Showcases
This ROLE Showcases display the software created in the ROLE research project. ROLE stands for Responsive Open Learning Environments and seeks to put learners in the position to build their own technology enhanced learning environment based on their needs and preferences. Gain a first impression of the software by reading the textual descriptions with screen shots, watch screencasts, and read example use cases. Deepen your understanding by trying the software yourself hands-on. Most software is web based and can be accessed directly via your web browser from this website. In some cases you will be redirected to demo websites of our project partners. In addition some of our software is available to install in your own learning environment.
Tool Showcases
Bundle Showcases
User Reports
RWTH Aachen University is using ROLE technology in a Computer Science course. They created an electronic reference book, the Web 2.0 Knowledge Map, as a kind of improved Wikipedia system. The application supports students in looking up factual knowledge needed in their homework assignments to design computer software. Students can search for knowledge articles by entering topic keywords and navigate from the current article to related articles using hyperlinks. It is based on semantic net technology, where hyperlinks are not just links, but belong to predefined categories, each bearing a meaning, as a named relation. The Knowledge Map tool won the second prize in the 2010 International E-Learning Association Awards, in the category “Academic Blended Learning”.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University reports on Creating an audio self-presentation in French widget bundle
In this report, we describe experiences deploying Open Learning Environments at a higher learning institution in China. It was introduced in established courses at the School of Continuing Education (SOCE) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Online colleges/universities such as SOCE play a particular role in the Chinese education system. Foreseeing the enormous demand for higher education, the Chinese government decided in 1998 to establish a number of online institutions that were open to those students who did not pass the university entrance exams (in 2007, 10.1 million students applied for 5.67 million places) [People's Daily Online, 2007]. The SOCE test-bed enables us to learn about PLE from the viewpoints of “average” users, that is learners who are not highly technically literate or who have limited time due to jobs and families.
Three workshops were organised by the ROLE team of the Open University (OU), presenting the basic scenario of a PLE to the audience, followed by an opportunity to experience using pre-selected ROLE tools. The underlying theme of the workshops was: “Finding and evaluating OER”, but the flexible nature of the embedded activity was such that individuals could tailor this theme to meet their own specific needs i.e. by choosing to look for or discover OER pertinent to their own subject areas. The workshops were conducted using ROLE tools with different groups, i.e. with learners, educators, and researchers.
The Moodle plugin was used at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (SJTU) to add ROLE technology to the courses Business English, English Newspaper Reading, Data Structures, German I and German II.
