Customized PLE implementations for test-bed scenario ... - ROLE

4 Concluding remarks
Validating the test-beds according to the questions elaborated in section 2, has led to
some interesting findings concerning PLE development and application in the praxis of
educational settings.
First and foremost, test-beds can be categorised into educational and corporate
settings. While in both settings learning seems to be driven by the organisation, i.e. by
using LMS technology, universities and higher education institutes tend to be more
open regarding PLE-related concepts. For instance, the OU was already investigating
community approaches and collaborative learning before the start of the ROLE project,
and is now intensifying the work in this area. Besides, the OU is also opening up their
data repositories through the Linked Data project. SJTU, moreover, introduced a PLElike
solution via the Liferay platform without facing a lot of barriers or problematic
aspects. Particularly, language learning could be enriched by interactive and helpful
tools in this way. RWTH uses PLE technology to support the transition to corporate
learning and realises more realistically, praxis-oriented learning experiences.
On the other hand, corporate settings underlie restrictions, like organisational policies,
so that realising certain aspects of the ROLE vision might require more efforts. Although
offering interactive and praxis-oriented content to their users, learning in the FESTO
test-bed is not personalised, mainly driven by teachers and being based on pre-defined
materials. Bringing in other tools is not very easy due to organisational rules while the
exploitation of user data is prohibited due to privacy and intellectual property issues.
The BILD test-bed is particularly challenging, as the organisation does not have real
learning scenarios but offers services to their members. However, the case of the BILD
indicates clear benefits for exploiting ROLE solutions. As a gateway to many potential
test-beds, BILD can validate the test-beds of their members according to PLE
development and application. Furthermore, BILD can even provide specialised services,
like practice sharing repositories or a learning widget store, to them.
Secondly, the validation of the test-bed scenarios showed that each (existing and
potential) test-bed has its own characteristics and underlies preliminaries, so that it
requires a customized strategy for introducing PLE technology. While it was feasible to
provide a PLE solution next to other platforms at SJTU and RWTH, the other test-beds
reported that such a radical approach is not feasible. Hereby, some responsibles asked
for a stepwise realisation of ROLE ideas, i.e. by extending LMSes with a widget
container or integrating learner monitoring and recommender components into existing
platforms. The PLE validation methodology presented in this deliverable could be useful
to shape a roadmap to introduce customized PLE implementations in test-beds.
Thirdly, self-regulated learning (SRL) is generally considered important by all test-beds.
In the cases of the OU, RWTH and FESTO, SRL is of high priority as the learners of
these test-beds are responsible for their learning activities. Nevertheless, none of the
test-beds reported any technology-assisted SRL taking place, which provides an
excellent opportunity for supporting SRL through ROLE technological solutions. With
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