Pero para que non pensedes que son unha completa nugallá, vou intentar xustificarme un pouco: a culpa é diso que dan en chamar Proceso de Boloña que, entre outras cousas, serve para que os universitarios non poidamos ter vida fóra da facultade. Supoño que a estas alturas case todo o mundo oíu falar del, aínda que ninguén sabe moi ben de que vai a cousa, xa que parece que non é preciso informarnos de algo que vén da UE, porque claro, iso é palabra de Deus...

Eu, despois de todo o que oín e lin nestes últimos anos, cheguei á conclusión de que a cousa non pinta nada ben. Suponse que a idea da que se parte é a de crear un Espazo Europeo de Educación Superior, de xeito que os diferentes sistemas educativos da UE sexan máis ou menos parecidos. Así evitaríase ter que andar homologando titulacións e, en teoría, sería máis fácil a mobilidade laboral dentro de Europa.

A idea, vista así, non parece mala de todo, pero a súa posta en práctica xa é outra cousa: por unha banda, suponse que para que nos sexa máis doado atopar traballo aos futuros titulados, habería que cambiar completamente o sistema para que na universidade se nos formase como lles interesa ás empresas. Isto, que pode parecer unha vantaxe, ao que realmente pode levar (e está levando) é a que sexan as empresas as que controlen as universidades, de xeito que se xa agora a forma de transmitir os coñecementos non é alá moi imparcial, imaxinádevos como pode ser a cousa se temos que escoitar nas aulas o que lles interesa ás multinacionais...

De tódolos xeitos, iso é o de menos, cun pouco de espírito crítico é un problema doado de atallar. O peor son os condenados créditos ECTS, que xa sufrimos moitos. Suponse que se trata de menos teoría e máis práctica, é dicir, chapar menos pero aprender a manexar os recursos que necesitemos. De novo estamos perante unha idea que non soa mal, pero na práctica é un absoluto desastre. En primeiro lugar, suponse que hai unha parte de traballo presencial e outra de non presencial, o que leva consigo unha redución das horas de clase, sen embargo na maioría dos casos impártense as horas de clase equivalentes ao número total de créditos e, ademais, tes que pasar media vida facendo traballos que che fan perder moito tempo sen gañar coñecementos ningúns. Non esquezamos tampouco que a asistencia a clase é obrigatoria para poder aprobar calquera materia, e se a iso lle sumamos que o profesorado non está en absoluto preparado para este sistema, imaxinádevos o que nos queda...

Todo isto, como é evidente, fai imposible que alguén poida estudar e traballar á vez, ademais as taxas non paran de subir e que a contía das bolsas segue sendo practicamente a mesma (e non teñas un mal ano que como non aprobes practicamente todo, alá vai a bolsa). E bo é que de momento aínda hai bolsas, porque despois serán créditos-bolsa, é dicir, xa estaremos endebedados desde que entremos na universidade. Conclusión? aquí só poderán estudar os que estean dispostos a traballar unha burrada tendo que pagar por iso, é dicir, os ricos. Se xa as universidades están agora baleiras abondo, dentro duns anos non quedará ninguén. Aínda que supoño que tampouco interesa que a xente estude...

Teño que recoñecer que eu aínda son dunha xeración que se foi zafando de todo isto e só sufro os ECTS parcialmente. Chéganme moito para estar estudando unha carreira de letras (que non é que as infravalore, pero non me quería ver nunha carreira técnica con créditos ECTS...) Por iso, porque sei que podía ser peor,  supoño que tampouco teño tanta escusa para non escribir. Así que será mellor que admita que son algo nugallá...

Unfortunately I hit the 10 min youtube ceiling for the first time, I'm guessing that this is a recent-ish  change as I still have a 13 min clip on there from the other year. Anyway I edited down my 15 min clip by deleting the more annoying bits and shots of carpet and now present it for your entertainment/tedium. I'm in two minds whether to bother doing the same with the 1999 show as the video for this one is half an hour long - so I will probably have to edit it down and split it in half. Lets see how many people watch 1998 first.

The main thing that I notice is how dated CRT screens look. You wouldn't find a single one at a show nowadays.

I always wanted to be a computer games journalist - I had interviews for a job on 'Your Sinclair' at Future Publishing in Bath and 'New Computer Express' in Cheshire - without any success. I later blagged my way into ECTS (The European Computer Trade Show) on a number of occasions - using a false company called Entron Computing. My address at the time was a property called Entron House so the name seemed convincing (Entron Computing, Entron House)

In 1998 I took my DV camcorder to ECTS in London Earls Court and shot some footage. It was the height of the Playstation 1 and N64 era and the big attraction of the 1998 show was Tomb Raider 3. After watching the video today it seemed like the main attraction for me at the time was the Booth Babe's bottoms.

The video wasn't edited and showed lots of crap amongst the gold - but it was interesting to see what the big (and not so big) titles were 10 years ago. 

In 1999 I returned and this time the video starts with a 5 min long clip of the PS2 demo reel which promised much. The PS1 had really matured and the games were generally much more sophisticated (Grand Turismo 2) - the N64 was obviously struggling to keep up. The Dreamcast showed up with Ready To Rumble Boxing but the strong PS1 and impressive PS2 demos were soon to kill it off. SNK had a Neo Geo colour stand - the last gasp of this gaming giant. The Playstation hall was the height of excess - hundreds of screens showing countless games - it was probably the most money that Sony ever spent on a UK stand. 1999's show was a lot more professional with a lot more money spent - less/no booth babes and no real heart (the money men had moved in) - it was really the end of an era. I went to subsequent shows - one or two, I can't remember - but they got less and less fun.

I remember earlier shows (PCW Shows?) where I saw Jeff Minter demoing his own Atari ST games, the N64 debut game Turok which blew people away with its revolutionary 3D Dinosaurs, SNK Showing the Neo Geo with Magician Lord (who's graphics were so far ahead of the other games on display it wasn't funny). 

Its a shame I never got that journalism job - it would have been fun. If I'd managed to bag one of those jobs when I was in my teens, my life would have been completely different, a real Sliding Doors moment. As you can probably tell, watching these 10 year old videos has made me rather melancholy. When I manage to convert and upload the clips - I hope they make you feel happy/nostalgic rather than sad, and help you to remember a less sophisticated time, long since past

M-am trezit oarecum odihnit pe la ora 12 (mi se intampla de max 5 ori pe an asa ceva). M-am panicat putin pentru ca stiam ca de la 12-14 se schimba cursurile. Am deschis putin calculatorul, am verificat, era de la 12:30 pana la 14:30 asa ca nu m-am grabit. M-am dus acolo, m-am intalnit acolo cu Marius.

Am stat putin de vorba pentru ca el nu era sigur de ce si cum vrea, am stat la coada si am ajuns la prof. Nu si-a adus aminte de noi decat cand i-am reamintit... And guess what: ne-a lasat cu 42 credite dar cu mentiunea ca daca dupa primele saptamani observa ca nu merge, va trebui (sau o sa putem mai exact) sa renuntam la un curs.

Am stat cam mult aici, pana pe la ora 2:30 dupa care ne-am dus la librarie, dar nu am gasit decat o carte care ne trebuia asa ca eu m-am gandit sa n-o iau asa din prima. Poate ma duc maine sa ma uit in centru pe undeva, poate gasesc cartile.

Sa-ti spun un mic amanunt: cartile costa ENORM !!! Aproape fiecare de la 50$ in sus si suntem aproape obligati sa cumparam sau sa facem copii... Ma rog, ei ne obliga sa citim, dar de unde daca nu cumparam cartile, sa ne tot imprumutam?

Dupa ce mi-am adaugat si cursul de Gamedesign si am fost si la librarie, am venit acasa. Am vorbit cu tine pe mess, dar am plecat pe urma la Universitate. 10 years anniversary, concert (printre altele si cu trupa Blue Foundation), bere multa, carnaciori (care la ei sunt niste carnati mai mari decat o banana) si lume care nu stie sa se distreze... Parca s-au adunat acolo doar ca sa bea din nou, o alta ocazie pentru a consuma bere.

Pozele promise:

Si un clipa de proasta calitate facut de mine cu un Nokia N73 (si pozele sunt facute tot cu N73):

*** De la minutul  2:40  omul o cam ia razna, deci merita vazut... Pe de alta parte oamenii din fata scenei habar nu au sa danseze sau sa se miste macar un pic... pfff... aiurea... ***

In concluzie romanii sunt mai tari la distractie, chiar daca gandesc si beau cum s-a facut si aici. Diferenta este ca cei de aici sunt mult mai civilizati si (greu de crezut) mai lenesi. De ce spun asta? Pai hai sa vedem, avem o scena destul de maricica in aer liber, avem sute de oameni imprastiati... dar nu mai mult de 25-30 (hai sa exagerez mult si sa spun 50) de persoane au fost aproape de scena si o parte dintre ei a purtat protectie pentru urechi (nici nu stiu cum se numesc, dar in Romania nu e la moda, la noi tre sa surzesti si sa tipi cat de tare poti si a doua zi daca nu mai ai glas si nu mai stii decat in mare ce s-a intamplat, atunci poti sa zici ca te-ai distrat...). Pai bine, si restul oamenilor prezenti la concert? Stateau bine merci la 20m cel putin si "faceau plaja" cu o bere in mana, in grupuri, etc...

Am tras concluzia ca la ei asa se distreaza, ceea ce mi se pare destul de aiurea. Marius a precizat ca la astfel de ocazii vezi cele mai multe blonde pe metrul patrat. Fenomenal faza ca aici 90% dintre oameni (nu doar fete) sunt blonzi, dar nu cred ca ar trebui sa-si faca cineva iluzii, in Romania arata mai bine fetele, aici ocazional din spate (no offence, parere personala, respect pt exceptii), sunt si fete frumoase, dar trebuie sa ai rabdare si sa cauti ca sa gasesti.

*** Ma bucur ca te am pi tini pintzesa mea. Esti tot ce mi-am dorit vreodata. Te ador!!! ***

Deci oameni civilizati dar tot cu gandul la bautura. Dar civilizati pana la capat, in timpul concertului se plimbau tineri cu un dispozitiv (un fel de baston cu un "deget") cu care prindeau gunoiul (care consta DOAR un cutii de bere, tavite de hartie de la carnati si pungi de cipsuri, nimic mai mult) si se pastra curatenia si in timpul spectacolului.

Pai ce sa spun, dupa asta m-am intors acasa... si am vbit pe mess... stim noi...

Apropo de prajitura (negresa) ce se pregatea in bucataria lu' Marius... "a uitat" sa ma cheme, deci n-am mancat si nici nu m-am dus (desi tare ma pregatisem sa mananc o prajitura).

Te iubesc mult de tot sufletelul meu! Iti multumesc ca imi scrii pe blogul tau si ca ma iubesti chiar daca suntem la fff multi km distanta. Kiss you my angel si noapte buna, vise placuta, somniq pufos. Sz.sz.a.r.cs.a.j.a.sz!

PS: Cred ca maine gatesc eu, s-ar putea sa fie doar pt mine, desi nu sunt un om razbunator, doar pofticios :D

1 º Ciclo - Licenciatura / 3 Anos

Provas de Ingresso

(uma das seguintes provas) - 2008/2009

• 17 Matemática Aplicada às Ciências Sociais
• 18 Português
• 11 História

Opções, ramos, ou outras formas de organização de percursos alternativos em que o curso se estrutura

Realização e Produção Cinematográfica e Televisiva;

Realização e Produção Multimédia.

Objectivos /Competências

Para obter o grau de licenciado em Cinema, Vídeo e Comunicação Multimédia, o aluno deverá obter um total de 180 créditos. Para obter este número de créditos, os alunos deverão obrigatoriamente realizar um tronco comum que integra 40 ECTS obrigatórios de formação elementar e 22 ECTS obrigatórios de formação de base (34 ECTS no caso dos alunos que escolham logo no início do curso o ramo de especialização em realização e produção multimédia), sendo o remanescente do curso composto por disciplinas obrigatórias organizadas, quer num tronco comum – total de 58 ECTS, quer através de áreas de formação profissionalizante que correspondem aos dois ramos de especialização do curso: Realização e Produção Cinematográfica e Televisiva - 60 ECTS e Realização e Produção Multimédia – 48 ECTS. Complementarmente, são ainda oferecidos um total de 31 ECTS através de cadeiras optativas que se integram em cada um dos ramos de especialização do curso, Realização e Produção Cinematográfica e Televisiva – 18 ECTS; Realização e Produção Multimédia – 19 ECTS

Estrutura curricular

O curso de primeiro ciclo em Cinema, Vídeo e Comunicação Multimédia tem como objectivo geral a promoção de uma formação que alie uma componente teórica rigorosa com uma formação interdisciplinar eminentemente aplicada nas suas áreas especializadas. Ao longo do seu curso os alunos são permanentemente estimulados para a experimentação tecnológica e artística, tendo como objectivo final a formação de indivíduos tecnologicamente competentes e conceptual e artisticamente criativos.
A licenciatura em Cinema, Vídeo e Comunicação Multimédia visa a formação de profissionais nas áreas da produção e realização cinematográfica e televisiva e da produção e realização multimédia, quer a um nível conceptual, quer a um nível mais experimental, bem como a aquisição de competências genéricas elementares e de base nas áreas das ciências da comunicação, artes e design e dos sistemas da informação, computação e comunicação multimédia.

Objectivos / Competências

As competências teóricas e aplicadas fornecidas pelo presente ciclo de estudos dividem-se de acordo com os ramos de especialização do curso nas seguintes:

• Área de especialização em realização e produção cinematográfica:
  Capacidade de desenvolver e escrever projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional e publicidade;
  Capacidade de planear e organizar a produção, produção executiva e assistência de produção de projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional e publicidade;
  Competências de Direcção de fotografia, iluminação e assistência de imagem;
  Saber operar e manipular equipamentos de tecnologia fílmica e videográfica;
  Capacidade de exercer funções de anotação e de análise dramática em projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional, publicidade;
  Capacidade de manipular e produzir informação sonora nomeadamente no contexto da pós-produção áudio, captação de som e sonoplastia;
  Capacidade de compreender a pós-produção e composição visual em projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional e publicidade como fase crucial na
  organização da experiência dos utilizadores/espectadores com a subsequente necessidade de aliar a este nível a manipulação técnica dos equipamentos com a criação de valores estéticos e dramáticos significativos;
  Capacidade de produzir e interpretar imagens digitais;
  Capacidade de produzir, seleccionar e transmitir informação vital para a promoção e distribuição de produtos audiovisuais e multimédia

• Área de especialização em produção e realização Multimédia:
  Capacidade de gerir e conceber projectos multimédia, nomeadamente do ponto de vista da recolha e análise de requisitos dos utilizadores e da tecnologia;
  Capacidade de desenvolver e escrever projectos multimédia;
  Capacidade de analisar e transmitir informação em contexto empresarial nomeadamente na óptica da consultoria em projectos multimédia e de sistemas de informação;
  Competências de desenho de aplicativos, interfaces e informação para plataformas multimédia (web, off-line, móvel);
  Capacidade de produzir e realizar projectos de animação empregando as competências técnicas e artísticas que os mesmos envolvem nomeadamente em termos de modelação e animação 2d e 3d;
  Capacidade de compreender, interpretar e resolver problemas recorrendo a linguagens de programação em ambientes multimédia;
  Capacidade de compreender a pós-produção e composição visual em projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional e publicidade como fase crucial na organização da experiência dos utilizadores/espectadores com a subsequente necessidade de aliar a este nível a manipulação técnica dos equipamentos com a criação de valores estéticos e dramáticos significativos;
  Capacidade de produzir e interpretar imagens digitais;
  Capacidade de utilizar os elementos básicos do design gráfico num contexto de produção gráfica e produção de infografismos.

Saídas Profissionais

São objectivos deste ciclo de estudos a transmissão de competências que permitam ao graduado habilitado com este curso exercer as seguintes funções:

• Área de especialização em realização e produção cinematográfica:
  Desenvolvimento e escrita de projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional e publicidade;
  Exercício profissional no âmbito da realização e assistência de realização em projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional e publicidade;
  Produção, produção executiva e assistência de produção de projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional e publicidade;
  Direcção de fotografia, iluminação e assistência de imagem;
  Operações de câmara em tecnologia fílmica e videográfica;
  Controle de imagem e operações de vt;
  Anotação em projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional, publicidade;
  Pós-produção áudio, captação de som e sonoplastia;
  Pós-produção e composição visual em projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional e publicidade;
  Fotografia analógica e digital;
  Promoção e distribuição de produtos audiovisuais e multimédia

• Área de especialização em produção e realização Multimédia:
  Gestão e concepção de projectos multimédia;
  Desenvolvimento e escrita de projectos;
  Consultoria em projectos multimédia e de sistemas de informação;
  Design de aplicativos, interfaces e informação para plataformas multimédia (web, off-line, móvel);
  Produção e realização de projectos de animação;
  Modelação e animação 2d e 3d;
  Programação em ambientes multimédia;
  Análise de sistemas e projectos multimédia;
  Pós-produção e composição visual em projectos fílmicos, televisivos e videográficos de ficção, documentário, institucional e publicidade;
  Fotografia analógica e digital;
  Design gráfico, produção gráfica e produção de infografismos.

Estudos Futuros

O curso de primeiro ciclo em Cinema, Vídeo e Comunicação Multimédia abre caminho para a formação de segundo ciclo nos programas de mestrado em Sistemas de Comunicação Multimédia e Estudos Cinematográficos.

Equipamentos e Instalações

A Universidade Lusófona possui um dos melhores parques de equipamentos audiovisuais e multimédia instalados no nosso País para efeitos de formação. De entre estes equipamentos, devem-se destacar os estúdios de Cinema e Televisão, o laboratório de Cinema Digital equipado com tecnologia HD, o centro de desenvolvimento AVID, o Laboratório de Animação 3d, o estúdio de pós-produção digital de som, o laboratório de televisão interactiva, o laboratório de autoria DVD, o estúdio de cenografia virtual e os vários laboratórios de computação e tecnologias digitais.

Plano de Estudos
1º Ano - Tronco Comum	ECTS
Teoria e Modelos de Comunicação	4
Cultura Visual	4
Introdução à Computação	6
Técnicas de Expressão Escrita I	6
Técnicas de Expressão Escrita II	6
Design	6
Introdução às Estratégias de Produção	4
Instrumentos de Gestão de Produção e Projectos Audiovisuais e Multimédia	4
Operações Câmera e Vídeo I	6
1º Ano - Ramo Realização e Produção Cinematografia e Televisiva	ECTS
História e Teoria da Fotografia	4
História e Teoria do Cinema	4
Linguagem e Narrativa em Cinema e Vídeo	6
1º Ano - Ramo Realização e Produção Multimédia	ECTS
Fundamentos de Linguagens Multimédia	4
Desenho e Animação 2D e 3D	4
Sistemas de Informação Multimédia	6
2º Ano - Tronco Comum	ECTS
Metodologia de Análise de Imagem	4
Direito da Comunicação e da Informação	4
Computação de Imagem Digital	6
Design de Produtos Multimédia	6
Operações Câmera e Vídeo II	6
Atelier de Sonoplastia I	6
Edição e pós-produção para Cinema, Vídeo e Multimédia	6
Animação	4
2º Ano - Ramo Realização e Produção Multimédia	ECTS
Bases de Dados	6
Atelier de Escrita para Ambientes Multimédia	6
Computação Multimédia e Interactividade	6
2º Ano - Ramo de Realização e Produção Cinematográfica e Televisiva	ECTS
Técnicas de Laboratório e Práticas Fotográficas	6
Atelier de Guionismo	6
Direcção de Actores	6
3º ano - Tronco Comum	ECTS
Introdução ao Pensamento Contemporâneo	4
Atelier de Publicidade e Marketing	6
Pós-produção e Composição Multimédia	6
Seminário de Projecto e Integração Profissional	10
3º Ano - Ramo de Realização e Produção Cinematográfica e Televisiva	ECTS
Direcção de Fotografia e Luminotecnia	6
Atelier de Realização para Cinema e Vídeo I	8
História e Teoria do Vídeo	4
Atelier de Realização para Cinema e Vídeo II	10
Desenho de Produção	6
3º Ano - Ramo de Realização e Produção Multimédia	ECTS
Atelier de Realização Audiovisual e Multimédia I	8
Atelier de Realização Audiovisual e Multimédia II	10
Programação Multimédia	6
Sistemas de Suporte à Decisão	4
Interacção Homem-Máquina	6
Disciplinas Optativas - Ramo Realização e Produção Multimédia	ECTS
Redes de Computadores	7
Sistemas de Entretenimento	6
Atelier de Sonoplastia II	6
Disciplinas Optativas - Ramo de Realização e Produção Cinematográfica	ECTS
Fotografia de Estúdio	6
Atelier de Sonoplastia II	6
Operações de Estúdio e Controlo de Imagem	6

ECTS uses an Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) instance to store credentials for external users, and it registers those users by taking their email address as their user name, e.g. joe@bloggs.com.

I am using an Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) appliance to publish the extranet site to the Internet, but I was having some problems getting the authentication to work for the external users.

On the IAG, I created an authentication repository for ADAM, and it seemed to work fine, plus I could connect using LDP.exe from the IAG to ADAM.

However, when an external user was authenticating, the IAG was logging a failure to authenticate, with the phrase 'Missing Credentials' involved.

A PSS call later, it transpires that IAG does not currently support UPN logons, without a lot of customisation.  Out of the box, it is only designed to handle domain\username type of logons.

Waiting to hear back about the nature of the customisation required, but in the meantime, I've configured IAG to not authenticate, but instead just perform the session validation, then display the normal SharePoint logon form.  Not as secure as I wanted, but it works.

I was actually part of a small group of non-Microsoft beta testers while the ECTS Solution Accelerator was still Beta and was able to work with it pretty easily in a dev 2003 environment so I thought what the heck, can't be much different for a Windows Server 2008 environment right? Yeah...right... So I've spent the last couple of days trying to install this Extranet Collaboration Toolkit (Technet documentation here) onto a Windows Server 2008 production box hosting Windows SharePoint Services version 3.0 and luckily for me none of the documentation had been written for Windows Server 2008 yet. On the flip side, I get to try to write everything I remember down and to share my experience with all of you guys! :)

Architecture (My Setup)

1 - Windows Server 2008 Standard 64-bit hosting latest WSS v3.0 bits + AD LDS + the ECTS.
1 -SQL Server 2005 with a new instance just for the new WSS farm.
1- Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller (Also the Enterprise Root Certificate Authority).

Steps

1. Installed 64-bit Windows Server 2008 Standard. This was basic, no biggies.
   
2. Installed 64-bit WSS v3.0 with SP1
   - Download bits here
   - Download post SP1 infrastructure updates
   - Read deployment documentation here
   - Comments: The documentation is pretty good here, was able to install with all recommended service accounts.
   
3. Download Extranet Collaboration Toolkit
   - Download bits here
   - Follow along with this prep and deployment guide
   - Comments: I'll outline some of the gotchas I came across below

Gotchas

This section will pretty much follow the steps detailed in the deployment guide but I'll intervene with comments where I met some difficulty.

Preparing the environment

1. Record all the Required Data on a piece of paper or something. Will make your life easier later on. These include of:

- Internal URL
- External URL
- ADAM host name
- SQL Server name
- etc, they're all listed and detailed at the beginning of the guide.

2. Make sure you have an Enterprise Root Certification Authority deployed on your domain controller. If not, see this article. Comment: this step was pretty easy and self-explanatory.

3. Setup DNS alias using CNAME records for your internal and externally facing collaboration site URLs. Example internal: http://collab.mycompany.com; external: https://partners.mycompany.com

4. Install Certificate and Update Key File Permissions - now this part was a major pain the butt. I spent a solid day figuring this out. From the extranet server the guide tells us to use Internet Explorer to access our Enterprise Certification services, usually found at http://domainController/certsrv.

First road block was that with new features (security?) in Windows Server 2008 and Vista, you'll need to download a hotfix for your Certification Authority (CA). I don't have the link to the hotfix but you'll see it when you try to access the webpage. The other gotcha in this step is the fact that it must be an encrypted site, so you'll have to install a self-signed certificate and bind it to the IIS website. This part wasn't too hard.

So after I got the CA prepped and was able to access the page, I resumed with the guide:

- Request a certificate
- Click advanced certificate request
- Click Create and submit a request to this CA
- Use the Web Server Certificate Template, type the FQDN of the extranet server. Ex: wssextranet.mycompany.com
- Under Key Options, create a new key set with Microsoft RSA SChannel Cryptographic Provider.
Click Automatic key container name and then select "the Store certificate in the local computer certificate store check box."

This is where I got tripped up. I didn't have that check box! I'm not sure why but I surely found out that it didn't work after trying to complete this step for the 5th time unsuccessfully. Everytime that I was installing the certificate, it was being installed to the account's profile and not the 'All users' profile. So with much digging I found 4 links that helped enable me to request a Certificate via command line.

- How to enable LDAP over SSL with a thir-party certification authority (KB 321051)

- Configuring LDAP over SSL Requirements for AD LDS (Windows Server 2008 )

- MSDN SharePoint Forum post by Dan Barua 7/24/2008

- Advanced Certificate Enrollment and Management

So after creating the request.inf file, and replacing the "Subject=" with the extranet server instead of the DC (another gotcha), I created a request file using:

certreq -new c:\request.inf c:\request.req

Then you have to submit it to your Enterprise CA using:

certreq -submit -attrib "CertificateTemplate:webserver" c:\request.req c:\certnew.cer

Then install using:

certreq -accept c:\certnew.cer

So now the certificate should be installed to the right place, except I was having a hard time finding where it was installed to so I found another way to change the permissions on the Certificate that I didn't see mentioned in any of the documentation:

- Go to Run > MMC > Add in Certificates snap-in for Local Computer account
- Expand to Certificates (Local Computer) > Personal > Certificates
- Right-click on your certificate > All Tasks > Manage Private Keys... > Add Network Service permissions.

Unfortunately, we won't really be able to test this out until we install the ADAM/AD LDS instance so you may have to loop back to this step and review if you can't connect to it later on.

5. Set up the Web App, Site Collection, Extend it to port 443, and Set up Forms-based Authentication - This was easy, basic SharePoint admin stuff. Just make sure you bind an SSL cert to the extranet site in IIS or else you won't be able to browse to it.

Install ECTS

This was tricky as your mileage may vary depending on your environment. The setup wizard didn't work for me so I had to install all the components manually one by one.

1. Run the ADAM Setup Script - As pointed out by a post in this thread, you'll have to manually update the ects_setup_adam.vbs file to reflect the new location of ldifde.exe.

strLDIFDE =  objFSO.BuildPath(colProcessEnvVars("windir"), "\system32\ldifde.exe")

Then run cscript ects_setup_adam.vbs CN=ExternalUsers,DC=domain,DC=com

After this step you'll be able to test to see whether or not your certificate from earlier works properly with your LDAP connection. To test this:

- Run > ldp.exe > Connect > your AD LDS server's FQDN, port 636 (default), check SSL > OK
- You should get a response and no pop-up error.

2. Run the Database Setup Script - For some weird security issues, I was unable to run this script from my extranet server so I copied all the files over to my SQL Server and ran the script there with no problems.

cscript ects_setup_sql.vbs sql\instance

3. Run the ECTS Setup Script - This step really gave me some new gray hairs. For some reason I was getting the following error:

Adding the WSPs to SharePoint...
ERROR: Could not add the ECTSBase.wsp to SharePoint.  Script aborting...

So after awhile, I thought I would try on a Windows 2003 server to see what would happen. I noticed that this time the script went further than on the 2008 Server so I ran it once more but this time interrupted the script right after it generated the WSPs and before it tried to deploy. I copied the WSPs over to the Extranet server and then tried to manually add them to the solution store. Then I noticed that my service account didn't have access to run STSADM even though it was a member of the Local Administrators' group. I still don't know why this is, but after running STSADM as the Local Administrator account I was able to do the following commands to add the solution to the solution store:

stsadm -o addsolution -filename c:\ECTSBase.wsp

stsadm -o addsolution -filename c:\ECTSSolution.wsp

Now they show up in Central Admin > Operations > Solution Management. Woohoo! From here you can deploy the 2 solutions to your web app. Next step is to activate the features at the Site Collection level. I compared the available number of visible features to the script file and noticed a discrepancy. There were some hidden features - 6 visible and 2 hidden.

So I carefully activated each feature one at a time according to their order in the setup script:

stsadm -o activatefeature -name ExternalCollaboration -url http://collab

stsadm -o activatefeature -name ConfigurationUtility -url http://collab

stsadm -o activatefeature -name SiteCollectionApproval -url http://collab

stsadm -o activatefeature -name SiteCollectionManager -url http://collab

stsadm -o activatefeature -name UserManager -url http://collab

stsadm -o activatefeature -name CreateSiteCollection -url http://collab

stsadm -o activatefeature -name ExternalUserApproval -url http://collab

stsadm -o activatefeature -name ECTSBase -url http://collab

Working with the ECTS Web Parts

Configuration Utility Web Part - At first I was unable to update any of the configurations but after scanning my event viewer, it mentioned that a service account had insufficient permissions to the SharePoint_AdminContent_GUID database. Fixed this by giving the account sys_admin permissions to that DB.

[Update - 7/30/2008 5:30pm]

Site Collection Manager Web Part - I was getting an access denied page when trying to approve the submitted site creation request. Event ID error 6141. Fixed it by making the Application Pool account run as a domain account instead of Network Service. - TechNet

Adding External Users Error/External Login Error: "An invalid dn syntax has been specified. (C:\inetpub\...\web.config line 133)". Solved this by manually updating the web.config file's ADAMConnectionString. The LDAP string was incompletely configured. Should be:

<add name="ADAMConnectionString" connectionString="LDAP://ADLDSserver.mycompany.com:636/CN=Users,CN=ExternalUsers,DC=mycompany,DC=com" />

To be continued... I'll update this post with more information as I continue to work with the ECTS.

Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his environment. It characterizes the individual's behavior as a whole; it is an aggregate because it is composed of elements or abilities, which, though not entirely independent, are qualitatively differentiable. By measurement of these abilities, we ultimately evaluate intelligence (David Wechsler, 1944). The present paper explains comparisons and contrasts of Spearman's Model of Intelligence and Gardner's Multiple Intelligences and which model is more in line with psychology today.

G- factor theory is the term given to the abstract position that intelligence is composed of single, unitary, or general factor. Professor Spearman's generalized proof of the two-factor theory of human abilities constitutes one of the great discoveries of psychology. Carl Spearman showed it through precise mathematical proof, that all intellectual abilities could be expressed as functions of two factors, one a general or intellectual factor common to every ability, and another a specific factor, specific to any particular ability and "in every case different from that of all others"(David Wechsler, 1944). Spearman's theory proved too simple, however, as it ignored group factors in test scores (corresponding to broad abilities such as spatial visualization, memory and verbal ability) that may also be found through factor analysis.

Howard Gardner (1983, 1993, and 1999), major contributor in the field of intelligence, has proposed a theory of multiple intelligences according to which intelligence comprises not just a single entity, but also multiple ones, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist intelligences. To develop his theory, Gardner (1983) attempted to rectify some of the errors of earlier psychologists who "all ignored biology; all failed to come to grips with the higher levels of creativity; and all were insensitive to the range of roles highlighted in human society. Gardner do not locate talents completely within the human skull, preferring to construe all accomplishments as an interaction between cognitive potentials on the one hand, and the resources and opportunities provided by the surrounding culture on the other.

There are many challenges to G. The late Stephen Jay Gould voiced his objections to the concept of g, as well as intelligence testing in general, in his book 'The Mismeasure of Man'. Many scientists are now convinced that there is no single measure of intellectual ability - no unitary intelligence (Philip Kitcher, 1985). Spearman (1904) gave persons tests of many different kinds of cognitive ability. When he examined the correlations of these tests with each other, he found that all the correlations were positive, and called this the "positive manifold." The positive manifold leads to a large first factor derived from factor analysis, dubbed general intelligence, or g. But Gardner considered various kinds of evidence about how the mind is organized (brain damage; prodigies; psychometrics; transferability of learning;). Gardner also de-emphasizes g. His theory was criticized, as there are no standard assessment techniques.

Where as Spearman’s model of intelligence continues to be influential today. Generally speaking, intelligence tests that yield a single score are built on this theoretical foundation. The accumulation of cognitive testing data and improvements in analytical techniques have preserved g's central role and led to the modern conception of g (Carroll 1993). A hierarchy of factors with g at its apex and group factors at successively lower levels is presently the most widely accepted model of cognitive ability. Elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs) also correlate strongly with g.  Creators of IQ tests, whose goals are generally to create highly reliable and valid tests, have thus made their tests as g-loaded as possible. However, tests such as Raven's Progressive Matrices are considered to be the most g-loaded in existence, even though Raven's is quite homogeneous in the types of tasks comprising it. IQ tests that measure a wide range of abilities do not predict much better than g.

To sum, intelligence is the ability to undertake activities that are characterized by difficulty, complexity, abstractness, economy, adaptive ness to a goal, social value, and the emergence of originals, and to maintain such activities under conditions that demand a concentration of energy and a resistance to emotional forces (George D. Stoddard, 1943). Factor analysis has been used in the study of human intelligence as a method for comparing the outcomes of objective tests and to construct matrices.

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I have suffered depression my entire adult life and looking back I believe that I suffered depression since childhood. I have been diagnosed with several mental disorders but the one that affects me most is the chronic severe clinical depression. I take so many medications it’s unbelievable. Everytime I try to stop taking the meds is when I take a swing so low that it often leads to near suicide if not an attempted suicide. I finally reached a point that I realized that I just have to take the meds no matter what. It was described to me like somebody who has diabetes, they just can’t go without insulin and I just can’t go without anti-depressants. I also take anti-psychotic meds and when I don’t take those I hear voices. I don’t generally admit this to very many people but here I am admitting it to the world. I guess it’s nothing to be ashamed about it’s not my fault and it’s a true disorder.

I have been in therapy my entire adult life of one form or another. My first attempted suicide I was 17 years old. And it’s been since then that I have been seeing psychiatrists and counselors. I was having an online/ongoing conversation with a nurse and he suggested that I try a therapist. I asked him what the difference was and he told me that a therapist helps you deal with issues. They know how to work through things. I don’t know if I can explain it the way he explained it to me. But I am going to look for a therapist. I have nothing to lose.

Back in 2003 at my last suicide attempt I was admitted to the hospital. It was against my will and I don’t remember most of it. Most of what I know about it is from what others have told me. Anyway, what they did to me I remember pretty much and I hated it and I swear they’ll never do that to me again. They put me threw ECT’s or electric shock therapy. This has to be the most barbaric thing that is still done in modern day medicine. And as I said, they will never do that to me again. It erased all my memory and it has altered my brain to the point that I am not nearly as smart as I used to be. I feel like a stupid ass idiot most of the time now. I used to be so smart and I had such a good memory. When I worked I was a CFO and I was very good with numbers. Now I can’t even add 2 + 2 in my head. Yeah, a bit of an exaggeration there but I cannot do numbers in my head anymore and that was a talent of mine. If it had to do with numbers I could do it but not anymore. Now I need a calculator and/or a pen and paper to figure things out. I was so good at algebra and now I can’t even comprehend it. So if you’re ever offered ECT’s I’d suggest you refuse them. They did no permanent good and only caused permanent damage, IMHO.

Anyway, I have been struggling lately with this depression and I have not altered my medication. Generally speaking when I get like this it’s because I alter my medication to suit myself instead of following instructions. But it just isn’t right that I have to take so many pills. I hate it. Sometimes I take so many that I gag trying to swallow them. I realize I should split them and take them in two gulps but I’d rather just swallow them all at once.

Well, I think this round of depression has been for quite a while now, since I decided it was time to sell the house. Well actually well before then because that was the main reason I decided to sell the house. It just got too much for me to handle. Anyway, I have my days where I’m not so bad and I have my days where I’m really bad. And it seems like the really bad days nobody is around to help me out. I know it’s just a matter of time before I attempt suicide again. I am thinking this time of getting myself a gun so that I can do it right. Most times I would have died when I attempted but the damn doctors try so hard to save me and so far they have succeeded. Which pisses me off because if I want to be dead who are they to make the decision to keep me alive.

I am afraid to tell my psychiatrist just how depressed I am so I lie to him. I am afraid he is going to put me back into the hospital and/or require me to go threw more ECT’s that I just don’t want him to know just how bad I really am. I know when I admit to being more than just a little depressed he starts pushing the day program and I just don’t want to go through that. I wasn’t comfortable there and I didn’t feel like it helped me any. I honestly don’t know if my depression can be “talked out” because it seems I’ve been talking it out for years and I still suffer from it. I think it truly is just a disease that I have and nothing is going to cure it.

Anyway, I’m writing about the depression today because I am very depressed. I don’t know why. I just feel like the world is against me. I just don’t belong here. I hate it here and I can’t wait until I am dead. Sometimes I feel I have to take matters into my own hands because if I wait on God He’s not going to let me die. I learned that from a little kid. Since I was very young, I used to pray every single night to Jesus to let me die. And in the morning I would wake up and I would be so angry at God for making me go through yet another day.

I have never been a happy person, not even as a child. I do not know what happiness really is. I don’t think I would know it if it slapped me in the face. The best way I can describe it is I’ve had such a miserable life which has had moments of pleasure sprinkled in just enough to keep me going. But at times like this it just isn’t enough to keep me going. And when I get like I am today I want so badly to cry, I can feel the tears just waiting to start pouring out. Yet, I cannot cry. I think if I could cry it would do me a world of good but I can’t.

Well, I could go on and on about the depression but I don’t want it to sound like a pity party. It really is not, I’m just trying to describe where I’ve been lately and where I find myself today. I went to church and Sunday school this morning. I visited my parents after church. Yet, I just feel so awful. I just want it done and over with.

Well, that’s my blog for today. So if you feel so inclined please say a prayer for me. I sure could use it. Depression is so debilitating and I honestly don’t know what, if anything, triggers it off. Most of the time I have no good reason for being depressed I just am. And that’s where I’m at today. Just plain depressed and I have not altered my medication. Thankfully it’s been at least a year since I’ve heard voices because I have not fooled with that medicine. But it doesn’t stop my mind from racing. And when it’s racing I get so tired because I can’t sleep for days. I get about 2-3 hours of sleep a night for several nights in a row and then I walk around like a zombie. Anyway, that’s me for now. Please say a prayer.

So, for now…

Las opiniones van desde las malas hasta las mejores, pero hay que escucharlas a todas, la razón, pues simple, las personas que las vierten son importantes, ¿por qué lo son?, por que nosotros somos la universidad y es por nosotros que existen estos centros educativos.

Los estudiantes quieren cambios, pero, ¿será posible que “UTPL-ECTS” pueda cambiar para lograr lo que se quiere lograr con la implantación de éste sistema?

Seamos realistas, y me refiero en general, creo que cada uno de nosotros debemos reconocer los errores que cometemos, empecemos por ahí y tal vez encontremos una propuesta para el dilema.

Bueno espero que nosotros digamos lo que pensamos, lo que hablamos entre nosotros y no nos quedemos callados o en la sombra hagámoslo público a nuestro pensamiento.

"Fast 200 Jahre lang hat das deutsche Bildungssystem einerseits brutal abgerichtet und fehlgebildet, Fachidioten und feige Untertanen produziert, aber auch, und eben an den Universitäten, ein Ideal gepflegt, das mit Bologna nichts zu tun hat. Dieses Ideal soll dem Menschen ein Leben lang nützen. Es folgt nicht dem Aberglauben, dass sich ein Menschenleben so planen lässt wie das Fertigen von Halbschuhen oder Tütensuppen. Bildung ohne ein Ziel, sondern Allgemeinbildung, eine Art Allradantrieb für die Pisten des Lebens. Das klingt schon eher nach Wissensgesellschaft, in der schnelle und kluge Entscheidungen gebraucht werden, Entscheidungen, die originell sind und passgenau statt vorkonfektioniert und von jedem Deppen reproduzierbar." [Quelle: brand eins, Ausgabe 5/08, Seite 64]

Im Essay "Die Stunde der Idioten" setzt sich Wolf Lotter meiner Meinung nach etwas einseitig mit dem Thema Bildung unter einer ökonomischen Sichtweise auseinander. Kernaussage seines Textes ist, dass durch den zerstörerischen Raubbau, den die Optimierung der Bildungs-Einrichtungen unter betriebswirtschaftlichem Diktat den Schulen und Universitäten auferlegt, das allgemeine Bildungsniveau sinkt. Das scheint auch auf den ersten Blick richtig - öffentliche Bildungseinrichtungen sollen durch die Realisierung des Bologna-Beschlusses in erster Linie Information statt Wissen vermitteln. Dass dadurch aber "Hohlköpfe" herangezüchtet werden, die nur stupide Reproduktions-Arbeiten erledigen, halte ich für übertrieben und falsch. Denn sicherlich erlaubt jedes System, wenn es einmal durchschaut ist, das schädliche Ausnutzen der Schwächen.

Weiterhin bemängelt Lotter die fehlenden Bildungs-Chancen für Schüler ohne allgemeine Hochschulreife sowie bereits Berufstätigen, ebenfalls keine Hochschulreife dafür aber langjährige Berufserfahrung besitzen, zurecht. Denn in einem dank Studiengebühren, Privat-Schulen und kostenpflichtigen Kindergarten-Angeboten mittlerweile mit Dienstleistungs-Charakter ausgestattetem Bildungswesen, ist es kaum verwunderlich, dass Bildung als Ware angesehen wird.

Die Folgen bei einer komplett kommerziellen Betrachtung der Wissens-Vermittlung wären weitreichend: Auf der einen Seite würde sich die Attraktivität der Bildung erhöhen, da jeder seinen Bildungs-Ort, seinen Wissens-Vermittler sowie die Inhalte in einer Art Shop-System selber zusammenstellen kann. Andererseits könnte dem Buy-Your-Knowledge-Ansatz seine monetäre Basis selbst zum Verhängnid werden - die Uni als Broadway der Ausbildungs-Angebote; wer soll da im Neonlicht-Dschungel noch die richtige Entscheidung treffen? Marketing-Strategien im Bildungswesen - unvorstellbar!

Am Ende ist jeder selbst seines Glückes Schmied - wer Bachelor/Master studiert, muss wissen auf was er sich einzustellen hat. Die Politik ist gefragt, die derzeitige Bildungspolitik zu überdenken und Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, die Freiheit bei der individuellen Selbstverwirklichung zu gewährleisten und frei von Interessen aus der Wirtschaft sicherzustellen.

Jeg er allerede gået så småt igang -- hvilket også er årsagen til de seneste par dages inaktivitet.

I promised in A Ride on the Dark Track - part 3 to have a rant about the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). The official ERTMS website bravely announces that,

ETCS is the new control-command system, GSM-R is the new radio system for voice and data communication. Together, they form ERTMS, the new signalling and management system for Europe, enabling interoperability throughout the European Rail Network.

"Wonderful!", you may think. "Europe is building a new generation of high speed railways and trains and they will all be equipped with the same control and safety system. A real example of the advantages of European cooperation and integration." Err... wrong! Today's Railway Gazette International announced that,

Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings... had confirmed on January 18 that although testing of the upgraded European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 train control system had 'generally passed without incident, a few problems remain - notably the crossing of the border with Belgium.' Although he referred to SRS 2.3.0 minus, ProRail confirmed that this is not the same as the Version 2.3.0 specification that was finally signed off by the European Railway Agency in February. HSL-Zuid is essentially equipped with Version 2.2.2, but with 'a package of additional functionality', which is 'slightly more' than the changes incorporated in the ETCS Level 2 system that is now handling around 100 trains a week on the Betuwe Route.

So cutting out the gobbledygook, ECTS fails the interoperability test and its specification is changing every few months. Information Technology buffs will recall that we were here before. In the 1970s and 1980s the European Commission spent billions on developing and marketing the OSI seven layer model which was supposed to facilitate interoperability between different manufacturers' computer systems. While the experts jetted all around the world attending meetings and conferences, the real world just got on with the job and developed system interconnections around de facto industry standards such as TCP/IP and Ethernet.

OSI was a layered, abstract description for communications and computer network protocol design, that is a description of what functions computer systems and networks should do when working together, not how they should do them. Most of the work was an expensive irrelevance and in some cases observing the OSI standards, rather than defacto industry standards, made interoperability between different systems more difficult. And ECTS? It's a specification of what train signalling and management systems should do, not a working system that can be installed straight out of a box. In Britain the attempt to utilise ECTS to introduce 140 mph running and moving block signalling during the West Coast Main Line upgrade turned out an expensive fiasco. In Holland, problems with ECTS have been delaying the opening of HSL-Zuid. The Railway Gazette reports,

Challenged to explain the problems besetting HSL-Zuid, Jeroen van Eijk from the ministry's project office admitted that the fundamental problem was that ETCS Level 2 had not been developed as far as the government had believed when the decision was taken in 1999 not to install back-up signalling. However, he felt that this had forced all parties to focus on development in order to make progress, rather than simply resorting to the back-up.

So when will HSL-Zuid open for fare paying passengers?

Although no-one will publicly commit to a date, and operator NS Hispeed cannot start its marketing campaign, the latest target is to start with an hourly service between Amsterdam and Rotterdam around the beginning of August.

Click here for the complete Railway Gazette article.

]]> http://watchtum.wordpress.com/?p=15 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:19:04 +0000 eyetea http://watchtum.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/bachelor-studiums-killer/ Eine heute veröffentlichte Studie (Heise, FAZ)  beschreibt düstere Zustände für Bachelor-Studenten: So soll jeder fünfte Student sein Bachelor-Studium vorzeitig abbrechen. Schuld daran seien vor allem die starke Belastungen. So wurde zwar die Studienzeit zum Abschluss erfolgreich verkürzt, jedoch dabei verschlafen, den Lehrplan entsprechend anzupassen.

Typisches deutsches Bildungs-Gestümper? Am härtesten trifft es wieder einmal die Studenten, die sowieso schon wenig Zeit zum Studieren haben, da sie für Studengebühren und den Lebensunterhalt nebenbei arbeiten müssen. Außerdem sind die Lehrpläne sehr unflexibel und damit nicht mehr klassisch hochschulspezifisch aufgestellt.

An und für sich ist das Bachelor-System ja keine schlechte Erfindung. Das ECTS- und Prüfungs-System hat natürlich gewisse Vorteile. Jedoch typisch deutsch wurde eine gute Idee mal wieder ziemlich vermasselt - Setzen sechs!

En primer lloc, el nombre d’ECTS d’una assignatura ha de venir determinat pels responsables del pla d’estudis. Aquesta ha de ser, per tant, una dada d’entrada en el procés de disseny de l’assignatura. Mentre no es prenguin aquest tipus de decisions, un plantejament que sol funcionar bé és assumir que els estudiants han de dedicar una hora de temps addicional per cada hora de classe de l’esquema horari actual, basat en crèdits LRU. Això ens porta a una fórmula senzilla per passar de crèdits LRU a ECTS: crèdits ECTS = 0,8 x crèdits LRU.

Dit això i coneguts els crèdits ECTS de la nostra assignatura, la nostra feina com a professors és omplir d’activitats significatives tot el temps corresponent als ECTS assignats a l’assignatura. Per això és molt important fer l’estimació del temps de cada tasca del programa d’activitats. En això tenim una certa experiència, ja que sempre hem calculat amb força precisió el temps que deixem als estudiants per resoldre les preguntes i els problemes dels exàmens.

Efectivament, sabem que la variació en el temps que requereixen els estudiants per fer una tasca pot ser elevada, especialment si el professor no exerceix cap control sobre aquest procés. Sovint, hi ha estudiants que s’encallen en una tasca i hi acaben dedicant moltes hores de manera totalment improductiva, amb greu perjudici per a altres assignatures. Aquesta situació s’acaba tornant en contra del professor, que rep queixes dels estudiants, per una presumpta mala estimació del temps de dedicació, o de professors d’altres assignatures del mateix curs, que l’acusen d’acaparar un temps excessiu de dedicació dels estudiants.

Nosaltres proposem exercir un control sobre la situació, de la manera següent: en les instruccions del curs ha de quedar molt clar que els estudiants han de dedicar a cada tasca el temps que s’ha previst per fer-la, però no més. Si en aquell temps la tasca no s’ha acabat, llavors l’estudiant ha d’identificar els dubtes i preparar-se per exposar-los als companys o al professor, a l’inici de la classe següent. En vista d’aquests dubtes, el professor pot decidir que l’estudiant ha de dedicar més temps a la tasca, però ara la situació està sota el seu control. Òbviament, és necessari cedir un cert temps de classe perquè els estudiants puguin resoldre els dubtes, potser amb una petita reunió de grup o amb l’ajuda del professor.

Aquest plantejament té diversos avantatges addicionals. D’una banda, l’estudiant es fa més conscient del procés d’aprenentatge i aprèn a identificar els dubtes i a posar-hi remei a temps. D’altra banda, estem ensenyant l’estudiant a adoptar una actitud molt pròpia de l’enginyer: fer el millor treball possible en el temps que ens han donat o que nosaltres ens hem marcat.

Com a complement a aquesta mesura, és important que el professor reculli sistemàticament dades sobre el temps de dedicació dels estudiants. El procediment pot ser molt simple: fer circular un full amb la llista d’estudiants de classe, de manera que cada estudiant apunti al costat del seu nom el temps que ha dedicat fora de classe a l’assignatura. Segons la nostra experiència, perquè les dades siguin fiables convé fer aquesta recollida sovint  (per exemple, cada setmana). Un altre procediment de recollida del temps dedicat a cada activitat consisteix a preguntar-lo en cada lliurament (ja que cada activitat, o cada seqüència d’activitats, sol acabar amb un lliurament). Tanmateix, ja que les normes no s’aplicaran de manera completament estricta, les dades recollides poden posar de manifest problemes de mala estimació o situacions de dedicació fora del que seria normal en algun estudiant o grup d’estudiants.

Finalment, aquesta insistència d’estar en condicions per donar dades sobre com s’ha utilitzat el propi temps té un cert valor pedagògic, ja que ajuda a inculcar als estudiants dues idees bàsiques: que aprendre requereix temps (i esforç) i que el temps és un recurs molt valuós, que cal administrar amb saviesa.

 Créditos UTPL - ECTS

 Auto evaluación institucional UTPL

So mahnte der Professor jedoch an, dass vor allem bei uns Wirtschafts-Informatikern als Folge daraus eine Punkte-Geilheit entstanden sei, die den didaktischen Aspekt der Hochschul-Lehre eigentlich diskriminiere. Das also eher für die in kurzen Abständen stattfindenden Klausuren gelernt werde und nicht mehr die Stillung des Wissenddurstes im Vordergrund stehe.

In dem Zusammenhang mahnte er auch an, dass das Bonuspunkte-System, dass viele Lehrstühle einsetzten, gegen geltendes Bayrisches Hochschulrecht verstöße. Nach eigenen Recherchen habe ich zwar keinen anhalts-Punkt für solch eine Regelung im Gestzestext finden können (bitte Feedback, falls ich mich irre), jedoch nehmen wir dies als Tatsache mal an.

Täglich erlebe ich einen schulähnlich strukturierten Uni-Alltag. Was meint Ihr dazu? Verkommt die Uni mehr zu Schule aufgrund der Gleichmacherei aus Brüssel? Steht ECTS-Geilheit vor dem eigentlich Studiums-Zweck?

En primer lugar, el número de ECTS de una asignatura debe venir determinado por los responsables del plan de estudios. Este debe ser, por tanto, un dato de entrada en el proceso de diseño de la asignatura. Mientras no se tomen ese tipo de decisiones, un planteamiento que suele funcionar bien es asumir que los alumnos deben dedicar una hora de tiempo adicional por cada hora de clase del esquema horario actual, basado en créditos LRU. Esto nos lleva a una sencilla fórmula para pasar de créditos LRU a ECTS: créditos ECTS = 0.8 x créditos LRU.

Dicho esto y conocidos los créditos ECTS de nuestra asignatura, nuestro trabajo como profesores es llenar de actividades significativas todo el tiempo correspondiente a los ECTS asignados a nuestra asignatura. Por ello, es muy importante hacer la estimación del tiempo de cada tarea del programa de actividades. De esto tenemos cierta experiencia ya que siempre hemos calculado con bastante precisión el tiempo que dejamos a los estudiantes para realizar las preguntas y los problemas de los exámenes.

Efectivamente, sabemos que la varianza en el tiempo que requieren los alumnos para hacer una tarea puede ser elevada, especialmente si el profesor no ejerce control sobre ese proceso. Con frecuencia, hay alumnos que se encallan en una tarea y acaban dedicando muchas horas de forma totalmente improductiva, con grave perjuicio para otras asignaturas. Esta situación acaba volviéndose en contra del profesor, que recibe quejas de los alumnos por una presunta mala estimación del tiempo de dedicación, o de profesores de otras asignaturas del mismo curso, que lo acusan de acaparar un excesivo tiempo de dedicación de los alumnos.

Nosotros proponemos ejercer un control sobre la situación, de la forma siguiente: en las instrucciones del curso debe quedar muy claro que los alumnos deben dedicar a cada tarea el tiempo que se ha previsto para ella, pero no más. Si en ese tiempo la tarea no se ha acabado, entonces el alumno debe identificar sus dudas y prepararse para exponerlas a sus compañeros o al profesor, al inicio de la clase siguiente. A la vista de esas dudas, el profesor puede decidir que el alumno debe dedicar más tiempo a la tarea, pero ahora la situación está bajo su control. Obviamente, es necesario ceder un cierto tiempo de clase para que los alumnos puedan resolver las dudas, quizá con una pequeña reunión de grupo o con la ayuda del profesor.

Este planteamiento tiene varias ventajas adicionales. Por un lado, el alumno se hace más consciente de su proceso de aprendizaje y aprende a identificar sus dudas y a poner remedio a tiempo. Por otro lado, estamos enseñando al alumno a adoptar una actitud muy propia del ingeniero: hacer el mejor trabajo posible en el tiempo que nos han dado para ello o que nosotros hemos planificado para hacerlo.

Como complemento a esta medida, es importante que el profesor recoja sistemáticamente datos sobre el tiempo de dedicación de sus alumnos. El procedimiento puede ser muy simple: hacer circular una hoja con la lista de alumnos de clase, de forma que cada alumno apunte junto a su nombre el tiempo que ha dedicado fuera de clase a la asignatura. En nuestra experiencia, para que los datos sean fiables, conviene hacer esta recogida con frecuencia (por ejemplo, cada semana).  Otro procedimiento de recogida del tiempo dedicado a cada actividad consiste en preguntarlo en cada entrega (ya que cada actividad, o una secuencia de ellas, suele terminar con un entrega). Sin embargo, puesto que las normas no se aplicarán de forma completamente estricta, los datos recogidos pueden poner de manifiesto problemas de mala estimación, o situaciones de dedicación fuera de lo normal en algún alumno o grupo de alumnos.

Por último, esa insistencia de estar en condiciones de reportar sobre cómo se ha usado el propio tiempo tiene un cierto valor pedagógico, puesto que ayuda a inculcar a los alumnos dos ideas básicas: que aprender requiere tiempo (y esfuerzo) y que el tiempo es un recurso muy valioso, y que hay que administrar con sabiduría.

La Revolución educativa. El Reto de la universidad ante la sociedad del conocimiento.

Dos análisis que permiten entender algo de lo que ha pasado y está pasando.