Débora Nice Ferrari Barbosa

Mobile and ubiquitous computing in an innovative undergraduate course

The increasing use of mobile devices and the dissemination of wireless networks have stimulated mobile and ubiquitous computing research. In this context, education is being considered one of the main application areas. This paper proposes the use of mobile and ubiquitous computing to support and improve learning in a new kind of academic structure called Undergraduate Course of Reference (nicknamed GRefe). The GRefe was proposed in Unisinos, a university located in south of Brazil. Currently, there are four GRefes. These courses are organized in Learning Programs and Learning Projects. They use a practical and multidisciplinary approach to stimulate the learning. We proposed the use of mobile and ubiquitous computing technology to articulate and improve the academic activities of a specific GRefe called Computer Engineering. We believe that GRefe organization simplified and stimulated the use of these technologies in a learning environment.

Local: a model geared towards ubiquitous learning

The increasing use of mobile devices and the dissemination of wireless networks have stimulated mobile and ubiquitous computing research. In this context, education is being considered one of the main application areas. New pedagogical opportunities are created through the use of location systems to track learners, and through context awareness support. This paper proposes a model to explore these opportunities using location information and context management as learning support tools. This model, called LOCAL, was conceived for small scale learning environments, but can be applied in large-scale as well. The model was implemented and the initial results show its utility to assist the teaching and learning processes.

Globaledu - An Architecture to Support Learning in a Pervasive Computing Environment

This paper presents a propose for support learning in a pervasive computing environment. It is composed of educational service agents (ESA) and a pervasive personal pedagogical agent (P3A). ESA will support educational applications using the pervasive environment ISAM. Agents will be accessed through P3A, which shall always be with the learner (the agent moves to devices that the learner is using - desktop, cellular phone, handhelds, etc), assisting the process of global learning through the identification and adaptation of the resources in agreement with the learner’s educational model composed of the learner model, learner context and learning object model.

Learning in a large-scale pervasive environment

The idea of pervasive learning is to create a network of devices, people and situation that allow learning experiences to play out. This idea is attractive, but is not easily implemented. This paper presents a pervasive learning architecture called GlobalEdu which is composed by educational services (ES) and pervasive personal pedagogical agent (P3A) implemented above the ISAM platform. It is a software architecture that manages a large scale pervasive environment. ES expands the ISAM services to educational domain to provide knowledge management, context management, control and communication. P3A is shall always be with the learner, assisting the process of learning, independent of users device at the moment

A ubiquitous learning model focused on learner interaction

Ubiquitous learning refers to learning supported by the use of mobile and wireless communication technologies, sensors and location/tracking mechanisms, that work together to integrate students with their environment. In this paper, we present a ubiquitous learning model called location and context-aware learning (LOCAL). The model is self-sufficient since it does not require complement of an ubiquitous middleware. Moreover, LOCAL uses location information and learner profiles in a generic approach, it was not designed to any specific kind of learning application. The main goal of the model consists in stimulating interaction among learners. The model was implemented and the initial results attest its usefulness. Two functionalities tests proved that LOCAL can be used to stimulate the learner interaction and to distribute contextualised learning objects. In a third test, LOCAL usefulness was positively evaluated by 20 individuals of a computer engineering undergraduate course.

Context-Aware Model in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment

The idea of ubiquitous learning is to create a network of devices, people and situation that allows learning experiences to play out. This idea is attractive but it is not easily implemented. The GlobalEdu is a ubiquitous learning architecture integrated in ISAM, a software architecture that manages a large-scale pervasive environment. This paper presents a context-aware model implemented in GlobalEdu. Especially, we present the context management educational service and its interface with a pedagogical agent. A scenario application will be present too

Learning in Small and Large Ubiquitous Computing Environments

GlobalEdu is a generic model created to support learning in ubiquitous computing environments. This model has the necessary support to implement learning-related functionalities in ubiquitous environments. The basic ubiquitous computing support must be supplied by a middleware where GlobalEdu lays atop. This paper proposes the integration of GlobalEdu with two middlewares: ISAM and LOCAL. ISAM supports the creation of large-scale ubiquitous systems. As such, its integration with GlobalEdu results in large-scale ubiquitous learning environments. On the other hand, LOCAL is dedicated to create small-scale, location and context-aware ubiquitous learning environments. The integration between GlobalEdu and LOCAL results in a local ubiquitous learning system. We created a practical scenario, where our proposal was evaluated.

Consciência do contexto do aprendiz em um ambiente de educação pervasiva

Resumo. Este trabalho apresenta uma infra-estrutura para suporte a consciencia do contexto do aprendiz em um ambiente para suporte a educacao pervasiva denominado GlobalEdu. O contexto e gerenciado atraves de Servicos Educacionais (SE), que manipulam, tambem, o perfil do aprendiz e seu modelo de conhecimento. O aprendiz e acompanhado no ambiente pervasivo por um Agente Pedagogico Pessoal Pervasivo – A3P. Neste trabalho, a consciencia do contexto do aprendiz no GlobalEdu e aprofundada e uma aplicacao educacional desenvolvida para validacao da proposta e apresentada. Palavras-chaves - educacao pervasiva, consciencia do contexto do aprendiz, ambiente de educacao pervasiva

Desenvolvendo o Raciocínio Lógico e o Pensamento Computacional: Experiências no Contexto do Projeto Logicando

Este trabalho descreve um projeto chamado Logicando, desenvolvido por estudantes e professores da Universidade Feevale em colaboracao com escolas locais. O trabalho tem como objetivo desenvolver o raciocinio logico de alunos dos ultimos anos do ensino fundamental, utilizando ferramentas da Tecnologia da Informacao. Este projeto utiliza uma abordagem interdisciplinar que relaciona diferentes assuntos com atividades de raciocinio logico, produzindo e transmitindo o conhecimento aos alunos da escola basica. O Projeto tambem tem uma relacao com um projeto de pesquisa chamado Mobile Learning.