Pervasive Computing in Classroom Environments and Applications

Pervasive computing is an advanced computing paradigm which makes computing available everywhere and anywhere. It allows users to interact with computers. Such computers can exist in different forms such as laptops, tablets, a pair of glasses (wearable computers) and clothes or wearable fabrics that are sensor-embedded. It is essential to explore the different applications of pervasive computing to learning in classroom environments, in order to foster learning and promote well-being among students. One of the problems currently confronting some developing countries is a lack of adequate facilities to support proper learning in classroom environments. This has had a negative impact on the performance of students at various levels of educational learning. In this paper, a review of current trends, future trends and applications of pervasive computing was explored, particularly with respect to classroom learning environments, and a generic model of pervasive computing technology was proposed for adoption in classroom learning environments of developing countries, particularly the Nigerian tertiary institution’s classroom learning environment

Toward the integration of monitoring in the orchestration of across spaces learning situations

Technologies such as augmented Reality (AR), 3D Virtual Worlds (3DVWs) and mobile phones are extending education to other spaces beyond the classroom or the Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs). However, the richness of across-spaces learning situations that could be conducted in all these spaces is hampered by the difficulties (encompassed under the “orchestration” metaphor) that teachers face to carry them out. Monitoring can help in such orchestration, and it has been highly explored in face-to-face and blended learning. Nevertheless, in ubiquitous environments it is usually limited to activities taking place in a specific type of space (e.g., outdoors). In this paper we propose an orchestration system which supports the monitoring of learning situations that may involve web, AR-enabled physical and 3DVW spaces. The proposal was evaluated in three authentic studies, in which a prototype of the system provided monitoring through a web dashboard, an AR app, and a Virtual Globe

Interacción tangible en escenarios educativos. Diseño de una herramienta de autor para la creación de actividades educativas basadas en interacción tangible : Tesis de Doctorado en Ciencias Informáticas. Facultad de Informática, Universidad Nacional de La Plata

Contexto: El plan de trabajo se enmarca en las investigaciones que se desarrollan en el Proyecto 11–F023, ’Metodologías, Técnicas y Herramientas de Ingeniería de Software en Escenarios Híbridos. Mejora de Proceso’. El trabajo se realiza en el marco del Doctorado en Ciencias Informáticas de la Facultad de Informática de la UNLP. La tesista contó con una beca Doctoral CONICET. Al mismo tiempo, esta línea de I+D forma parte de la agenda de cooperación con la Universidad de Zaragoza, específicamente con el Grupo de Informática Gráfica Avanzada GIGA Affective Lab, con el que se realizan acciones conjuntas sobre nuevos paradigmas de interacción persona-ordenador en escenarios educativos. Esta vinculación ha sido de impacto para el desarrollo de este trabajo. Motivación: El área de interacción persona–ordenador ha despertado el interés de los investigadores y convoca la mirada de diferentes disciplinas tales como la Psicología Cognitiva, la Educación, la Comunicación, el Diseño, y las Ciencias de la Computación. Se encuentra en continua evolución, teniendo como una de sus metas buscar las mejores alternativas para la interacción entre las personas y los entornos digitales (Artola, Sanz, Baldassarri, y cols., 2016). Así, las interfaces de líneas de comando (Command Line Interface-CLI), dieron paso a las interfaces gráficas de usuario (Graphical User Interface-GUI) y hoy día ya se habla de un conjunto de paradigmas y estilos de interacción que han sido agrupados dentro de la categoría de Interfaces Naturales (Natural User Interface-NUI). Las ideas de Weiser (1999) sobre la Computación Ubicua, las de Ishii y Ullmer (1997) sobre la Interacción Tangible (IT) y el surgimiento de las NUI han dado lugar a que el usuario pueda controlar una aplicación de cualquier tipo, a través de una interfaz invisible que resulte intuitiva, fácil de aprender y que permite ser accedida a través de la voz, gestos, movimientos corporales, o movimientos de objetos del entorno que son interpretados como comandos de entrada para la aplicación (Diego-Mendoza, Márquez-Domínguez, y Sabino-Moxo, 2014). Esta tesis propone ser un aporte al área específica de interacción persona–ordenador, y en particular para la investigación y prácticas vinculadas a sistemas basados en interacción tangible, considerando específicamente sus posibilidades para escenarios educativos.Eje: Tesis de Doctorado.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic

Monitoring for awareness and reflection in ubiquitous learning environments

Producción CientíficaDespite the educational affordances that ubiquitous learning has shown, it is still hampered by several orchestration difficulties. One of these difficulties is that teachers lose awareness of what the students perform across the multiple technologies and spaces involved. Monitoring can help in such awareness, and it has been highly explored in face-to-face and blended learning. Nevertheless, in ubiquitous learning environments monitoring has been usually limited to activities taking place in a specific type of space (e.g., outdoors). In this paper we propose a monitoring system for ubiquitous learning, which was evaluated in three authentic studies, supporting the participants in the affordable monitoring of learning situations involving web, augmented-physical, and 3D virtual world spaces. The work carried out also helped identify a set of guidelines, which are expected to be useful for researchers and technology developers aiming to provide participants’ support in ubiquitous learning environments

Integrating orchestration of ubiquitous and pervasive learning environments

Ubiquitous and pervasive computing devices, such as interactive tabletops, whiteboards, tablets and phones, have the potential to enhance the management and awareness of learning activities in important ways. They provide students with natural ways to interact with collaborators, and can help teachers create and manage learning tasks that can be carried out both in the classroom and at a distance. But how can these emerging technologies be successfully integrated into current teaching practice? This paper proposes an approach to integrate, from the technological perspective, collaborative learning activities using these kinds of devices. Our approach is based on the concept of orchestration, which tackles the critical task for teachers to coordinate student's learning activities within the constraints of authentic educational settings. Our studies within authentic learning settings enabled us to identify three main elements that are important for ubiquitous and pervasive learning settings. These are i) regulation mechanisms, ii) interconnection with existing web-based learning environments, and iii) awareness tools

Pervasive computing reference architecture from a software engineering perspective (PervCompRA-SE)

Pervasive computing (PervComp) is one of the most challenging research topics nowadays. Its complexity exceeds the outdated main frame and client-server computation models. Its systems are highly volatile, mobile, and resource-limited ones that stream a lot of data from different sensors. In spite of these challenges, it entails, by default, a lengthy list of desired quality features like context sensitivity, adaptable behavior, concurrency, service omnipresence, and invisibility. Fortunately, the device manufacturers improved the enabling technology, such as sensors, network bandwidth, and batteries to pave the road for pervasive systems with high capabilities. On the other hand, this domain area has gained an enormous amount of attention from researchers ever since it was first introduced in the early 90s of the last century. Yet, they are still classified as visionary systems that are expected to be woven into people’s daily lives. At present, PervComp systems still have no unified architecture, have limited scope of context-sensitivity and adaptability, and many essential quality features are insufficiently addressed in PervComp architectures. The reference architecture (RA) that we called (PervCompRA-SE) in this research, provides solutions for these problems by providing a comprehensive and innovative pair of business and technical architectural reference models. Both models were based on deep analytical activities and were evaluated using different qualitative and quantitative methods. In this thesis we surveyed a wide range of research projects in PervComp in various subdomain areas to specify our methodological approach and identify the quality features in the PervComp domain that are most commonly found in these areas. It presented a novice approach that utilizes theories from sociology, psychology, and process engineering. The thesis analyzed the business and architectural problems in two separate chapters covering the business reference architecture (BRA) and the technical reference architecture (TRA). The solutions for these problems were introduced also in the BRA and TRA chapters. We devised an associated comprehensive ontology with semantic meanings and measurement scales. Both the BRA and TRA were validated throughout the course of research work and evaluated as whole using traceability, benchmark, survey, and simulation methods. The thesis introduces a new reference architecture in the PervComp domain which was developed using a novel requirements engineering method. It also introduces a novel statistical method for tradeoff analysis and conflict resolution between the requirements. The adaptation of the activity theory, human perception theory and process re-engineering methods to develop the BRA and the TRA proved to be very successful. Our approach to reuse the ontological dictionary to monitor the system performance was also innovative. Finally, the thesis evaluation methods represent a role model for researchers on how to use both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate a reference architecture. Our results show that the requirements engineering process along with the trade-off analysis were very important to deliver the PervCompRA-SE. We discovered that the invisibility feature, which was one of the envisioned quality features for the PervComp, is demolished and that the qualitative evaluation methods were just as important as the quantitative evaluation methods in order to recognize the overall quality of the RA by machines as well as by human beings

Supporting teacher orchestration of across-spaces learning situations

La tesis doctoral trata sobre la orquestación de situaciones de aprendizaje “a través de espacios” (across-spaces, AS, en inglés): situaciones de aprendizaje que integran actividades que tienen lugar en múltiples espacios físicos y virtuales, y donde se da una transición suave, o continua, entre los distintos espacios. En particular, la tesis intenta proporcionar herramientas conceptuales y tecnológicas para apoyar a los docentes en la orquestación de este tipo de situaciones de aprendizaje, que puedan incluir espacios físicos, web y mundos virtuales 3D. Siguiendo la Metodología de Investigación de Desarrollo de Sistemas, y con un paradigma de investigación interpretativo subyacente, se proponen dos constructos (modelo de POI y noción de cubo de aprendizaje o learning bucket) y dos sistemas (GLUEPS-AR y Bucket-Server), para ayudar a los docentes en la orquestación de situaciones de aprendizaje AS. Para la evaluación de las propuestas, se realizaron múltiples análisis de características, estudios pilotos y estudios de evaluación, enmarcados en un modelo de evaluación “receptivo”Departamento de Teoría de la Señal y Comunicaciones e Ingeniería TelemáticaNota: In reference to IEEE copyrighted material which is used with permission in this thesis, the IEEE does not endorse any of Universidad de Valladolid's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. If interested in reprinting/republishing IEEE copyrighted material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution, please go to http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/rights_link.html to learn how to obtain a License from RightsLink. If applicable, University Microfilms and/or ProQuest Library, or the Archives of Canada may supply single copies of the dissertation

XXIII Edición del Workshop de Investigadores en Ciencias de la Computación : Libro de actas

Compilación de las ponencias presentadas en el XXIII Workshop de Investigadores en Ciencias de la Computación (WICC), llevado a cabo en Chilecito (La Rioja) en abril de 2021.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic