This study aims to identify the effect of using the blended learning method on students' academic achievement and satisfaction level in a university course for female student teachers who follow the General Teaching Method Course (304) at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait. The content of the course (304) was based on the five stages of the ADDIE instructional design model, comprising five phases: (1) Analysis, (2) Design, (3) Development, (4) Implementation, and (5) Evaluation. The research questions of the study can be summarised in two main questions: 1. What is the effect of using the method of blended learning in the General Teaching Method Course (304) on students’ academic achievement, compared to using face–to–face approaches to learning alone? 2. What is the effect of using the method of blended learning in the General Teaching Method Course (304) on students’ satisfaction, compared to using face–to-face approaches to learning alone? The researcher answered these questions through a mixed method research approach using the Explanatory Sequential Design, in order to determine the nature and objectives of the study. In this, the researcher started with the collection and analysis of quantitative data (using a quasi-experimental approach), which has priority for addressing the two research questions, and then followed this with the collection and analysis of qualitative data (using group interviews) to help explain the quantitative results. The researcher identified the study sample as 96 female students’ teachers at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait. The sample consisted of a first experimental group (n= 39)who followed the General Teaching Method Course (304) by blended learning using virtual learning environment (VLE) of Blackboard, a second experimental group (n=31) who followed the course (304) by blended learning using personal learning environment (PLE) of Facebook, and the control group (n= 26) who followed the course (304) using face-to-face approaches to learning alone. The dependent variables were academic achievement (as assessed in the course’s midterm, final and practical exams) and students’ satisfaction (as assessed by the questionnaire, giving a total mark and 3 sub-marks in reference to the students’ satisfaction about the teaching method of the course, the content of the course, and the instructor's support during the course). When answering the first question of the research, the study found that there was a significant difference in both mid-term and final tests between the first experimental group (studying through the blended learning method using VLE of Blackboard) and the control group (studying through face-to-face learning alone). However, there was no significant difference in both mid-term and final tests between the second experimental group (studying through the blended learning method using PLE of Facebook) and the control group. And there was also no significant difference in the practical test between the two experimental groups (each separately) and the control group. When answering the second question of the research, the study found that there was a significant difference in the teaching method dimension of the satisfaction questionnaire between the two experimental groups (each separately) and the control group. And there was also a significant difference in the instructor’s support dimension of the satisfaction questionnaire between the first experimental group and the control group, but no significant difference was found between the second experimental group and the control group. There was also no significant difference in the course content dimension of the satisfaction questionnaire between the two experimental groups (each separately) and the control group.

Šio darbo tikslas – sukurti naują žinių vertinimo įrankį, skirtą matematinių žinių vertinimui ir jį integruoti į vieną iš populiariausių nuotolinių mokymo aplinkų. Darbe aptariami žinių vertinimo lygiai ir pateikiama keletos virtualių mokymo ir savarankiškų testavimo sistemų teikiami klausimų tipai žinių vertinimui, kiekvienam įvertinant galimą maksimalų žinių įvertinimo lygį. Siekiant sukurti kuo aukštesnio lygio matematinių žinių vertinimo įrankį, aptarta, kokiomis savybėmis jis turi pasižymėti, kokiomis technologijomis jį geriausia realizuoti ir kokiu būdu integruoti į pasirinktą virtualią mokymo sistemą. Darbe taip pat aprašomos problemos, su kuriomis susidurta kuriant naują klausimų tipą „Moodle“ virtualiai mokymo aplinkai, pateikiamas sukurto klausimų tipo veikimo testavimas ir jo naudojimo žinių vertinimui ir panašios paskirties klausimų tipo lyginamasis tyrimas. / The aim of this work is to create a new knowledge testing tool, which would be meant to estimate mathematical knowledge and to be integrated into “Moodle” learning environment. This work describes knowledge levels and shows how high different question types can represent students’ knowledge in virtual learning and independent testing systems. To create a new knowledge testing tool, there are described what functionality it should have, which technology is the most suitable for it and how it should be integrated in virtual learning systems. There is a list of problems which were solved to create the new knowledge testing tool. Also this work represents the results of this tool integration and usage testing. This and analogical tool in “Moodle” comparison research results are represented too.

Nuotolinių aplinkų duomenų bazėse kaupiamas didelis kiekis informacijos apie studentus ir jų veiksmus nuotolinėje aplinkoje. Kad būtų paprasčiau analizuoti šiuos duomenis į pagalbą pasitelkiama duomenų gavyba. Darbo tikslas - sudaryti sistemą, skirtą duomenų, gautų iš virtualios nuotolinio mokymo aplinkos Moodle, pirminiam apdorojimui ir duomenų gavybai. Gautus duomenis ištirti pritaikant programinės įrangos paketo StatSoft STATISTICA 7 duomenų gavybos algoritmus besimokančiųjų mokymosi intensyvumo duomenų analizei. Įvertinus gautus rezultatus parengtos rekomendacijos tolimesnei duomenų analizei. Duomenų analizei pritaikyta klasterinė k-vidurkių analizė. / The databases of virtual learning environments store large quantity of information about students and theirs activity. The data mining is usable to easer analysis of these information. The object of work is to make a system for preprocessing and data mining of data, obtained from virtual learning environment Moodle. The historical learning data can be analysed after preprocessing to study learners learning intensity with data mining algorithms by StatSoft STATISTICA 7 software. k-means cluster analysis was applied as example of data mining of learning data. Recommendations to further application of data mining of learning activities are given, too.

Nowadays, in the new era of technology, everything needs to be updated, which represents a new challenge to education to adapt to the developments in technology. Moreover, due to the gap of theory separating practices in business schools, it is becoming obvious that the Universities can hardly help students to acquire experience. Due to this problem, business schools can limit the potential of students’ success. This study examines the efficiency of technology use in class as well as outside of the classroom. This was done by interviewing five teachers within different areas of teaching in Jönköping International Business School. The results show that there are many aspects that need to be considered such as policy, teacher development, the development of the virtual learning environment and other technological improvements, before applying technology in flipped classroom. / Den nya eran av teknik i dagens samhälle gör att allt måste uppdateras. Detta utgör en ny utmaning för utbildningen som bör anpassa sig till denna tekniska utveckling. Dessutom, som en följd av det teoretiska gapet som separeras från praxis i handelshögskolor är det tydligt att universiteten knappast kan hjälpa studenter att skaffa sig underförstådd kunskap. På grund av det här problemet kan handelshögskolor begränsa potentialen av studentens framgång. Däremot visar vår forskning att användningen av tekniken i det flippade klassrummet kan bidra till att förbättra situationen. Denna studie undersöker effektiviteten i teknikanvändning i klassrummet såväl som utanför klassrummet genom att intervjua fem lärare inom olika områden av undervisning på Jönköping Internationella Handels Högskola. Resultaten visar att det är många aspekter som bör beaktas, såsom policy, utvecklingsarbete av lärare, utveckling av VLE i tillägg till andra tekniska förbättringar, innan man applicerar tekniken i det flippade klassrummet.

The need for change within the Further Education sector in line with technological developments in our current society was apparent within my teaching practice. This led to a number of thoughts about virtual learning environments and its application within the teaching role. The role of the computer as a real socio-cultural learning environment was explored to examine if this environment could be nearer to the concrete experiential and situated learning environment that students came from at an early age. It was hoped that this would be a different learning environment that would start slowly and grow in an organic way. It involved the growth of a very different culture of learning, a learning environment that may include a different literature and with different ways of thinking about what is to be learned and how to learn it. It was also hoped that the virtual learning environment would provide a very powerful strategy to allow the operation of the principle of variation and selection which it needed within the college Learnwise Educational system. Education should shift from individual, technology-free cognition to a resourceful collaborative learning, and distributed intelligence. Learners should be empowered through thoughtful and innovative use of technologies, and benefit from social distributions of cognitions. Salomon et al.'s (1998) commented that education should pay more attention to the "effects of" technology rather than the "effects with" technology, so that autonomous performance may be achieved. The attempt of the first part of the research has been to investigate a student-centred strategy in a computer supported collaborative learning environment to see whether this kind of higher-order knowledge can be distributed among peers and environment. The starting point of the second part of my research focussed on the links between constructivist theory and knowledge management in relation to college teaching practice. Since this research formed part of a whole college restructuring of teaching and learning, a baseline for current practice was necessary. Literature concerning the use of technology was explored in order to benchmark where the college was at the start of the research. As a result of this initial investigation, a survey of current college practice resulted in a paper being accepted by the HE Academy at their 8th Annual Conference in 2007. Page 6 Results from this research indicated that, although the college displayed similar results to other FE establishments, it was imperative that a move to a new building with a digital environment philosophy required more than merely a physical move. As a result, research into emerging technologies was deemed to be important if the college was to take advantage of a new digital teaching concept. Investigation into collaborative tools and Web 2.0 techniques was seen as appropriate at this stage. The study of computer-supported collaboration included the study of this software and social phenomena associated with it. Through this element of research it was hoped to investigate these collaborative techniques in the light of constructivist theories in order to develop an appropriate and effective digital teaching model. Expanding the research to explore portal technologies, with a particular focus on the integration of teaching practice, would hopefully highlight a possible path connecting current practices to an educational portal and illuminate the benefits and challenges of such an endeavour. Acquiring and deploying Web-based collaborative functionality within an organisation has become a strategic move to improve relationships between employees, partners and customers. The ultimate aim of the research and hence the thesis being addressed, will be to show that it is possible to create a “Learning or College Gateway” as a solutions framework that helps improve education by integrating the tools staff and students already use and puts them to work connecting people with the information and processes they need to teach, learn and manage more effectively. This will create a powerful educational portal that enables the people throughout the college to share information and work together on activities from a single point of access. The gateway will therefore use innovative collaboration and communications technologies to help staff get more out of existing applications using familiar tools and extending the value of investment made in existing learning environment technologies. The aim of the research was partly answered by using project based scenarios which gave some staff a new insight into the use of ICT. However, those involved in projects were generally the more pro-active teachers. A slightly different approach is needed and College Management has been advised to explore the use of an interactive college intranet and a dedicated eLearning team as a possible way forward.

Esta pesquisa apresenta a especificação, desenvolvimento e aplicação de um sistema de mapeamento de indícios de mediação em ambientes virtuais de ensino-aprendizagem – AVEA. Este sistema visa o apoio ao processo de mediação pedagógica a professores que desenvolvem atividades vinculadas a Educação a Distância – EAD, objetivando reduzir a sobrecarga de trabalho desses na identificação e acompanhamento da evolução das mediações realizadas no ambiente. Para isso, utilizamos técnicas de mineração de textos com o emprego de mecanismos de inferência bayesiana para identificação de categorias de mediação a partir de interações realizadas entre os participantes de um curso na modalidade a distância. A validação do sistema e avaliação dos resultados foi realizada através de um estudo de caso, aplicado em uma disciplina de um curso de Pós-Graduação da UFRGS na área de Informática na Educação. Os dados utilizados nesta pesquisa foram obtidos a partir das interações armazenadas no ambiente virtual de ensino-aprendizagem Moodle do Centro Interdisciplinar de Novas Tecnologias na Educação. No decorrer da investigação foram selecionados estudantes da disciplina para mapeamento das interações realizadas. Com o mapeamento de tais interações e identificação das categorias de mediação para cada estudante, foram gerados gráficos e relatórios com informações sobre o processo de mediação. As categorias de mediação auxiliam na identificação dos níveis de mediação. Na análise dos resultados, as informações obtidas em tais gráficos e relatórios foram trianguladas com informações provenientes da entrevista com um dos tutores e a visão do pesquisador envolvido no estudo de caso. Os resultados apontam que a utilização de um sistema de mapeamento de indícios de mediação em ambientes virtuais de ensino-aprendizagem, com adoção da tecnologia de mineração de textos, torna possível a identificação de níveis de medição dos participantes de um curso na modalidade a distância. / This research presents the specification, development and employ of a system to mapping evidences of mediation on Virtual Learning Enviroments – VLE. This system aims to support the mediation process to teachers who develop educational activities related to distance education, aimed at reducing the workload of the teacher during the identification and attendance of the mediations evolution in the environment. For this, we use techniques of text mining with the employ of bayesian inference mechanisms to identify mediations categories from the users interactions in the online course. The system validation and evaluation of results were performed through a case study applied to a discipline of graduate course of the UFRGS about Computers in Education. The data used in this research were achieved from the interactions stored in the Moodle virtual learning environment of the Interdisciplinary Center of New Technologies in the Education. During the investigation were selected students from the discipline to interactions mapping. With the interactions mapping and identification of the mediations categories for each student were created graphics and reports with informations about mediation process. The mediation categories aid to identify levels of mediation. In analyzing the results, the information obtained from such graphs and reports were triangulated with information from an interview with the tutor and the vision of the researcher involved in the case study. The results shown that the use of a system to mapping evidences of mediation in virtual learning environments, with the choice of the text mining technology makes it possible to identify levels of mediation of the participants of a course in the distance modality.

LIMA, Samuel de Carvalho. Letramentos e atividades on-line em Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem. 2009. 126f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Letras Vernáculas, Programa de Pós-graduação em Linguística, Fortaleza (CE), 2009. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-08-21T14:08:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_dis_sclima.pdf: 4494639 bytes, checksum: 99aecd4f76b668ace3ac9177ee96ea40 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-08-21T16:16:57Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_dis_sclima.pdf: 4494639 bytes, checksum: 99aecd4f76b668ace3ac9177ee96ea40 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-21T16:16:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_dis_sclima.pdf: 4494639 bytes, checksum: 99aecd4f76b668ace3ac9177ee96ea40 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / This thesis aims to analyze the relations between literacies and online activities present in Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The implementation of this proposal was based on reflections about the literacies submitted by Shetzer and Warschauer (2000), Soares (2002), Xavier (2005), Araújo (2007), Fischer (2007) and Ribeiro (2008). Located in the qualitative paradigm, with predominantly descriptive marks, our analysis suggested the categorization of online activities present in the courses Língua Inglesa II – A: Compreensão e Produção Oral e Leitura e Produção de Textos Acadêmicos updated at VLE Solar, from Universidade Federal do Ceará, and the description of literacy practices in virtual environments mediated, potentially, by the guidelines of the online activities proposed. The parameters considered for the analysis came from the summarization of Shetzer and Warschauer’s theoretical elaboration (2000), which lead us to the following dimensions of digital literacy: communication, construction and research. The data prompted the formation of an online activity typology, based on the literacy types demanded by them, namely: online activities strange to the potential of the web; online activities mediating the familiarization of the potential of the web; online activities mediating literacies for communication; and online activities mediating literacies for construction and research. The results of this analysis allowed the description of the literacy practices that are currently being privileged in this context, linking the type of online activity to the literacy practices that are potentially mediated by them and to the dimensions of digital literacy, according to Shetzer and Warschauer (2000). It follows that there is a need for technological formation for the language professional, because this way there will be the offering of online activities that addresses to the most diverse, or even countless, literacy practices in virtual environments. / Esta dissertação objetiva analisar as relações entre letramentos e atividades on-line presentes em Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem (AVA). A execução desta proposta baseou-se nas reflexões acerca dos letramentos apresentadas por Shetzer e Warschauer (2000), Soares (2002), Xavier (2005), Araújo (2007), Fischer (2007) e Ribeiro (2008). Situada no paradigma das pesquisas qualitativas, de cunho predominantemente descritivo e exploratório, nossa análise propôs a categorização das atividades on-line presentes nas disciplinas Língua Inglesa II – A: Compreensão e Produção Oral e Leitura e Produção de Textos Acadêmicos, atualizadas no AVA Solar, da Universidade Federal do Ceará, e a descrição das práticas de letramentos em ambientes virtuais mediadas, em potencial, pelas orientações das atividades on-line propostas. Os parâmetros considerados para a análise foram oriundos da sumarização da elaboração teórica dos autores Shetzer e Warschauer (2000), o que nos levou às seguintes dimensões do letramento digital: comunicação, construção e pesquisa. O tratamento dos dados suscitou a formação de uma tipologia das atividades on-line, baseadas nos tipos de letramentos demandados por elas, a saber: atividades on-line alheias às potencialidades da web; atividades on-line mediadoras da familiarização com as potencialidades da web; atividades on-line mediadoras de letramentos para a comunicação; e atividades on-line mediadoras de letramentos para a construção e pesquisa. Os resultados dessa análise possibilitaram a descrição das práticas de letramentos que atualmente estão sendo privilegiadas neste contexto, vinculando o tipo de atividade on-line encontrada às práticas de letramentos que são potencialmente mediadas por essas e às dimensões do letramento digital, segundo Shetzer e Warschauer (2000). Como conclusão, verificou-se a necessidade de formação tecnológica para o profissional da linguagem, pois só assim poderá haver o oferecimento de atividades on-line que contemplem as mais diversas, senão inúmeras, práticas de letramentos em ambientes virtuais.

TORRES FILHO, Ari do Amaral . Análise da utilização de métodos ágeis no desenvolvimento de ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem: um estudo de caso do Solar 2.0. 2014. 158 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em ciência da computação)- Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza-CE, 2014. / Submitted by Elineudson Ribeiro (elineudsonr@gmail.com) on 2016-07-08T19:06:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_aatorresfilho.pdf: 5052662 bytes, checksum: bbc494f5731e2ba4a447896641ee5d11 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rocilda Sales (rocilda@ufc.br) on 2016-07-13T13:32:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_aatorresfilho.pdf: 5052662 bytes, checksum: bbc494f5731e2ba4a447896641ee5d11 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-13T13:32:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_aatorresfilho.pdf: 5052662 bytes, checksum: bbc494f5731e2ba4a447896641ee5d11 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / In the last two decades there has been considerable progress in the use of Information Technologies and Digital Communication in the process of teaching and learning, both in the form of classroom education as distance. In this context, the use of Virtual Learning Environments - software designed to support the courses via the Internet - is growing and access becoming increasingly diverse, ranging from desktop computers to mobile smartphones. Thus, the complexity of creating these environments becomes increasingly technical and requires Software Engineering and Project Management always better to ensure product quality and customer satisfaction generated. Given such a scenario, this paper proposes the use of Agile methodologies in the development and project management of virtual environments as a more interesting way than traditional software delivery based only on product quality, forgetting often , customer satisfaction and motivation of developers. This paper reports the adoption of agile methodologies in the development of the SOLAR AVA 2.0, showing that it is possible to succeed in both the technical level and at the organizational and personally with the adoption of agile practices in the development of AVAs that can be proven through experiments done with the satisfaction surveys with users and project developers. / Nas duas últimas décadas houve um considerável avanço no uso de Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação Digitais no processo de ensino e aprendizagem, tanto na modalidade de Educação presencial quanto a distância. Neste contexto, o uso de Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem - softwares criados para o suporte a cursos através da Internet - vêm crescendo e seu acesso se tornando cada vez mais diversificado, indo de computadores desktop a celulares smartphones. Desta forma, a complexidade de criação destes ambientes se torna cada vez maior e exige técnicas de Engenharia de Software e Gestão de Projetos cada vez melhores para garantir a qualidade do produto gerado e a satisfação do cliente. Tendo em vista tal cenário, o presente trabalho propõe o uso de Metodologias Ágeis tanto no desenvolvimento quanto na gestão de projetos de ambientes virtuais como uma solução mais interessante que a tradicional forma de criação de softwares baseada somente na qualidade do produto, esquecendo, muitas vezes, a satisfação do cliente e a motivação dos desenvolvedores.

Objetos de Aprendizagem são recursos relevantes para ensejar a aprendizagem em função de seu caráter modular, pois permitem oferecer condições para uma atividade apoiada por recursos alocados por demanda face a necessidades específicas de uma turma ou aluno em particular. Essa característica é um elemento benéfico e facilitador, mas adiciona um aspecto que dificulta seu uso, derivado da dificuldade de localização do objeto de aprendizagem apropriado para necessidades específicas. Em decorrência, existe considerável esforço de investigação de estratégias para facilitar a localização e o acesso a Objetos de Aprendizagem (OA), adequados às necessidades de alunos e professores, pois a dificuldade em realizar esses processos ocasiona uma redução na frequência de utilização e reutilização dos mesmos em atividades pedagógicas. O local usual para armazenamento desses recursos é um Repositório de Objetos de Aprendizagem (ROA). No entanto, o uso dos objetos de aprendizagem ocorre mais frequentemente no contexto de Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem (AVAs). Face a essas constatações, esse trabalho de pesquisa investigou estratégias para integrar um ROA a um AVA e como esta integração pode apoiar o professor e o aluno na construção e adaptação do plano de ensino e aprendizagem. Essa tese apresenta um referencial teórico sobre Repositórios de Objetos de Aprendizagem e Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem e algumas soluções implementadas para integrar esses sistemas. Além disso, propõe um modelo de integração de repositórios a AVAs e descreve sua implementação bem como resultados derivados do uso da solução integradora construída. Os sistemas escolhidos para validar o modelo implementado foram o repositório CESTA2 e o AVA MOODLE. A hipótese principal é a de que a integração dos sistemas permite que os OA possam ser mais facilmente agregados pelo professor ao AVA no planejamento das unidades de aprendizagem de uma disciplina ou curso e permite que esses recursos sejam recomendados pelo professor ao aluno nas diversas situações de aprendizagem previamente delineadas em cada uma das unidades de aprendizagem ou que surgirem sob demanda ao longo do curso. Nesse sentido a solução proposta visa criar condições para que os OAs possam ser pesquisados e utilizados pelos alunos através de ferramentas disponíveis no próprio AVA. Para validar a integração foram realizados estudos de caso com alunos e professores de duas turmas da disciplina de Projeto de Banco de Dados Relacional do Instituto Federal Sul-rio-grandense, Campus Pelotas. Diferentemente de outros estudos realizados sobre o tema e relatados nessa tese, esse trabalho tem como foco a integração dos ambientes, com a finalidade tecnológica de verificar a interoperabilidade existente entre eles e como finalidade pedagógica verificar como essa integração pode auxiliar professores e alunos. A avaliação e validação realizadas através de estudo de caso com professores e alunos evidenciou que o modelo proposto e implementado atende às expectativas e pode apoiar professores e alunos, nas suas atividades pedagógicas e de aprendizagem, respectivamente. Além disso, o trabalho fruto dessa tese aporta contribuições importantes para as instituições de ensino que utilizam o software livre DSpace como repositório institucional e o MOODLE como AVA Institucional, pois demonstra como esses dois sistemas podem ser integrados para permitir aos seus usuários auferir todos os benefícios que essa integração pode oferecer. / Learning Objects are important resources to give opportunity to the learning according to their modular character, this way they may offer conditions to an activity supported by allocated resources by requests to the specific needs of a class or of an individual student. This characteristic is a beneficial and facilitator element, but it adds an aspect which makes its use difficult due to the learning object’s location difficulty appropriated to the specific needs. As a result, there is significant research effort of strategies in order to facilitate the location and the access to the Learning Objects (LO) adequate to the students and teachers’ needs, because the difficulty in order to perform these processes causes a decrease in the frequency of use and reuse from these ones in activities of teaching and learning. The usual place to store these resources is a Learning Objects Repository (LOR). However, the use of learning objects occurs more frequently in the Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). Due to these findings, this study researched the strategies to integrate a Learning Objects Repository to a Virtual Learning Environment and how this integration may support the teacher and the student at the construction and adaptation of teaching and learning plan. The present thesis shows a theoretical frame about the Learning Objects Repository and Virtual Learning Environments and some solutions taken to integrate these systems. In addition, it proposes a integration model of repositories to VLEs and it describes its implementation as well as the results from the use of the integrating solution built. The systems chosen to validate the deployed model were the repository CESTA2 and the VLE MOODLE. The main hypothesis is that the integration of the systems allows that the Learning Objects may be more easily added by the teacher to the VLE at the learning unit planning to a subject our course and it allows that these resources be advised by the teacher to the student in several learning situations previously outlined in each learning unit or the ones which arises along the course. At this point of view the solution proposed aims to create conditions so that the LOs may be researched and used by the students through available tools at own VLE. In order to validate the integration were done case studies with students and teachers from two classes of Relational Database Project subject from the Instituto Federal Sul-rio-grandense, Pelotas Campus. Differently from other studies done about the topic and described at this thesis, this study focuses on the environment integration with the technological purpose in order to verify the interoperability presented between them and as teaching purpose to verify how this integration may help teachers and students. The assessment and validation performed through case study with teachers and students showed that the proposed and evidenced model meets the expectations and may support teachers and students in their teaching and learning activities, respectively. Furthermore, the study from this thesis brings important contributions to the educational institutions that use the DSpace free software as institutional repository and the MOODLE as Institutional VLE, showing how these two systems may be integrated allowing to their users all the benefits that this integration may offer.

Os fóruns de discussões apresentam-se com umas das ferramentas de interação utilizadas nos ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem (AVAs). Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo propor um sistema computacional para recomendação de Objeto de Aprendizagem (OA), levando em consideração as postagens feitas de dentro dos fóruns de um Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem (AVA). A metodologia utilizada foi a pesquisa qualitativa, dos tipos descritiva e explicativa. Esse sistema identifica as palavras-chave nos fóruns de um AVA; usam as palavras-chave como indícios dos interesses dos usuários; classifica (atributos pesos) as palavras mais relevantes (Hot Topics); submete a um mecanismo de busca (repositório), neste trabalho foram usados os motores de busca, para fins de teste e oferece os resultados da busca aos usuários. As contribuições deste sistema para os sujeitos participantes desta pesquisa são: recomendação automática de OA para os alunos e professores; aplicação de mineração de dados para sistema gestão educacional; técnica de mineração de textos, utilizando algoritmo TF*PDF (Term Frequency * Proportional Document Frequency) e integração do AVA com repositório digital. Para validar o sistema de recomendação de OA em um AVA foi desenvolvido protótipo do sistema com uma amostra, contendo vinte e cinco alunos e cinco professores de duas turmas das disciplinas de Modelagem de Banco de Dados e Interface de Usuários e Sistemas Computacionais do curso de Engenharia de Computação da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão. O estudo realizado sobre o tema, e relatado nessa tese, tem como foco a recomendação de OA nos fóruns de um AVA. A avaliação e validação realizadas, através de protótipo do sistema com professores e alunos evidenciaram que o sistema de recomendação de Web Services (RECOAWS) proposto atende às expectativas e pode apoiar professores e alunos, nas suas atividades pedagógicas, dentro dos fóruns. / Discussion forums get present with one of interaction tools used in virtual learning environments (VLEs). This research aims to propose a computational system for Learning Object recommendation (LO), taking into account the posts made from within the forums of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The methodology used was a qualitative study of descriptive and explanatory types. This system identifies the keywords in the forums of a VLE; It uses the keywords as evidence of the interests of users; ranks (attributes weights) the most relevant words (Hot Topics); It submits to a search engine (repository), this work were used search engines for testing purposes and provides the search results to users. The contributions of this system to the participants in this study are: automatic recommendation of LO for students and teachers; data mining application to educational management system; text mining techniques, using TF * PDF algorithm (Term Frequency * Proportional Document Frequency) and integration of the VLE with digital repository. To validate the LO recommendation system in a VLE was developed prototype system with a sample, with twenty-five students and five teachers from two classes of database modeling disciplines and User Interface and Computational Systems of Engineering course Computing of the State University of Maranhão. The study on the subject, and reported in this thesis is focused on LO recommendation in the forums of a VLE. The evaluation and validation performed by the prototype system with teachers and students showed that the Web Services recommendation system (RecoaWS) proposed meets expectations and can support teachers and students in their educational activities within the forums.