Supporting awareness in Ubiquitous learning by Hiroaki Ogata

Supporting awareness in Ubiquitous learning
Hiroaki Ogata, University of Tokushima, Japan

Abstract
This article focuses on awareness in computer supported ubiquitous learning environments. In ubiquitous learning, awareness is a key process in individual and/or collaborative learning. Awareness is structured into social, task, concept, workspace, knowledge, and context. This article introduces four systems for supporting various kinds of awareness and concludes with some discussion and proposals for future work.

Ubiquitos learning eller “allmänt förekommande lärande” är en vision om lärande som innehåller sex olika huvudsakliga kategorier. Kärnan är är lärande sker I alla stadier av livet, såväl I klassrummet som I hemmet, arbetsplatsen, lekplatsen, biblioteket, museet, o.s.v samt I våra dagliga möten och interaktioner med andra.

iNtroDUCtioN
Ubiquitous learning implies a vision of learning, which is connected across all stages of our lives. Learning occurs not only in classrooms, but also in the home, the workplace, the playground, the library, museum, and nature center, and in our daily interactions with others.Ubiquitous learning (or u-learning) is related to some aspects of mobile learning, that is, learning environments can be accessed
in various contexts and situations.
(2004a) the main characteristics of ubiquitous learning are:

1. Permanency: Learners never lose their work unless it is purposefully deleted. In addition, all their learning processes are recorded continuously every day.

2. Accessibility: Learners have access to their documents, data, or multimedia recordings from anywhere. That information is provided based on their requests. Therefore, the learning involved is self-directed.

3. Immediacy: Wherever learners are, they can get any information immediately. Thus, learners can solve problems quickly. Alternatively, the learner can record their questions and look for the answers later.

4. Interactivity: Learners can interact with experts, teachers, or peers in the form of synchronous or asynchronous communication. Hence, the experts are more reachable and the knowledge becomes more

available.

5. Situating of instructional activities: Learning can be embedded in our daily lives. The problems encountered as well as the knowledge required are all presented in their natural and authentic forms. This helps learners be aware of the features of problem situations that make particular actions relevant.

6. Adaptability: Learners can get the right information at the right place in the right way.

(sidan 1-2)

För att undersöka detta togs det fram olika system I studien:

Case stUDies

The author has been investigating computersupported ubiquitous learning environments, which help learners to become aware of the unknown. This section introduces the following systems:

1. TANGO for vocabulary learning: This system helps the learner to be aware of unknown vocabulary by asking questions about the objects around the learner.

2. LOCH for outdoor task-based learning: The system helps the learner to be aware of unknown knowledge that can be applied around the student’s location.

3. PERKAM for personalized KA mapping: This system helps the learner to be aware of peer helpers around their location.

4. LORAMS for sharing learning experiences: This system helps the learner to be aware of unknown knowledge in shared learning experiences.
(sidan 3-4)

I deras resultat I studien framkom dessa fördelar med systemen:

Tango

(Tag Added Learning Objects) system (Ogata & Yano, 2004b).

supports object awareness that helps a learner to be aware of vocabularies in other languages.

The interaction between the learner and the system continues in this manner. In this way, the learners can learn vocabulary by being made aware of unknown names of everyday objects.(sidan 4)

Loch

(Language-learning Outside the Classroom with Handhelds) system (Ogata, Hui, Yin, Ueda, Oishi, & Yano, 2008) has been developed so that overseas language students can

notify teachers of their location and teachers can give location specific advice using GPS, PDA and data communication cards.

The LOCH system provides the teacher with the students’ locations on Google Maps and assigns suitable tasks to each student by considering the students’ locations, their level of language ability, transportation method, and time limitation. Therefore, the teacher can be aware of the location of each student using GPS, and the student can also be aware of the knowledge that he or she can apply around his or her location

Perkam

(Personalized Knowledge Awareness Map) system (El- Bishouty, Ogata, & Yano, 2007)

The aim of the PERKAMis to support the learner with the Knowledge Awareness Map, which is personalized according to their current need and location. The system can recognize the environmental objects that surround the learner and use these for study. The closer the recommended peer is to the learner’s request in the vertical (y) dimension, the nearer their physical location to the learner. Using this map, the learner can be aware of peer helpers who have the same interests and are close to the learner.

Lorams
(Linking of RFID and Movie System) (Ogata, Misumi, Matsuka, El-Bishouty, & Yano, 2008)

In this system, a user uses his or her own PDA with RFID tag reader and digital camera, and links real objects and the corresponding objects in a movie and shares it among other learners. Scanning RFID tags around the learner enables us to bridge the real objects and their information into the virtual world. LORAMS detects the objects around the user using RFID tags, and provides the user with the right information in that context.Video support for learning is not limited to accessing instructional videos. In addition, different views of the same tasks can be compared. In order to be aware of differences between two videos, the system enables a user to compare the videos in multiple windows as shown in
Figure 8.

Since each object is color coded, the user can easily recognize when the same object was used in the two videos. In this way, the learner can be made aware of the differences between the learner’s video and the expert’s.

I deras slutsatser så handlar det mycket om vikten av att tillhandahålla rätt information i rätt tid och plats till rätt person. Även mycket om medvetandet om vilka kunskaper man saknar så att man kan skaffa dem. Detta ska även erbjudas I den lärandes intresse och där den befinner sig. De olika systemen de beskriver stödjer detta tänkande. Det jag kan tycka är att detta ligger på en ganska så avancerad nivå som rimligtvis hör hemma på Universitetsnivå. För mig som Grundskolelärare så känns det tämligen avancerat att utföra. Den generella tankegången är dock något som jag kan ta I beaktning och tillämpa I Grundskolan. Nämligen att vi lär oss I alla miljöer och hela tiden och att det är viktigt att veta var någonstans I inlärningskurvan eleverna befinner sig för att kunna möta deras behov, helst så snabbt som möjligt dessutom och på ett sätt som engagerar dom.

CONCLUSION
Ubiquitous computing such as portable devices, RFID tags, and sensor networks can support context awareness. Contextual data includes both the user’s information (location, biological information, etc.) and environmental information (physical objects, temperature, noise, light, etc). This information is very important to provide the right support to the right person at the right time and right place, in the right way. Also, in a ubiquitous learning environment, enhancing awareness is very important the help learners to begin new learning by being aware of unknown knowledge. In addition, this awareness should be assisted according to the learner’s interests, location and so on. This article provided an overview of awareness support in a number of computer-supported ubiquitous learning environments. There are a number of directions of future work in this area, and these are shown below:

1. Rich user interface: Everyone should be able to use computer supported ubiquitous learning (CSUL) easily. For example, voice input and output should be implemented in CSUL.

2. Persistent learner model: The system should understand what the learner has learnt so far and what the learner has not learnt. Therefore, the learner’s activities should be recorded permanently and they should be accessible by other educational systems.

3. Personalization: CSUL should be personalized to provide the right information at the right place at the right time in the right way to the right person.

4. Learning support: CSUL should provide the right scaffolding and fading tool in terms of short and long term perspectives. Also CSUL should be supported seamlessly across different learning contexts.

5. Evaluation: CSUL should be evaluated both over the short and long terms. We need to investigate how to best evaluate such systems. Also, we should take account of privacy issues.

/Helge Lundgren