Este trabalho apresentará estudos referentes a uma proposta de arquitetura para ambientes computacionais de suporte à colaboração para auxiliar o ensino e o treinamento em áreas multidisciplinares de engenharia de controle e automação. A motivação provém de evoluções de tecnologias da Web, redes sociais, ambientes virtuais, e mundos virtuais 3D que proporcionam sucessivas possibilidades inovadoras de emprego de tecnologia no ensino. Estas tecnologias podem ser usadas no ensino à distância ou de forma complementar (ensino híbrido) ao ensino-aprendizagem tradicional. O emprego de ambientes computacionais virtuais como incubadores para o desenvolvimento e criação de uma infinidade de materiais educacionais e didáticos torna-se crescentemente frequente na comunidade científica ao passo que instituições de ensino percebem o potencial desta iniciativa. A colaboração virtual entre estudantes dispersos geograficamente e a cooperação entre instituições de ensino diversas são indicadores do avanço destas metodologias. À medida que ambientes virtuais evoluem, podem-se empregar cada vez mais funcionalidades e tecnologias a este complemento ou ferramenta de ensino. É sabido que a prática laboratorial é de suma importância para aprendizagem de áreas tecnológicas, como a engenharia elétrica. Maneiras de expandir esta prática aliada a outras técnicas altamente defendidas na comunidade científica serão abordadas neste estudo, que sucede a um trabalho anterior do autor, no qual é proposto a conjunção de componentes de automação simulados com reais de forma a expandir cenários didáticos. A automação destes ambientes voltados ao ensino passa a se tornar real através de técnicas computacionais relacionadas a gerenciamento, monitoração e adaptação de conteúdo. Dentre as tecnologias e características englobadas pela arquitetura proposta estão: ambientes sociais, ambientes imersivos com visualização tridimensional (metaversos), tutoriamento virtual autônomo baseado em coleta de informações de interação, auxílio à colaboração de usuários, experimentos com componentes intercambiáveis de realidade mista e outras funcionalidades afins. De forma a propor uma implementação viável para este nicho de pesquisa foram desenvolvidos vários estudos de caso e um protótipo, chamado de 3D AutoSysLab, um ambiente imersivo virtual otimizado com ligações a experimentos de realidade mista, visualização de materiais educacionais e mídias interativas, auxílio à colaboração, e suporte à tutoriamento autônomo. Tanto testes do protótipo quanto a utilização dos estudos de caso serviram de validação experimental do trabalho. A validação da utilização ainda não se encontra completa embora resultados preliminares apontem a queda do índice de reprovação de estudantes da Engenharia Elétrica na UFRGS em uma determinada unidade curricular. O emprego de técnicas de acesso remoto além de proporcionar que instituições de ensino cooperem compartilhando recursos materiais/equipamentos também abre horizontes para a colaboração de estudantes entre instituições. Isso alavanca uma melhoria na qualidade do conjunto ensino-aprendizagem e também no emprego de recursos tecnológicos, o que pode, inclusive, representar uma alternativa econômica viável para a prática laboratorial. / This work will present studies towards a proposal of architecture for computer supported collaborative environments applied to enhance learning and training of multidisciplinary areas linked to automation and control engineering. Recent evolutions of Web technologies, social networks, virtual environments, and 3D virtual worlds motivate the adoption of new technologies in education, opening successive innovative possibilities. These technologies or tools can be used in distance education scenarios and/or can also enhance traditional learning-teaching (blended or hybrid learning scenario). The use of virtual environments as breeding grounds for creation and display of learning and didactical materials is a trend among educational institutes since they realized the potential of this endeavor. Physically dispersed and geographically distant students can collaborate in virtual learning environments as well as educational institutions, proving the advance of learning methodologies involving technology. New functionalities to this teaching and learning complementary tool can be added as virtual environments continually evolve. It is known and a wide advocated issue that laboratorial practice is essential to technical education, foremost in engineering. Expanding and obtaining the optimal results from this practice allied to other tools can be seen as the natural continuation of previous work from the author, in which is described a strategy to use mixed reality interchangeable components applied in didactic experiments to broaden learning scenarios. The automation of virtual learning environments is beginning to mature through computational techniques related to management, monitoring and content adaptation. In order to develop a feasible implementation to this research area, several case studies and a prototype were elaborated, the last called 3D AutoSysLab, in which a metaverse is used as interface, experiments are linked to virtual objects representations, learning objects are displayed in a simple way with interactive medias and simple collaboration and feedback is given through an autonomous tutoring system. The experimental validation was based on the use and evaluation of the prototype and his separated modules (case studies). Preliminary results showed that the failure rate, in a determined curriculum unit from the Electrical Engineering of UFRGS, has dropped and the student’s acceptance was very high in a blended learning scenario. The remote experimentation brings up the possibility to narrow different learning institutions in cooperation, this way sharing material resources (equipments) and closing up students. From cooperation and collaboration is expected a leveling and optimization of quality of the pair teaching-learning, as well as a better employment of economical resources.

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.

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The thesis presents a model, suitable for the design of any type of qualification in integrative eGovernment education. The integrative approach combines education of adult learners and students and promotes international cooperation.

In traditional schooling, one-way monologue from teacher to student is the established way of communica­tion in the classroom. Modern pedagogues are presently breaking free of this status quo.  This master thesis explores whether there is a change in the student’s attitudes towards their school­ing and whether there is an academic benefit for the student when applying a flipped class­room model. This study was performed in Swedish upper secondary school during the students’ last course in mathematics. The study was carried out using focus group interviews and direct participat­ing observation. During the six-week period of interviews and participating in the class­room written tasks were collected and analysed, and the classroom was filmed to help analysing behav­iour of the students, both with flipped classroom and without. The outcome shows positive reac­tions from the students concerning this change in pedagogics, but also some inertia in some individuals. The result shows a positive attitude change concerning communication and collabora­tion in the classroom, although no difference in academic achievement were visible. More studies are needed, but a theoretical base needs to be built before future studies can be con­ducted. Today flipped classroom is undertheorized in ways of an academic model. Future research could be theorizing flipped classroom and exploring whether implementing this pedagogic model also brings forth a change in academic achievement apart from changing the attitudes of the stu­dents.

This practical paper presents a successful international teaching & learning project in Higher Education (HE), which can be used as blue print for similar international HE teaching/learning cooperations. A virtual module, delivering 5 ECTS to participants from Germany and Iran, was organized as flipped classroom (FC), consisting of 2 phases: (1) online phase of 7 weeks, having started at April 12, 2019, with 15 students from Shiraz University, Iran, and 23 students from TU Dresden, Germany, collaborating in mixed teams of 5–6 participants each on a complex business case under tight guidance by qualified learning community managers, and (2) a follow-up on-site meeting at TU Dresden in the first week of July with 3 intensive workshops applying different techniques to consolidate the prior online collaboration results.

This dissertation deals with the developing and development of EFL learners' communicative competence in writing in a blended learning course. The dissertation addresses issues related to the conceptualization of developing communicative competence and measuring learners' progress as well as using ICT in foreign language teaching. The underlying research question was whether learners' communicative competence changed after using a series of online discussion tasks, and if so, in what manner. The empirical research was conducted as a case study in which 18 learners in an EFL course at the CEFR A2 level participated in three discussion tasks conducted online, using asynchronous discussion forum. The discussions were built on social constructivist learning theories. Methods of data collection and analysis included pre- and post-tests, learner corpus compiled from the texts written by the students in two online discussions and its analysis, and a questionnaire survey. The results showed that learners' overall level of communicative competence in writing improved. Specifically, the syntactic complexity of learners' language produced at the beginning and at the end of the course increased and learners' perceived fluency in writing improved. These findings support the claim that learners' active participation in...

In response to the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Swedish National Agency for Education and the Public Health Agency of Sweden recommended that all upper secondary schools in Sweden would temporarily transition to distance education. A report was simultaneously ordered by the Swedish School Inspectorate, which would monitor the effects the distance education had on Swedish upper secondary schools. The report found that many areas of the Swedish upper secondary school had suffered during the period of distance education. The purpose for this essay is to examine how the findings of the report corresponds with the experiences in German teaching at upper secondary level, one year after the publishing of the original report. An interview with a teacher of German was conducted, who had spent the last three semesters teaching German in an upper secondary school, which mostly was spent via online teaching due to the recommendations from the Public Health Agency. The findings suggest that most of the negative consequences highlighted by the report coincide with the experiences in teaching of German as a foreign language, although many of the findings also apply to other parts of the schoolsystem as well. The findings, furthermore, seem to indicate that certain aspects of what was highlighted by the report could potentially affect foreign language teaching especially, as language learning depends on interactional factors to be successful. The gradual return of present learning has also created a situation of hybrid learning, which only seem to affect certain parts of the school system, German teaching included. To combat similar situations with negative effects in the future, this essay aims to discuss ways in which to actively work towards a teaching approach that is affected to a lesser extent than have been monitored during the covid-19 pandemic. Ways in which to improve future teaching include actively fostering good motivational practices and adapting to working methods which combine the positives of both present and online teaching practices.

Interaction is a core element in the design of blended and distance learning environments. The importance of understanding these interactions and what might increase effectiveness of such interactions in education is paramount for meaningful learning. This dissertation consists of two qualitative case studies designed to provide a rich, descriptive look at interactions in a high school distance/blended-learning context in the home-study and technology-meditated seminary program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the study article, Moore's (1989) interaction framework was used as a lens for understanding the learner experience. Thematic narratives were used to highlight themes related to students' perceived learning gains from learner-content interaction and their hesitancy to engage in learner-learner and learner-instructor interactions if they had not met personally. In the second study, Garrison's (2007) Community of Inquiry framework was used to understand the impact that teacher decisions, other than the selection of content, had on the cognitive and social climate of the learning experience. This study describes how a teacher's facilitation of social interaction influences the course learning outcomes. The results highlight the teacher's role in providing the educational and social climate needed to foster learner interactions. This study noted that when the teachers gave learners the opportunity to interact in a live setting, it appeared to foster the relationships needed to interact online. The narratives also highlight how a teacher helped learners interact with one another around content online.

[pt] O presente estudo surgiu, orientado pela necessidade de sistematizar uma experiência diferenciada, no Ensino de Design, com práticas pedagógicas disruptivas, voltadas para o desenvolvimento humano, mediadas por dinâmicas vivenciais e apoiadas pelas redes sociais. Diante da expertise adquirida na prática profissional da autora e do cenário educacional atual, com todas as benesses e agruras tecnológicas e digitais, essa pesquisa propõe uma aproximação do Ensino de Design à educação voltada ao desenvolvimento harmônico do Ser, em todas as suas dimensões. Para isso, percorre o Caminho Quádruplo, que se baseia nas raízes míticas mais profundas da humanidade. Seus aspectos, mental, corporal, social, cultural, bem como as funções da consciência, pensamento, sensação, sentimento e intuição, são estimuladas por meio do ensino híbrido, da interação e da colaboração, apoiadas pelas redes sociais, utilizadas como plataformas de aprendizagem. É nesta bidirecionalidade, entre dois mundos: o de saberes ancestrais e um mundo tecnológico que este trabalho aponta novas práticas pedagógicas que contribuem para uma formação interdisciplinar e transcultural do estudante de Design. Para que essa aproximação fosse possível, a pesquisa se delineou em algumas etapas. A primeira esclarece alguns conceitos fundamentais em que este trabalho se inscreve, a segunda mostra o caminho pessoal da autora, que deu origem a esse trabalho, na terceira etapa se inicia a jornada pelo Caminho Quádruplo dividida em: O caminho do Guerreiro (Dimensão Social - Pensamento), O caminho do Curador (Dimensão Corporal – Sensação), O caminho do Visionário (Dimensão Cultural – Intuição) e o caminho do Mestre (Dimensão Mental – Sentimento). Por fim a quarta etapa aponta para a despedida deste caminhar de forma integrada. / [en] The present study emerged, guided by the need to systematize a differentiated experience, in Design Teaching, with disruptive pedagogical practices, focused on human development, mediated by experiential dynamics and supported by social networks. Given the expertise acquired in the author s professional practice and the current educational scenario, with all the technological and digital benefits and hardships, this research proposes an approximation of Design Teaching to education aimed at the harmonious development of the Being, in all its dimensions. To do so, it follows the Quadruple Path, which is based on the deepest mythical roots of humanity. Its mental, bodily, social, cultural aspects, as well as the functions of consciousness, thought, sensation, feeling and intuition, are stimulated through blended learning, interaction and collaboration, supported by social networks, used as learning platforms. It is in this bidirectionality, between two worlds: that of ancestral knowledge and a technological world that this work points out new pedagogical practices that contribute to an interdisciplinary and transcultural training of the Design student. For this approximation to be possible, the research was outlined in some stages. The first clarifies some fundamental concepts in which this work is inscribed, the second shows the author s personal path, which gave rise to this work, in the third stage begins the journey through the Quadruple Path divided into: The Warrior s Path (Social Dimension - Thought), The Healer s Path (Body Dimension - Sensation), The Visionary s Path (Cultural Dimension - Intuition) and the Master s Path (Mental Dimension - Feeling). Finally, the fourth stage points to the farewell of this walk in an integrated way.