Digital Analogue World Equivalence

This learning resource is about equivalent digital and analogue world structures in the context of learning environments. Digital Analogue World Equivalence (DAWE) means that the digital scope and area of access to data and software is structural equivalent to the non-IT scope of area of access for the used digital learning enviroments. This learning resource is based on the Open Community Approach.

Introduction

Assume that students work alone on tailored learning task designed for their skills and knowledge. This defines a learning environment in which the student does not interact with other students in a collaborative way. If the IT environment is designed in an equivalent way, then the mobile device is also able to operate disconnected to other students or to the backend of learning management system. It is obvious, that an assessment might also have the requirement that the tasks should be performed with the Open Source software and Open Educational Resources that are available on the device only.

This can be extended work in group of students that work on a collaborative learning task. Digital Analogue World Equivalence means is this context, that the students that work as a group on a specific task with mobile device or PC and are able to work disconnected from the rest of IT infrastructure,

Learning Tasks

• (Mesh Networks) Perform an analysis of Mesh Networks that can be setup between mobile devices without the need to have a client server infrastructure. Students collaborate, exchanges ideas and content within the Mesh Network. When they do not finish their exercise all clients share a copy of the intermediate results and can independently work on that later as homework. Some students may not want to present their results and others may want to share with teacher of even present in the mesh network in the classroom. Explain the difference between a client-server infrastructure in which all digital products must be stored and exchanged via the server. What are the benefits and drawbacks of both approaches? How do your students feel, if all results and intermediate steps are stored on a client-server infrastructure. Do your students appreciate a workflow that takes care of offline-local privacy of results and the option to share the results from the own mobile device with the teacher, group or the entire class if the students feels comfortable with sharing from their own device to a client server infrastructure.
• (KISS Principle) Keep It Small and Simple "KISS" means to create simple software solutions that serve a specific task and could be maintained and monitored easily for a specific purpose. Identify the libraries packages e.g. for LineageOS to establish a Digital Analogue World Equivalence. Look also on the concept of Layers in the OSI Model and derive the Open Source software/library selection from your requirements and constraints.
• (Sync and Share) Assume the group students has setup a Mesh Network between them. In a collaborative working environment between this group the students want to synchronize and share results and intermediate results of the problem solving process. Look into the history of the Wiki or the workflows of a Version Control system. What are the requirements and contraints that the group of students keep track of their shared results and keep their versions of the intermediate results in sync. Is that possible without a backend of version control system? Is it possible that students select one student to host a version control in the Mesh Network and share all versions in a Master Slave concept of database with all other mobile devices in Mesh Network? What are other options to sync and share between those students without using an external client server infrastructure. Derive conclusions, when to use centralized Open Source services in schools or localized mesh solutions, that do not require any other client server infrastructure for the collaborative work.
• (Submission or Publication of Results) When a topic together with the learning tasks is finalized, students may want to share the individual results on the mobile device with the peer group the teacher the entire course of publish it even on the intranet within the school (and e.g. not on the Content Management System of the school, college, university, ...). Look at the workflow in general "Who should have access to which content?" and transform that to the digital infrastructure in way, that the access to results is equivalent to hosting of the corresponding data on the digital devices (e.g. mobile devices of students and teachers, data projector, Open Source servers in the school or in a Mesh Network, ...)
• (Real World Labs) Explore the concept of Real World Labs and the interaction with the real world environment with additional digital information. Explain how learning modules in Wikiversity can be tailored to a specific geographical location as Open Educational Resources.

See also

• Digital Learning Environment
• Information Systems
• KISS principle
• Learning management system (LMS)
• LineageOS - tailor an Open Source operating system for mobile devives for DAWE
• Layers in the OSI Model
• Mesh Network