Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Learning environment'

Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-54).
This thesis introduces a rationale and a set of methods for assessing the performance of learning environments. The vehicle of this study is the assessment project of the new teaching laboratory of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Learning environments are settings that support teaching and learning activities. The objective of developing and managing learning environments is to achieve a dynamic coherence among space, equipment, tools, and operation of the learning environment so as to maximize the learning outcome. The method of learning environment assessment is to identify latent problems and explore opportunities and processes of improving its performance. To assess the performance of the learning environment, this thesis proposes that the learning environment should be examined through three lenses: teaching and learning activities, settings, and students' individual lives. Methods of examining learning environments through these three lenses are introduced in this thesis in the context of the MIT Aero/ Astro new teaching laboratory assessment.
by Guoqing Fan.
M.Arch.

The use of the flipped classroom as an alternative to the traditional learning environments has been increasingly attracting the attention of researchers and educators. The advancement in technological tools such as interactive videos, interactive in-class activities, and video conference systems paves the way for the widespread use of flipped classrooms. It is even asserted that the flipped classroom, which is used to create effective teaching environments at schools, is the best model for using technology in education. Studies about the flipped classroom appear in different disciplines including information systems, engineering, sociology, and humanities, mathematics education, and English composition. The purpose of this paper is to fulfil the needs regarding the review of recent literature on the use of the flipped classroom approach in education.

This thesis addresses the need to involve all members of society in marine environmental education, policy-making and stakeholder processes. Several strategies are considered. Firstly, marine environmental citizenship and the concept of joint responsibility as a way of enabling people to contribute meaningfully to marine environmental management processes. This incorporates the implementation of programmes that enable adults to participate in local environmental projects and the importance of using skilled volunteers in wildlife recording programmes. Chapter two outlines ‘A Citizens’ Day’ between school pupils and environmentalists that enables participants to take part in debates and environmental planning in real life situations. The thesis examines the effects of links between universities, industries and schools were pupils surveyed a coastal area and made 15 recommendations for its sustainable management which were implemented by industry employees. Intergenerational learning as a means of encouraging transfer of knowledge between generations was tested in depth during one study. The methods proved effective, the majority of the adults in the project claimed that their knowledge of their areas maritime heritage had increased significantly. ‘The Tale of the Herring’ project looked at the concept of sense of place education as a tool for promoting environmental citizenship and connecting young people to their marine environment. The results of the study concluded that this approach did encourage a feeling of belonging and a sense of responsibly for one’s local environs. Global marine citizenship was assessed through International Schools Partnership in Ghana and the UK. Schools carried out independent surveys of local coastal habitats and made recommendations to managers. Despite many differences in their lives, pupils’ recommendations had many similarities. Innovative methods of giving children who have Special Education Needs a voice in marine environmental citizenry were also investigated. The focus had special emphasis on fieldwork, enquiry-based and cross-curricula approaches to learning. Pupils’ believed that their work motivated their interest in science and gave them a sense of pride in their work. Finally the thesis explored the potential use of the creative arts as an effective means of communicating marine environmental messages.

New advances in computer programming and more powerful technology have opened up new opportunities for learning though immersive virtual reality simulations. This research highlighted the importance of the role of a lecturer in fostering learning in a technology rich learning environment. Undergraduate business studies students worked collectively to try resolve a problem depicted through an immersive simulation involving a burning factory. The simulation provided a rich personal experience that enabled students with lecturer support to generate effective strategies to address the problem.

New advances in computer programming and more powerful technology have opened up new opportunities for learning though immersive virtual reality simulations. This research highlighted the importance of the role of a lecturer in fostering learning in a technology rich learning environment. Undergraduate business studies students worked collectively to try resolve a problem depicted through an immersive simulation involving a burning factory. The simulation provided a rich personal experience that enabled students with lecturer support to generate effective strategies to address the problem.

A paradigm shift has occurred in the learning field with the emergence, advances and proliferation of the latest, rapid technologies coupled with improvements in the understanding of learning environments and advances in instructional design. This takes the traditional notions of learning and transports it into the modern world to forge new learning environments that offer substantial benefits over traditional learning environments. Part of this revolution is headed by the learning object paradigm. This research focuses on the development of a personalised learning environment using learning objects as the primary tool and the basis to facilitate the production of a fully robust system and environment that offer learners personalised learning and the benefits that such learning brings.

I have committed a significant period of time (in my case five years) to the purpose development of learning environments, with the belief that it would improve the self-actualisation and self-motivation of students and teachers alike. I consider it important to record and measure performance as we progressed toward such an outcome. Education researchers and practitioners alike, in the higher (university/tertiary) education systems, are seeking among new challenges to engage students and teachers in learning (James, 2001). However, studies to date show a confusing landscape littered with a multiplicity of interpretations and terms, successes and failures. As the discipline leader of the Information Technology, Systems and Multimedia (ITSM) Discipline, Swinburne University of Technology, Lilydale, I found myself struggling with this paradigm. I also found myself being torn between what presents as pragmatic student learning behaviour and the learner-centred teaching ideal reflected in the Swinburne Lilydale mission statement. The research reported in this folio reflects my theory and practice as discipline leader of the ITSM Discipline and the resulting learning environment evolution during the period 1997/8 to 2003. The study adds to the material evidence of extant research through firstly, a meta analysis of the learning environment implemented by the ITSM Discipline as recorded in peer reviewed and published papers; and secondly, a content analysis of student learning approaches, conducted on data reported from a survey of ‘learning skills inventory’ originally conducted by the ITSM Discipline staff in 2002. In 1997 information and communication technologies (ICT) were beginning to provide plausible means for electronic distribution of learning materials on a flexible and repeatable basis, and to provide answers to the imperative of learning materials distribution relating to an ITSM Discipline new course to begin in 1998. A very short time frame of three months was available prior to teaching the course. The ITSM Discipline learning environment development was an evolutionary process I began in 1997/8 initially from the requirement to publish print-based learning guide materials for the new ITSM Discipline subjects. Learning materials and student-to-teacher reciprocal communication would then be delivered and distributed online as virtual learning guides and virtual lectures, over distance as well as maintaining classroom-based instruction design. Virtual here is used to describe the use of ICT and Internet-based approaches. No longer would it be necessary for students to attend classes simply to access lecture content, or fear missing out on vital information. Assumptions I made as discipline leader for the ITSM Discipline included, firstly, that learning should be an active enterprise for the students, teachers and society; secondly, that each student comes to a learning environment with different learning expectations, learning skills and learning styles; and thirdly, that the provision of a holistic learning environment would encourage students to be self-actualising and self-motivated. Considerable reading of research and publications, as outlined in this folio, supported the update of these assumptions relative to teaching and learning. ITSM Discipline staff were required to quickly and naturally change their teaching styles and communication of values to engage with the emergent ITSM Discipline learning environment and pedagogy, and each new teaching situation. From a student perspective such assumptions meant students needed to move from reliance upon teaching and prescriptive transmission of information to a self-motivated and more self-actualising and reflective set of strategies for learning. In constructing this folio, after the introductory chaperts, there are two distinct component parts; • firstly, a Descriptive Meta analysis (Chapter Three) that draws together several of my peer reviewed professional writings and observations that document the progression of the ITSM Discipline learning environment evolution during the period 1997/8 to 2003. As the learning environment designer and discipline leader, my observations and published papers provide insight into the considerations that are required when providing an active, flexible and multi-modal learning environment for students and teachers; and • secondly, a Dissertation (Chapter Four), as a content analysis of a learning skills inventory data collection, collected by the ITSM Discipline in the 2002 Swinburne Lilydale academic year, where students were encouraged to complete reflective journal entries via the ITSM Discipline virtual learning guide subject web-site. That data collection included all students in a majority of subjects supported by the ITSM Discipline for both semesters one and two 2002. The original purpose of the journal entries was to have students reflectively involved in assessing their learning skills and approaches to learning. Such perceptions were tested using a well-known metric, the ‘learning skills inventory’ (Knowles, 1975), augmented with a short reflective learning approach narrative. The journal entries were used by teaching staff originally and then made available to researchers as a desensitised data in 2003 for statistical and content analysis relative to student learning skills and approaches. The findings of my research support a view of the student and teacher enculturation as utilitarian, dependent and pragmatically self-motivated. This, I argue, shows little sign of abatement in the early part of the 21st Century. My observation suggests that this is also independent of the pedagogical and educational philosophy debate or practice as currently presented. As much as the self-actualising, self-motivated learning environment can be justified philosophically, the findings observed from this research, reported in this folio, cannot. Part of the reason for this originates from the debate by educational researchers as to the relative merits of liberal and vocational philosophies for education combined with the recent introduction of information and communication technologies, and commodification of higher education. Challenging students to be participative and active learners, as proposed by educationalists Meyers and Jones (1993), i.e. self-motivated and self-actualising learners, has proved to be problematic. This, I will argue, will require a change to a variable/s (not yet identified) of higher education enculturation on multiple fronts, by students, teachers and society in order to bridge the gap. This research indicates that tertiary educators and educational researchers should stop thinking simplistically of constructivist and/or technology-enabled approaches, students learning choices and teachers teaching choices. Based on my research I argue for a far more holistic set of explanations of student and staff expectations and behaviour, and therefore pedagogy that supports those expectations.

Research is now shifting away from Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and towards the use of the Personal Learning Environment (PLE). A review of a number of PLE architectures are presented in the literature, and while they convey well the concept of a PLE, nevertheless they could best be described as high-level architectures, (sometimes referred to as frameworks in the literature), which focus mainly the functionality of PLEs. In particular, there is little published which gives a detailed designed of a PLE architecture. Moreover, the published work focuses largely on the support for lifelong learning and formal / informal learning; these are two of the main limitations of VLEs. However, this study argues that unexplored potential remains, as there is scope for PLEs to cover more areas. To the best of our knowledge, none of the existing PLE architectures have context-aware systems embedded within their architecture. There is no intelligence in these architectures to filter the e-resources and to predict the user need. In addition, the current PLE architectures are not dynamic; it cannot adopt the user current situation. The user of the current PLE architectures receives too much e-resource. The architecture proposed in this research incorporates a context-aware engine. Thus there is intelligence built into the architecture and thus the PLE system is automatically responsive to the context information. There are three types of sensors in any context-aware system (physical, virtual and logical), and these are the elements of the system that gather the context information. In this research, the emphasis will be on virtual sensors which gather the information from virtual space; virtual space here includes any systems which produce information as a set of results. Thus, the context-aware architecture and the implementation of the context-aware engine are major contributions of the work.

Invention activities are discovery-learning activities that ask students to invent a solution to a problem before being taught the expert solution. The combination of invention activities and tell-and-practice methods has been shown to lead to better student learning and performance on transfer tasks, as compared to tell-and-practice methods alone. A computer-based interactive learning environment, called the Invention Support Environment (ISE), was built using Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools to improve the in-class use of invention activities, and act as a research tool for studying the effects of the activities. The system was designed to support three levels of metacognitive scaffolding, using domain-general prompts. It also features a platform for creating new invention tasks within the system, requiring little to no programming experience. The ISE was used to evaluate how domain-general scaffolding of invention activities can best support acquisition of domain knowledge and scientific reasoning skills. Five invention activities in statistics and data-analysis domains were given to 134 undergraduate students in a physics lab course at the University of British Columbia. Students either received guidance in the form of faded metacognitive scaffolding or unguided inventions. It was found that faded metacognitive scaffolding did not improve learning of invention skills compared to unguided inventions. Faded metacognitive scaffolding was found to improve understanding of domain equations, as seen through higher performance on debugging items in a statistics diagnostic. Future experimental design and ISE improvements are discussed.

Synthetic Learning Environments (SLEs) represent a hybrid of simulations and games, and in addition to their pedagogical content, rely on elements of story and interactivity to drive engagement with the learning material. The present work examined the differential impact of varying levels of story and interactivity on learning. The 2x2 between subjects design tested learning and retention among 4 different groups of participants, each receiving one of the 4 possible combinations of low and high levels of story and interactivity. Objective assessments of participant performance yielded the unexpected finding that learners using the SLE performed more poorly than any other learning group, including the gold-standard baseline. This result is made even more surprising by the finding that participants rated their enjoyment of and performance in that condition highest among the four conditions in the experiment. This apparent example of metacognitive bias has important implications for understanding how affect, narrative structure, and interactivity impact learning tasks, particularly in synthetic learning environments.
Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Sciences
Psychology PhD

ITC/USA 2009 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fifth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2009 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Several navigation technologies exist, which can facilitate the generation of Time Space Positioning Information (TSPI) in urban environments. These include GPS, image-based localization, radio-based localization and dead reckoning. This paper first presents a basic overview of these techniques including advantages and limitations of each. We present an approach to localization in urban environments, based on environment learning and collaborative navigation using multiple homogeneous and non-homogeneous localization technologies, fused to form a multi-sensor system.

The purpose of this project was to develop a teacher friendly guide that would help teachers not only apply brain-based strategies in the classroom, but also to see results from transforming their classrooms into brain-based learning environments.

This thesis describes research investigating the learning environment of tertiary students undertaking their studies through a mixture of online learning management systems and traditional tertiary classroom delivery. A review of the literature examined traditional learning environments, pure online virtual environments and more recent literature pertaining to a blended environment. The examination of student and staff perceptions of learning environments in different contexts served to generate recommendations to help tertiary teachers optimise online and traditional teaching practices within a mixed-mode environment. Students' experiences of their learning environment were discovered through quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data on students' experiences were gathered by using an adapted version of the Web-based Learning Environment Instrument (WEBLEI). Qualitative data on students' experiences were collected by discussion questions added to the WEBLEI survey. Qualitative data on the use of online and blended learning environment experiences by tertiary staff were gathered by email and supplementary interviews. The study synthesised results from these multiple sources within a tertiary institute environment and made recommendations and gave insight into optimal blended learning environments within the tertiary sector. Overall, the study provided a perspective on the psychology and strategic view of the learning environment for the future tertiary institute.

This thesis describes research investigating the learning environment of tertiary students undertaking their studies through a mixture of online learning management systems and traditional tertiary classroom delivery. A review of the literature examined traditional learning environments, pure online virtual environments and more recent literature pertaining to a blended environment. The examination of student and staff perceptions of learning environments in different contexts served to generate recommendations to help tertiary teachers optimise online and traditional teaching practices within a mixed-mode environment. Students' experiences of their learning environment were discovered through quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data on students' experiences were gathered by using an adapted version of the Web-based Learning Environment Instrument (WEBLEI). Qualitative data on students' experiences were collected by discussion questions added to the WEBLEI survey. Qualitative data on the use of online and blended learning environment experiences by tertiary staff were gathered by email and supplementary interviews. The study synthesised results from these multiple sources within a tertiary institute environment and made recommendations and gave insight into optimal blended learning environments within the tertiary sector. Overall, the study provided a perspective on the psychology and strategic view of the learning environment for the future tertiary institute.

Aquesta tesi tracta el problema de l'aprenentatge automàtic d'entorns estructurats n robòtica mòbil. Particularment, l'extracció de característiques a partir dels senyals dels sensors, la construcció autònoma de mapes, i l'autolocalització de robots.
S'estudien els fonaments matemàtics necessaris per a l'extracció de característiques a partir d'imatges i registres d'un làser, els quals permeten la identificació unívoca dels elements de l'entorn. Els atributs extrets a partir del senyal d'un sol sensor poden ser insuficients quan es volen caracteritzar els elements de l'entorn de forma invariant; això es pot millorar combinant informació de múltiples fonts. Es presenta un nou algorisme per la fusió d'informació complementaria extreta de dos mòduls de visió de baix nivell.
Aquesta fusió d'informació produeix descripcions més completes dels objectes de l'entorn, els quals poden ser seguits i apresos dins el context de la robòtica mòbil. Les variacions en les condicions d'il·luminació i les oclusions fan que l'associació de dades en visió per computador sigui una tasca difícil de completar.
Tot i això, l'ús de restriccions geomètriques i fotogramètriques permeten reduir la cerca de correspondències entre imatges successives; i al centrar l'atenció en un reduït nombre de característiques, aquestes poden ser seguides en imatges successives, simplificant així el problema d'associació de dades. Es recalquen les tècniques de la geometria de múltiples vistes que són rellevants pel còmput d'una estimació inicial de la posició dels elements de l'entorn, el que permet la reconstrucció del moviment del robot entre imatges successives; situació desitjable quan no existeix odometria o quan las seves lectures són poc fiables.
Quan els elements de l'entorn s'han extret i identificat, la segona part del problema consisteix en utilitzar aquestes observacions tant per estimar la posició del robot, com per refinar l'estimació dels mateixos elements de l'entorn. El moviment del robot i les lectures dels sensors es consideren com dos processos estocàstics, i el problema es tracta des del punt de vista de la teoria d'estimació, on el soroll inherent als sensors i al moviment del robot es consideren com a seqüències aleatòries.
El principal inconvenient existent en l'ús de tècniques d'estimació pel còmput concurrent de la posició del robot i la construcció d'un mapa, és que fins ara s'ha considerat la seva aplicació únicament en entorns estàtics, i que el seu ús en situacions més realistes ofereix poca robustesa. Es proposa un conjunt de funcions per avaluar la qualitat temporal de les observacions per tal de resoldre les situacions en que les observacions dels elements de l'entorn no siguin consistents en el temps. Es mostra com la utilització d'aquestes proves de qualitat temporal conjuntament amb les proves de compatibilitat espacial milloren els resultats quan es fen servir amb un mètode d'estimació òptima de la construcció concurrent de mapes i l'autolocalització de robots.
La idea principal consisteix en emprar un històric dels errors en l'associació de les dades per calcular la possibilitat d'incórrer en nous errors d'associació; i excloure del mapa aquells elements dels quals les observacions no siguin consistents.
Es posa especial atenció en el fet que l'eliminació dels elements inconsistents del mapa no violi les propietats dels algorismes de construcció concurrent de mapes i autolocalització descrits en la literatura; és a dir, convergència assimptòtica i correlació completa.
Aquesta tesi proporciona també un profund anàlisi del model de construcció concurrent de mapes i autolocalització totalment correlat des d'un punt de vista de la teoria de control de sistemes. Partint del fet que el filtre de Kalman no és més que un estimador òptim, s'analitzen les implicacions de tenir un vector d'estats que es revisa a partir de mesures totalment correladas.
Es revela de manera teòrica i amb experiments les limitacions d'utilitzar un enfocament per la construcció concurrent de mapes i l'autolocalització a partir de mesures totalment correladas.
El fet de tenir un model parcialment observable inhibeix la reconstrucció total de l'espai d'estats, produint tant mateix una estimació de la posició dels elements de l'entorn que depèn en tot cas de les observacions inicials, i que no garanteix la convergència a una matriu de covariància definida positivament.
D'altra banda, el fet de tenir un vector d'estats parcialment controlable fa que, desprès d'un reduït nombre d'iteracions el filtre cregui tenir una estimació perfecta de l'estat dels elements de l'entorn; amb els corresponents guanys de Kalman convergint a zero. Per tant, desprès d'un reduït nombre d'iteracions del filtre, els innovacions no s'utilitzen més. Es mostra com reduir els efectes de la correlació total i de la controlabilitat parcial. A més a més, suposant que el filtre de Kalman és un observador òptim per a la reconstrucció dels estats, és pertinent construir un regulador òptim que permeti conduir el robot el més a prop possible a una trajectòria desitjada durant la construcció d'un mapa. Es mostra com la dualitat existent entre l'observabilitat i la controlabilitat es pot fer servir en el disseny d'aquest regulador òptim.
Qualsevol algorisme de construcció concurrent de mapes i autolocalització de robots mòbils que s'ha d'usar en un entorn real ha de ser capaç de relacionar les observacions i els seus corresponents elements del mapa de manera expedita. Algunes de les proves de compatibilitat de les observacions són costoses des del punt de vista de la seva complexitat computacional, i la seva aplicació s'ha de dissenyar amb especial atenció. Es comenten els costos computacionals de les diferents proves de compatibilitat entre observacions; així com altres característiques desitjables de l'estructura de dades que es fa servir per a la construcció del mapa. A més a més es proposen una sèrie de tasques que han de realitzar-se durant l'associació de dades. Començant per les proves de compatibilitat amb un model bàsic dels elements del mapa, i continuant amb la reducció de l'espai de cerca quan es generen hipòtesis d'associació, així com les proves espacial i temporal d'associació de dades.
El treball que es presenta en aquesta tesi proposa noves tècniques en àrees de l'enginyera i ciències computacionals, que van des de nous algorismes per la visió per computador, a idees novells de la construcció concurrent de mapes i l'autolocalització de robots mòbils. Les contribucions principals són la proposta d'una nova tècnica per la fusió de dades visuals; la formulació d'un nou algorisme per la construcció concurrent de mapes i l'autolocalització de robots que considera la qualitat temporal dels elements del mapa; nous resultats teòrics en el nivell de reconstrucció possible quan es construeixen mapes a partir d'observacions totalment correladas; i les tècniques necessàries per pal·liar els efectes de l'observabilitat i la controlabilitat parcials, així com els efectes de les no linealitats en la solució del problema de construcció concurrent de mapes i de l'autolocalització.
Esta tesis aborda el problema del aprendizaje automático de entornos estructurados en robótica móvil. Particularmente, la extracción de características a partir de las se nales de los censores, la construcción autónoma de mapas, y la autolocalización de robots.
Se estudian los fundamentos matemáticos necesarios para la extracción de características a partir de imágenes y registros de un láser, las cuales permiten la identificación unívoca de los elementos del entorno. Los atributos extraídos a partir de la se nal de un solo sensor pueden ser insuficientes a la hora de caracterizar los elementos del entorno de forma invariante; lo que conlleva a la combinación de información de múltiples fuentes. Se presenta un nuevo algoritmo para la fusión de información complementaria extraída de dos módulos de visión de bajo nivel. Esta fusión de información produce descripciones más completas de los objetos presentes en el entorno, los cuales pueden ser seguidos y aprendidos en el contexto de la robótica móvil.
Las variaciones en las condiciones de iluminación y las oclusiones hacen que la asociación de datos en visión por computador sea una tarea difícil de llevar a cabo. Sin embargo, el uso de restricciones geométricas y fotogramétricas permiten reducir la búsqueda de correspondencias entre imágenes; y al centrar la atención en un reducido número de características, estas pueden ser seguidas en imágenes sucesivas, simplificando así el problema de asociación de datos. Se hace hincapié en las técnicas de la geometría de múltiples vistas relevantes para el cómputo de una estimación inicial de la posición de los elementos del entorno, lo cual permite la reconstrucción del movimiento
del robot entre imágenes sucesivas; situación deseable cuando se carece de odometría o cuando sus lecturas son poco fiables.
Una vez que los elementos del entorno han sido extraídos e identificados, la segunda parte del problema consiste en usar estas observaciones tanto para estimar la posición del robot, como para refinar la estimación de los mismos elementos del entorno. El movimiento del robot y las lecturas de los sensores se consideran como dos procesos estocásticos, y el problema se aborda desde el punto de vista de la teoría de estimación, en donde el ruido inherente a los sensores y al movimiento del robot se consideran como secuencias aleatorias.
La principal desventaja existente en el uso de técnicas de estimación para el cómputo concurrente de la posición del robot y la construcción de un mapa, es que hasta ahora se ha considerado su uso en entornos estáticos únicamente, y que su aplicación en situaciones más realistas carece de robustez.
Se propone un conjunto de funciones para evaluar la calidad temporal de las observaciones con el fin de solventar aquellas situaciones en que las observaciones de los elementos del entorno no sean consistentes en el tiempo.
Se muestra como el uso de estas pruebas de calidad temporal junto con las pruebas de compatibilidad espacial existentes mejora los resultados al usar un método de estimación óptima para la construcción concurrente de mapas y la autolocalización de robots. La idea principal consiste en usar un histórico
de los errores en la asociación de datos para el cómputo de la posibilidad de incurrir en nuevos errores de asociación; y eliminar del mapa aquellos elementos cuyas observaciones no sean consistentes.
Se presta especial atención a que la eliminación de elementos inconsistentes del mapa no viole las propiedades de los algoritmos de construcción concurrente de mapas y autolocalización descritos en la literatura; es decir, convergencia asintótica y correlación completa.
Esta tesis proporciona a su vez un análisis en profundidad del modelo de construcción concurrente de mapas y autolocalización totalmente correlado desde un punto de vista de la teoría de control de sistemas. Partiendo del hecho de que el filtro de Kalman no es otra cosa que un estimador óptimo, se analizan las implicaciones de tener un vector de estados que se revisa a partir de mediciones totalmente correladas. Se revela de forma teórica y con experimentos las limitaciones de usar un enfoque para la construcción concurrente de mapas y autolocalización a partir de mediciones totalmente correladas.
El hecho de tener un modelo parcialmente observable inhibe la reconstrucción total del espacio de estados, produciendo a su vez una estimación de la posición de los elementos del entorno que dependerá en todo caso de las observaciones iniciales, y que no garantiza la convergencia a una matriz de covarianza positivamente definida. Por otro lado, el hecho de tener un vector de estados parcialmente controlable, produce después de un reducido número de iteraciones que el filtro crea tener una estimación perfecta del estado de los elementos del entorno; con sus correspondientes ganancias de Kalman convergiendo a cero. Esto es, después de un peque no número de iteraciones del filtro, las innovaciones no se usan. Se muestra como reducir los efectos de la correlación total y la controlabilidad parcial. Además, dado que el filtro de Kalman es un observador óptimo para la reconstrucción de los estados, es pertinente construir un regulador óptimo que permita conducir al robot lo más cerca posible de una trayectoria deseada durante la construcción de un mapa. Se muestra como la dualidad existente entre la observabilidad y la controlabilidad se puede emplear en el diseño de este regulador óptimo.
Cualquier algoritmo de construcción concurrente de mapas y autolocalización de robots móviles que deba funcionar en un entorno real deberá ser capaz de relacionar las observaciones y sus correspondientes elementos del mapa de manera expedita. Algunas de las pruebas de compatibilidad de las observaciones son caras desde el punto de vista de su complejidad computacional, y su aplicación debe diseñarse con riguroso cuidado. Se comentan los costes computacionales de las distintas pruebas de compatibilidad entre observaciones; así como otras características deseadas de la estructura de datos elegida para la construcción del mapa. Además, se propone una serie de tareas que debe llevarse a cabo durante la asociación de datos. Partiendo por las pruebas de compatibilidad con un modelo básico de los elementos del mapa, y continuando con la reducción del espacio de búsqueda al generar hipótesis de asociación, así como las pruebas espacial y temporal de asociación de datos.
El trabajo que se presenta en esta tesis propone nuevas técnicas en áreas de la ingeniería y las ciencias computacionales, que van desde nuevos algoritmos de visión por computador, a ideas noveles en la construcción concurrente de mapas y la autolocalización de robots móviles. Las contribuciones principales son la propuesta de una nueva técnica para la fusión de datos visuales; la formulación de un nuevo algoritmo para la construcción concurrente de mapas y autolocalización de robots que toma en cuenta la calidad temporal de los elementos del mapa; nuevos resultados teóricos en el grado de reconstrucción posible al construir mapas a partir de observaciones totalmente correladas; y las técnicas necesarias para paliar los efectos de la observabilidad y controlabilidad parciales, así como los efectos de las no linealidades en la solución del problema de construcción concurrente de mapas y autolocalización.
This thesis focuses on the various aspects of autonomous environment learning for indoor service robots. Particularly, on landmark extraction from sensor data, autonomous map building, and robot localization.
To univocally identify landmarks from sensor data, we study several landmark representations, and the mathematical foundation necessary to extract the features that build them from images and laser range data. The features extracted from just one sensor may not suce in the invariant characterization of landmarks and objects, pushing for the combination of information from multiple sources. We present a new algorithm that fuses complementary information from two low level vision modules into coherent object models that can be tracked and learned in a mobile robotics context. Illumination conditions and occlusions are the most prominent artifacts
that hinder data association in computer vision. By using photogrammetric and geometric constraints we restrict the search for landmark matches in successive images, and by locking our interest in one or a set of landmarks in the scene, we track those landmarks along successive frames, reducing considerably the data association problem. We concentrate on those tools from the geometry of multiple views that are relevant to the computation of initial landmark location estimates for coarse motion recovery; a desirable characteristic when odometry is not available or is highly unreliable.
Once landmarks are accurately extracted and identied, the second part of the problem is to use these observations for the localization of the robot, as well as the renement of the landmark location estimates. We consider robot motion and sensor observations as stochastic processes, and treat the problem from an estimation theoretic point of view, dealing with noise by using probabilistic methods.
The main drawback we encounter is that current estimation techniques have been devised for static environments, and that they lack robustness in more realistic situations. To aid in those situations in which landmark observations might not be consistent in time, we propose a new set of temporal landmark quality functions, and show how by incorporating these functions in the data association tests, the overall estimation-theoretic approach to map building and localization is improved. The basic idea consists on using the history of data association mismatches for the computation of the likelihood of future data association, together with the spatial compatibility tests already available.
Special attention is paid in that the removal of spurious landmarks from the map does not violate the basic convergence properties of the localization and map building algorithms already described in the literature; namely, asymptotic convergence and full correlation.
The thesis also gives an in depth analysis of the fully correlated model to localization and map building from a control systems theory point of view. Considering the fact that the Kalman .lter is nothing else but an optimal observer, we analyze the implications of having a state vector that is being revised by fully correlated noise measurements. We end up revealing
theoretically and with experiments the strong limitations of using a fully correlated noise driven estimation theoretic approach to map building and localization in relation to the total number of landmarks used.
Partial observability hinders full reconstructibility of the state space, making the .nal map estimate dependant on the initial observations, and does not guarantee convergence to a positive de nite covariance matrix. Partial controllability on the other hand, makes the .lter beleive after a number of iterations, that it has accurate estimates of the landmark states, with their corresponding Kalman gains converging to zero. That is, after a few steps, innovations are useless. We show how to palliate the e.ects of full correlation
and partial controllability. Furthermore, given that the Kalman .lter is an optimal observer for the reconstruction of fully correlated states; it seems pertinent to build an optimal regulator in order to keep the robot as close as possible to a desired motion path when building a map. We show also how the duality between observability and controllability can be exploited in designing such an optimal regulator.
Any map building and localization algorithm for mobile robotics that is to work in real time must be able to relate observations and model matches in an expeditious way. Some of the landmark compatibility tests are computationally expensive, and their application has to be carefully designed. We touch upon the time complexity issues of the various landmark compatibility tests used, and also on the desirable properties of our chosen map data structure.
Furthermore, we propose a series of tasks that must be handled when dealing with landmark data association. From model compatibility tests, to search space reduction and hypothesis formation, to the actual association of observations and models.
The work presented in this thesis spans several areas of engineering and computer science, from new computer vision algorithms, to novel ideas in mobile robot localization and map building. The key contributions are the proposal of a new technique to fuse visual data; the formulation of new algorithms to concurrent localization and map building that take into account temporal landmark quality; new theoretical results on the degree of reconstruction possible when building maps from fully correlated observations; and the necessary techniques to palliate partial observability, partial controllability, and the nonlinear e.ects when solving the simultaneous localization and map building problem.

This thesis purpose is to compare the effectiveness of collaborative learning against individual learning applied at the context of environment awareness. The game consists in a treasure hunt for wastes: the wastes are hidden all over the world; the task is to find them and recycle them correctly. To study the aforementioned situation, the game has two versions: a single player and a multiplayer mode. The latter based on collaboration as essential element to reach the goal. The project idea is to sensitize the player by placing him in a world, which is coherent with his own environment. The world is set up from official sources of what world’s condition are in order to give an immersive sensation; this choice is due to the concept of situated learning for which the learning is set in an environment that is similar to where the learning material will be applied in future.

Asynchronous Learning Environment (ALE) has the capability of providing learning to people anywhere and at any time for both to secure degree and to engage in continuing education throughout their lifetimes. The advance of communications and information technology will make students choose to purchase and enroll in open market, widely available networked courses regardless of institutional affiliation.
Research results have found that success factors for asynchronous learning include whether students felt part of the online learning group, immediate feedback from instructors, automatic self-test, and indicating student's performance and progress in the course. These findings present basic requirement for the design of ALE. This paper explores all aspects of Asynchronous Learning Environment, including the architecture of ALE and complete database design. The modules of ALE include multimedia presentation, identity verification, intelligent agent, automatic test marking, computer conference, chat & whiteboard, and learning scheduling assistance. The purpose of this research is to make ALE a better way of education than traditional education. A database is designed to fully support these ALE functions.
Guidelines of designing ALE are provided with implementation examples of intelligent agents that providing automatic reminders and learning progress report. Conclusion and further works are discussed at the end of the paper.
The design described in this paper is intended for use by engineering courses. But it can be used by courses of other disciplines without much modification.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 83-85).
To allow planning in novel environments that have not been mapped out by hand, we need ways of learning environment models. While conventional work has focused on video prediction as a means for environment learning, this work instead seeks to learn from much sparser signals, like the agent's reward. In Chapter 1, we establish a taxonomy of environments and the attributes that make them easier or harder to model through learning. In Chapter 2, we review prior work in the field of environment learning. In Chapter 3, we propose a model-learning architecture based purely on reward prediction, and analyze its performance on illustrative problems. Finally, in Chapter 4, we propose and evaluate a model-learning architecture that uses both reward and sparse "features" extracted from the environment.
by Yonadav Goldwasser Shavit.
M. Eng.

As individuals the ideal learning scenario would be a learning environment tailored just for how we like to learn, personalised to our requirements. This has previously been almost inconceivable given the complexities of learning, the constraints within the environments in which we teach, and the need for global repositories of knowledge to facilitate this process. Whilst it is still not necessarily achievable in its full sense this research project represents a path towards this ideal. In this thesis, findings from research into the development of a model (the Adaptive Intelligent Personalised Learning (AIPL)), the creation of a prototype implementation of a system designed around this model (the AIPL environment) and the construction of a suite of intelligent algorithms (Personalised Adaptive Filtering System (PAFS)) for personalised learning are presented and evaluated. A mixed methods approach is used in the evaluation of the AIPL environment. The AIPL model is built on the premise of an ideal system being one which does not just consider the individual but also considers groupings of likeminded individuals and their power to influence learner choice. The results show that: (1) There is a positive correlation for using group-learning-paradigms. (2) Using personalisation as a learning aid can help to facilitate individual learning and encourage learning on-line. (3) Using learning styles as a way of identifying and categorising the individuals can improve their on-line learning experience. (4) Using Adaptive Information Retrieval techniques linked to group-learning-paradigms can reduce and improve the problem of mis-matching. A number of approaches for further work to extend and expand upon the work presented are highlighted at the end of the Thesis.

Statistical learning refers to the ability to track regular patterns in sensory input from ambient environments. This learning mechanism can exploit a wide range of statistical structures (e.g., frequency, distribution, and co-occurrence probability). Given its regularities and hierarchical structures, language is essentially a pattern-based system and therefore researchers have argued that statistical learning is fundamental to language acquisition (e.g., Saffran, 2003). Indeed, young infants and adults can find words in artificial languages by tracking syllable co-occurrence probabilities and extracting words on that basis (e.g., Saffran. Aslin & Newport, 1996a). However, prior studies have mainly focused on whether learners can statistically segment words from a single language; whether learners can segment words from two artificial languages remains largely unknown. Given that the majority of the global population is bilingual (Grosjean, 2010), it is necessary to study whether learners can make use of the statistical learning mechanism to segment words from two language inputs, which is the focus of this thesis. I examined adult and infant learners to answer three questions: (i) Can learners make use of French and English phonetic cues within a single individual’s speech to segment words successfully from two languages?; 2) Do bilinguals outperform monolinguals?; and 3) Do specific factors, such as cognitive ability or bilingual experience, underlie any potential bilingual advantage in word segmentation across two languages? In Study 1, adult learners generally could make use of French and English phonetic cues to segment words from two overlapping artificial languages. Importantly, simultaneous bilinguals who learned French and English since birth segmented more correct words in comparison to monolinguals, multilinguals, and sequential French-English bilinguals. Early bilingual experience may lead learners to be more flexible when processing information in new environments and/or they are more sensitive to subtle cues that mark the changes of language inputs. Further, individuals’ cognitive abilities were not related to learners’ segmentation performance, suggesting that the observed simultaneous bilingual segmentation advantage is not related any bilingual cognitive advantages (Bialystok, Craik, & Luk, 2012). In Study 2, I tested 9.5-month-olds, who are currently discovering words in their natural environment, in an infant version of the adult task. Surprisingly, monolingual, but not bilingual, infants successfully used French and English phonetic cues to segment words from two languages. The observed difference in segmentation may be related to how infant process native and non-native phonetic cues, as the French phonetic cues are non-native to monolingual infants but are native to bilingual infants. Finally, the observed difference in segmentation ability was again not driven by cognitive skills. In sum, current thesis provides evidence that both adults and infants can make use of phonetic cues to statistically segment words from two languages. The implications of why early bilingualism plays a role in determining learners’ segmentation ability are discussed.

Educational Administration
Ed.D.
The purpose of this multiple site case study was to determine whether implementing the cooperative learning element of structuring student interactions is a possible contributing solution to student disenfranchisement and lack of social skills. This study explored student and teacher attitudes and perceptions, in seven separate secondary social studies classrooms, regarding their classroom environment before and after an intervention that trains teachers on how to implement four structured student interactions focused on class building and teambuilding. This study is in response to the diagnosis of educational administrators and classroom teachers facing challenges in building positive school and classroom environments. The lack of social skills and the inability to work well with each other diminishes the opportunities for the creation of positive school and classroom environments. As a result, students may become disenfranchised, evidenced by dropout rates and the disinterest in activities provided in the classroom. The study consisted of case study methodology using surveys, interviews, focus group sessions, lesson plans, teacher journals and classroom observations to document the story of the possible impact of implementing structured student interactions. The study revealed that it was inconclusive whether the intervention strategies had an overall positive or negative effect in the perceptions of engagement, interdependence, accountability and equity. Despite the conclusion, the data provide several opportunities for discussion within the areas of classroom environment, instructional leadership, instructional coaching, implementation fidelity of new strategies and teacher self-study of practice.
Temple University--Theses

This thesis is an attempt to create a HyperCard-based learning environment to teach DIADES and other related material. It is a departure from the classical Computer Aided Instruction methods towards a more flexible and user-controlled design. The goal was to set the foundation of a new CAI design which would closely resemble a Hyper- Text system. These systems are characterized as having interconnections between related concepts in the CAI environment.

This thesis addresses the problem of data scarcity in human deep-learning applications. Automated estimation of human shape and pose from an image is challenging. It is even more difficult to map the identified human pixels onto a 3D model. Existing deep-learning models learn to map manually labelled human pixels in 2D images onto human surface, which is prone to human error, and the sparsity of annotated data leads to sub-optimal results. We solve this problem by generating realistic artificial human video data to train 2D-3D human mapping models and show promising results when compared to models trained on real data.

Thesis (Master of Architecture)--University of Cincinnati, 2006.
Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed July 24, 2006). Includes abstract. Keywords: Montessori Architecture; Sustainable Architecture; High Performance Schools; High Performance Facilities; Educational Architecture. Includes bibliographical references.

Abstract Teaching in the university has been under pressure to change in recent years. On the one hand, there is financial pressure to decrease resources on the other, there is a need to keep quality and quantity of education offered high and to give due consideration to changes in technology and learning methods. One response to these pressures has been to study if it is possible to build a learning environment for Control Engineering that is available to students virtually. It could help to distribute materials and facilitate overall communication, from course information through student feedback. It could also make studying more efficient by enabling better follow-up of learning and use of interactive functions. The development of a Web-based learning environment for Control Engineering started from a simple model of learning theories and course content. This model was applied to that context, and an open learning environment was developed and implemented. The implementation is referred to as Control Web. Functions were added to Control Web and tuned according to student feedback. The probe method was utilised in the validation. Two courses were subjected to under full validation in order to carry out validation for the whole system. Student feedback, grades, and credits during the years 1993 to 2000 were analysed. According to the results, the system implemented has performed well. However, the explicit influence of using the Web-based learning environment can be seen in only few cases; there are too many variables in the overall learning situation. The results and experiences yield an enhanced model for developing a learning environment and a tool that indicates a need to change course parameters.

Recent researches on campus learning environments present that there is a seeking for alternative learning spaces among students. Researches argue that more learning is taking place outside of class time than ever before. With an increased emphasis on collaboration and group projects, students are learning in small groups outside of the classrooms as they accomplish work related to their courses. Literature defines these experiences as &lsquo
informal learning&rsquo
. Therewithal, campus open spaces are one of the major areas where students prefer for their informal learning experiences. This thesis aims to search the influence of campus open space design on students&rsquo
learning experiences. Additionally, it argues that there is a strong relation between the learning and the space where learning action occurs. In doing this, it both covers a theoretical framework and a case study. Within the theoretical part, it discusses various learning theories with respect to the prominent principles for each theory. It reveals learning space design indicators which affects learning both in indoor and outdoor learning environments. In the case study, with the analysis of different sample areas from METU campus, the study both investigates the learning experiences actualized on campus open spaces and the triggering design indicators which enhance these experiences.

In this thesis we present our research project on an augmented environment developed using the technology available in the field of Augmented Reality, capable of delivering learning contents on Information and Communication Technologies and e-services to older adults without computer and digital literacy. The learning environment is meant to provide a contribution in solving a problem of social exclusion in older adults. In recent years, technology has helped older adults in many ways to slow down the effects of ageing. Yet, at the same time, technology has also created new problems for older adults. Indeed, technology has transformed society into a strongly technological-based e-society, in which citizens without competences on the use of computer and digital tools, such as older adults, are progressively pushed to the margins, and run the risk of being socially excluded. Learning is the key-concept for a possible solution to such a problem. Older adults can still learn, even in older age. Learning is beneficial to older adults in many ways. So, why not using learning for teaching older adults the basic of technology necessary to make them citizens of e-society? That is the purpose of our research: our learning environment is meant to teach older adults the basic of technology through a technological device. We designed our augmented environment specifically for older adults without computer and digital literacy: it takes into account older adults’ needs and possible disabilities; it does not require any particular psycho-physical competence to be used; it does not require any technological knowledge. In this thesis we show how we designed a learning augmented environment with such features, how we developed it, and how we tested it on a group of older adults to ensure that what we have developed meets the requirements we set during the design process.

In this thesis we present our research project on an augmented environment developed using the technology available in the field of Augmented Reality, capable of delivering learning contents on Information and Communication Technologies and e-services to older adults without computer and digital literacy. The learning environment is meant to provide a contribution in solving a problem of social exclusion in older adults. In recent years, technology has helped older adults in many ways to slow down the effects of ageing. Yet, at the same time, technology has also created new problems for older adults. Indeed, technology has transformed society into a strongly technological-based e-society, in which citizens without competences on the use of computer and digital tools, such as older adults, are progressively pushed to the margins, and run the risk of being socially excluded. Learning is the key-concept for a possible solution to such a problem. Older adults can still learn, even in older age. Learning is beneficial to older adults in many ways. So, why not using learning for teaching older adults the basic of technology necessary to make them citizens of e-society? That is the purpose of our research: our learning environment is meant to teach older adults the basic of technology through a technological device. We designed our augmented environment specifically for older adults without computer and digital literacy: it takes into account older adults’ needs and possible disabilities; it does not require any particular psycho-physical competence to be used; it does not require any technological knowledge. In this thesis we show how we designed a learning augmented environment with such features, how we developed it, and how we tested it on a group of older adults to ensure that what we have developed meets the requirements we set during the design process.

Negli ultimi anni, crescente attenzione è stata posta al Personal Learning Environment (PLE) come sistema efficace per i lifelong learners e al bisogno di integrazione di apprendimento formale ed informale. La presenza sul web di una gamma sempre più ampia di applicazioni open source e gratuite per l’apprendimento offre ai lifelong learners potenti strumenti per costruire e ca- ratterizzare i propri PLE. Da un punto di vista tecnologico, questo cambiamento di prospettiva si manifesta in un web per l’apprendimento in cui l’informazione è distribuita in siti diversi. Tut- tavia, il knowledge management diventa un problema pressante e la personalizzazione richiede il supporto della semantica applicata alle componenti sociali. Questa tesi è focalizzata sulla caratterizzazione dei PLE di lifelong learners adulti attraverso tools im- pliciti ed espliciti di personalizzazione. Lo studio ha esplorato la sinergia di apprendimento for- male ed informale nella costruzione dinamica del PLE di un lifelong learner. E’ stato creato il format SSW4LL (Social Semantic Web for Lifelong Learners) e il sistema SSW4LL, costruito su Moo- dle 2.0 integrato con un meccanismo adattivo (attività condizionali) e alcuni tools di Social Semantic Web (Semantic MediaWiki, Diigo e Google+), è stato progettato, implementato e validato con successo come mezzo idoneo a fornire un ambiente di apprendimento personalizzato dinamica- mente per il lifelong learner.
Over the last years, increasing attention has been paid to Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) as an effective framework for lifelong learners, and to the need for a smooth integration of formal and informal learning. A wider and wider range of open source and free learning applications on the web are offering lifelong learners powerful tools to construct and characterise their own PLEs. Technologically speaking, this change of perspective manifests in a learning web where information is distributed across sites. However, knowledge management becomes an issue, and personalisation requires the support of semantics applied to social components. This thesis focuses on the characterisation of adult lifelong learners’ PLEs by implicit and explicit tools of personalisation. The synergy of formal and informal learning in the dynamic construction of a lifelong learner’s PLE has been explored. The SSW4LL (Social Semantic Web for Lifelong Learners) format has been devised, and the SSW4LL system, built on Moodle 2.0 integrated with an adaptive mechanism (conditional activities) and some tools of Social Semantic Web (Semantic MediaWiki, Diigo and Google+), has been designed, implemented and successfully validated as a device suitable to provide a dynamically personalised learning environment to the lifelong learner.

Cross-media games are evolving as a new exciting platform for gaming where different devices are used to create a type of game play were a variant of devices, such as mobile phones and laptops are used. This thesis investigates the possibility of merging cross-media games into the domain of Mobile Learning to create a type of mobile learning game where collaboration becomes a vital part of the game play and style enhances collaboration between the users. By studying cross-media games, key features are captured and converted into requirements that are realised in a prototype that enables cross-media gaming with the intention of creating an environment in which learning could be supported. The development process of the prototype is described and evaluated in the thesis. The result presents a categorization of the key features for cross-media gaming and a prototype of a cross-media game. The thesis investigates which are the key technical features for creating cross-medial games for learning that can be identified for supporting the development process? The results presents a categorization of identified features along with potential future work based on the thesis. It is shown that features related to data sharing are highly prioritized and that certain features are absolutely required to enable cross-media gaming whilst others have less priority.

This licentiate thesis focuses on how to design a robust and flexible environment for net-based learning. The environment is required to be scalable for large groups, robust over lossy networks, flexible to meet different learning scenarios, and support interactivity. The mStar environment presented in this thesis has been developed to meet these requirements. The environment is scalable through the use of IP multicast and a server-less design. Robustness is achieved by separating traffic by loss tolerance, where traffic that accept no loss uses a reliable multicast protocol and traffic that can accept some loss uses repair techniques. To enhance robustness even further, network resource management is suggested. Everything from small group meetings to large lectures is supported, which together with the possibility to use the tools asynchronously gives the flexibility needed. The tools in the environment are fully symmetric, which allows everyone equal access and thus supports full interactivity. Students using the mStar environment is no longer bound by physical distance, since they can easily take part of lectures, seminars and group discussions electronically. They can also be connected via not multicast enabled low bandwidth networks, since they can tunnel concentrated traffic to thir local hosts. The students are also less bound by time, as they can use the mMOD system to access recorded sessions or the WWW to access course information.
Godkänd; 1999; 20070403 (ysko)

21st century schools face significant challenges as they move towards providing opportunities for learners which recognize and build on their strengths and abilities. The process of supporting young people to develop the desire and the confidence to recognise personal potential and to manage their ongoing learning is a priority. Communication and collaboration are key to learners becoming informed active participants in their own learning and experiencing successful outcomes in today's society. Our old models of learning where pre packaged parcels of knowledge were delivered to students by teachers will no longer suffice. As we respond to the new meaning of knowledge in the 21st century and begin to view knowledge as an active process, it is clear that many of the top down structures and organisational practices present in New Zealand secondary schools need change. The idea of personalisation in order to support independent learners to reach their potential is a familiar one for many teachers and is one of the ideals which may have brought them into the teaching profession. However, the institutional contexts in which they operate can act not as a driving force for personalised learning but as a barrier to it. In seeking to find one possible way in which secondary school systems can be re shaped around the needs of the learner, this study examines the role of online mentoring with experts outside the school. This small scale qualitative study uses ethnographic methods to gather data from twelve secondary school year thirteen physical education students and their teacher as they engage in an eight week online project with expert sports coaches at Auckland University of Technology. Eleven of the students were boys. In examining the impact which online mentoring might have on this group of learners and their teacher, rich data was collected via web transcripts, observation, image data and interviews. The research findings reveal that students found a high degree of satisfaction with the process and placed value on having the opportunity to pursue personalised goals as they worked with mentors in a collaborative online environment. Teacher behaviour and practice underwent change in the project with the teacher becoming repositioned within the group in the role of learner. In a process where authoritarian approaches were replaced by collaborative group action and inquiry, students reported an enhanced ability to think deeply, to manage their own learning and to relate in highly skilled ways with others. Students' perceptions about the ways in which they were working were analysed using the New Zealand Curriculum Key Competencies. As students focused their inquiry past the level of curriculum goals and onto real world personal goals, several experienced a shift in perception concerning their own learning potential and expressed surprised at their own level of competence. The fact that eleven out of the twelve students were boys makes this shift in personal learning expectation worthy of further investigation in the quest for improving academic outcomes for boys. Finally, this study may have relevance for the ways in which the Key Competencies have meaning in secondary schools. The study demonstrated that the emergence of competencies such as self management and relating to others was assisted by changes in teacher behaviour and action. As authoritarian approaches were replaced by a collaborative model where independent learning with others was supported, learners began to exhibit the personal competencies described by the New Zealand Curriculum (2008). These competencies which include Thinking, Using Language, symbols and texts, Managing self, Relating to others and Participating and contributing occurred as a natural consequence of a learning model which was shaped to fit the learner; a personalised approach to learning with support from online mentors.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1990.
Title as it appears in the June, 1991 M.I.T. Graduate List: Video logo--synthetic movies in a learning environment.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-109).
by Alexander Benenson.
M.S.