Elearning

This research aims to examine the practices of university English Language (EL) teachers in e-learning and to explore perspectives on the challenges and prospects of e-learning. It is an exploratory study which adopts a pragmatic paradigm and a mixed method approach to inquiry. A survey design and a phenomenological design are used in this research to investigate the use of technology by the teachers of EL at Umm AlQura University (UQU) in Saudi Arabia (SA) and to explore their lived experiences as well as their views in relation to the challenges and prospects of e-learning implementation. It uses both quantitative data taken from a closed-ended survey (N=43) and qualitative data taken from a Focus Group (FG) with ten university EL teachers who teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP, i.e. medical purposes) in a country where English is used as a foreign language. The research seeks to examine the university EL teachers' practices of e-learning in their teaching and to explore their perspectives on the challenges and prospects of the implementation of e-learning.

Nell’articolo, l’autore, alla sua prima esperienza di docente CLIL/DNL, descrive i caratteri, le fasi e lo svolgimento delle attività e fornisce esempi di lezioni in presenza e on line del modulo “Cybercrime and security measures” recentemente erogato agli alunni di una classe quinta di un Istituto Tecnico Economico ad articolazione SIA (Sistemi Informativi Aziendali). Durante un cospicuo periodo di assenza dal servizio, l’autore si è visto costretto a ripianificare e riprogettare una parte del percorso formativo, in corso d’opera  e, coinvolgendo gli altri colleghi del CLIL team, ha disegnato e allestito tre webinar sulla piattaforma wiziq.com per compensare alcune lezioni in presenza. Questa volta, il docente CLIL/DNL, nella veste di elearning researcher, investiga e si sofferma su alcuni rilevanti aspetti che emergono  nel corso delle tre lezioni on line perché nota che la quantità e qualità delle interazioni on line migliora quando il classroom discourse si basa sull’uso delle funzioni comunicative del linguaggio riuscendo a fondere teoria e pratica in modo naturale ed efficace. Questo contributo infine mostra come sia stata condotta e realizzata la Ricerca-Azione, nel rispetto dei canoni scientifici,  evidenziando quali sono stati i punti di debolezza e prospettando i possibili sviluppi .

Ergonomics has become an integral part of design education curriculum, where input content demands demonstration through citing and analysing appropriate design experiences. It has come to fore through many academic forum discussions and meetings that to internalise various ergonomics issues relevant hands on experiences on this are necessary. To impart a feel of laboratory experimentation as well as application relevance to a greater number of learners, a virtual environment scenario could go along.A virtual presentation of ergonomics laboratory experiments on physical anthropometry and its design dimension consequences has been tried out. It contains a total of eleven sections. The topic opens with the introductory session where the subject matter and the laboratory experiment methodology in general was considered; this was followed by ten specific topics with flash based self-learning modules and data support on Indian population was provided to have a ready reference. Some of th...

An electronic portfolio (e-portfolio), defined as a collection of student work, plays an important role for students since it insures several pedagogical and educational benefits. In fact, e-portfolio involves students in their learning and increases their ability to self evaluate in order to concentrate on their needs, challenges and objectives. On the market, there are many software for developing e-portfolio. The selection of the appropriate building software of e-portfolio is a challenge for educational organizations that should choose the right solution according to their specific requirements and situation. The aim of this paper is to improve the process of software selection for supporting decision makers. This paper focuses on multi criteria decision making approach specially on the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS).

This work is a part of a larger study, which presents geometry through a daily life story using dynamic geometry software. It aimed in particular to enable students to feel the importance of geometry in daily life, to share in the process of formulating geometric statements and conjectures, to experience the geometric proof more than validating the correctness of geometric statements and to start with a real-life situation and go through seven steps to geometric proof. The content of the suggested approach was organized so that every activity was a prerequisite for entering the next one, either in the structure of geometric concepts or in the geometric story context. Some indications will be presented according to three Likert-type questionnaires, which were prepared by the researcher with the purpose of assessing students’ attitudes toward geometry and geometric proof, using computers in mathematics learning and the suggested approach. The analysis of single responses to questionnaire items showed significant changes in students’ beliefs about geometry, importance and functions of geometric proof and toward using the suggested approach.

Uncertain times require prompt reflexes to survive and this study is a collaborative reflex to better understand uncertainty and navigate through it. The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic hit hard and interrupted many dimensions of our lives, particularly education. As a response to interruption of education due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this study is a collaborative reaction that narrates the overall view, reflections from the K12 and higher educational landscape, lessons learned and suggestions from a total of 31 countries across the world with a representation of 62.7% of the whole world population. In addition to the value of each case by country, the synthesis of this research suggests that the current practices can be defined as emergency remote education and this practice is different from planned practices such as distance education, online learning or other derivations. Above all, this study points out how social injustice, inequity and the digital divide have been exacerbate...

Flexible, inclusive and accessible provision of education and training online can provide a supportive learning environment to the students studying fashion with the help of blended, flipped classes or online courses. Also the employees working in the fashion domain might be exposed to the on-the-job training activities through e-Learning courses for instance on learning about corporate history, culture or new safety regulations. This research investigates the role of new media in education in the field of fashion, harvesting existing online courses and categorizing them according to subdomains so to provide a clear overview of the field. More than 60 available online training platforms related to the fashion domain are analysed. Results may be considered as a first picture of the e-Learning domain related to the fashion industry.

— This paper proposes a collaborative system based on WebRTC technology to improve digital universities e-Learning environment. It allows teachers and students, through a web browser, to communicate via chat, audio and camera. It also supports file transfer and screen sharing for computer connected lab equipment. All these features are functional in an IP environment without need for Internet access. For its design and realization, we had to implement a WebRTC signalisation server to manage real-time applications, using the three WebRTC APIs: MediaStream for the acquisition and synchronization of audio and video, Peer Connection for communication between user's browsers and RTCDataChannel for file transfer, Chat and Screen Sharing.

The digitalization of learning environments is changing the face of education. Learners from around the world have unprecedented access to online learning spaces in ways that were unthinkable even a few decades ago. Due to the growing diversity among digital learners, online learning spaces are becoming increasingly international and intercultural. To make e-learning offerings effective at meeting the needs of diverse groups of learners requires a better understanding of available instructional design models. This paper analyzes seven popular models and offers a series of recommendations that designers should follow to ensure that e-learning developed using these models is culturally inclusive.

Internet is influencing the lives of people in all the aspects and enabling every person to be more independent, interactive and collaborative. In the past few years the growth has been replaced through personal computers to mobiles and tablets. Internet holds the potential to exchange information and address various problems of learners in classrooms. Along with this the advent of online learning has changed the concept of traditional classroom and face to face learning. Internet can be used appropriately in instruction to enhance students learning, increase motivation and induce positive attitude and change. For this teachers play a vital part in the success or failure of this educational innovation. Teachers must use innovative methods for teaching so that learning becomes more enjoyable and interesting to students. Smyth and By

El artículo revisa la evolución del concepto de madurez digital referido a los centros educativos. Se propone una nueva definición para el contexto educativo español. A partir de esta definición se explican diversos modelos de evaluación de la madurez digital.

Paper is devoted to possible Personal Learning
Environment (PLE) and LMS integration models
suitable for Tomsk State University (TSU). Authors
compare different approaches to define PLE.
PLE considered to be described as self-organizing
environment utilized by students and teachers in
order to achieve their educational goals. Additional
feature of PLE stressed by authors is the ability of
reconstruction - users can adapt web based tools
to their present tasks. Paper provides PLE tools
classification consisting of six types.
Paper covers a variety of PLE models such as
Integrated PLE, The Flexible Learning Model and
The Open Learning Network, as well as new services
developed for grade collection among different
sources, such as “Harvesting Gradebook” and
“Loosely Coupled Gradebook”. Authors distinguish
two strategies of PLE and LMS integration. First
strategy is LMS-centered: it considers LMS Moodle
as a major element of universities virtual environment.
Second strategy is heterogeneous: it treats
LMS as one of the equal elements among others.
For an accurate choice of the integration model
and the strategy authors examined TSU virtual
learning environment and distinguished such features
as multi-level structure, uncomplete integration
and different sources of user authorisation.
All TSU VLE elements could be divided into three
groups: services keeping personal data (corporate
accounts, e-portfolio), communication tools (messager,
departments websites, email servers) and
tools providing learning (LMS Moodle, e-schedule,
e-library).
Authors propose strategy of PLE and VLE integration
based on the Open Learning Network
model which imply combination of cloud-based open
services and existing elements of university VLE.
LMS Moodle has to be the universal node that keeps
grades and links to the outside students works.
Implementation of this model means multi-step
actions: studying PLE used by students and teachers,
choosing particular PLE elements to integrate,
developing integration methods, training staff
and students, results monitoring and performing
required corrections.
In 2016 authors conducted a research aimed at
finding PLE elements common for students and
teachers. Such elements are: google drive, video
hostings, webinar, presentation hostings, social
networks and some others. MOOCs (massive open
online courses) as well as natural PLE element integration
with LMS were considered limited because
of various technical issues.
For a successful application of the new tools for
educational purposes specialists from Institute of
Distance Education have developed teacher’s manuals
and two training courses “Improving your course
in Moodle” and “Models and technologies of Integrated
Learning”. Further integration monitoring
will enable a relevant management of the merging
university VLE and PLE.

This paper aims to evaluate the viability of 'democratizing' eLearning within the global neoliberal economy. 'Democratization' is examined through several focus areas, namely the digital divide, socioeconomic status, gender, and social justice in curricula. These facets of 'democratization' are scrutinized specifically through corporate and university eLearning discourse, focusing principally on adult learners. The central objective is to determine to what extent eLearning can be 'democratized' for 21st century learners. The COVID-19 pandemic has catapulted eLearning to the forefront of education and has been urgently implemented globally across corporations, higher educational institutions, and K-12 schools. eLearning discourse has been imbued with terms such as 'accessibility', 'flexibility', and 'engagement'. The paper explores how these discourses could be reconstituted to live up to the promises of 'democratization&#39...

The COVID-19 pandemic quickly led to the closure of universities and colleges around the world, in hopes that public health officials’ advice of social distancing could help to flatten the infection curve and reduce total fatalities from the disease. Drawing on Copenhagen school securitization theory and analyzing 25 declarations of emergency eLearning at American universities, I argue that in addition to COVID-19 being framed as a general threat, face-to-face schooling was also presented as a threat through these policies. A review of securitization theory—with particular attention to the question of advocacy and the relationship of desecuritization to emancipation—grounds the investigation theoretically. I argue that securitization theory is an important tool for educators not only for observing (and understanding) the phenomenon of emergency eLearning, but also for advocating the desecuritization of schooling after the COVID-19 crisis passes.

Engagement in the companies' training programs is a crucial issue for their success. Every company faces the matter in different manners: some enterprises promote mandatory courses or programs; however, they may result not enough effective, due to a low level of motivation that can compromise learning and retention. Other enterprises prefer to adopt voluntary courses or programs, but in this case enrollment and completion depend on many factors: the time that workers can spend on training without compromising their main tasks; the directives of managers; the individual motivation. Another way to face corporate training may exploit gamification to enhance engagement. The authors present the design and implementation of a gamified course of office automation, developed for the employees of a large media company. Our approach attempts to go beyond the well-known triad point-badges-leaderboards, employing also a narrative, the Bartle's taxonomy of player types and the Self-deter...

The present document shapes the joint work of five professionals of the education pertaining to different Mexican institutions from higher education, focused in the design and validation of a project of educational innovation based on the evidence, which must like intention facilitate the learning on Mathematics through innovating strategies that generate significant learning, as well as the understanding and the use of the mathematical knowledge in higher education students. This research was accomplished through a qualitative methodology, of exploratory-descriptive type to analyze the impact in the education of the Mathematics that had the use of a learning object supported by technological resources. The obtained results were satisfactory because through the application of the learning object the roll was identified that play the technical and pedagogical elements in the learning of the students and was obtained a collaborative work in the classroom for the construction, understa...

Una de las fases del proceso de instrucción que menos cambios ha sufrido a lo largo de la historia ha sido la de la evaluación. En un contexto virtual, una de las preocupaciones que muestran los docentes respecto a la evaluación se relaciona con las problemáticas de su implementación y la vertebración de diferentes e-actividades. Por e-actividades se entienden todas las tareas desarrolladas por el estudiante de forma individual o colectiva en un entorno digital, y que están destinadas a obtener un aprendizaje específico. Son, por tanto, el vínculo que une la enseñanza y el aprendizaje en la denominada Sociedad del Conocimiento. En esta línea, este artículo trata de realizar una panorámica por el fenómeno de las e-actividades dentro de los entornos virtuales de aprendizaje. Para ello, realiza una síntesis de los principales estudios sobre el tema en cuanto a definición, tipología, selección y análisis. Los resultados ofrecen un recorrido que avala la importancia de estos recursos como objetos de aprendizaje auténtico. Por este motivo, es necesario que los docentes desarrollen competencias en cuanto a su selección, creación, modificación y evaluación. En esta línea, se esbozan diferentes criterios a tener en cuenta y que se pueden movilizar para el desarrollo de dichas competencias clave.

One of the phases of the instructional process that has undergone minor changes throughout history has been that of evaluation. In a virtual context, one of the concerns that teachers show regarding evaluation is related to the problems of its implementation and the design, organisation and eventually implementation of different e-activities. By e-activities we understand all the tasks developed by a student individually or collectively in a digital environment, and which are intended to obtain specific learning. They are, therefore, the link that unites teaching and learning in the so-called Knowledge Society. Along these lines, this article offers an overview of the phenomenon of e-activities within virtual learning environments. Accordingly, it goes through the main studies on e-activities in terms of definition, typology, selection and analysis. Results obtained show the relevance of such resources as authentic learning objects and highlight the importance of promoting specific teacher training competences on the selection, creation, modification and evaluation of e-activities. In this line, the present study proposes different criteria to be considered for the effective inclusion of such competences in teachers' training programmes on digital teaching competence.

Reaching a large and diverse community of practitioners in developing countries to strengthen their capacities in agricultural research and development is a challenge for the CGIAR . One of its priorities is to build and strengthen capacity of its partners in developing countries in the agricultural and natural resources management sectors. Important audiences and partnerships for this are African universities and other learning institutions. Many are nowadays organized in networks such as the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE). By strengthening these capacities, it is expected that there will be a broader impact on various others active in these agriculture related sectors.

Since 2001 the CGIAR Centres have explored eLearning to meet the learning demands of these audiences. Activities undertaken include, among others, the development of agricultural learning objects repositories, knowledge banks on agricultural crops, support to university curriculum development and offering eLearning opportunities. This paper describes two on-line learning events conducted by the CGIAR and suggests future directions for agricultural eLearning in developing countries of the tropics.

The paper presents an e-learning package designed to support vocational language teaching in the Fehmarn Belt region, developed as part of two research projects at Roskilde University, the project Den Mentale Bro (The Mental Bridge) and the BeltScience project. The Fehmarn Belt region extends, in a broad definition, over northern Germany, the eastern part of Denmark and southern Sweden. Since 2009, Roskilde University has conducted research projects that aim to strengthen German-Danish regional cooperation in the region. The article presents the theoretical foundations of the e-learning package, its contents and methods, and describes the practical experience of its use. The e-learning package was developed on the basis of a needs analysis and in collaboration with local stakeholders. It consists of two modules: a language module that promotes vocational language skills, and a culture module that strengthens German-Danish intercultural skills. The package was developed in a German-D...

With the risen quest for the acquisition of knowledge, the edge cutting technological advancement of this era has a magnified role to play. The availability of the internet all over the world though a negligible not connected yet, online lecturing and educating systems have gotten a boost. Irrespective of the distance or the location of the learner and source of information, learning is made not just easier but also convenient and interactive via electronic sharing of information and virtual classroom. However, ONLINE LECTURING SYSTEM is a system design to help student gain access to and acquire knowledge in any university of their choice. It has different modules notably, the lecture module, questioning module etcetera. This method of learning will not enhance face-to-face instruction on campus but the use of computer in classrooms and elicitation of information with the World Wide Web (WWW), enhanced distance education  (on or off campus) and Individual and group learning with both print and computer based materials. Thus students or staff must not travel to acquire knowledge. Also information can be send to students abroad through online. This research work is a web based system designed with Microsoft Visual studio (ASP.Net) 2008 as its front end and Microsoft SQL management server studio 2005 as its back end. The basic methodology used was the Dynamic System Development Method.

Literature suggests that electronic course content helps current students learn and helps recruit potential students. This comprehensive study reviewed all units, over one thousand, on offer at The University of Western Australia (UWA) in May 2004 to determine online presence, added
value to students and marketing implications. The diffusion of innovations theory helped explain the results such as that 61% of all available units at UWA had an online presence, or 80% of all undergraduate units and only 37% of all postgraduate units.

Given the marketing implications of publicly accessible Web sites over password protected sites or a central database of all unit information, this study suggests public unit Web sites are an effective marketing tool, particularly towards international and postgraduate students. Based on the annual income of UWA, marketing initiatives should focus on these prospective students.

قام هذا المشروع العلمي على دراسة بينية بين مجالي اللغة والإعلام من خلال الحقل الميداني، ألا وهو الصحف القطرية الثلاث العرب والراية والشرق خلال فترة زمنية محددة بعام 2017م بإشراف باحثين متخصصين وفريقين للطلاب من قسمي اللغة العربية والإعلام متخذا من المنهج الوصفي التحليلي ومن إجراءاته المسح الإحصائي لموضوعات اللغة العربية مثل الشعر والخطابة والقصة والرواية والمسرحية والخاطرة والقضايا اللغوية وكذلك مسح عناصر الإخراج الصحفي من الأجناس المختلفة وهي بمثابة دراسة استكشافية لواقع معالجة موضوعات اللغة في الإعلام تبين حجمها ونوعها وأنماطها وخطوطها وقد تحققت بهذا المشروع مجموعة من النتائج البحثية تمثلت في عدة محاور:
• الإحصاءات الرقمية تتعلق بالأجناس اللغوية والصحفية في الجرائد الثلاث: العرب والراية والشرق على مدار عام كامل (عام 2017).
• الوصف التحليلي للبيانات التي صنفت وفق خطة منهجية محددة
• الدلالة الإحصائية للبيانات
• التدريب وإكساب الخبرة البحثية وبناء تجربة للدراسات البينية
كما قدم المشروع مجموعة من المخرجات العلمية مثل مشروعات البحوث والملصقات البحثية والنماذج والقوالب العلمية وتنمية المهارات البحثية لدى ستة من الطلاب والطالبات.

The Egyptian Government’s strategy for higher education
development has aimed, as its first objective, to increase
educational opportunities to address growing market needs
and to expand the demand for higher education. E-learning
is a modern tool—using information and communications
technologies–to help in achieving these goals.
The Ministry of Higher Education in September of 2005
submitted a feasibility study of the university (http://www.
eelu.edu.eg) to the Board of the Education Development
Fund. In August of 2009, a Presidential decree was issued,
establishing EELU as a private, non-profit university in
Egypt. Our new Government continues to support the institution.
The university commenced its educational activities in
October of 2009 with two initial programs—Business
Administration and Computer and Information Technology.
Learning Centers were established in three locations:
Cairo, Tanta, and Assiut.

آموزش الکترونیکی یکی از تکنولوژیهایی است که یادگیری را به کمک نرم افزارهای کاربردی ومحیط آموزش مجازی راحتتر ساخته است. آموزش الکترونیکی امروزه با بسیاری از آخرین فنآوری ها ترکیب شده تا نسبت به روشهای سنتی آموزش الکترونیک خدمات بهتر با پیچیدگی کمتری به کاربران خود ارایه دهد. در عین حال یکی از مشکلاتی که هنوز باقی مانده است نیاز
آموزش الکترونیکی به زیرساختهای سخت افزاری و منابع نرم افزاری فراوان است که بسیاری از موسسات سرمایه لازم را برای تهیه این منابع در اختیار ندارند. رایانش ابری، پارادایم نوین رایانش است که زیرساخت لازم جهت اجرای برنامه های کاربردی به عنوان سرویس را از طریق مرورگر وب روی اینترنت فراهم میکند. آموزش الکترونیکی میتواند از رایانش ابری جهت تامین زیرساختهای مورد نیاز و همچنین فراهم کردن بستری برای بهبود کارایی، مقیاسپذیری و افزایش دسترس پذیری استفاده کند. مقاله حاضر با رویکردی تحلیلی توصیفی به بررسی کاربرد رایانش ابری در آموزش - الکترونیکی میپردازد. ابتدا معماری و مدلهای سرویس در رایانش ابری و سپس آموزش الکترونیکی میتنی بر رایانش ابری بررسی میشود، سپس با معرفی مزایا در صدد نشان دادن اهمیت و لزوم به کارگیری آموزش الکترونیکی مبتنی بر رایانش ابری است. در ادامه چالشهای این مدل بررسی و راهکارهایی برای مقابله با آنها پیشنهاد شده است.

Leadership is something that many aspire to and something that people holding leadership positions, especially in schools, generally aspire to do well. Leadership is by its nature illusory. Over the years, many researchers have explored the challenge of leadership. This paper seeks to explore what lies beyond the leadership challenge and how professional standards from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership might assist school leaders seeking to go beyond the challenge of leadership.

La evolución tecnológica ha originado en las últimas décadas transformaciones sustanciales de orden social, educativo, legal, político, económico y psicológico, entre diversas áreas del desarrollo humano y comunitario. De manera particular en el contexto latinoamericano los fenómenos de la alfabetización tecnológica, la inclusión y brecha digital, las competencias digitales, el cyberbullyng, el texting, el sexting, la protección de datos personales en internet, el empleo de smartphones y el impacto de las redes sociales, sólo por citar algunos de los comportamientos contemporáneos de la denominada sociedad de la información y/o conocimiento, reflejan el escenario de vulnerabilidad psicosocial y de replanteo del status quo entre el desarrollo social y tecnológico que nos corresponde sortear.

I have been working as a teacher for 20+ years and I am raising four children. Both as a teacher and as a parent I have soon realised that I one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to raising and teaching children. As obviously true this may seem, as much we disregard our children’s individuality. Standardization is the key word in most schools all over the world and parenting books tell us you have to do it this way or that way in order to make your children turn out right.

The truth is parents and teachers have far less influence on how children turn out. The British geneticist Robert Plomin writes in Blueprint (2020) that parents do matter, but they don’t make a big difference in their child’s personality. Most of our character traits have a genetic inheritance of 50%, leaving 50% to epigenetics and the environment, of which parents and teachers only take a small slice. This means that parents and teachers have much less influence than commonly believed. Often parents and teachers work against a child’s nature despite or because of their best intentions. One common problem for children is that grown-ups tend to try to work on their weaknesses rather than their strengths. Many children thus get the message they are somehow defective or not good enough. Parents and teachers want to prepare their kids for an extroverted and competitive world when the majority of children aren’t programmed for such a world. While some kids are naturally ambitious, assertive and dominant the majority of kids are really much more cooperative.

While I do believe that a lot of our traits are in our genes, I am by no means a genetic determinist. I wouldn’t have written this book. On the contrary, understanding the nature of a child is important for understanding what environment the child needs to flourish. This is true for all children, but in particular for “orchid children” (see Thomas Boyce, 2020), who depending on the soil the grow on might become beautiful flowers or just fade away. According to the central hypothesis of this book, I call these children “hunter-gatherer types”, whereas “farmer-herder type” children are more typically “dandelions”, being able to flourish more easily under adverse circumstances.

The focus of this book is on hunter-gatherer type children, as they are a minority that typically find our school system more difficult to cope with than farmer children. In discussions on the social network Quora people have been pointing out to me again and again that our school system is not made for hunter-gatherer and herder children. Nor do these freedom-loving children take easily to an authoritarian educational style. I will try to make the reasons as clear as possible in this book.

The Landscape of Artificial Intelligence in Open, Online and Distance Education: Promises and concerns

Editorial

“Only the unknown frightens men. But once a man has faced the unknown, that terror becomes the known.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1939.

How to Cite
Sharma, R. C., Kawachi, P., & Bozkurt, A. (2019). The Landscape of Artificial Intelligence in Open, Online and Distance Education: Promises and concerns. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 14(2), 1-2. Retrieved from http://www.asianjde.org/ojs/index.php/AsianJDE/article/view/432

This paper proposes a collaborative system based on WebRTC technology to improve digital universities e-Learning environment. It allows teachers and students, through a web browser, to communicate via chat, audio and camera. It also supports file transfer and screen sharing for computer connected lab equipment. All these features are functional in an IP environment without need for Internet access. For its design and realization, we had to implement a WebRTC signalisation server to manage real-time applications, using the three WebRTC APIs: MediaStream for the acquisition and synchronization of audio and video, Peer Connection for communication between user's browsers and RTCDataChannel for file transfer, Chat and Screen Sharing.

Technology  Enhanced Learning (TEL), Open Educational Resources (OER), innovative learning paradigms, educational scenarios and the associated digital technologies, learning environments, applications and content are continuously changing and rapidly evolving nowadays, thus affecting not only the effectiveness, the impact and the cognitive outcomes of teaching, but also the quality of the learning process and outcome as a whole. The impact of TEL environments and portals using OER can be evaluated in terms of usability, effectiveness and pedagogical use. Impact evaluation has always carried great potential for improving learning outcomes and tailoring learning toward the users’ needs, motivation, satisfaction and expectations. However, impact assessment of the use of teaching and learning resources, environments and portals in a systematic manner has proven to be difficult.
The research work described in this paper contributes to assess the impact of using Open Learning Resources in a shared and distributed way, on an innovative portal, namely the “Open Discovery Space” (ODS) portal. In this European example case, there are different dimensions of impact to consider, including impact on teachers, students, stakeholders, schools and the educational system at large. The focus of the impact evaluation in this research is to understand how best such TEL environments are to be accommodated, adopted and used within the educational processes, and how well they can fit within the current national/regional curricula and educational systems. To achieve this, this research aims to evaluate how best the e-learning portals and services like ODS are to be accommodated within existing teaching and learning processes/practices as they are seen by teachers and learners.
The objectives of the impact assessment activities are to discover the nature and extent of effects and changes, and demonstrate the outcomes on the micro-level stakeholders, including on individual teachers, learners and schools and the macro-level stakeholders, including regional, national, and EU-level stakeholders, and also the policy makers. In this context, it is expected that identifying and measuring the actual impact that a portal like ODS has on educational systems will help stakeholders to fully exploit the strength of such portals and services and will facilitate improvements in terms of the application of digital technologies in educational systems and in their decisions for educational processes.
Impact assessment of an eLearning portal such as ODS involves evaluation and assessment of educational aspects that directly relate to the context of the teaching and learning activities. For this reason, the results of such assessment can be used as a basis to improve the educational system. This type of assessment contrasts with traditional approaches, which focus on a limited number of factors and are usually used for grading and accountability purposes. Thus, our impact assessment methodology considers various impact factors including motivation factors, engagement, support, empowerment, involvement, satisfaction, accessibility, availability, usability, effectiveness, achievement, performance, sharing, interaction, communication, collaboration, innovation, training, creativity, search facility, socialising, culturally and linguistically appropriate features, etc.
Taking into account the early results of this research, it appears that the use of an e-learning portal like ODS, in EU Educational Systems has a great impact on the whole educational system and on the learning processes and learning practice, and has the potential to greatly improve the quality of the work done in schools. Such an initiative is generally suitable for a wide range of teaching practices, while it enables the accomplishment of the learning tasks easily and offers a wide range of useful and updated learning resources. Further work is planned, in order to benchmark the results with previous studies, in order to conduct the qualitative research effectively and detect trends/patterns, and improve the reliability of ODS impact assessment survey results over time and across multiple assessment tools and instruments.