Este estudo descreve a experiência inicial de integração do sistema de gestão de aprendizagem Moodle, para apoiar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem na Disciplina de Odontopediatria da Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade de São Paulo. Os alunos de pós-graduação (11) foram capacitados em tutoria para construir um curso complementar à grade curricular e gerenciar 2 grupos do último ano de graduação (n=132). Após um mês de aula teórica, os graduandos realizaram uma prova (P1), responderam um questionário inicial e em seguida participaram das atividades no ambiente virtual de aprendizagem (AVA), durante o restante do curso. Realizaram 3 provas presenciais (P2, P3 e P4) durante a aprendizagem baseada na Web, gerando assim uma nota final (NF). Também responderam outro questionário sobre a experiência com a plataforma e foram avaliados através de uma nota de participação (NP) no Moodle. Observou-se uma correlação entre NP e NF. E comparando as notas finais das duas coortes do estudo, que participaram do Moodle, com outras 2 coortes que não participaram das atividades, observou-se diferença significante (p<0,001). Os alunos que mais participaram das atividades no Moodle obtiveram notas melhores. Além disso, houve uma diferença significativa entre as notas das coortes que tiveram a participação dos alunos no Moodle em comparação aos que não tiveram o aprendizado híbrido, sugerindo que a flexibilização através do AVA favorece o acréscimo de conhecimento. / This study describes our initial experience of integrating an open-source course management system (CMS) called Moodle (the modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment) to support teaching and learning in pediatric dentistry applied to 2 groups of last-year undergraduate dentistry students (n=134) from University of São Paulo. It is a longitudinal case study of two prospective cohorts (undergraduate students) and it includes the creation of two courses in a virtual learning environment - moodle (version 1.9). The integration of the Moodle course into our teaching was assessed using online grades activity, student examination marks and feedbacks from students. The freely available Moodle platform was simple to use, helped to effectively deliver course materials, and has features that allowed cooperative learning. Students who used the CMS throughout their academic year commented favorably regarding its use as a complement to the face-to-face classroom sessions. The group of students that used the CMS obtained significantly higher scores in the final examination compared with the previous class that did not use the CMS. In addition, there was a significant correlation between student participation and performance in their final examination marks.

The study explored the faculty adoption and use of a Blackboard at a community college in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. A cross-sectional survey design was constructed through the lens of Rogers’s Perceived Attributes of Innovations and Chickering and Ehrman’s Implementing Seven Principles: Technology as a Lever to investigate perceptions and opinions on faculty members’ use of Blackboard in their courses. The survey was piloted, modified and deployed to a population of 932 central Kentucky community college faculty who were recruited to participate in the online survey. Descriptive demographic items (gender, age, highest degree attained, years of teaching experience, employment status, and category of instruction) were cross-tabulated with users and nonusers of Blackboard. An additional cross-tabulation was performed on faculty who did and did not teach online. A Rasch analysis with Differential Item Functioning (DIF) was used to evaluate responses to the perceived attributes and opinions about the use of Blackboard. The Rasch model was employed since the model assumes that each person is characterized by ability, that each item of the survey is characterized by difficulty and that the results of differences in the probabilities of items and responses follow along a line. Misfit of items and faculty did occur and quality control measures were applied to the collected data. A Z-Residual table for the dichotomous items was applied to remove responses that were extreme or greater than 2 ZSTD. An Outfit plot for polytomous items was utilized to remove faculty responses above 3 ZSTD. Some items were determined to be redundant according to the Wright maps and Infit/Outfit tables. The results indicated 2 or 3 levels of discrimination in person reliability and an item separation that allowed an analysis of groups. Rogers’s perceived characteristics that persuade people to adopt a new innovation were indicated as differences between users and nonusers of Blackboard. In contrast to a previous study, those faculty who responded to the survey with 0-1 years of teaching experience had the greatest ratio of nonusers to users. Those respondents who associated their teaching to categories of pre-college and language had more nonusers than users of Blackboard. An overall theme where nonusers agreed more than users was the lack of seeing Blackboard, observing how to use Blackboard and not being able to properly try Blackboard. But users should also be encouraged to expand their use of Blackboard. The majority of users employed: syllabus, announcements, full grade center, course copy, and test and survey pool, but less than half who responded as users employed: discussion board, course calendar, and performance dashboard which may lead to increased communication between the faculty and students. The information obtained from the survey should be utilized when developing professional development activities to encourage Blackboard adoption and use. By studying the adoption and utilization of Blackboard by faculty through the lens of Rogers, the study highlighted differences in the characteristics that persuade faculty to use Blackboard. Through consistent utilization of course management systems, such as Blackboard, the hope is that communication between students and faculty will be enhanced which will ultimately help students to grow, develop and learn.

nÃo hà / CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Como resultado das novas relaÃÃes no mundo do trabalho, a avaliaÃÃo educacionlal ultrapassa seu objeto inicial de atuaÃÃo, alcanÃando novos papeis. Todos os nÃveis de ensino sÃo avaliados e acreditados, porÃm as especializaÃÃes lato sensu nÃo tÃm recebido a mesma atenÃÃo, sendo apenas avaliadas pontualmente e internamente pelas InstituiÃÃes de Ensino Superior (IES). Entendendo que esses cursos surgem nas diversas IES com o carÃter de formaÃÃo continuada e inserÃÃo para o mundo do trabalho, assim, tambÃm precisam ser avaliadas, bem como acreditados. Para tanto, a inquietaÃÃo norteadora desta tese Ã: como acreditar cursos de pÃs-graduaÃÃo, especificamente a especializaÃÃo lato sensu em educaÃÃo, de forma a contribuir para uma formaÃÃo profissional de excelÃncia? A proposta do estudo sobre essa realidade tem como objetivo elaborar um modelo de avaliaÃÃo para curso de especializaÃÃo, observando a acreditaÃÃo desta, bem como a qualidade das questÃes educacionais que permeiam a necessidade de uma acreditaÃÃo. A estruturaÃÃo desse estudo utilizar-se-à do espaÃo metodolÃgico quadripolar de De Bruyne (1977); para a organizaÃÃo metodolÃgica, foram definidas a priori as categorias teÃricas: gestÃo e avaliaÃÃo de curso e acreditaÃÃo educacional, e para a estratÃgia de coleta de dados, a realizaÃÃo de entrevistas e questionÃrios via Skipe e WhatsApp, bem como que, para anÃlise dos dados o uso do Atlas TI. A relevÃncia desta pesquisa à percebida na possibilidade reflexiva de melhoria sobre a gestÃo do curso de especializaÃÃo, seu impacto para a formaÃÃo profissional e seu papel autÃnomo sobre a corresponsabilidade, assim, utilizando-se da avaliaÃÃo como tÃtica de melhoramento contÃnuo das aÃÃes desenvolvidas e nas novas tomadas de decisÃes acerca do progresso apontado pela acreditaÃÃo. Considera-se que a consulta e escuta aos sujeitos do estudo muito contribuiu para o mapeamento de estruturas essÃncias (LIMA, 2005) culminado na acreditaÃÃo. O tema tambÃm precisa ser melhor explorado nas IES, pois ainda se confunde a avaliaÃÃo com a acreditaÃÃo, um maior esclarecimento possibilita o empoderamento dos processos. / Result of the new relationships in the world of work, educational evaluation goes beyond its initial object of action, reaching new roles. All levels of education are evaluated and accredited, but the lato sensu specializations have not received the same attention, only being evaluated in a timely manner and internally by the Institutions of Higher Education (HEI). Understanding that these courses emerge in the various HEIs with the character of continuing training and insertion into the world of work, thus, also need to be evaluated as well as accredited. Therefore, the main concern of this thesis is: how to accredit postgraduate courses, specifically the lato sensu specialization in education, in order to contribute to professional training of excellence? The purpose of this study is to elaborate an evaluation model for a specialization course, observing its accreditation, as well as the quality of the educational issues that permeate the need for an accreditation. The structure of this study will be based on the methodological space of De Bruyne (1977); for the methodological organization, the theoretical categories were defined a priori: course management and evaluation and educational accreditation, and for the strategy of data collection, interviews and questionnaires via Skipe and WhatsApp, as well as for data analysis the use of Atlas IT. The relevance of this research is perceived in the reflective possibility of improvement over the management of the specialization course, its impact on professional training and its autonomous role on coresponsibility, thus, using evaluation as a tactic of continuous improvement of the actions developed and in the decisions about the progress of accreditation. It is considered that the consultation and listening to the study subjects greatly contributed to the mapping of essential structures (LIMA, 2005) culminated in accreditation. The theme also needs to be better explored in HEIs, since evaluation and accreditation are still confused, greater clarification allows the empowerment of processes.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Neila Batista Xavier.pdf: 16096870 bytes, checksum: 14fa0cdac4b0ae0046b9b6a6b2e06c88 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-09 / With the continued and increasing use of Learning Management System (LMS) in educational institutions, it is necessary for coordinators and administrators effectively manage the online courses in order to ensure good monitoring and superior levels looking for ways to improve the management of online courses. Thus, considering the difficulties in the aspect of infrastructure and time to become familiar with the resources available, the researchers realized the need to know the opinion of people with experience in Distance Education and higher level positions to decision-making. During the investigation of the problem, was held collection and analysis of information on the performance of LMS in the follow-up courses process. The results revealed the need to implement a tool that would help the monitoring of online courses. Based on this information, this paper proposes and describes an approach based on a Multi-Agent System for this problem. The system has the purpose to support the management of online courses through intelligent agents. From the use of the proposed system, the coordinator of an online courses get condensed and quick information of each current course, facilitating managerial vision by reporting and organized graphics, and receive periodically a message via email about the current status of each course. Thus, intelligent agents show specific situations of access students, tutors and teachers, and help the follow-up activities. To validate the work, was carried out a case study in the postgraduate courses in online mode with several real disciplines concurrently taking place in a Federal Institute of Education (IFE) of Amazonas state. The case study aimed evaluate the feasibility of the proposal, and from the results obtained in the test can be concluded that with using the developed system was possible to improve the monitoring of levels of online courses, assist in making decisions and thus enable the adoption of new teaching strategies / Com o contínuo e crescente uso de Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem (AVA) em instituições de ensino, é necessário que coordenadores e administradores gerenciem efetivamente os cursos de Educação a Distância (EaD), a fim de garantir um bom acompanhamento e níveis de qualidade superior, buscando meios para aperfeiçoar o gerenciamento de cursos on-line. Assim, considerando as dificuldades no aspecto de infraestrutura e tempo para familiarizar-se com os recursos disponíveis, os pesquisadores perceberam a necessidade de conhecer a opinião de pessoas com experiência em EaD e em cargos de nível hierárquico superior para tomada de decisões. Durante a investigação do problema, foi realizada a coleta e a análise de informações sobre o desempenho de AVAs no processo de acompanhamento de cursos. Os resultados revelaram a necessidade da implantação de uma ferramenta que auxiliasse o acompanhamento dos cursos online. Com base nessas informações, o presente trabalho propõe e descreve uma abordagem baseada em um Sistema Multiagente (SMA) para esse problema. O sistema tem como proposta apoiar a gestão de cursos on-line por meio de Agentes Inteligentes (AIs). A partir do uso do sistema proposto, o coordenador dos cursos de um AVA obtêm informações condensadas e rápidas de cada curso corrente, facilitando a visão gerencial mediante a apresentação de relatórios e gráficos organizados, além de receber, periodicamente, uma mensagem via e-mail a respeito da situação atual de cada curso. Desta forma, os AIs evidenciam situações específicas do acesso de alunos, tutores e professores, além de auxiliar o acompanhamento de atividades. Para validar o trabalho, foi realizado um Estudo de Caso em cursos de Pós-Graduação na modalidade EaD com várias disciplinas reais ocorrendo concomitantemente em um Instituto Federal de Educação (IFE) do estado do Amazonas. O Estudo de Caso teve como objetivo avaliar a viabilidade da proposta, e a partir dos resultados obtidos nos testes realizados pode-se concluir que com o uso do sistema desenvolvido foi possível melhorar os níveis de acompanhamento dos cursos on-line, auxiliar no processo de tomada de decisões e, assim, possibilitar a adoção de novas estratégias pedagógicas.

This dissertation reports on an investigation into three web-based technologies to determine their usefulness and the extent to which they support learning. The study comprises three case studies, each examining a separate web-based technology, suitable for diverse groups of learners in terms of age group and background. The main contribution is to determine for whom and how these technologies could be used, with the intention of providing a systematic structure of web-learning possibilities for learners of different ages (children, undergraduates and postgraduates) and types of teaching (contact teaching and distance learning). It was found that web-based technologies could support learning. Their usefulness depends on how the instructional design addresses the different aspects of web-based learning, and whether or not the course and web-based material match the characteristics/needs of the target group. / Thesis (MA (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Information Science / unrestricted

The literature suggests that information technology (IT), including Course Management Systems (CMSs), allows higher education faculty members (HEFMs) to adopt better methods for teaching and learning, and that training contributes to adoption. However, many HEFMs are unwilling to complete IT training on the CMS, contributing to low adoption rates. Yet, little is known about what influences HEFMs to complete IT training on their institution's CMS, even though CMSs are widely available. The purpose of this study was to address this gap in the literature through a quantitative, cross-sectional study of HEFM perceptions of CMS characteristics, based on Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory, which may affect their willingness to complete IT training on their institution's CMS. The research questions focused on how perceived relative advantage (RA), compatibility (CMP), complexity (CMX), trialability (TR), and observability (OB) of the CMS impacted HEFM willingness to complete IT training on their institution's CMS. Higher education faculty member tenure status, rank, length of CMS use, level of CMS expertise, department, gender, and age were potential mediating variables. Data from 102 Fitchburg State University HEFMs were collected, and multiple regression models developed. Compatibility was significantly associated with willingness to train online, adjusted for department, and RA with willingness to train in-person and combined. This study has a potential positive impact on society through providing information for researchers and higher education administrators who are changing IT training on CMSs in order to improve adoption rates and the quality of teaching and learning at institutions of higher learning.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the use of a course management system in relation to faculty characteristics and instructional environments at a rural community college in California. The use of the course management system, Blackboard, was the technology studied. This study used a nonexperimental quantitative ex post facto research design to analyze the use of Blackboard at all classes in fall semester 2008. This study used 10 faculty characteristics and five instructional environment conditions as the independent variables and the basis for analyses. The 10 faculty characteristics were age, gender, highest degree earned, discipline, number of faculty teaching in the discipline, number of courses teaching by an individual faculty member, average class size, number of years teaching, employment status, and hourly pay rate. The five instructional environmental conditions were teaching location, course delivery method, course type, career technical education status and course duration. The dependent variable was the use of a course management system. Elements of the course management system were placed into four general categories—activated, static, interactive and multimedia. Pearson's correlation analyses were calculated to identify any significant relationships between faculty characteristics and use of a course management system and between instructional environmental conditions and the use of a course management system. Cramer's V was used to determine the strength of those relationships. Faculty who were female, had more formal education, were tenured, earned more money, taught on campus, taught online or taught for the fill semester were more likely to use a course management system. There were moderate to strong relationships for faculty who were female, had more formal education, were tenured, earned more money, taught on campus, or taught online. Institutions of higher education are investing fiscal, human and technological resources in the purchase and deployment of course management systems. This study can be replicated by any college that has the ability to gather information about faculty and their use of a technology. Once the method by which the data is collected is determined, it can be repeated at regular intervals in order to track the progress of the adoption of the technology. This data can then be used by college leaders as an evaluative tool within the college's planning processes.

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