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Ubiquitous learning environments move learners out of a classroom and into the real world where learners engage in experiential and tangible learning involving instrumented physical things. Learners use peer-to-peer networks connecting learners, teachers, and a host of learning "things," such as instrumented pieces of art, flower pots, and even buildings. A key component of such systems is wireless-enabled edge devices augmented with various types of sensors to represent the state of physical things and their context. This article presents a novel generic architecture for context-aware ubiquitous learning systems based on the Internet of Things (IoT) computing paradigm. A commonly used IoT edge device was used to implement four variants of the proposed architecture. The variants were based on advanced message queuing protocol, constrained application protocol (CoAP), message queue telemetry transport, and extensible messaging and presence protocol. All variants provided more than adequate performance for implementing ubiquitous learning scenarios. As expected, CoAP was generally more resource-efficient. However, practical differences in performance were so small that the choice of which architectural variant to use may depend on nonfunctional requirements such as reliability, security, maximum payload size, and ease of implementation.

In recent times, transformer-based deep learning models have risen in prominence in the field of machine learning for a variety of tasks such as computer vision and text generation. Given this increased interest, a historical outlook at the development and rapid progression of transformer-based models becomes imperative in order to gain an understanding of the rise of this key architecture. This paper presents a survey of key works related to the early development and implementation of transformer models in various domains such as generative deep learning and as backbones of large language models. Previous works are classified based on their historical approaches, followed by key works in the domain of text-based applications, image-based applications, and miscellaneous applications. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the various approaches is presented. Additionally, recent directions of transformer-related research such as those in the biomedical and timeseries domains are discussed. Finally, future research opportunities, especially regarding the multi-modality and optimization of the transformer training process, are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is a basic human right. In pursuit of this right, governments in developing countries and their donors often invest scarce resources in educational initiatives that are sometimes not sustainable. This paper addresses the problem of selecting a sustainable learning technology intervention (LTI) for a typical developing country. By solving this problem, more sustainable LTIs can be selected for implementation; this will in turn improve the efficiency with which limited resources are utilised, thereby allowing greater access to education for all. The paper introduces a unique decision framework for project selection by combining "soft" and "hard" decision analysis techniques. The selection problem is modelled as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem and a combination of the Future Search Conference technique and the Analytic Network Process (ANP) is used to develop a decision tool for selecting the most sustainable LTI for a developing country. Our analysis revealed that of the nine LTIs considered, "school on wheels" was the most sustainable LTI in the collective opinion of all the experts involved in this study.

Introductory engineering courses are either programme specific or expose students to engineering as a broad discipline by including materials from various engineering programmes. A common introductory engineering course that spans different engineering programmes raises challenges, including the high cost of resources as well as the lack of background courses of first-year students. This paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of a first-year common engineering course that uses low-cost materials to expose students to a structured engineering design process. The course is explicitly designed to satisfy the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology criteria for engineering programmes. Our experience with the course shows that not only students are able to follow a structured design process successfully but we also believe that most of the ABET criteria are being delivered through the course.

Social networking platforms and computer games represent a natural informal learning environment for the current generation of learners in higher education. This paper explores the use of game-based learning in the context of an undergraduate chemical engineering remote laboratory. Specifically, students are allowed to manipulate chemical engineering equipment through their mobile phones. Two teams of students vie to manipulate the level of two tanks over a fixed period of time. Each team tries to stabilize their own tank and destabilize their opponent's tank. The key findings are that even though there were no statistically significant differences in the post-game performance between the control (the group that conducted a regular level-control experiment) and treatment (the group that played the remote laboratory level-control game) groups, the students did enjoy playing the game, found it addictive and believed that it enhanced their knowledge and understanding of control loops.

Success of Wikipedia has opened a number of possibilities for crowd sourcing learning resources. However, not all crowd sourcing initiatives are successful. For developing countries, adoption factors like lack of infrastructure and poor teacher training can have an impact on success of such systems. This paper presents an exploratory study to determine if teachers in a developing country are able to create quality multiple-choice questions for primary school students. An adoption model is developed and evaluated to ascertain if the teachers would actually contribute to such a Wiki. Results are that, given student learning outcomes, content constraints, and a Bloom's assessment level, a reasonable number of teachers were able to formulate quality questions, and that there is a strong intention to use such a system. Teachers with high intention to adopt also had a better attitude, enjoyed making questions and found the process easy to use. However, there is no obvious relationship between the intention to use and an ability to pose good assessments. In addition, there is no obvious predictor of where the good question contributors came from. (Contains 3 tables and 5 figures.)

Computer software is pervasive in today's society. The rate at which new versions of computer software products are released is phenomenal when compared to the release rate of new products in traditional industries such as aircraft building. This rapid rate of change can partially explain why most certifications in the software industry are generic as opposed to those in the aircraft-building industry where engineers and technicians are certified to work on a specific aircraft. For example, a software engineer may be certified on a database management system, but not on a specific implementation based on the database management system. Hence, software engineers are allowed to make critical changes to specific designs for the next release of a software product with little formal assessment of their understanding of the design. This paper presents a system that automatically generates just-in-time online assessments for judging a software engineer's comprehension of artifacts representing software designs. The assessments thus generated are compliant with the IMS-QTI 2.1 standard. The system is based on the AXIS web-services architecture and provides a priori statistical estimates of effectiveness of each individually generated assessment. (Contains 4 tables and 14 figures.)

Semantically rich domains require operative knowledge to solve complex problems in real-world settings. These domains provide an ideal environment for developing authentic constructivist e-learning environments. In this paper we present a framework and a methodology for developing authentic learning environments for such domains. The framework is based on an ecological view and characterizes dimensions of a typical constructivist environment in terms of pedagogical design, architecture, the environmental context and what is actually learned. A case-study illustrating the use of the framework to develop a just-in-time game-based learning environment is also presented. (Contains 8 figures.)