Virtual Learning Tools | Arctic Portal

9-10 March. Arctic Virtual Learning Tools Project Workshop:

The workshop is to bring together the Arctic organizations who are working on metadata and electronic libraries. The goal is to share knowledge, discuss and find possible synergies and forms of co-operation that will benefit all. Here below you can download the powerpoint slides presented at the workshop:

Arctic Virtual Learning Tools; Background. Kirsi Latola, University of Oulu Finland

Metadata and Sematic Web. Arto Vitikka, Arctic Centre University of Lapland.

Open Textbooksand Electronic Publishing Formats/Standards, Scott Forrest. Arctic Centre University of Lapland

Digital Library, Sandy Campbell, Polar Libraries Colloquy

Electronic Memory of the Arctic, Igor Meinikov. Rusar Publishers

Virtual Classroom survey presentation, Kirsi Latola, University of Oulu Finland

System Developments and outlines, Kári Fannar Lárusson & Halldór Jóhansson. Arctic Portal, Iceland.

SAON as a facilitator of synergies among Arctic observing and data stewardship initiatives, David Hik J, University of Alberta

Introduction:

The Arctic virtual learning tools project (2009 – 2011) is funded by the Nordic council of Ministers Arctic co-operation program and led by the University of the Arctic and the The Arctic Portal, also in cooperation with University Centre of the Westfjords, APECS and ICR. The Virtual Classroom project will improve access to education in the Arctic region through online learning tools that support the existing programs and curriculum of the UArctic and other partners. This will be achieved by the development of new learning resources:

Virtual Learning Tools:

• Open Textbooks: Will offer educators and authors a venue to publish scientific material online, which will be freely available to students for online use or download.
• Virtual Classroom. Will serve to improve access to education and there by the standard of living of Arctic residents by offering an interactive real time distance learning solution
• Course Catalouge: Will offer a simple and effective online course search engine, on arctic related education

Connected projects:

• Arctic Atlas: The Arctic Atlas is a comprehensive interactive online encyclopedia about the Arctic, using state of the art technology in online mapping.
• Community Square: Is a concept that supports the maintainance and resiliance of Arctic cultures. It will be a place of exchange, connection and networking for users of arctic languages and their common herritige.
• Online Carrier Development Center: Is intended to be a virtual venue where young scientist and organizations can locate each other.

The image on the right is of the poster presented at the Arctic Frontiers Conference in Tromso, Norway 2010, which can be downloaded by pressing the image.

Contact Information:

For further information about the project please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Background:

Current distance learning systems, in the Arctic, that mostly offer two-way communication between users are often tedious, complex, expensive and require the student to be in a high-tech center capable of hosting distance learning classes. Such centers are not often within reach for residents in the Arctic. Most rural communities are few and scattered throughout the Arctic and do not have the capacity for such facilities, hindering the distance learning opportunities for those communities. Prospective students in these communities need to migrate to other, often larger, communities that do offer the education they seek, desire and deserve.

The project partners have realized the need for new solutions and propose to enhance educational opportunities for all communities in the Arctic, no matter the size, remoteness, or resources, through the creation of a virtual classroom – a two-way communication between the teacher and students with open discussions, capabilities for classroom participation and real-time interaction.

Intermediate results:

A project of this dimenssion demands thorough preparation, which includes evaluating user requirements, technical prerequisits, available software sollutions, testing through pilot courses and eventually the training of personell wich will use the system. To achieve these goals the virtual classroom survey was prepared and sent to UArctic student an affiliates to the project. A technical evaluation is under progress which deals with the options to create new software or to license proprietary software. Some of the resaults of this work can be seen here below, and will be updated when new material is processed:

• 98% of those who had had previous experience with distance learning stated that they would be willing to use the method of studying again.
• 73% of survey participants had modern, stable high-speed Internet connection (figure 2). Only 3% percent of participants were still using a dial up modems. This indicates that modern solutions in interactive distance learning can be offered to Arctic residents.
• Over half of the participants felt that both live video (Figure 3) and recorded sessions (Figure 4) were important or very important
• 66% of survey participants stated they would like to have live video/audio despite increased requirements to attend. Lack of flexibility was one of the main reasons for rejecting the possibility. These results indicate that all live sessions need to be provided also as recordings.
• More than 60% of survey participants considered live text chat (Figure 5), email capability (Figure 6), forums (Figure 7) and technical support (Figure 8) important or very important, highlighting these as the core elements in modern learning.
• Asynchronous or synchronous virtual interaction are important features as a number of students state that this is generally missed in present distance learning.
• Live video can be troublesome due to differences in time zones across the Arctic and due to Internet connectivity in the region.

The resullts reveal that a modern distance learning system needs to be flexible, and offer varying levels of use to suit each group or course using the system. Figure 1 illustrates the layout of the new online learning platform composed of a Learning Management System and a Conferencing Tool which makes it possible to record sessions, to deliver live session, to create recordings and to carry out live conversations. The system will also be connected to other cooperation projects such as Open Textbooks, UArctic Course Catalog, the Arctic Atlas and the Community Square Project. By offering a number of inter-operable systems were maximum flexibility is ensured for varying levels of use.

Figure 1-Virtual Classroom System Schematics

Figure 2:   

Figure 3:                                                                                

Figure 8 & 9