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In e-learning environments, 'digital badges', often referred to as 'micro-credentials', are expected to function not only as valid indicators of learner's accomplishments but also as useful tools for motivational and reward purposes (Clayton, 2012). In this study, we investigated students' perceptions about the use of digital badges in an online terminology course we had developed (Iwata et al., 2017). We hypothesized that the badges which students earned for the course would not only function as an indicator of their achievement but also help enhance their learner autonomy. Through a three-year survey on students' perceptions of their course of study in this course, we found that a large majority of students (88.3%) were satisfied with their study through this course and that most of the students (69.7%) found the use of badges helpful in confirming their course achievements. The results also showed that two-thirds of them (64.3%) found that earning badges helped motivate them toward further autonomous study. These findings indicate that the use of digital badges can provide students with opportunities to enhance their learner autonomy[For the complete proceedings, see ED600837.]

Digital portfolios can provide a space where evidence of a learner's competency is stored and digital badges can be used in their portfolios as valid indicators of accomplishment, skill, knowledge, or interest. The authors issued "digital badges" to our students who successfully completed the modules of a Medical English Terminology course we developed on Moodle by using its badge function. The badges which students earned for the course were designed to function as a validated indicator of students' achievements to demonstrate to their teachers. We anticipated that the use of badges would not only help the learners confirm their achievements for the course but also help motivate them toward further autonomous study. Through a reflective questionnaire about the use of badges, about 77.5% of the students found the badge assessment system comprehensible and the great majority of students (87.2%) were satisfied with their study through this course. The questionnaire results also showed that 67.6% of the students found the use of badges helpful in confirming their course achievements and 63.7% of them found that earning badges helped motivate them toward further autonomous study. These findings indicate that while there is still room for improvement, the use of digital badges has the potential to provide students with opportunities to celebrate their achievements and enhance their learner autonomy for online self-study courses. [For the complete proceedings, see ED579282.]

The paper presents a meaningful discovery learning environment called "cache-cache comparison" for a personalized learning support system. The processing of seeking hidden relations or concepts in "cache-cache comparison" is intended to encourage learners to actively locate new knowledge in their knowledge framework and check the logical consistency of their ideas for clearing up misunderstandings. This active engagement is also expected to prevent a) the emergence of cognitive overload and b) the decreasing of the curiosity and willingness to explore as in the meaning reception learning environment. [For the full proceedings, see ED562093.]

In this research, we have built a framework of disaster recovery such as against earthquake, tsunami disaster and a heavy floods for e-Learning environment. Especially, our proposed framework is based on private cloud collaboration. We build a prototype system based on IaaS architecture, and this prototype system is constructed by several private cloud fabrics. These private cloud fabrics are operated as a large private cloud fabric. The distributed storage system builds on each private cloud fabric; that is handled almost like same block device. For LMS (Learning Management System) to work, we need to boot up virtual machines which installed LMS. The virtual disk images of each virtual machines are stored into the distributed storage system. The distributed storage system will be able to keep running as a large file system. We can control the virtual machines' status and virtual machines positioning on the private cloud fabrics by the private cloud collaboration controller with a smartphone communication. The private cloud collaboration controller is able to grasp disaster alert notifications. The disaster alert notification can be caught by a cellphone carrier via smartphone function. We think that our private cloud collaboration framework can continue working for e-Learning environment under the post-disaster situation. In this paper, we show our private cloud collaboration framework. And next, we show the experimental results on the prototype configuration. [This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 25350333. For the complete proceedings, see ED557181.]

English has become increasingly important for Japanese medical professionals in Japan. However, the curricula at medical schools in Japan are so extensive that the time allocated for English classes is usually very limited, which means those classes often do not have the depth or scope to improve the English communication skills of medical students to the level necessary for their future career. Therefore, language teachers are expected to not only improve English curricula but also offer effective and attractive review courses for students' autonomous study. The authors of this paper have created Moodle-based English courses to improve the English curricula by integrating "blended-learning" in class. They also have started to provide ongoing access to a range of review courses to help their students' autonomous study. This paper outlines how the authors integrated a self-reflective framework and a badge function in the review courses they created. It also illustrates how the framework will help learners find the suitable course at the right level and how issuing badges will help motivate learners to engage with the module or the course they have chosen. [For full proceedings, see ED557168.]

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a fast pace and affecting academia and professional practice in many ways. Paradigms such as just-in-time learning, constructivism, student-centered learning and collaborative approaches have emerged and are being supported by technological advancements such as simulations, virtual reality and multi-agents systems. These developments have created both opportunities and areas of serious concerns. This conference aimed to cover both technological as well as pedagogical issues related to these developments. The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference received 98 submissions from more than 24 countries. Out of the papers submitted, 29 were accepted as full papers. In addition to the presentation of full papers, short papers and reflection papers, the conference also includes a keynote presentation from internationally distinguished researchers. Individual papers contain figures, tables, and references.