Análise do uso de mensagens de celular na melhoria da participação de estudantes em cursos a distância: um estudo de caso

Estudos têm mostrado os benefícios das mensagens de celular na educação.Pesquisadores argumentam que estudos devem ser conduzidos para se avaliar a extensão dos benefícios e melhor identificar em quais contextos as mensagens móveis são aplicadas da melhor forma. Nesse sentido, esse artigo examinou a utilização das mensagens SMS em um curso a distância com 474 alunos. O principal objetivo foi descobrir se o uso desta tecnologia poderia melhorar a participação dos estudantes no curso. Os estudantes foram divididos em dois grupos e os resultados mostram que os alunos que receberam as mensagens móveis tiveram resultados significativamente superiores aqueles que não receberam, sendo quase 20% mais efetivos com relação ao cumprimento das atividades e até 78 horas mais rápidos para concluí-las

Auxiliando o Processo de Ensino-Aprendizagem do Braille Através de Dispositivos Touch Screen

Com a crescente inserção das tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC’s) no contexto da sala de aula e, principalmente, no atendimento educacional especializado às pessoas com deficiência visual, percebe-se que para o ensino do Braille ainda são utilizados recursos bem tradicionais, como a reglete. Neste artigo é apresentada uma proposta de inovação, o aplicativo LêBraille, que simula os instrumentos utilizados para o aprendizado em Braille, integrando o processo de aquisição do conhecimento e o mundo digital. Esse sistema possui uma utilização semelhante à reglete, porém o papel utilizado na escrita Braille será substituído por uma tela sensível ao toque, os pontos da célula Braille serão elementos desta tela e a punção corresponderá à pressão exercida pelo dedo do utilizador na tela do dispositivo portátil. Ao capturar as informações puncionadas, ocorrerão manipulações no sistema para reprodução de um retorno perceptível ao usuário, seja por meio de uma saída sonora e/ou tátil

Mobilité et sensibilité au contexte pour la gestion de documments multimédias personnels : CoMMediA

Financé par CAPES-BrésilContext-awareness corresponds to a feature computing systems have when they can adapt their overall behavior to a set of information, called the context of use. In spite of their heterogeneity, the continuous evolution of mobile devices (MD) towards multipurpose, multi-sensors, and Web-enabled devices, transforms them into an ideal environment for context-aware applications. More and more, MDs are becoming the main tool for creating personal multimedia documents (PMD). In this new scenario, high-level context information can also play an important role. In fact, information related to the context in which the document was captured or created can offer information rich enough to describe, and, thereafter, identify such documents. This work addresses the intersection of two research domains: Context-aware Computing and Multimedia Management. Context-awareness in the management of PMD is a new research approach, where the proposition of semantic models for representing contextual information and of mechanisms for acquiring and exploiting this high-level information are still unsolved problems. We propose a new context-aware architecture for the management of PMD called CoMMediA (Context-aware Mobile Multimedia Architecture), which is inspired by frameworks oriented to the adaptation of Mobile Information Systems. Our contributions consists of: I) a semantic model for representing multimedia metadata (Context Multimedia), described in OWL and following a new notion of context, II) an adaptive middleware for context acquisition and multimedia creation (called DevAC), which takes into account the heterogeneity and the intrinsic limitations of MDs during the deployment of mobile applications, and III) a platform that enriches contextual metadata (ContextAnnotator). Our objective is to promote the automatic production of metadata, and also to propose mechanisms for integrating this high-level and semantic metadata in the processes of organization, annotation, sharing, and keyword-based retrieval of DMP. Moreover, DevAC and our mobile applications of DMP management are based on a component middleware and a semantic description of services. The ultimate goal is to assist developers in the development and deployment of multimedia and context-aware applications which can be adapted according to the models of users' MDs, without the need to rewrite their code.La sensibilité au contexte est une propriété qui identifie les systèmes dont le comportement repose sur l'exploitation d'un ensemble d'informations, appelé contexte d'utilisation. Malgré leur hétérogénéité, l'évolution rapide et soutenue des dispositifs mobiles (DM) vers des terminaux multifonctionnels, multi-capteurs et connectables sur le Web, a transformé ces DM en des environnements d'accueil idéaux pour l'exécution d'applications sensibles au contexte. Les DM deviennent également, par leur popularité, les principaux outils de création de documents multimédias personnels (DMP). Dans ce nouveau cadre d'usage, l'information qualifiée de contexte joue un rôle déterminant. En effet, le contexte capté lors de la création d'un DMP peut offrir des informations, appelées métadonnées, suffisamment riches pour le décrire, et, par la suite, l'identifier. Ce travail de thèse se situe ainsi à l'intersection de deux thématiques de recherche : l'Informatique Sensible au Contexte et la Gestion de Documents Multimédias. La prise en compte du contexte de création dans la gestion de DMP est une thématique nouvelle pour laquelle l'adoption d'un modèle sémantique de représentation pour les informations contextuelles, et l'élaboration de mécanismes d'acquisition et d'exploitation de ces informations, sont encore des problèmes non résolus. Nous proposons une architecture sensible au contexte, appelée CoMMediA (Context-aware Mobile Multimedia Architecture), pour la gestion de DMP, inspirée des architectures d'adaptation de Systèmes d'Information (SI) mobiles. Notre contribution s'articule autour : i) d'un modèle sémantique de représentation des métadonnées (ContextMultimedia), décrit en OWL et reposant sur une nouvelle notion de contexte, ii) d'un intergiciel adaptatif de capture du contexte de création de DMP (appelé DevAC), qui prend en compte l'hétérogénéité et les limitations intrinsèques des DM lors du déploiement d'applications mobiles, et iii) d'une plate-forme d'enrichissement de métadonnées contextuelles (ContextAnnotator). Notre objectif est de promouvoir la découverte automatique de métadonnées et d'illustrer également l'exploitation de la richesse sémantique des métadonnées pour l'organisation, l'annotation, le partage et la recherche de DMP. De plus, DevAC et nos applications mobiles de gestion de DMP s'appuient sur une infrastructure à composants, et sur une description sémantique des services offerts par une application. Le but ultime est d'aider le concepteur à développer et à déployer des applications multimédias et sensibles au contexte qui puissent s'adapter aux modèles des dispositifs mobiles des utilisateurs, sans qu'il soit besoin de réécrire le code d'une même application

Development and Evaluation of a Model-Driven System to Support Mobile Learning in Field Trips

While field trips promote the scientific spirit of students by increasing their ability of observation and discovery in various areas of knowledge, the introduction of ubiquitous technologies, such as sensors and actuators, during the field trips, improves students' motivation and learning. However, the development of systems for this purpose implies to deal with the seamless treatment of the devices heterogeneity, absence of fixed communication infrastructure, dynamics of the computational elements of the environment, and support for user mobility. This paper presents then the development and evaluation of a system, called Ubiquitous Field Classes Inventor (UFC-Inventor), which aims to promote the use of mobile and ubiquitous technologies in field trips. The UFC-Inventor evaluation is performed in two stages: first, with five teachers of natural sciences; and later, during a field trip with seventeen students. Two of the teachers were from higher education (Geology and Animal Science) and three of them from high school (two in Geography and one in Biology). The seventeen students who participated in the case study were undergraduate students in the third year of their Geology course. The results suggest a good acceptance of UFC-Inventor and indicate that its execution occurred correctly

An Approach for Semantic Enrichment of Software Product Lines

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Mobile Learning in field trips: a case study in Geology

Field trips favor learning by improving student observation, discovery, and communication skills, increased understanding of content and expansion of learning possibilities through real experiences. However, during field trips, students and teachers face obstacles that may compromise the results of these educational practices, such as insufficient content or student dispersal. In this sense, mobile technologies have been used to overcome existing difficulties and extend the benefits of field trips by providing tools that expand the resources for student learning. This paper describes a case study conducted in a field class of an undergraduate geology course in which students used mobile technologies to aid in learning about geological mapping. After use in real situations, the seventeen students answered a structured evaluation instrument. The students' responses to the questionnaire were favorable and show the approval of the mobile technologies in field. The SUS score (usability) of 83.4 was obtained for the mobile application tested and 88% of the students stated that a solution made it possible to perform field learning tasks more efficiently. In addition, the positive evaluation of the teacher participating in the study and the finding of effective use of the mobile application by all students indicate that mobile technologies have the potential to become important tools in support of field trips of geology

O&M Indoor Virtual Environments for People Who Are Blind: A Systematic Literature Review

BACKGROUND: Knowing their current position in the surroundings constitutes one of the biggest challenges faced by people with visual disabilities when they move around. For them, it is difficult to be aware of the direction in which they are going, and the location of nearby objects and obstacles. In this context, obtaining relevant spatial information is always very significant to these individuals. Hence, the research in the development of assistive technologies for needs and perspectives of people who are blind has been a promising area in terms of the orientation and mobility (O&M) challenges. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to systematically examine the literature on O&M virtual environments designed to support indoor navigation to identify techniques for both developing and evaluating the usability and cognitive impact of these applications. METHODS: A systematic literature review (SLR) was performed, considering population, intervention, outcomes, and study design as eligibility criteria. After a filtering process from 987 works retrieved from six databases, we extracted data from 51 papers, which meet the study selection criteria. RESULTS: The analysis of the 51 papers describing 31 O&M indoor virtual environments, indicated that O&M virtual environments to support indoor navigation are usually designed for desktop, adopt spatial audio as way to support orientation, and use joystick as primary interaction device. Regarding evaluation techniques, questionnaires, interviews, user observation, and performance logs are commonly used to evaluate usability in this context. In tests involving users, the participants are usually adults aged 21-59 years, who individually spend about 90 minutes split in usually two evaluation sessions. Most papers do not report any strategies to evaluate the cognitive impact of O&M virtual environments on users' navigational and wayfinding skills. Thirteen papers (25.49%) reported the conduction of experiments or quasi-experiments and demonstrated pieces of evidence associated with a positive cognitive impact resultant from O&M indoor virtual environments usage. Finally, only four papers (7.84%) reported the development of indoor maps editors for O&M virtual environments. CONCLUSION: Our SLR summarizes the characteristics of 32 O&M virtual environments. It compiles state-of-the-art for indoor simulations in this domain and highlights their challenges and impacts in O&M training. Also, the absence of clear guidelines to design and evaluate O&M virtual environments and the few available computer editors of indoor maps appear as research opportunities.National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) 458825/2013-1 Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) CONICYT FONDECYT 1150898 CONICYT's Basal Funds for Centers of Excellence FB000

An Approach for Semantic Enrichment of Software Product Lines

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Multimodal Interfaces for Improving the Intellect of the Blind

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Indexation sémantique d'images géoréférencées

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