Vol.40, No 6 (2007)

Ivan Gerlič

University of Maribor, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Last decade’s technological developments in the field of information technology have boosted its range of uses in distance education and given new dimensions to this type of education. Distance learning nowadays is practised in several theories, each differing from the other in its formal access, in the analysis of its teaching and learning materials, in its methods and range of counselling and the range of its communication with participants, as well as in its didactic concept of preparing and forming learning materials, etc. Distance education is an important criterion for new communication trends in education. Therefore, it shall be covered more thoroughly in this work.

Maja Pivec

Information Design, FH JOANNEUM, University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Austria

Paul Kearney

Deakin University, Australia/UNITEC School of Information Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Background/Purpose: This paper details a model of game-based learning and suggests how this can be applied to both the playing of computer games and learning within the classroom environment. The authors document the results from a University level course, created in a role-playing form for designing educational games and highlights the student’s attitudes and beliefs regarding game design as a career. They also suggest that educational games can be used successfully for the transfer of knowledge to domains outside the world of computer games and highlights several case studies in the area of health and medicine.

Matejka Tomazin

Škocjan 45/a, 6000 Koper

Andrej Brodnik

Univerza na Primorskem, Pedagoška fakulteta, Cankarjeva 5, 6000 Koper

Abstract

Background/Purpose: With the nine-year elementary school, Computer Science re-appeared as an elective subject. However, there was virtually no curriculum for Computer Science to be used, no textbook, no exercise book. There was only an idea to include information and communication technology in the elementary school, because of society’s growing dependence on it. Not properly trained and severely underprepared teachers had to adapt competency goals to the inappropriate teaching equipment. Because Computer Science is still only an elective subject and hence students attend it at their own will, the quality and importance of the subject is still at the level of an out-of-class activity not recognizing its indispensable role in the modern society. Meanwhile, the leading international professional society ACM (Association for a Computing Machinery) started forming guidelines for teaching curriculum for Computer and Information Science from Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K12) that are already used in several countries.The guidelines could be also used as a reference to define and renew competency goals for teaching in Slovenia. There appears a fundamental question: “Is the Slovenian curriculum for Computer Science well designed?

Mirjana Kljajić Borštnar

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences

Andrej Škraba

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences

Vladislav Rajkovič

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences

Miroljub Kljajić

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences

Abstract

Background/Purpose: This article describes an experiment investigating simulation based group learning. For this purpose, we have conducted a four-group Solomon experiment under four different conditions: a1) the determination of strategy with the application of the system dynamics (SD) model without group interaction and with a pre-test, a2) the determination of strategy with the application of the SD model and group information feedback and with a pre-test, a3) the determination of strategy with the application of the SD model and without a pre-test, and a4) strategy determination with the application of the SD model and group information feedback and without a pre-test. The observed variables were the criteria function values and frequency of the simulation runs. The hypothesis that simulation model application and group feedback information positively influence the convergence of the decision process and contribute to faster decision-making was confirmed. A model of the learning during the decision-making process was developed. Students’ opinions were analyzed as well and the results show that management students thought that the application of the simulation model did contribute to an increased understanding of the problem, the faster finding of solutions and the increased confidence of participants. All participants agree that the clear presentation of the problem motivates participants to find the solution.

Mateja Kunstelj

Inštitut za informatizacijo uprave, Fakulteta za upravo, Univerza v Ljubljani Gosarjeva 5, 1000 Ljubljana

Tina Jukić

Inštitut za informatizacijo uprave, Fakulteta za upravo, Univerza v Ljubljani Gosarjeva 5, 1000 Ljubljana

Mirko Vintar

Inštitut za informatizacijo uprave, Fakulteta za upravo, Univerza v Ljubljani Gosarjeva 5, 1000 Ljubljana

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The paper presents the results of the research intended to ascertain the level of Slovenian companies’ usage of and satisfaction with government e-services as well as their opinions regarding the future development of e-government in Slovenia.After the presentation of studies in the field, the results of the research conducted at the Institute for Informatization of Administration in the beginning of 2006 are given. The research revealed that the majority of companies surveyed have already used at least one government e-service, but the range of services used is in fact not very wide, and the satisfaction with those services is not at the highest level. It turns out that the most important stimulating factors for using e-government are faster electronic procedures in comparison to conventional ones and the possibility of personal assistance at all times during use of government e-services. At the end, we put forward the most interesting results of the research, we try to compare them with some related studies and offer some instructions for further development of Slovenian e-government.

Uros Rajkovič

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva cesta 55/a, SI-4000 Kranj

Olga Šušteršič

University of Ljubljana, College of Health Studies, Poljanska cesta 26/a, SI-1000 Ljubljana

Vladislav Rajkovič

University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva cesta 55/a, SI-4000 Kranj

Darja Cibic

Ministry of Health of Republic of Slovenia, Štefanova 5, SI-1000 Ljubljana

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Teaching about classification also plays an important role in nursing education. The International Classification for Nursing Practice is a unified professional language devoted to nurses, other health workers and broader areas. In this paper, the eversion of this classification is presented as a challenge for an efficient educational practice searching for new information solutions in different environments using information and communication technology. Clients on a personal computer, the internet and PDA-hand-held computers are all presented. The combination of those clients in health-care education is analyzed.

Tanja Urbančič

University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 13, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia and the Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana

Abstract

Background/Purpose: In this paper we deal with the problem of information that is dispersed and growing so fast that it is difficult to connect it together into a coherent picture as needed for complex problem solving.We present two examples and some methods that have potential to contribute towards putting pieces of knowledge together. The first consists of finding complementary pieces of knowledge in literature that supports hypothesis generation by a well-defined and computer supported method. The second one is sharing and upgrading knowledge in collaborative settings, which still has many non-technical issues to be solved, although well developed in its technical aspects

Alenka Gortan

Secondary School Velenje, Trg mladosti 3, 3320 Velenje

Eva Jereb

Faculty of Organisational Sciences, University of Maribor, Kidričeva 55a, 4000 Kranj,

Abstract

Background/Purpose: This paper deals with the dropout rate for e-learning academic courses in correlation with student satisfaction with distance education. This study explores two main ideas: student satisfaction with e-learning and the locus of control. The results show that the main reason for persistence with e-learning academic courses is a significantly high level of satisfaction with e-learning and satisfaction with the students’ own academic performance.

Bojan Cestnik

Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana,Temida, d.o.o., Dunajska cesta 51, 1000 Ljubljana

Ingrid Petrič

University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 13, 5000 Nova Gorica

Tanja Urbančič

University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 13, 5000 Nova Gorica

Marta Macedoni-Lukšič

University Children’s Hospital, University Medical Centre, Ljubljana

Abstract

Background/Purpose: In this paper, we present a case in semi-automatic ontology construction from literature. For this, we concentrate on the articles about autism obtained from the PubMed Central database. Our motivation was to investigate how separate parts of articles, such as titles, abstracts and full texts, influence the constructed ontology. Our results confirm the intuitive expectation that constructing ontologies from abstracts is a rational choice when uncovering the structure of a given scientific field. In addition, when compared to general knowledge of autism, ontology concepts from abstracts show the highest similarity

Vladislav Rajkovič

Tanja Urbančič

Mojca Bernik

Olga Dečman Dobrnjič

The National Education Institute, Poljanska 28, 1000 Ljubljana

Metod Černetič

Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za organizacijske vede, Kidričeva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Information technology has for some time now been an integral part of education and management processes in boarding schools.New contemporary work methods, used by tutors who are motivated to introduce necessary and inevitable novel methods into pedagogic practices, have been put into effect. In this article, we will list a number of basic skills and knowledge that tutors and headmasters of boarding schools should know. Of course, these skills and knowledge should be known also by other teachers in schools and other institutes, but here we will only mention boarding schools in this article, because they are the focus of our research. A survey was carried out in boarding schools, searching for the opinions of headmasters and tutors on the advantages and disadvantages of keeping an electronic diary of a tutor’s work. The survey searched for eventual weaknesses and strengths of the process that may be important for the introduction and application of innovation in a pedagogic process. At the same time, the attitudes of pedagogic staff on this novel method were also investigated.

Vladimir Batagelj

Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za matematiko in fiziko, Jadranska 19, Ljubljana

Iztok Kavkler

Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za matematiko in fiziko, Jadranska 19, Ljubljana

Matija Lokar

Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za matematiko in fiziko, Jadranska 19, Ljubljana

Abstract

Background/Purpose: One of the main issues that the European Union supports through the IST Programme is the exchange and collaborative use of learning resources. CALIBRATE (Calibrating eLearning in Schools) brings together eight European countries to carry out a multi-level project designed to support the collaborative use and exchange of learning resources in schools. Its main aim is to provide a brokerage system among national repositories of educational materials. This paper reports on the main goals of this project, which include developing an open-source technical architecture to support content exchange/collaboration between ministries of education and other owners of educational repositories, to develop a teaching toolbox that supports the collaborative use of learning resources, research and testing new approaches that can improve semantic interoperability related to the discovery and evaluation of learning resources. One relatively important issue developed through the project concerns the guidelines with which the metadata resources in the repositories should be equipped.We will report on two major guidelines the resources in CALIBRATE should follow. A number of practical examples of preliminary versions of tools will also be outlined.