and cultural context of human users.
1) Informal Learning
2) Formal Learning
a)
Master
in ICT with remote teaching and tutoring activities (in collaboration with
Carnegie Mellon University)
b)
Computer
Science University course in an Open University.
The two formal learning scenarios
enhance what the two Greek Institutions already do in their distance learning
initiatives. This is important for two reasons: i) the aspirations for an enhanced programme are already in place and need to be translated into service requirements; ii) it provides an example of bridging from a common existing "e-Learning" scenario to the new approach. The participation of
Open Universities in E-LeGI (UK Open University and Hellenic Open University)
will be able to play a multiplying factor for the results of our two Formal
Learning scenarios.
The three Informal Learning
Scenarios focus on e-Science (ENCORE), Durable Development (VIAD - Virtual
Institute for Alphabetization for Development) and e-Qualification. Their significance to society is potentially very high: e-Science is an example of "on the job" ontology construction by virtual communities with a shared goal (the Encyclopedia
of Organic Chemistry) but many different viewpoints on the meaning
of concepts. We have worked on
the same issue for years with Jurists: the situation is quite similar, and
the results were highly appreciated.
In e-Commerce the same occur: agreements between the offer and the
demand are required in order to build a contract. It is clear that the ENCORE Scenario may be reused in many
other similar societal situations where agreements on some issue have to be
reached, and learning has to occur while constructing the agreements.
The VIAD scenarios, three by now, are one of the best ways for demonstrating and achieving societal impact. The example from the Easter Island is currently considered THE best practice for durable development, i.e., supporting professionalisation thus economic development as well as cultural awareness and the preservation of cultural heritage thanks to non-vertical access to information, and local empowerment. The Larzac case will try to import that experience in Europe. The Rondonia case will demonstrate the real social impact in poor suburbs of large cities. All three VIAD Scenarios will propose to be replicated in several other potential sites in Europe, where Informal Learning may enable and support Durable Development. Finally e-Qualification is a Scenario necessary for any learning initiative, as it deals with quality assurance, certification and validation.
Demonstrator Environments
Three demonstrators are
planned. These will be used for
supporting the teaching of mechanical engineering, mathematics and business
and finance management at higher education level. Existing learning resources and environments which support
new learning modes will be adapted and re-engineered to elicit the
requirements of an OGSA-compliant framework. As the Integrated Project brings together not only a
significant range of expertise in several cognate areas essential to effective
learning, but also actual advanced learning software resources, this will
allow us to move quickly with respect to the development and demonstration of
OGSA-compliant learning systems.
Indeed, the potential for novel interoperability between advanced
learning resources adapted to OGSA by different members of the IP is an
exciting part of the research program.
Innovation related activities
The essence of innovations for
pedagogical aspects is that in order to fully exploit technology-enhanced
learning processes we cannot simply make an electronic transposition of the
traditional learning model. We
need to investigate and define appropriate didactical models for technology
enhanced learning. These models,
based mainly on contextualised, experiential based and personalised
approaches (socio-constructivist vision), will be defined taking into account
the synergy between pedagogical and technological aspects, fostering a
learning paradigm based on socially situated, activity-based knowledge
construction rather than information memorisation.
In particular, an innovative
aspect is that our model will consider several characteristics of learning in
a unitary approach. In the
E-LeGI project we will focus our attentions on the Active, Situated and
Collaborative properties of learning.
In this frame standard models for
experiential based learning will be proposed, in particular with respect to
Virtual Scientific Experiments.
Other innovative aspects are related to the possibility of personalising the learning process according to the learners' preferences and styles.
In order to allow personalised learning processes (Cerri, et Al 2002) we need to study and define methodologies for representing, through adequate knowledge structures (ontologies), and managing knowledge representing both the domain (the learning context) and the learner capabilities and skills itself including the representation of learner's attitudes, flaws as well as possible misunderstandings with respect to concepts and relations among several pieces of information related to a specific learning domain (e.g., mathematics, physics, sociology, etc.).
We are convinced we can now reach these objectives because we have
already developed significant, even if quite limited, prototypes that present
these features.
Exploiting these advanced
knowledge representation structures, it will be possible to introduce
innovative intelligent functionalities embedded into the learning
environment, namely the learning GRID infrastructure, realising a first
concrete interpretation of the Ambient Intelligence vision in the learning
domain.
It is clear that in order to reach
these ambitious objectives we need to design and implement a very powerful
technological infrastructure.
The wider the potential learning audience, the more sophisticated the
technology must be, and, at the same time, the simplest to use. From this point of view the main
innovation is the use of GRID technologies as a framework for implementing a
service oriented software infrastructure. This allows us to raise the level of abstraction in the
infrastructure design:
We are well aware, as we have said
in previous sections, that to realise this new learning paradigm we need to
integrate and coherently orchestrate several kinds of technologies and
existing software solutions in an innovative way.
Investigating and experimenting
with the use of GRIDs as technology glue for implementing dynamic service
oriented Virtual Learning Organisations (VLO) also introduces potential
innovations fed to the technological level: the service elicitation scenarios
will continuously feed the technologists with requirements for new services
described at the abstraction level of the pedagogy, to be translated into
combinations of services at the abstraction level of technologies. The continuous "translation" process from the one to the other abstraction level is exactly the core of the synergies declared as the innovative approach of E-LeGI.
Finally, innovations for the GRID
technologies strictly connected to support dynamic Virtual Learning
Organisations emerge from the study and analysis of semantic, trust &
security aspects. In order to implement dynamic VLOs, we need to define mechanisms for service discovery and "understanding" the capabilities of these discovered services. In order to do this, we need to
define standards for describing GRID services semantically. This is one of the hottest research
topics in the GRID domain and we believe that with the E-LeGI proposal we can
contribute substantially to the progress in this field. Moreover, the exploitation of this
semantic enrichment of services will be fundamental for supporting
collaboration and interactivity as well as for creating the necessary
awareness for implementing a Learning Ambient Intelligence vision.
It is clear that VLOs due to their
dynamic nature need policy driven, configurable and powerful security
mechanisms. Moreover, without
security this kind of infrastructure will be confined to the research
community and will never be deployed in other domains. Grid technologies, at the data level,
are mature but their deployment has been slow, since work has still to be
done in order to make them usable from the security perspective.
The Implementation Plan
Figure 1 shows the organisation
and relationship of the project activities.
Figure 1:
E-LeGI Activities
All the activities will be
arranged in three different cycles.
The first cycle has a duration of 18 months. The main objectives of this cycle are
to: i) assess the state of the art of GRID technologies; ii) investigate the
implications of creating learning GRID services by making some existing
learning solutions GRID-aware; iii) clearly demonstrate the potential of the
project vision by investigating the experiential based approach for
stimulating the final users about the opportunity offered by the E-LeGI
project itself. This will help us in managing and mitigating the technology risk (due to leveraging on existing solutions such those released in the frame of the EU-IST GRASP (GRID based Application Service Provision) project (Ritrovato, 2003) and Finesse / TAGS (Allison 2000, Michaelson, 2003) projects, IWT - Intelligent Web Teacher platform (Capuano, 2003) and VCLab - Virtual Control Laboratory solutions providing, some early, basic results for technical evaluation as well as for assessing the E-LeGI infrastructure requirements. In addition, these activities will be used as case studies
in the formulation of an OGSA-oriented usability framework based on an
holistic approach to quality of service (Allison, 2001). These initial but substantial steps
will be possible due to the expertise and knowledge and software solutions
already available within the Consortium. Finally, in this cycle particular emphasis will be given
to the investigation and monitoring of the continuous developments in the
GRID domain in order to work synergistically with the various
initiatives running in European Union (EU), especially the Research
Networking Infrastructure call currently opened on GRID technologies, and in
other countries (especially in the USA where there are investments planned of
more than 1000M$ for the creation of the next-generation GRID infrastructure
i.e., the cyber infrastructure).
The second cycle will be mainly devoted to the
construction of the learning GRID infrastructure and test-bed's design and
implementation. It will have a
duration of 21 months. All the
new learning approaches and the related knowledge representation models as
well as the conversational processes within enhanced presence will be studied
and defined. The GRID based
software architecture will be developed taking into account innovative
aspects related to semantic grid, trust and security for service provision
and for facilitating the creation of virtual organisations. The methodologies for pedagogical and
usability evaluation will be defined together with strategies for
facilitating the paradigm shift within private and public learning
organisations. New
demonstrations will be carried out for facilitating the design and
implementation of the test-beds.
The last cycle with a duration of 9 months, will
be completely devoted to test-bed's experimentation and project results
evaluation.
It is important to underline the
role of the SEES in the three project cycles. In the first cycle, they will simply provide their needs
in order to allow a first validation for didactical models, conversational
processes and technologies. In
the second cycle the users stimulated by the results of the first cycle will
review the SEES specifications providing new inputs for the learning services
identification and the whole E-LeGI infrastructure design and
implementation. In this cycle
the SEES will be designed and implemented according to the E-LeGI
infrastructure realisation.
Finally in the third cycle the SEES will be executed for validating
the E-LeGI infrastructure and the project results in general. The SEES execution will inevitably
necessitate software architecture evolution and maintenance activities.
In order to monitor and guarantee
the achievement of the scientific and technological project results we will
adopt the Goal Question Metric approach. The original ideas for the Goal Question Metric Paradigm
came from the need to solve a practical problem back in the late 1970s. The issue was: how do you decide what
you need to measure in order to achieve your goals?
Summary of Scientific and Technical Objectives
In summary, the project has three
major objectives, which will be pursued in support of the overall aim of
radically advancing effective technologically enhanced learning in Europe.
In more detail we will:
Project Results and their Evaluation
Furthermore, the level of accomplishment of the objectives will be measured and tested during the project's lifetime, by providing a direct correspondence with the research activities. In order to define
efficient metrics to measure and verify the attainment of the objectives and
related results from a qualitative as well as a quantitative point of view,
the Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) paradigm will be used.
In summary, the main E-LeGI project results will be:
Complementarities and Cooperation patterns
between E-LeGI and GUS / GCEPG
E-LeGI and the Global University System
The Global University System
(Utsumi, 2003) is a worldwide initiative apt to create satellite/wireless
telecommunication infrastructures and educational programs to have access to
educational resources across national and cultural boundaries for global
peace. The GUS helps higher educational institutions of remote/rural areas within developing countries to deploy broadband Internet in order for them to close the digital divide and act as the knowledge centre of their community for the eradication of poverty and isolation.
It is evident that there are many
commonalities between E-LeGI and GUS.
The principles and the philosophy behind the projects are fully compliant and it is self-evident that both projects can mutually take great benefits from a close collaboration.
In particular, the software
architecture that E-LeGI will work out will facilitate the achievement of the
GUS mission statements. Indeed,
from the technological point of view the GUS infrastructure could easily be
deployed over E-LeGI. Moreover,
GRID technologies and a service oriented architecture will allow users in
remote areas access to several kinds of resources (computational, storage,
instruments, digital libraries, etc.).
Also, collaboration is a key aspect for E-LeGI as demonstrated by the
ENCORE SEES on chemistry.
Another useful benefit coming from the deployment of GUS over E-LeGI
is the support provided by E-LeGI to the pedagogical aspects. This will allow providing GUS' users with access to enhanced learning materials according to the most suitable didactical models for each learner's preferences, skills and capabilities.
In addition, GUS could provide
very useful requirements for the design of the E-LeGI environment. Indeed, according to the project
philosophy it seems to be a SEES able to fully exploit the E-LeGI project
results from both technological and methodological viewpoint. Moreover, with GUS as a SEES it will
strongly reinforce our objective to provide learning services to developing
Countries - see the VIAD SEES in Larzac, Brazil (Maceio and Rondonia) and
Chili (the Easter Island).
E-LeGI and the Globally Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming project (GCEPG)
The GCEPG conceived by Prof.
Takeshi Utsumi in the 1972 (Utsumi, 1977, 1986, 2003) as a globally
distributed computer simulation system, is a computerized gaming/simulation
to help decision makers construct a globally distributed decision-support
system for positive sum/win-win alternatives to conflict and war. The idea involves interconnecting experts in many countries via the global Internet to collaborate in the discovering of new solutions for world crises, such as the deteriorating ecology of our globe, and to explore new alternatives for a world order capable of addressing the problems and opportunities of an interdependent globe.
As stated in the previous sections
we consider the simulations as fundamental aspects for implementing
experiential based and contextualized learning approaches. GCEPG could be a complete and
powerful demonstrator able to show from one side the advantages coming from
using advanced technologies (i.e., GRID for accessing to computing resources
and collaboration environments) for supporting simulations execution, data
analysis, etc., and simulations for learning through the definition of
innovative pedagogical models (i.e., socio-constructivist contextualised
learning approach) and, from the other, to show all the benefits coming from
the harmonised and synergistic use of advanced technologies together with
innovative pedagogical models for learning (i.e., E-LeGI).
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http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Bookwriting/PART_I/Chapter_V/Schoemaker-III/SCHOEMKR-III_total.htm
Utsumi, T., Varis, T., and Klemm, W. R., Editors (2003). Creating Global University System, Global Peace Through The Global University System. Tampere, Finland: University of Tampere Press. This book. Retrieved July 15, 2003 from
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Utsumi, T. (2003). Globally Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming, Global Peace Through The Global University System. Tampere, Finland: University of Tampere Press, June. Retrieved July 15, 2003 from
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| Colin Allison Senior Lecturer School of Computer Science University of St Andrews Scotland Tel: +44 (0)1334 46 3239 E-mail: ca@dcs.st-and.ac.uk Web: http://www.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~colin/ |
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| Stefano A. Cerri Professeur LIRMM: Universite Montpellier II et CNRS 161, Rue Ada; 34392 Montpellier Cedex 5, France TEL: +33 467 41 86 62 E-mail: cerri@lirmm.fr Web: http://www.lirmm.fr/ |
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| Matteo Gaeta CRMPA Director Centro di Ricerca in Matematica Pura ed Applicata C/O DIIMA - University of Salerno Via Ponte Don Melillo - 84084 Fisciano (SA) Italy TEL: +39 089 964192 E-mail: gaeta@crmpa.unisa.it Web: www.crmpa.it |
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| Pierluigi Ritrovato CRMPA Manager Centro di Ricerca in Matematica Pura ed Applicata C/O DIIMA - University of Salerno Via Ponte Don Melillo 84084 - Fisciano (SA) Italy Tel: +39 089 964289 E-mail: ritrovato@crmpa.unisa.it Web: http://www.crmpa.it/ |
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| Saverio Salerno DIIMA Director Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione e Matematica Applicata University of Salerno Via Ponte Don Melillo 84084 - Fisciano (SA) Italy Tel: +39 089 964190 E-mail: salerno@unisa.it Web: www.unisa.it |
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