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Rationale The experience of UECE with the use and application of new Technologies of Information and Communication (TIC), is strongly based on educational activities, researches and university extension work that has been developed by the Computer Science Course (DEC), throughout its graduation and master's degree courses. In recent years, research and software development projects have been accomplished in partnership with national and international institutions. Nowadays, DEC/UECE has several laboratories, among them: Network Communication and Information Security Laboratory (LARCES), the Educational Technology Laboratory (LTE), Industrial Optimization Laboratory (LOGIN) and the Software Standards and Quality Laboratory(LAPAQ). The creation of research line in the Master's degree of Computer Science (MPCOMP) driven to the application in the education, accomplished within LTE. Within the same master's degree, in the emphasis of communication networks, several research have been accomplished at LARCES, in technologies as 802.11. BLUETOOTH, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), Mobile Agents and MPLS Networks. Some of these projects are supported by HP Brazil R&D. The research results of these two lines have been presented in monographs and master's degree dissertations on these areas, besides papers presented in national and international conferences. One example of the group integration was the development of a Distance Learning Environment prototype used in the project. Our objective is to offer our campi wireless network coverage in a way that it will allow all the students to use it to access all the facilities that are available in the matter of the academic and administrative aspects. The principal motivation to use wireless equipment in the university campus in the poor cable network infrastructure, principally in interior of State.
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Implementation (pedagogy) This project uses a Distance Learning Software Platform denominated TUPA, developed at the State University of Ceara, in the Laboratory for Educational Technologies (LTE), by which means courses in the areas of science , mathematics and language (Portuguese) are made available. The TUPA software is a tool that makes easier the creation of an educational environment based on a WWW interface. It can be used to create complete on-line courses, or as a support interface to presential courses. The software has been designed for users with little computer knowledge, making use of graphical interfaces and several tools to help teachers and instructors. Some example are: chat, forums, test generators. The TUPA software uses a well structured architecture, what makes it simple and easy to use, as well as very efficient to conceive distance learning courses. During the development of TUPA the pedagogical elements were based on the following points: Independence: the author and students are not required to be computer specialists.Interactivity: the author will have a set of tools that makes it easier to emphasize interactivity and collaboration, attracting student participation.
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Implementation (technology) - The technologies used allow a high degree of scaling to the application, and also add to the project a set of functionalities that make give flexibility and facilitate its design, operation and support - Access to the server is obtained through a secure layer with data cryptography (SSL-Socket Securiy Layer). - The platform was implemented in Java language, taking advantage of its portability, high performance and applicability to the Web model. - The modeling language follows UML, allied to several Projetc Patterns (Design Patterns) aiming modularity that facilitate application support. - A layer division (Model, Vision and Control), the platform and database independence are some of the characteristics of the tool, allowing developers a high degree of abstraction during analysis, project and development.
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Impact on Teaching The possible project impacts on the teaching-learning process can be measured, starting from the following aspects: - The development of this project will make possible the creation of interdisciplinary and interinstitutional work groups (a factor of valorization of projects and reinforce the development of others actions in the future, - There will be a focus on the development of distance education courses usin the current information and communication technologies with implementation of software productions adapted to portable equipaments, giving support to the presencial courses, - In a model that facilitates the learning process and time flexibility for the partners, we imagined that each discipline or program will have available videoconferences, in-class sessions, online interaction throughout Internet in a virtual reality environment, work groups, auto-development throughout the Internet and proof of evaluation at the end of each discipline or program, - Improvement of medium level education quality, as it supplies the lack of important pedagogic resources for the teaching-learning of the disciplines of the area of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, - Access on the part of undergraduate students, to new technologies of information and communication, inducing changes in its future academic practices.
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Impact on Student Learning The Department of Physics of the State University of Ceara offers Undergraduate Physics Course for training physics teachers in our state. Over the past years this course has suffered from an large fraction of students abandonment after the first term, this fraction reaching over 50of the students. Among the changes in the Undergraduate Physics Course curriculum, the department has introduced an Introductory Physics course for first year students, which makes large use of computer technology, in order to attract students attention and interest, as well as to make it easier to understand basic physics concepts. This course has been the ground for testing physics material and computer simulation produced by our own teachers for the HP supported Education On Line Project. In the last year only, more than 160 students took benefit of this technology and abandonment fraction decreased considerably. Last term, 67 of 80 students concluded the course, representing only 16of abandonment. The material produced by our teachers with the help of TUPA platform has a great degree of interactiveness, bring theory and computer simulations on line to the students that can access it on-line from their houses or university library and laboratories in their own time. The simulations were produced in Java, and therefore are portable cross platform, making it very easy to distribute it to secondary schools after the end of the testing period.
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Quick Facts The four academic units at UECE selected for the project, where the Science, Portuguese and Mathematics disciplines take place, are Fortaleza, Itapipoca, Quixadá and Iguatu. These academic units work as macroregion complexes, joining 44 municipal districts with 160,677 new student registrations to the Medium Education System in 2003. Throughout the State of Ceará we have a shortage of 890 teachers in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Literature and Mathematics. Analysts foresee these shortages in public education will not be addressed in a short period of time, which lead us to plan graduation actions using distance education as a base.
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References & Publications
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