Emerging Technologies for Electric Power Generation Personnel Training
Considering that the trend in the workers’ training is the personalization and the use of technologies for self-learning; this article examines the role of emerging technologies and methodologies in the future of training of electric energy production human resources of Comisión Federal de Electricidad. We analyze the problem of complexity as an ingredient inherent in the activities of operation and maintenance of equipment for electricity generation.
Emerging Technologies for Learning Science: A Time of Rapid Advances
In February, 2007, we co-edited a special issue (Vol. 16, No. 1) that focused on technologies for learning science that are inquiry-based, leverage multiple media, and inte grate game-design principles and scenarios to establish rich inquiry-based contexts for engaging scientific issues. Since that time, we have prepared a second special issue on emerging technologies, this time with a somewhat broader focus on new technology-based methods of learning sci ence. As a field, we are in an era of very rapid advances in interactive media, and the seven articles in this issue span pedagogies based on Web 2.0 tools, immersive interfaces, and games. The term Web 2.0 reflects a shift in leading-edge applications on the World Wide Web from the presentation of material by website providers to the active co-con struction of resources by communities of contributors (Dede 2008a). Whereas the twentieth-century web centered on developer-created material (e.g., informational web sites) generated primarily by a small fraction of the Inter net's users, Web 2.0 tools (e.g., Wikipedia) help large numbers of people build online communities for creativity, collaboration, and sharing. As part of a graduate course this past fall on emerging educational technologies, Dede's students studied ten forms of Web 2.0 tools in terms of their potential to enhance learning by promoting creativity, collaboration, and sharing. Retrospectively, he categorized these media
Designing Assessments and Assessing Designs in Virtual Educational Environments
This study used innovative assessment practices to obtain and document broad learning outcomes for a 15-hour game-based curriculum in Quest Atlantis, a multi-user virtual environment that supports school-based participation in socio scientific inquiry in ecological sciences. Design-based methods were used to refine and align the enactment of virtual narrative and scientific investigations to a challenging problem solving assessment and indirectly to achievement test items that were independent of the curriculum. In study one, one-sixth grade teacher used the curriculum in two of his classes and obtained larger gains in understanding and achievement than his two other classes, which used an expository text to learn the same concepts and skills. Further treatment refinements were carried out, and two forms of virtual formative feedback were introduced. In study two, the same teacher used the curriculum in all four of his classes; the revised curriculum resulted in even larger gains in understanding and achievement. Gains averaged 1.1 SD and 0.4 SD, respectively, with greater gains shown for students who engaged more with formative feedback. Principles for assessing designs and designing assessments in virtual environments are presented.