Paper presented at ICERI 2016, Seville

1. Customized xLearning
Environment
Anabela Mesquita
CICE –ISCAP / IPP, Portugal
Algoritmi RC, Portugal
sarmento@iscap.ipp.pt
Fernando Moreira
UPT, IJP, DEGI, Portugal
IEETA, UA, Aveiro, Portugal
fmoreira@upt.pt
Paula Peres
CICE – ISCAP /IPP, Portugal
pperes@iscap.ipp.pt
15/11/2016 1Anabela Mesquita, Paula Peres, Fernando Moreira

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Background
• Some assumptions
• Model proposed
• Conclusions and next steps
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3. Introduction
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Changes
Education system must address the
diversity of students’ backgrounds and
needs.
Educational equity
Learning should be personalized
Lack of interaction in traditional classes
– which is essential for learning
Assumptions
Adopting e-learning platforms
Effective in
connecting people
and resources
Facilitate
interaction
Promote
collaboration
Contribute to
critical thinking
Development of informal learning environments
Anabela Mesquita, Paula Peres, Fernando Moreira

4. Introduction
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Platforms designed for elearning, open source or commercial - more
focused on the design of the needs of institutional progress or
activities concerning teaching and learning.
Personal Learning Environment - approach to integrate different practices and
resources to address individual learning needs - more flexible and aims to
focus on the needs of students.
Still relies on what teachers make at students’
disposal and not empower student to create his /
her own environment
Anabela Mesquita, Paula Peres, Fernando Moreira

5. Introduction
Model
To develop their CxLE using a set of tools and
services that cover the functions in their learning
process and customise their learning environment.
Learning and
e/m/ulearning elements
Student is the focus Decides what should be included
in this learning environment
Customized xLearning
Environment
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6. 15/11/2016 Anabela Mesquita, Paula Peres, Fernando Moreira 6
CxLE
PLE
Social
networks
Pedagogical
learning
theories

7. Background (1)
• Personal Learning Environments (PLE)
• “conceptual and technological frameworks that help
learners take control of and manage their own learning”.
• Providing support for learners to:
• Set their own learning goals
• Manage their learning (learning outcomes and processes)
• Personal
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Related with engagement with other
learners and experts; consists of an
assembly of resources from various
sources.
Anabela Mesquita, Paula Peres, Fernando Moreira

8. Background (1)
• PLE characteristics
• Support – environment planned to help students to design and
manage their learning environment;
• Educational component – all the resources that are available in
the learning environment;
• Social – environment developed take into consideration the
need to engage with other (knowledge is something that is
socially constructed);
• Technological component – design of the tools used. All
components should be tailored, student-centered and driven.
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9. Background (2)
• Social network
• “… a web service that allow individuals to (1) construct a public profile within
a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a
connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made
by others within the system.”
• Social network can be:
• Horizontal - used for more general purposes; diverse users; address a wide
range of topics; reduced specialization; less privacy, public – lot of users and
information; no filter
• Vertical - highly segmented user base, addressing specific topics in depth,
high degree of specialization, generally more private and closed.
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10. Background (3)
• Pedagogical Learning Theories
• Constructivism - all new knowledge and learning is based on
previous knowledge and past learning.
• Main principles:
• 1) learning and understanding comes from interaction with the
environment;
• 2) learners encounter cognitive conflict which in turn stimulates
learning;
• 3) new knowledge develops through social interaction
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11. Background (3)
• Pedagogical Learning Theories
• Connectivist - learning occurs through the process
of a learner connecting to and transferring
information into a learning community.
• Characteristics related with PLE
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12. Model - assumptions
• Service-based framework
• Components:
• 1) Institutional context (include one or more LMS in which the students carry
out their academic activities, e.g. Moodle),
• 2) Personalized context (facilitates de integration of the different tools that
students use in their learning) and
• 3) Communication channels
• 4) Mediator elements (to facilitate communication between specific instances
of the LMS and the online tools included into the PLE) and / or the
representation of these elements in other contexts (such as mobile devices).
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Learning
environment
Institutional
LMS
Facilitate
communication
Anabela Mesquita, Paula Peres, Fernando Moreira

13. Model - assumptions
• Will it be an e/m/ulearning environment? – this will clarify what are
the necessary technologies
• Need to define the learning environment in wider context, the
interaction with social networks and ways to communicate with the
LMS
• What happens in the wider context can be used in the institutional
environment
• Learning contents can / should be enhanced with the funcionality of
the LMS
• Enhanced with social networking contents
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14. Proposed Model
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Institutional
environment
PLE – one or
more tools
Social
networks
Channels and
interfaces of
communication
Model to use
Anabela Mesquita, Paula Peres, Fernando Moreira
Network / interaction

15. Conclusions and next steps
• CxLE
• Technological developments are bringing more and more
functionalities to this learning environment while learning theories
support and are the basis for the conceptual principles of these
environments.
• Student is the center of all the learning process
• Learning does not occur only in the classroom
• LMS should also take into consideration informal learning, valuing
and assessing it.
• Other people should be involved in the process – external experts,
potential employers
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16. • Next step
• Test this customized xlearning environment by implementing it
as proof of concept
• Propose an integration of all the learning space - formal and
informal - in the LMS
• Involve other key players in the learning environment
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17. Thank you
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