L'utilisation des artefacts numériques pour la réalisation d'activités d'apprentissage reste le plus souvent individuelle, faute de disposer d'environnements adaptés, tant du point de vue du matériel que des applications et des pratiques pédagogiques. Cette recherche rend compte de l'expérience d'usages de différents artefacts dans une activité collaborative d'élaboration de cartes mentales et conceptuelles proposée en cours d'histoire de seconde. L'objectif principal est l'étude du rôle de l'espace de travail privé pour l'édition collective de cartes mentales et conceptuelles. Plus précisément, l'objectif est d'évaluer si le recours aux artefacts numériques lors de l'édition collective de cartes mentales et conceptuelles favorise les processus de confrontation cognitive constitutifs de la collaboration. Pour répondre à cet objectif, deux itérations (expérimentation pilote et expérimentation) ont été réalisées avec deux prototypes de dispositif numérique de collaboration qui permettent aux élèves de différencier leur espace de travail individuel de l'espace collectif. La première expérimentation pilote a été réalisée en 2015 avec un prototype de cartes mentales existant avant l'étude. Elle a consisté à valider le protocole expérimental de la recherche et à préciser les questions de recherche et les hypothèses. La deuxième expérimentation, quant à elle, a été réalisée au cours de l'année 2016 via un prototype de cartes conceptuelles conçu et développé dans le cadre de cette recherche. Cette expérimentation a eu pour but d'éprouver les trois hypothèses formulées, qui s'inscrivent dans la théorie de l'apprentissage social de Bandura (1980) et portent à la fois sur des déterminants environnementaux, cognitifs et comportementaux. La première hypothèse (déterminants environnementaux) suppose tout d'abord que la médiation instrumentale d'une activité d'apprentissage collaborative a une influence sur la participation des élèves. La deuxième hypothèse (déterminants cognitifs) quant à elle, soutient que l'adjonction d'un espace de travail personnel de l'élève à un espace d'interaction collectif favorise des processus cognitifs présents dans la collaboration : le conflit sociocognitif (Doise et Mugny, 1997; Perret-Clermont, 1979), l'étayage (Bruner, 1997) et la vicariance (Bandura, 1980; Pentland, 2015). Enfin, la troisième hypothèse (déterminants comportementaux) suggère que la participation individuelle des élèves sur l'élaboration d'une carte conceptuelle collective est influencée par la culture affective du groupe. Afin de vérifier ces 3 hypothèses, un plan expérimental multifactoriel croisé a été mis en place, ce qui a permis de tester les variables indépendantes simultanément auprès de 7 groupes de lycéens de seconde en classe d'histoire. L'analyse de données effectuée est centrée sur la nature des interactions orales et numériques des élèves, ainsi que sur leurs productions écrites et leurs réponses aux entretiens collectifs et aux questionnaires individuels. Les résultats montrent la tendance du dispositif numérique de collaboration (artefacts, organisation de l'activité, scénario pédagogique) à favoriser le processus d'étayage et vicariance suite aux échanges nécessaires à la coordination des tâches techniques d'édition de la carte conceptuelle. Les résultats indiquent qu'après l'utilisation d'un espace privé numérique, les élèves ont des conflits sociocognitifs significatifs lors du travail en groupe, les entraînant à accepter les réponses les plus ouvertes afin d'éviter la confrontation. / The use of digital artifacts for learning activities usually remains individual, as there are no suitable environments, from the point of view of materials, applications and teaching practices. This research reports on the experience of using different artefacts in a collaborative activity to elaborate mental and conceptual maps proposed in a history class in the eleventh grade. The aim is to study the role of a private workspace for the collective edition of mental and conceptual maps. More specifically, the goal is to assess whether the use of digital artifacts in the collective edition of mental and conceptual maps promotes the processes of cognitive confrontation that constitutes collaboration. To meet this objective, two iterations (pilot experimentation and experimentation) were carried out with two digital collaborative prototypes that allow students to differentiate their individual workspace from the collective space. The first pilot experiment was conducted in 2015 with a prototype of mental maps existing prior to the study. It consisted of validating the experimental protocol of the research and clarifying research questions and hypotheses. The second experiment, meanwhile, was carried out in 2016 via a prototype of concept maps designed and developed as part of this research. The purpose of this experiment was to test the three hypotheses formulated, which fit into Bandura's (1980) theory of social learning and address environmental, cognitive and behavioral determinants. The first hypothesis (environmental determinants) assumes that the instrumental mediation of a collaborative learning activity has an influence on the student participation. The second hypothesis (cognitive determinants), for its part, argues that the addition of a personal workspace of the student to a collective interaction space favors cognitive processes present in collaboration: sociocognitive conflict (Doise and Mugny Perret-Clermont, 1979), supporting (Bruner, 1997) and vicariance (Bandura, 1980, Pentland, 2015). Finally, the third hypothesis (behavioral determinants) suggests that the individual participation of pupils in the elaboration of a collective concept map is influenced by the affective culture of the group. In order to verify these 3 hypotheses, a crossed multifactorial experimental plan was put in place, which made it possible to test the independent variables simultaneously with 7 groups of high school students in history class. The data analysis carried out focuses on the nature of students' oral and digital interactions, as well as their written outputs and their responses to group interviews and individual questionnaires. The results show the trend of the digital collaboration device (artifacts, organization of the activity, pedagogical scenario) to favor the supporting and vicariance process as an explanation of the exchanges needed to coordinate the technical tasks of editing the concept map. The results indicate that after using a digital private space, pupils have significant sociocognitive conflicts during group work, leading them to accept the most open responses in order to avoid confrontation. / El uso de artefactos digitales para la realización de actividades de aprendizaje sigue siendo principalmente individual, por falta de entornos adecuados, desde el punto de vista del material, de las aplicaciones y de las prácticas pedagógicas. Esta investigación cuenta la experiencia de uso de diferentes artefactos en una actividad colaborativa de elaboración de mapas mentales y conceptuales propuestos en el transcurso de una clase de historia de cuarto de educación secundaria. El objetivo principal es el estudio del rol del espacio de trabajo privado para la edición colectiva de mapas mentales y conceptuales. Más específicamente, el objetivo es evaluar si el uso de artefactos digitales en la edición colectiva de mapas mentales y conceptuales promueve los procesos de confrontación cognitiva que constituyen la colaboración. Para cumplir este objetivo, se realizaron dos iteraciones (experimentación piloto y experimentación) con dos prototipos de dispositivos digitales colaborativos que permiten a los estudiantes diferenciar su espacio de trabajo individual del espacio colectivo. El primer experimento piloto se llevó a cabo en 2015 con un prototipo de mapas mentales existente antes del estudio. Consistió en validar el protocolo experimental de la investigación y aclarar preguntas e hipótesis de investigación. El segundo experimento, mientras tanto, se llevó a cabo en 2016 a través de un prototipo de mapas conceptuales diseñados y desarrollados como parte de esta investigación. Este experimento fue diseñado para verificar las tres hipótesis formuladas, que se ajustan a la teoría del aprendizaje social de Bandura (1980) y abordan los determinantes ambientales, cognitivos y conductuales. La primera hipótesis (determinantes ambientales) supone que la mediación instrumental de una actividad de aprendizaje colaborativo influye en la participación del alumno. La segunda hipótesis (determinantes cognitivos), por su parte, sostiene que la adición de un espacio de trabajo personal del alumno a un espacio de interacción colectivo promueve procesos cognitivos presentes en la colaboración: el conflicto socio-cognitivo (Doise y Mugny Perret-Clermont, 1979), el apoyo (Bruner, 1997) y la vicarianza (Bandura, 1980, Pentland, 2015). Finalmente, la tercera hipótesis (determinantes conductuales) sugiere que la participación individual de los alumnos en la elaboración de un mapa conceptual colectivo está influenciada por la cultura afectiva del grupo. Para verificar estas 3 hipótesis, se puso en marcha un plan experimental multifactorial cruzado, que permitió probar las variables independientes simultáneamente con 7 grupos de estudiantes de cuarto de secundaria en la clase de historia. El análisis de datos realizado se centra en la naturaleza de las interacciones orales y digitales de los estudiantes, así como en sus resultados escritos y sus respuestas a entrevistas grupales y cuestionarios individuales. Los resultados muestran la tendencia de los dispositivos digitales de colaboración (artefactos, la organización de la actividad, escenario pedagógico) a promover el proceso de apoyo y vicariedad tras las conversaciones necesarias para coordinar las acciones técnicas para publicar en el mapa conceptual. Los resultados indican que después de usar un espacio privado digital, los estudiantes tienen conflictos sociocognitivos significativos durante el trabajo en grupo, lo que los lleva a aceptar las respuestas más abiertas para evitar el enfrentamiento.

Au niveau des grandes architectures industrielles, il existe un besoin de plans CAO précis de l'existant. A l'heure actuelle, ces plans peuvent être construits à partir de la technologie de la photogrammétrie, technique lente et coûteuse basée sur la prise de photos de plusieurs points de vue des structures dans l'espace. Une technologie récente, la télémétrie laser, permet d'obtenir directement des images denses de points tridimensionnels scannés sur les surfaces des objets. Un logiciel permet ensuite de construire un modèle CAO plaqué au mieux sur les points de mesure. La difficulté principale de la construction du modèle CAO à partir des images télémétriques réside dans la faculté de segmenter les images de points en sous-ensembles correspondant chacun à une primitive géométrique unique (cylindre, tore, sphère, cône ou plan, principalement). Ce problème étant particulièrement difficile à résoudre, le logiciel actuel fait appel à l'opérateur qui effectue interactivement cette segmentation à l'écran. L'objectif de la thèse était d'explorer les possibilités d'automatisation de ce travail. Dans un premier temps, l'étude s'est limitée aux ensembles de tuyauteries, représentant la majeure partie des scènes observées. Ces ensembles peuvent être modélisés par les seules primitives de cylindres, tores et cônes. L'approche proposée consiste à segmenter les tuyauteries en utilisant les centres de courbure locaux des surfaces observées. Ces centres de courbure dessinent des lignes dans l'espace 3D, qu'il est facile de segmenter et à partir desquelles on peut remonter à l'image de départ. Pour calculer les centres de courbure, il a été nécessaire d'effectuer une étude théorique de l'algorithme de calcul de courbures principales sur des surfaces de points discrets dans l'espace, étude qui a mené à l'amélioration de l'algorithme par rapport à ce que l'on trouve dans la littérature, et notamment à la définition d'un critère d'optimalité en termes de bruit des résultats. Les algorithmes ont été testés sur de nombreuses images industrielles. L'étude de segmentation a été menée jusqu'à la reconstruction CAO automatique d'un bout de tuyauterie, validant ainsi l'approche proposée. L'objectif initial de la thèse de segmentation CAO automatique a donc été atteint. Ce travail a cependant ouvert plus de voies de recherches futures que n'en a fermées, en proposant des solutions intéressantes mais encore améliorables sur bien des points, et en incitant à poursuivre l'étude sur les surfaces planaires observées dans les images.

As an expression of current challenges faced by contemporary societies, past decades have witnessed heavy demands for higher education to change and transform. One key question here has been the increased digitalization of higher education. Within this wider setting, this thesis deals with an attempt to handle the increasing shortage of physicians in Sweden by way of digitalizing medical education. The aim of this explorative and longitudinal thesis is to describe and analyze structural and educational transformation work in medical education during the digitalization of the program and the transition from face-to-face to distance education. This thesis focuses on teachers, students and management, who are all heavily involved in this transition of the medical program. Two questions guide the research: (1) what are teachers’ and students’ expectations pending the transition, and what are the influences of already established tools and activities on the program and (2) in what ways do conflicts and changes occur over time, and how do teachers, students, and management deal with these as part of the transition? Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) serves as the theoretical framework of the thesis. In particular, the concepts of dominant and non-dominant activities, conflicts, transitional actions, and levels of learning inform the analysis. The data are generated by surveys (N = 108), logging of actors’ activity patterns (N = 100 teachers and 100 students), field studies (65 hours), and interviews (N = 62). The data cover teachers’, students’ and management’s roles in the transition. The analysis shows that the way of theoretically understanding the transition – from a dominant face-to-face activity to a new and unproven non-dominant distance activity – have proved to contribute to deeper understanding of the process of digitalizing medical education. The analysis further displays how the transition from face-to-face to distance education creates considerable conflicts that over time force teachers, students and management into structural and educational transformation work. This type of work successively renders new educational design solutions and new flexible ways of organizing distance medical education. This thesis discusses how the structural and educational transformation work forces actors to collectively engage in the transition by experimenting with new suitable methods and designs, as digital technologies and technology-enhanced learning (TEL) could make sense to teachers and students when they are at a distance.

Ce travail de thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre du projet < personnalisation des environnements informatiques pour l'apprentissage humain (EIAH) > financé par la Région Rhône-Alpes. La personnalisation des EIAH est essentiellement dépendante de la capacité à produire des traces pertinentes et exploitables des activités des apprenants interagissant avec un EIAH. Dans ce domaine, l'exploitation des traces relève explicitement plusieurs problématiques allant de sa représentation de manière normalisée et intelligible à son traitement et interprétation en temps différé ou en temps réel au moment même de l'apprentissage. La multiplication des pratiques et des usages des traces requiert des outils génériques pour soutenir leurs exploitations. L'objectif de cette thèse est de définir les fondements théoriques de tels outils génériques permettant l'exploitation des traces d'interaction. Ceci nous a amené à définir la notion de Systèmes à Base de Trace modélisées : une classe de systèmes à base de connaissances facilitant le raisonnement et l'exploitation des traces modélisées. L'approche théorique proposée pour construire de tels systèmes s'articule autour de deux contributions : (1) La définition d'un cadre conceptuel définissant les concepts, l'architecture et les services mobilisés par les SBT. (2) La définition d'un cadre formel pour les systèmes à base de traces modélisées. Plus précisément, la proposition d'un langage pour l'interrogation et la transformation de trace modélisées à base de règles permettant des évaluations ponctuelles et continues. La sémantique formelle de ce langage est définie sous forme d'une théorie des modèles et d'une théorie de point fixe, deux formalismes habituellement utilisés pour décrire la sémantique formelle des langages de représentation de connaissances / This thesis is funded by the Rhône-Alpes Region as a part of the project < Personalisation of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) Systems >. Personalising TEL Systems is, above all, dependent on the capacity to produce relevant and exploitable traces of individual or collaborative learning activities. In this field, exploiting interaction traces addresses several problems ranging from its representation in a normalised and intelligible manner to its processing and interpretation in continuous way during the ongoing TEL activities. The proliferation of trace-based exploitations raises the need of generic tools to support their representation and exploitation. The main objective of this thesis is to define the theoretical foundations of such generic tools. To do that, we define the notion of Trace-Based System (TBS) as a kind of Knowledge-based system whose main source of knowledge is a set of trace of user-system interactions. This thesis investigates practical and theoretical issues related to TBS, covering the spectrum from concepts, services and architecture involved by such TBS (conceptual framework) to language design over declarative semantics (formal framework). The central topic of our framework is the development of a high-level trace transformation language supporting deductive rules as an abstraction and reasoning mechanism for traces. The declarative semantics for such language is defined by a (Tarski-style) model theory with accompanying fixpoint theory

L’objet de notre recherche en didactique des mathématiques est d’étudier l’introduction des technologies numériques comme environnement complémentaire à des manipulations concrètes. Nous définissons les duos d’artefacts comme l’articulation fructueuse entre un artefact numérique et un artefact matériel qui soit une plus-value pour les apprentissages. L’approche instrumentale de Rabardel nous permet d’établir les critères de cette articulation; chaque artefact du duo enrichit l’autre à travers les instruments construits. Un duo d’artefacts provoque des genèses instrumentales associées. Afin de fonder les conditions d’un apprentissage au sens de Brousseau, un duo n’existe que lorsqu’il est mobilisé dans une situation didactique. Notre enjeu est alors d’élaborer un duo d’artefacts incluant le compas matériel en vue de la conceptualisation du triangle à partir de sa construction à la règle et au compas. La composition du duo et son orchestration dans une situation ont pour intention de faire émerger une nouvelle genèse instrumentale du compas et, selon les travaux de Duval, une déconstruction dimensionnelle 1D du triangle. Des expérimentations en classe nous ont permis de valider l’hypothèse selon laquelle la situation et le duo provoquent l’élaboration d’un nouvel instrument compas pour faire pivoter un segment. Le modèle de conceptions de Balacheff nous a aussi permis d’identifier l’évolution des conceptions des élèves sur le triangle et le cercle au fil de la situation, en particulier l’apparition d’une vision 1D du triangle comme une ligne brisée fermée et d’une caractérisation du cercle comme la trajectoire d’une extrémité d’un segment pivoté. / Our research project in didactics of mathematics is to study the use of digital technologies as a complementary environment to concrete manipulations. We define a duo of artefacts as the fruitful link between a digital artefact and a material one in such a way that this linking is an added value for the learning process. The instrumental approach of Rabardel allows us to establish the requirements for this link, each artefact enriching the other through the constructed instruments. A duo of artefacts sets off associated instrumental geneses. In order to base the conditions of the learning process, in the sense of Brousseau, a duo exists only when it is mobilized in a didactic situation. Our issue is to develop a duo of artifacts including the pair of compasses for the conceptualization of the triangle in the teaching of its geometric construction. The composition of the duo and its orchestration in a didactic situation are intended to bring out a new instrumental genesis of the compasses and, according to Duval's work, a 1D dimensional deconstruction of the triangle. Experiments in classes have enabled us to validate the hypothesis that the situation and the duo cause the development of a new pair of compasses instrument to rotate a segment. Balacheff's model of conceptions also allowed us to identify the evolution of pupils' conceptions of the triangle and the circle as the situation progressed, specifically the improvement of a 1D vision of the triangle as a closed broken line and a characterization of the circle as the trajectory of one end of a pivoted segment.

Plasmid DNA (pDNA) vectors are the current conventional technology driving therapeutic gene transfer, whether for use toward mal/nonfunctional gene replacement, DNA vaccination, or production of therapeutic proteins in mammalian cells. However, the conventional pDNA vector suffers from several safety and efficiency limitations: 1) it imparts adverse immune responses to bacterial sequences required for maintenance and amplification in prokaryotes; 2) its bioavailability can be compromised due to size; and 3) it may be genotoxic due to its potential to integrate into the host chromosome and yield an oncogenic event. In this study we have constructed a robust in vivo bacterial platform for the production of bacterial sequence-free linear covalently closed (LCC) DNA vectors, termed DNA Ministrings, through the manipulation and application of bacteriophage-encoded recombination systems. Phage N15 and PY54 lysogenize their bacterial hosts as a linear plasmid with covalently closed ends (LCC plasmid). LCC morphology is conferred by the phage-encoded telomerase via a single cleaving-joining reaction of the perfect palindrome target site. This system was exploited to generate DNA Ministring vectors, encoding only the gene(s) of interest and necessary complementary eukaryotic expression/enhancement genetic elements that are devoid of unwanted bacterial sequences and are linearized through a single in vivo enzymatic reaction. The tel and telN prokaryotic telomerase (protelomerase) genes were amplified from PY54 and N15 lysates, respectively, and cloned into a bacterial vector that expresses the gene under control of the temperature sensitive bacteriophage ?? CI857 repressor that confers conditional expression from ?? pL/pR promoters. This regulatory circuit was integrated into a RecA+ lacZ+ E. coli K-12 strain via homologous recombination, where successful recombinants were disrupted for the lacZ gene. Recombinant cells are capable of conditional expression of the phage-derived telomerase enzymes by shifting the temperature to >37 ??C. Phage P1-derived Cre recombinase was applied as a positive control, since its functionality in generating DNA minicircle vectors has been previously shown. A multi-purpose 342 bp target site termed Super Sequence (SS) that possesses the Cre, Flp, Tel, and TelN target sites in addition to two flanking SV40 enhancer sequences was cloned into two different sites of a GFP expression eukaryotic pDNA vector. The amplification of this DNA vector through telN / tel or cre expressing Recombinant E. coli cells (R-cells) generated bacterial sequence-depleted (LCC) DNA Ministring and (CCC) Minicircle vectors, respectively, as evidenced by digestion patterns of the purified vector. Transfection efficiency of these vectors was assessed in rapidly dividing human ovarian cancer and in relatively slowly dividing human embryonic kidney cell lines. In vitro experiments with DNA Ministrings in human cells lines resulted in significantly higher transfection efficiency, bioavailability, and cytoplasmic diffusion levels compared to the parental plasmid precursor and isogenic DNA Minicircle counterparts. The safety of the LCC DNA vector conformation, with respect to insertional genotoxicity, was assessed by forcing LCC pDNA vectors into bacterial and human genomic DNA. The integration of LCC DNA into bacterial and human host genomic DNA resulted in chromosomal DNA disruptions at site of integration, loss of genome stability, and subsequent cell death. LCC integration-induced apoptotic cell death and natural elimination of the integrant from human cell population improves the safety profile of DNA Ministrings by eliminating integrants following the potential genotoxic side effects of undesired vector integration into the host genome.

Unanticipated economic fluctuations exert pressure on state governments to adjust their discretionary fiscal policies to accommodate the changing fiscal situation. Even though states adjust fiscal policy as the economy fluctuates, the typical cyclical economic factors are not the sole determinant of such adjustments. State governments budgeting systems in the United States operate under a variety of budgetary institutions. The most prominent state government budgetary institutions include balanced budget rules (BBRs), tax and expenditure limits (TELs), and supermajority voting requirements for tax increases. This dissertation examines how these budgetary institutions affect state government choices of fiscal policy under different economic conditions. To better understand the effect of state level TELs, a stringency index of state level TEL is constructed considering the major structural features. The fixed-effect panel regressions are used for the analysis of impact of TEL and BBR and tax changes and the fixed-effect Tobit is adopted to test the impact of TEL and BBR on spending cuts after the budget is adopted. The result suggests that TEL plays a more important role affecting states discretionary fiscal adjustment from the tax side, while BBR plays a more important role affecting states discretionary fiscal adjustment from the expenditure side. Results of this research show that TEL exerts pressure on states that hinder state ability to deal with volatile fiscal situations, especially in the case of periods of budget crises.

Les travaux de thèse s'inscrivent dans le domaine des Environnements Informatiques pour l'Apprentissage Humain (EIAH). Ils portent sur la proposition de processus, méthodes et outils pour assister les enseignants et les formateurs dans la réutilisation et la capitalisation des scénarios d'apprentissage. L'approche proposée nommée CAPtuRe a pour objectif de modéliser, évaluer et exploiter les informations contextuelles relatives à un scénario en se basant sur des observations effectives de ce dernier pour améliorer la réutilisation.Les problématiques étudiées concernent : (1) l'expression et l'analyse du contexte d'usage, (2) l'évaluation de la pertinence du scénario dans un contexte précis, (3) l'indexation des contextes sur la base de critères de réussite et d'efficacité du scénario pour la définition de son périmètre de réutilisation et (4) la suggestion proactive de réutilisation.Nous avons commencé par la spécification d'un cadre global d'ingénierie et de réutilisation de scénarios d'apprentissage. Dans ce cadre, nous avons défini un processus qui spécifie le cycle de vie du scénario explicitant la dimension contextuelle et son utilisation dans un environnement de "conception par la réutilisation". Pour opérationnaliser ce processus, nous avons défini une approche générique de modélisation de l'information contextuelle enrichie par les indicateurs, une méthode d'indexation et un algorithme de calcul de similarités contextuelles pour la sélection et la recommandation de scénarios appropriés à une situation d'apprentissage cible. Ces contributions ont été implémentées sous la forme d'une plateforme logicielle et appliquées sur des cas d'usage de scénarios hybrides. / The work presented in this thesis is a part of the Technology Enhanced Learning domain. It focuses on the proposal of processes, methods and tools that assist teachers and trainers in the reuse and the capitalization of educational scenarios. The objective of the proposed approach named CAPtuRe is to model, evaluate and exploit the contextual information related to a scenario based on its effective observations with the aim to enhance reuse. The main concerns are: (1) the expression and the analysis of the usage context, (2) the evaluation of the relevance of the scenario in a specific context, (3) the indexing of the contexts based on criteria of success and effectiveness of the scenario to define its reuse scope and (4) the proactive suggestion of reuse. We started by specifying a global framework for the engineering and the reuse of educational scenarios. In this context, we have defined a process specifying the scenario lifecycle introducing the contextual dimension and its utilization in a "design by reuse" environment. In order to operationalize this process, we define a generic approach to model the contextual information of a scenario that is enriched by the indicators, an indexing method and an algorithm calculating contextual similarities for the selection and the recommendation of appropriated scenarios to a target learning situation. These contributions are implemented as a software platform and applied to hybrid scenarios usage cases.

Many higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world are investing in the implementation of different Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) to support the teaching and learning process. However, there is a lack of detailed guidelines or a practical framework for the VLE system implementation without which an effective VLE system implementation framework, many of the full potential of VLE system cannot be realised objectives and benefits remain underachieved. A small number of frameworks specific for VLE system implementation are reported in the literature; however, these are not comprehensive in terms of covering the entire end-to-end implementation, do not consider all the key elements of a VLE system implementation and are far from integrated. Moreover, a practice-based framework that considers various organisational, pedagogical, and technological aspects and covers the entire end-to-end implementation, is not available in the current literature, and there is no complete set of guidelines to be used by HEIs to support and manage an effective VLE system implementation. Therefore, further research is needed for investigating various key elements and for identifying aspects of a good-practice framework for the implementation of VLE systems in HEIs. Particularly, an integrated good-practice framework that is comprehensive and integrates elements from existing literature and current practices or case studies would be a significant and useful contribution to this field, which highlights the importance of this study. Hence, research into investigating a good-practice VLE system implementation framework is important, and this thesis builds and presents a good-practice-in-context framework for the implementation and use of VLE systems in HEIs. This is done through identifying and exploring the key elements that build-up such a comprehensive practice-based framework for VLE system implementation through literature and good practices by considering various pedagogical, technical, and organisational aspects. These key elements include stages, processes, critical success factors (CSFs) considered, challenges (CLG) faced, associated risks, stakeholders (SHs) involved, and various tools, technologies, and methods, integrated with the VLE system. The key elements provide a deeper understanding of the fundamental issues and success factors underlying the successful implementation and sustainability of a VLE system. Initially, a conceptual framework was developed encapsulating various key elements of a VLE system implementation framework based on an extensive literature review and an analysis of existing frameworks and models, encapsulating various key elements of a VLE system implementation framework, where the elements were integrated and mapped with each other highlighting and depicting interrelations and interactions among them. The conceptual framework was validated by empirical data from the two case studies (of HEIs, at local and national level) to propose a refined, novel, and practice-based framework for VLE system implementation in HEIs, which also contains mappings to Technology Enhance Learning (TEL) strategy components. Thus, the proposed good-practice-in-context framework can be used as a tool to assist or guide HEIs to implement VLE system successfully. Finally, the proposed framework could lead to a successful VLE system implementation and it could also serve as an effective approach that not only facilitates enhancement in the learning and teaching experience, but also fosters end-user engagement and supports flexibility and customization according to the end-user needs of HEIs.

Learning Management Systems (LMSs), in a blended learning educational environment, support face to face education and enable enhanced communication and interaction among instructors and students as well as among students. However, Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL), which improves the learning process, does not come without challenges. The aim of this research is double fold. Firstly, it aims to explore users’ –instructors and students- perceptions on how the LMS Open eClass, in TEI of Athens Greece, supports and facilitates their communication and interaction. Secondly, based on users’ needs and desires, the study aims to formulate suggestions for improving communication and interaction through the platform. The study adopts an interpretivist stance and is built upon an inductive qualitative approach. Firstly, users’ perceptions are solicited through semi-structured interviews and the collected data are analyzed through the thematic analysis method. Subsequently, the study adopts Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) to capture the complexity of the situation, derived from the different worldviews of instructors and students in their association with Open eClass and emerge suggestions for improvements. The results indicate that Open eClass is used to facilitate instructors convey material and information to students, while neither meaningful communication and interaction nor collaboration is performed adequately through the platform. However, the users have expressed a positive disposition towards utilizing these capabilities of the platform, as they recognize their fundamental importance to learning, especially during an economic crisis which constraints the physical presence of many students in classes. Therefore, the study proposes three, accommodating to all, systemically desirable and culturally feasible changes that could improve the situation, mainly based on pedagogy. Overall, this research contributes to existing knowledge about the usage of LMS regarding interaction and communication in a blended learning environment by providing a holistic view on users’ perceptions and identifying changes capable to bring about improvements.