Glossary

Attention - deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Attention - deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder that has neurobiological basis (Michanie, 2004). 

People with ADHD have attention deficit, impulsivity and hyperactivity.  It occurs on a percentage 5-7% of the school population and a ratio of 3 to 1 in favor of boys (Greek National Association of People with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).  

It is the current diagnostic label not only for children but also for adults who have significant problems with attention and excessive activity.  Both children and adults with ADHD represent a rather heterogeneous population that displays significant variation in the degree of their symptoms, age of onset, cross-situational pervasiveness of those symptoms, and the extent to which other disorders occur in relation with ADHD (Barkley, 2014).

 

References

• Barkley, R. A. (Ed.). (2014). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment. Guilford Publications.
• Michanie, C. (2004). Diferencias del trastorno por déficit de atención en el niño y el adulto: consideraciones diagnósticas y terapéuticas. Psicofarmacología Psicodinámica IV-Actualizaciones, 59-82.
• Greek National Association of People with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (DEPY)  http://goo.gl/4R4aGQ

Cloud computing

Cloud computing, has its roots in late of 2007, but is becoming one of the next IT industry hot topics because it promotes the idea that users can move their data and applications to a remote “Cloud” and then they can have access in a simple and pervasive way.

This means that cloud computing  offers flexible dynamic IT infrastructures and configurable software services (Armbrust et al, 2009).

There are several definitions about Cloud Computing which refer to the applications delivered as services, hardware, software that provide those services. The Cloud is a platform or infrastructure that enables the execution of services or applications following the requirements.

There are main types of clouds: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS)  and Software as a Service (SaaS),

References

• Armbrust, M; Fox, A; Griffith, R; Joseph, AD; Katz, RH; Konwinski, A; Lee, G; Patterson, DA; Rabkin, A; Stoica, I &Zaharia, M (2009), ‘Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing’. Technical Report No.UCB/EECS-2009-28 – available at http://goo.gl/Pc5G

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs)

In 1982, Sleeman and Brown reviewed Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) systems and identified an advanced type, which was named Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). 

ITSs are computer-based systems and use the functionalities of Artificial Intelligence methods.  Their key element is their potential to provide user-adapted presentation of the teaching material (Vassileva, 1997).

ITSs create models for representing the pedagogical decisions and make inferences about a student’s mastery of topics in order to dynamically adapt the content or style of instruction (Wenger 1987).  It is argued that few ITS techniques are curriculum sequencing technology, intelligent solution analyses and problem solving support (Brusilovsky and Peylo, 2003).

References

• Brusilovsky, P., and Peylo, C. (2003). Adaptive and Intelligent Web Based Educational Systems.International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education Vol. 13, 156-169.
• D.H. Sleeman& J.S. Brown (1982). Intelligent Tutoring Systems: an overview. In Intelligent Tutoring Systems, eds D. Sleeman& J.S. Brown, Academic: London, pp1-11.
• Vassileva, J.: Dynamic Courseware Generation. Journal of Computing and Information Technology 5 (1997) 87-102.
• Wenger, E. (1987). Artificial Intelligence and Tutoring Systems. Los Altos, CA: MorganKaufmann.

MOOCs

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a new term in distance education.  Historically MOOCs have their roots in the movement of Open Educational Resources (OER).  The existence of MOOCs is situated in 2008, where George Siemens and Stephen Downes offered an open online course “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge” in the University of Manitoba, Canada (Tharindu et al., 2013).  In 2012, "The New York Times" coined that it was “the year of the MOOC” and by 2013 MOOC included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

A working definition of a MOOC is illustrated as “an online course open to anyone without restrictions (free of charge and without a limit to attendance), usually structured around a set of learning goals in an area of study, which often runs over a specific period of time (with a beginning and end date) on an online platform which allows interactive possibilities (between peers or between students and instructors) that facilitate the creation of a learning community.  As it is the case for any online course, it provides some course materials and (self) assessment tools for independent studying” (EU, 2013).

There are two main classes of MOOCs (Conole, 2013):

cMOOCs, inspired from the pedagogical theory of connectivism (connectivist-MOOCs).
These courses based on the pedagogical model that support the principles of peer learning, collaboration and social networking.  cMOOCs, run on open source learning platforms and are guided by the academics from different universities (many courses are offered from Athabasca and Manitoba Universities in Canada).  There are examples included: David Wiley’s course on "Open Education", "Personal Learning Environments and Networks (CCK11)",and "Learning Analytics (LAK12)".

xMOOCs, inspired from the pedagogical theory of cognitive-behaviourist approach with more self-paced learning  (eXtension of something else”-MOOCs).
These courses based on the pedagogical model that support the principles of traditional university courses (lecture, instruction, discussion etc.).  xMOOCs, run on proprietary specialist software platforms.  There are technology providers (Udacity, EdX, and Coursera) and prestigious universities (Harvard, Stanford, MITx) that offer their online versions of traditional courses.

References

• Conole, G. (2013)MOOCs as disruptive technologies: strategies for enhancing the learner experience and quality of MOOC, Revista de Educación a Distancia, 2013
• Tharindu R. Liyanagunawardena, Andrew A. Adams, and Shirley A. Williams. “MOOCs: A Systematic Study of the Published Literature 2008–2012.” International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 14 (2013): 201–27.
• European Commission. “Report on Web Skills Survey: Support Services to Foster Web Talent in Europe by Encouraging the use of MOOCs Focused on web Talent—First Interim Report.” May 2014. Available online: http://goo.gl/0wIibc

Tangible 3D Tabletop

The roots of tangible 3D tabletops are situated in Tabletop interfaces, which represent multi-touch interfaces and several persons can simultaneously interact directly with a flat surface, using their fingertips.  Towards this a tangible 3D tabletop exploits the potential of tangible tabletop interaction and 3D projection.

This combination offers a new functionality on tangible objects, which can be augmented with visual content on the tabletop.  Its tangible object can be augmented to its physical shape, position, and orientation.

This means that multiple individuals can simultaneously collaborate, manipulate tangibles, use multitouch interactions with the tabletop and visualize the effects of interactions.

References

• Halskov K. & Dalsgaard P. (2013). Projected Play: A Tangible 3D Tabletops, PerDis '13, June 04 - 05 2013, Mountain View, CA, USA

Gamification

The roots of gamification started out from with the concept of ‘funware’. Gabe Zicherman coined this concept at 2008 and defined it as ‘the art and science of turning your customer‘s everyday interactions into games that serve your business purposes' (Zichermann& Linder, 2010).

Actually, in the second half of 2010, within the video game and digital media industry, the new term ‘Gamification’ was popularized by several industry players.

Gabe Zichermann (2010) defines gamification as ‘the process of using game thinking and game mechanics to engage audiences and solve problems’.

Another definition of gamification is "the use of game design elements in non-game contexts" (Deterding et al, 2011, p.1).

The key point of the term ‘Gamification’ is that it aggregates elements of game-playing (game design, game mechanics, game dynamics and game aesthetics) in a non-game context. Towards this, applying gamification to education implies use of game-playing elements in such a way that it will engage students in the learning process and motivate them to strive for excellence.

References

• Bunchball.Com (2010, 10), Gamification 101:An Introduction to the Use of Game Dynamics to Influence Behavior. Retrieved June 2011: http://goo.gl/FIh56
• Chatfield Tom (Ted talk 2010), 7 ways games reward the brain, Ted talk 2010 , Retrieved June 2011: http://goo.gl/3uCr
• Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining "Gamification". Proceedings from MindTrek '11. Tampere, Finland: ACM.
• Hunicke, R., LeBlanc M., Zubek, R. (2004), MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research. Retrieved June 2011: http://goo.gl/HcDoQ
• Priebatsch Seth (Ted talk 2010), The game layer on top of the world, Retrieved June 2011: http://goo.gl/97cQ
• Zichermann, G. and Linder, J. (2010). Game-Based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, 2010.