DUNES enhance education learning
In many cases education systems do not provide the necessary skills for students to compete at a university level. They lack the fundamental skills to deal with and cope in multidisciplinary, multicultural and often, physically dispersed environments. DUNES now provides a solution in this educational desert. Technology is daunting enough for a first-time user. It comes in multivariate forms, all serving a host of different functions. Learning which is used for what, and how to operate its specific features can be very intimidating, and an additional source of stress for competitive students and employees. An old adage says when you've lost your bearings, head for the high ground. DUNES in a manner of speaking, is this technological high ground that offers collaborative learning in a novel framework in which users interact. Through this interaction, they learn the skills they need. DUNES is an innovative "discussion" space allowing for students and instructors to interact in a manner in which instructors can guide, enumerate on discussion topics and introduce pedagogical content. DUNES monitors user activity and devises dynamic discussion maps for modeling and support of user discussion. Additional enhancement of the learning curve is provided through scenarios supporting the cognitive learning principle, debates, collaborative decision making - and even intervention by the instructor or moderator - all designed to motivate users into learning while having a hands on approach. Furthermore, the Digalo tool is a graphics editor allowing users to edit and design tailored argumentative maps. With user contribution, these maps grow, and in so doing provide users with a clear-cut idea of what was said, by whom and when, and also a clear understanding of the discussions' form and structure. Digalo, is incorporated into the DUNES structure and is part of the "Paseo" (presence, chat, vote, application and desktop sharing) framework. A prototype is ready for evaluation, and the developers are looking for a number of collaborative approaches.
