Diseño interactivo de cursos adaptativos

Versión electrónica de la ponencia presentada en el Simposio Internacional de Informática Educativa (SIIE 2000), celebrado en 2000 en Puertollano, CáceresLa capacidad de las aplicaciones educativas para adaptarse al estudiante es una cualidad perseguida desde hace tiempo en el campo de la enseñanza asistida por ordenador. La dificultad que entraña la elaboración de este tipo de productos, y la ausencia de herramientas adecuadas que faciliten esta labor, obstaculizan la participación de instructores y docentes en la elaboración del material. En este artículo presentamos una herramienta de autor, ATLAS, cuyo objetivo es conciliar potencia y facilidad de uso en el diseño de cursos web adaptativos. ATLAS permite la construcción totalmente interactiva de cursos que se adaptan automáticamente a las características del alumno y su comportamiento durante la realización del curso. El diseñador interactua con la herramienta mediante un lenguaje visual intuitivo basado en la manipulación directa de los elementos implicados en el curso, de forma que la herramienta realiza la transición entre la forma de entender el curso por parte de un profesor, y el modelo de representación del sistema subyacente

Simulation-based model course to demonstrate seafarers' competence for deck officers' discipline

Postprint (published version

An EUD Approach for Making MBUI Practical

Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Making model-based user interface design practical: usable and open methods and tools. Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, January.13, 2004Also published online by CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org, ISSN 1613-0073)In this paper, we present our perspective on Model-Based User Interfaces (hereafter MBUI) paradigm and provide with our experience in this area combining high-level knowledge-based data models (i.e. ontologies) and reverse engineering processes to carry through a pragmatic MBUI vision. Our approach is based on using End-User Development (hereafter EUD) techniques (i.e. Programming by Example) to enable the user to carry out editing tasks in a MBUI environment. This advocates an EUD-for-MBUI approach, where the system avoids the user from having to deal with interface specification languages.The work reported in this paper is being supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (MCyT), project number TIC2002-194

Providing end-user facilities to simplify ontology-driven web application authoring

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Interacting with Computers. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Interacting with Computers, Interacting with Computers 17, 4 (2007) DOI: 10.1016/j.intcom.2007.01.006Generally speaking, emerging web-based technologies are mostly intended for professional developers. They pay poor attention to users who have no programming abilities but need to customize software applications. At some point, such needs force end-users to act as designers in various aspects of software authoring and development. Every day, more new computing-related professionals attempt to create and modify existing applications in order to customize web-based artifacts that will help them carry out their daily tasks. In general they are domain experts rather than skilled software designers, and new authoring mechanisms are needed in order that they can accomplish their tasks properly. The work we present is an effort to supply end-users with easy mechanisms for authoring web-based applications. To complement this effort, we present a user study showing that it is possible to carry out a trade-off between expressiveness and ease of use in order to provide end-users with authoring facilities.The work reported in this paper is being partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (MCyT), projects TIN2005-06885 and TSI2005-08225-C07-06

Semantic monitoring techniques for EUD

This is an electronic version of the paper presented at the Workshop on End User Modeling at the ACM International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2003), held in Florida on 2003In this work, we present how domain modeling and Programming by Example techniques can be combined to carry through a EUD approach. Our techniques are based on detecting iteration patterns from user monitoring as well as extracting knowledge about the user interface itself. Combining those, dynamic behavior can be characterized, getting maximum amount of semantic at each user step. This approach can be used in order to make PBE inference process more effective as well as to result in enhancing PBE global efficiency.The work reported in this paper is being supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (MCyT), project number TIC2002-1948

Ca impurity in small mixed 4^4He-3^3He clusters

The structure of small mixed helium clusters doped with one calcium atom has been determined within the diffusion Monte Carlo framework. The results show that the calcium atom sits at the $^4$He-$^3$He interface. This is in agreement with previous studies, both experimental and theoretical, performed for large clusters. A comparison between the results obtained for the largest cluster we have considered for each isotope shows a clear tendency of the Ca atom to reside in a deep dimple at the surface of the cluster for $^4$He clusters, and to become fully solvated for $^3$He clusters. We have calculated the absorption spectrum of Ca around the $4s4p \leftarrow 4s^2$ transition and have found that it is blue-shifted from that of the free-atom transition by an amount that depends on the size and composition of the cluster.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures. Accepted on Journal of Chemical Physic

Esquemes argumentatius i coneixement científic. Un estudi sobre la comprensió de la flotabilitat a diferents nivells educatius

Es presenta un estudi sobre les respostes escrites d’estudiants de diversos nivells educatius a una activitat presentada com una narrativa en forma de conte. L’anàlisi es basa en identificar arguments dels estudiants que són estudiats en base a teories d’argumentació. L’estudi dels elements dels arguments ens permet inferir sobre les concepcions científiques i alternatives dels estudiants i trobar esquemes o patrons argumentatius comuns. La comparació entre nivells educatius ens mostra que els tipus d’arguments no varien gaire entre nivells educatius però sí que es troben diferencies quant al tipus d’explicacions que poden ser animistes o que no tenir res a veure amb la física als nivells educatius més baixos

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and International Business Travel: Mobility Allies?

Like forecasts about the paperless office, technological solutions to the problem of international business travel continue to be deferred. As with the increased use of office paper, international business travel is defying predictions of its decline. There is growing evidence to suggest that business sectors which seem ideally placed to substitute information and communication technology (ICT) for travel, are actually generating more physical travel than other sectors. This paper develops a case study of the Irish software industry to exemplify why international travel is not diminishing in importance how and the ICT and business travel relationship is changing in this sector. The paper presents research findings that suggest that a cycle of substitution, generation and modification relationships have occurred as mobility interdependencies have developed.Peer Reviewe

Social media, protest cultures and political subjectivities of the Arab spring

This article draws on phenomenological perspectives to present a case against resisting the objectification of cultures of protest and dissent. The generative, self-organizing properties of protest cultures, especially as mobilized through social media, are frequently argued to elude both authoritarian political structures and academic discourse, leading to new political subjectivities or ‘imaginaries’. Stemming from a normative commitment not to over-determine such nascent subjectivities, this view has taken on a heightened resonance in relation to the recent popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. The article argues that this view is based on an invalid assumption that authentic political subjectivities and cultures naturally emerge from an absence of constraint, whether political, journalistic or academic. The valorisation of amorphousness in protest cultures and social media enables affective and political projection, but overlooks politics in its institutional, professional and procedural forms