Web-based Learning Solutions for Communities of Practice

About the Contributors
regards to collaborative decision-making processes in Environmental and Urban Planning domain. Her
PhD centred on tracing the “memory” of a collaborative process of design. She is now Research Associate
at KMi (Knowledge Media Institute) of The Open University, in Milton Keynes (UK). Current
research plans aim at investigating how new media can shape the development of collective intelligence
to cope with complex environmental matters such as global warming and climate change.
Sandy El Helou is a PhD student and research assistant at the School of Engineering, EPFL, since
August 2006. She received her Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering from the Lebanese American
University in June 2006. Her research interests lie in the field of computer supported cooperative work
(CSCW) and focus on the modeling, development and evaluation of social software applications and
personalized awareness services for sustaining collaboration for online communities. She is currently
involved in PALETTE, an European project aiming at developing interoperable Web services to sustain
individual as well as organizational learning in Communities of Practice.
D.R. Garrison is currently the director of the Teaching & Learning Centre and a full professor in
the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary. Dr. Garrison has co-authored a book titled “E-
Learning in the 21st Century” where he provides a framework and core elements for online learning.
He has most recently co-authored a book titled “Blended Learning in Higher Education” that uses the
Community of Inquiry Framework to organize the book. Dr. Garrison won the 2004 Canadian Society
for Studies in Higher Education Award for distinguished contribution to research in higher education
and the 2005 Canadian Association for Distance Education Excellence in Research Award.
Panagiotis Germanakos, PhD, is a research scientist, in the Semantic and Cognitive Research
Adaptivity Technologies (SCRAT) research group of the Department of Computer Science, University
of Cyprus and in the Laboratory of New Technologies of the Faculty of Communication & Media
Studies, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens. He obtained his PhD from the University of
Athens in 2008 and his MSc in International Marketing Management from the Leeds University Business
School in 1999. His BSc was in Computer Science and also holds a HND Diploma of Technician
Engineer in the field of Computer Studies. His research interest is in Web Adaptation and Personalization
Environments and Systems based on user profiling / filters encompassing amongst others visual,
mental and affective processes, implemented on desktop and mobile / wireless platforms. He has several
publications, including co-edited books, chapters, articles in journals, and conference contributions.
Furthermore, he actively participates in numerous national and EU funded projects that mainly focus
on the analysis, design and development of open interoperable integrated wireless/mobile and personalized
technological infrastructures and systems in the ICT research areas of e Government, e-Health and
e-Learning and has an extensive experience in the provision of consultancy of large scaled IT solutions
and implementations in the business sector.
Denis Gillet received the Diploma (MS) in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) in 1988, and the PhD degree in Information Systems also from the
EPFL in 1995. During 1992 he was appointed as research fellow at the Information Systems Laboratory
of Stanford University in the United States. He is currently associate professor (MER) at EPFL where
he leads a multi-disciplinary research group. His current research interests include new learning technologies,
sustainable interaction and collaboration systems, as well as real-time Internet services. He
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