Enhancement of Geomatics Education by Using Internet Based Techniques (4157) |
| Arnaud Deshogues, Pierre-Yves Gillieron and Bertrand Merminod (Switzerland) |
Mr. Pierre-Yves Gillieron
Research and teaching associate
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne
Geodetic Engineering Laboratory
EPFL-ENAC-TOPO
Station 18
Lausanne
1015
Switzerland
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| Corresponding author Mr. Pierre-Yves Gillieron (email: pierre-yves.gillieron[at]epfl.ch, tel.: + 41 21 693 27 50) |
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| [ abstract ] [ paper ] [ handouts ] |
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Published on the web 2010-01-14
Received 2009-11-19 / Accepted 2010-01-14 |
| This paper is one of selection of papers published for the FIG Congress 2010 in Sydney, Australia and has undergone the FIG Peer Review Process. |
FIG Congress 2010
ISBN 978-87-90907-87-7 ISSN 2308-3441
http://www.fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/fig2010/index.htm
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Abstract |
| The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) has introduced the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) in 2005. Since this date, the number of teachers and users has increased rapidely. With more than 350 active courses hosted on Moodle for this autumn semester, its utility is not more to be demonstrated. In this way the Geodetic Engineering Laboratory (TOPO) has logically introduced its online undergraduate topography course in 2006 with more than 26 000 connections during the last semester for 160 students.
In accordance with the EPFL's guidelines (E-Learning Strategy [1]) , and the Funding Program for Teaching and Learning (FIFO), the teaching staff has decided to continue the project called Exomatic started in 2006. It was based on a classical web page where the students’ answers were corrected by an Excel sheet with specific procedures. This first experience and the new technologies offered in e-learning have pushed the staff to follow up this project in order to develop and introduce online exercises as an alternative to the traditional classroom-based teaching methods. The motivation behind this is to move from teaching and learning in a traditional way to a more interactive way: personalized exercises are completed by students on the Internet and are automatically corrected with online help facilities. This concept of e-learning, called Exomatic, is aimed at encouraging the students to be more autonomous in their learning of, and training in, topographic data processing and analysis.
The main module of Exomatic is composed of the generation of Internet-based exercises, the presentation of personalized data in a smart user interface, a collection of answers in HTML form, automated corrections and a smart calculator with graphical hints. The system provides evaluations for students and statistical feedback for the teacher on student performance and progress. The objective of Exomatic is to improve the autonomy of students and facilitate the preparation and corrections of exercises for teachers and teaching assistants. Exomatic aims also to be a LMS component of the institute, with the ambition of sharing this resource as a standard Moodle module for its use by a wider community. This paper will present the structure of Exomatic, its integration into the course content, its implementation in the LMS, and a first assessment by the students will be presented.
[1] http://craft.epfl.ch/webdav/site/craft/shared/learntech/StrategieTechnologiesFormation-2007.pdf
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| Keywords: Education; exomatic; Learning Management System (LMS); Information Technology (IT); graphical representation; geomatics; moodle |
