Guidelines for empirical evaluations of conceptual modeling grammars

Conceptual modeling grammars are used to create scripts that represent someone's perception, or some group's negotiated perception, of domain semantics. For many years, researchers have evaluated conceptual modeling grammars to determine ways that they can be improved. One way to evaluate them is to empirically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the grammars in terms of their effectiveness and efficiency in generating scripts. A number of researchers have proposed guidelines for the design of empirical research to conduct such evaluations. Although these guidelines have proved useful, further clarification is needed in relation to (1) criteria for evaluating grammar performance, (2) characteristics of grammars that can influence grammar performance, and (3) factors that must be considered when testing the effect of grammar characteristics on grammar performance. We review past conceptual modeling research and provide guidelines for addressing these three issues. We also illustrate how the guidelines would apply to studies that evaluate conceptual modeling grammars from an ontological perspective. Finally, we discuss how the guidelines extend those offered in past research and the implications of our work for future research

Projeto de representação gráfica de um grupo de ícones para a criação de cenários de aprendizagem baseados no learning design aplicados ao ambiente virtual hypercal online

Como área de pesquisa e de conhecimento, o Learning Design se originou a partir de outra área ligada a educação denominada de Design Instrucional. Embora existam estudiosos preocupados em propor uma forma de representação das atividades educacionais, ainda permeia problemas de representações visuais entre programas de criação de cenários de aprendizagem como o Compendium LD e o LAMS. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo, propor um grupo de ícones para representação gráfica para auxílio na criação de cenários de aprendizagem digitais, utilizando os preceitos do Learning Design, sendo aplicados no ambiente virtual HyperCal online. O objetivo foi alcançado, utilizando-se uma metodologia mista envolvendo etapas de metodologia de pesquisa e etapas de metodologia projetual. Inicialmente fez-se uma busca bibliográfica de autores acerca do tema learning design e design visual sendo proposto posteriormente um questionário para uma amostragem de 15 pessoas entre professores e educadores do Departamento de Design e Expressão Gráfica da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul – (DEG) – UFRGS) com o objetivo de levantar informações relacionadas a percepção visual de 24 ícones escolhidos das ferramentas de learning design Compendium LD e LAMS. Estas informações serviram como alicerces para a criação do grupo de ícones, gerando preliminarmente as diretrizes de projeto com o apoio de uma metodologia projetual proposta por Santos (2006) conhecida como método aberto, que se divide em três fases: pré-conceitual, conceitual e pós-conceitual. As alternativas finalizadas de cada função/ícone foram escolhidas a partir de informações adquiridas de um questionário enviado para 10 professores e, também, através de um grupo focal feito com 3 dos desenvolvedores do ambiente virtual HyperCal online. Como resultado final, gerou-se no total 15 ícones e cada um foi subdividindo de acordo com os elementos principais de atividades de aprendizagem de Neumann; Oberhuemer; Derntl (2009) que consistem em: atividades de aprendizagem, suporte de aprendizagem e recursos de aprendizagem, adicionando-se mais um elemento a esta divisão sendo ele o de atores.As a research and knowledge area, Learning Design originated from another area linked to education called Instructional Design. Although there are scholars who are concerned with proposing a way of representing educational activities, there are still problems of visual representations between programs to create learning scenarios such as Compendium LD and LAMS. This research aims to propose a group of icons for graphic representation to aid in the creation of digital learning scenarios, using the concepts of Learning Design, being applied in the virtual environment HyperCal online. The objective was achieved by using a mixed methodology involving research methodology steps and design methodology steps. Initially, a bibliographic search of authors about the subject of learning design and visual design was proposed, and a questionnaire was later proposed for a sample of 15 people between professors and educators of the Department of Design and Graphic Expression of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul - (DEG ) - UFRGS) in order to gather information related to the visual perception of 24 icons chosen from the learning design tools Compendium LD and LAMS. This information served as a foundation for the creation of the group of icons, preliminarily generating the design guidelines with the support of a project methodology proposed by Santos (2006) known as the open method, which is divided into three phases: preconceptual, conceptual and post-conceptual. The finalized alternatives of each function / icon were chosen from information acquired from a questionnaire sent to 10 teachers and also through a focus group made with 3 of the developers of the virtual environment HyperCal online. As a final result, a total of 15 icons were generated and each was subdivided according to the main elements of learning activities of Neumann; Oberhuemer; Derntl (2009) which consist of: learning activities, learning support and learning resources, adding another element to this division being that of actors