http://www.computer.org/tlt The IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies will publish archival research papers and critical survey papers. Topics within the scope include technology advances in online learning systems; intelligent tutors; educational software applications and games; simulation systems for education and training; collaborative learning tools, devices and interfaces for learning; interactive techniques for learning; tools for formative and summative assessment; ontologies for learning systems; standards and web services that support learning; authoring tools for learning materials; computer support for peer tutoring and learning via discovery or project work or field or lab work; and creation and management of learning objects. A paper must either describe original research or offer a critical review of the state of the art in a particular area. Papers concerned with evaluation of technology are only appropriate if the technology itself is novel or if significant technical insights are provided. In order to best serve the community, the TLT will be published online, using a delayed open-access policy under which paying subscribers and per-article purchasers have access to newly published content, and then 12 months after the publication of each issue, all readers will have access to the content, free of charge. en-us Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:04 GMT http://csdl.computer.org/common/images/logos/tlt.gif List of recently published journal articles http://www.computer.org/tlt http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.6 Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) support packaging of educational materials allowing their discovery and reuse. Open Educational Resources (OERs) emphasise the need for open licencing and promote sharing and community involvement. For both teachers and learners, finding appropriate tried and tested resources on a topic of interest and being able to incorporate them within or alongside other learning materials can enrich provision and share best practice. Resources are made available by a number of general and subject-specific repositories, but there are also many educational resources residing outside these repositories which may provide useful additional materials. Potential users of materials need to be able to locate relevant material and to assess it with respect to a number of factors (such as suitability for purpose and licence requirements). However, even such basic requirements can be less than straightforward to determine. This paper presents a view of the field from the user's perspective, bringing together themes from existing research relating to practice-oriented concerns including discoverability, reusability and quality. It provides a background in this area, exploring current trends, controversies and research findings. The discussion is also aligned with current provision and practice, indicating areas where further research, provision and support would be useful. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.6 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.1 Laboratory work is critical in undergraduate engineering courses. It is used to integrate theory and practice. This demands that laboratory activities are synchronized with lectures in order to maximize their derivable learning outcomes, which are measurable through assessment. The typical high costs of the traditional engineering laboratory, which often militate against the synchronization of laboratory activities and lectures, have catalyzed the increased adoption of virtual laboratories in engineering laboratory education. The principles of assessment in the virtual learning environment are essentially the same as in the traditional learning environment, with the same requirements for fairness, reliability, and validity. This motivated the incorporation, in a Virtual Electronic Laboratory (VEL) environment, of a Bayesian network-based tool for the performance assessment of students’ laboratory work in the environment. An earlier paper presented the implementation and evaluation of the VEL as a tool for enhancing students’ understanding of fundamental engineering concepts taught in lectures. This paper details a description of the assessment tool, its verification, evaluation (as an assessment tool within the VEL environment), and application processes. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.1 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.17 Due to interoperability issues, Intelligent Tutoring Systems are hard to deploy in different educational platforms available nowadays without additional work. This represents a considerable limitation because tutoring systems need a lot of time and resources to be implemented. In addition, as these tutors have great educational value, it is desirable that they could be shared, used by many stakeholders, and easily loaded to different platforms. This paper describes a new approach to implement open source and interoperable intelligent tutors trough standardization. Contrarily to other methods, our technique does not require using non-standardized peripheral systems or databases, which considerably restricts the interoperability of the Learning Objects. Thus, our technique has the advantage of yielding tutors fully conformant to E-Learning standards and free of external resource dependencies. The key to our method is the focus on assuring what defines a tutor in terms of behavior and functionalities (Inner Loops and Outer Loops). Our proof of concept was developed using SCORM standards, and this paper presents the implementation details of our method, including theoretical concepts, technical specifications, and practical examples. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.17 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.16 One of the most effective ways to learn is through problem solving. Recently, researchers have started to develop educational systems which are intended to support solving ill-defined problems. Most researchers agree that there is no sharp distinction but rather a continuum between well-definedness and ill-definedness. However, positioning a problem within this continuum is not always easy, which may lead to difficulties in choosing an appropriate educational technology approach. We propose a classification of the degree of ill-definedness of educational problems based on the existence of solution strategies, the implementation variability for each solution strategy, and the verifiability of solutions. The classification divides educational problems into five classes: 1) one single solution, 2) one solution strategy with different implementation variants, 3) a known number of typical solution strategies, 4) a great variety of solution strategies beyond the anticipation of a teacher where solution correctness can be verified automatically, and 5) problems whose solution correctness cannot be verified automatically. The benefits of this problem classification are two-fold. First, it helps researchers choose/develop an appropriate modeling technique for educational systems. Second, it offers the learning technology community a communication means to talk about sorts of more or less ill-defined educational problems precisely. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.16 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.15 In this paper we describe the development and evaluation of a microworld-based learning environment for neuroscience. Our system, BrainExplorer, allows students to discover the way neural pathways work by interacting with a tangible user interface. By severing and reconfiguring connections, users can observe how the visual field is impaired and thus actively learn from their exploration. An ecological evaluation of BrainExplorer revealed that 1) students who engaged in the open-ended exploration outperformed students who used traditional textbook materials, and 2) correctly sequencing activities is fundamental for improving student performance. Participants who used the tabletop first and then studied a text significantly outperformed participants who read a text first and then used the tabletop. Additionally, those results were best predicted by the quality of students' verbalizations while using BrainExplorer. Implications are discussed in terms of preparing students for future learning with Tangible User Interfaces. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.15 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.14 The level of similarity of knowledge work across occupations and industries allows for the design of supportive information and communication technology (ICT) that can be widely used. In a previous ethnographically-informed study, we identified activities to be supported to increase knowledge maturing, conceptualized as goal-oriented learning on a collective level. The aim of this paper is to investigate the current state of support and success of these knowledge maturing activities and to contrast them with their perceived importance to identify which have the highest potential for support by ICT. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through telephone interviews with representatives from 126 organizations throughout Europe in a sample stratified according to size, sector and knowledge-intensity. The activities that appear to be most promising are 'reflecting on and refining work practices and processes', 'finding people with particular knowledge or expertise', as well as 'assessing, verifying and rating information'. Rich empirical material about how these activities are performed and the issues that emerged and need to be managed were collected. Three clusters of organizations, i.e. best performing organizations, people- and awareness-oriented organizations and hesitant formalists were identified. It was found that a balanced knowledge strategy leaning towards personalization outperformed a codification strategy. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.14 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.8 Several years ago we presented an experimental, discovery-learning approach to the active learning of greedy algorithms. This article presents GreedEx, a visualization tool developed to support this didactic method. The article states the design goals of GreedEx, makes explicit the major design decisions adopted, and describes its main characteristics in detail. It also describes the experience of use, the usability evaluations conducted and the evolution of GreedEx in these years in response to the findings of the usability evaluations. Finally, the positive results obtained in an evaluation of educational effectiveness are shown. The article has three main contributions. Firstly, the GreedEx system itself is an innovative system for experimentation and discovery learning of greedy algorithms. Secondly, GreedEx is different from other visualization systems in its support to higher levels of learning, in particular evaluation tasks. Finally, GreedEx is an example of a medium-term research project, where an educational system was designed from explicit learning goals and was later refined in a user-centered design process involving instructors and students, before carrying out a successful evaluation of educational effectiveness. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.8 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.7 The DynaLearn interactive learning environment enables learning by having learners create conceptual models of system's behaviour. This paper reports on exploratory evaluation studies using the DynaLearn software, carried out with learners studying environmental science. Two three-day modelling sessions were conducted in two consecutive years with two students exploring the evolving prototype of the software. The learners worked on assignments designed to achieve specific learning goals. To investigate conceptual changes on behalf of the learner, a set of parameters was applied for semantic text analysis of written pre- and post-tests. The evaluation results show key changes occurring in knowledge structure and content in both years for both students. Indications of an effect of prior knowledge on the magnitude of conceptual change were found. The results conform the potential of DynaLearn for inducing causal and interlinked understanding of environmental systems. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.7 http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.4 This paper presents Metafora, both a platform for integrated tools as well as an emerging pedagogy for supporting Learning to Learn Together in science and mathematics education. Our goal is to design technology that brings education to a higher level; a level where students not only learn subject matter, but also gain a set of critical skills needed to engage in and self-regulate collaborative learning experiences in science and math education. To achieve this goal, we need to understand how educational technology can bring students’ attention to, and promote these higher-level skills. We first discuss the core skills that students need as they learn to learn together. We then present a platform and pedagogy to support the acquisition of the critical skills. Finally, we present an example use of our system based on results from pilot studies. This example demonstrates interaction with the platform to highlight potential benefits and limitations of our approach to promoting the associated skills. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.4 http://www.computer.org/portal/site/tlt/ IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies http://www.computer.org/portal/site/tlt/