Zhengzin Chen

Computer Science

2nd International Conference on Virtual Learning (CVL)

The ICVL 2007 was held in conjunction with The 5Th National Conference on Virtual Learning (CNIV 2007) in Romanian language, which attracted a large audience with significant appearance of college and high school students presenting their projects related to virtual learning. During the reception which involve attendees of both conferences, I got a chance to talk with several faculty members and PhD students (most affiliated with computer science department) attending CNIV conference, and was very impressed by their commitment in virtual learning. As for the ICVL itself, although its size is smaller, it attracted scholars from Romania, UK, USA and several other countries. In addition, because of its relative small size, attendees had good opportunity to exchange ideas and share research interests. For example, Prof. Mohammad Haque of Texas A & M University (USA) and Professor Mircea Galis of Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania) expressed interest of conducting collaborative research work in virtual learning with me. In additioin, Dr. Ovidiu Domsa of Alba Iulia University expressed his interest of a possible faculty/students exchange program with UNO, and I hope this will become a reality in the future.

I presented a refereed paper “Learning from Nature: Natural Computing Meets Virtual Learning” in ICVL 2007, and attended two technical sessions: models and methodologies (M&M) and software techniques sessions. My presentation (included in the M&M session) was well received by audience. A couple of attendees asked for softcopy of my presentation slides (even the full paper appeared in the conference proceedings). Technical program chair Dr. Girgore Albeanu invited me to expand my paper for journal publication (a small number of conference papers have been selected this way).

Overall, I am very impressed by the enthusiasm of our Romanian computer science colleagues in virtual learning. Although they are short of budget (comparing with universities in the US), they have made all kinds of effort in promoting various aspects related to virtual learning – in this sense, they are ahead of us. I have also learned a lot in technical contents related to virtual learning. For example, one presentation clearly distinguished e-training from e-learning, to fit different needs of virtual learning participants.

I highly appreciate the hospitality of our Romanian hosts. Prof. Adrian Adascalitei of Iasi Technical University kindly presented his virtual learning book (in Romanian) to me as a gift. Prof. Dorin Mircea Popovici (Associate General Chair of ICVL 2007) volunteered to give me a ride to Constanta’s long distance bus station.

Now that I am back to UNO, the new challenge would be to develop algorithms/software components useful for virtual learning. Right before the ICVL conference, I learned from IST College Extended Executive Council meeting about the forthcoming e-learning studio to be located at PKI building, and I had brief discussions with Prof. Leah Pietron and Prof. Ilze Zigurs in regard to utilizing this studio to conduct virtual learning-related research. In CSCI 9340 (PhD-level course) which I am teaching in this fall, I presented my ICVL talk to students, and encouraged them to consider this topic as a term project. Although due to time constraints no students in this semester selected this topic, I will keep on trying in future classes.

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