Teaching in the Cyber-Age: Technologies, Experiments, and Realizations

In this paper we describe the role of teachers in the cyber-age and how new teaching methods in a computer-based learning environment can foster exploratory learning. An overview of modern e-learning technologies is described and illustrated with examples. We also present our e-learning tool CHESt; an interactive expert system that answers students' questions expressed in natural language. Then we present the results of experiments made in schools with CHESt. We discuss the pertinence and convenience of keyword and semantic search engines as didactical tool for querying multimedia knowledge sources. Finally, we analyze how students accept to enter complete questions in a semantic search to reduce the number of results, in opposition to a keyword search.