Maria João Antunes

Multimedia Platform Development for Parental Involvement in Learning of Children Attending Kindergarten - Iterative Cicles of Development.

Several studies have shown the importance of parental involvement in learning and development of kindergarten children, but also mention existing barriers, such as lack of time. The proliferation of access to the Internet and use of web tools can facilitate communication between parents and educators, reduce barriers and promote parental involvement and participation in childrens learning. The study carried out is a designbased research, which aims to develop a multimedia platform that promotes communication and information sharing among educators, parents and children, facilitating parental involvement in learning. The designbased research methodology understands the development of products in iterative cycles of analysis, technological development, testing and evaluation with users, evolving towards an increasingly robust intervention. This paper presents the results of preliminary studies, the first cycle of development of the platform, composed of functional specifications, paper prototype and usability tests, ending with an introduction to the second cycle of development. This is the current development phase, consisting of a functional prototype, which is in use for evaluation by users in four kindergartens.

From Idea to Product – Participation of Users in the Development Process of a Multimedia Platform for Parental Involvement in Kindergarten

Parental involvement in kindergarten has been pointed out as an important factor in cognitive development, child behavior and school adaptation. In kindergarten, parents can get involved in various ways. Web technologies can facilitate two types of parental involvement: communication with the early childhood educator, to learn more about child’s learning process in kindergarten, and home-based educational activities, using digital educational content. In this sense, the research team set up a design research, aimed to develop a multimedia platform that promotes communication and resource sharing among educators, parents and children, to facilitate parental involvement in learning. This article presents the development of the platform, from the preliminary studies to the evaluation of the functional prototype, with the participation of parents and educators in all phases of the development process.

From Technological Specifications to Beta Version: The Development of the Imprint+ Web App

Ecologically responsible behaviour and commitment to a sustainable development should be fostered among citizens. The IMPRINT+ project, co-funded by Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, intends to promote an ecological reasoning at an European level, supported by the participation of local communities and particularly by young people. Based on ICT use (smartphones, tablets and websites) and using a gamification strategy, the IMPRINT+ project aims to encourage young citizens to become aware of the global environmental impact of their everyday actions and to encourage them to act and participate in a local context. This paper aims to answer the question of what requirements, functional and non-functional, are appropriate to an app designed to engage young citizens, to be aware of their ecological footprint and to contribute, within different levels (individual, familiar, community or even national), with actions to its compensation. The paper describes the development process of the app, in terms of its specifications, requirements and system architecture. Preliminary tests suggest that the options made to develop the app were appropriate to promote the engagement of young people within the projects’ goals.

Proposta de um modelo de gestão de conteúdos nos social media: Os estudos de casos das startups.

O estudo apresentado tem como base uma analise a presenca nos social media de quinze startups portuguesas (consideradas as mais dinâmicas nos novos media ), com negocios business to business (B2B) nas areas das Tecnologias de Informacao e Comunicacao, Media e Design . Constata-se que contrariamente ao que seria de prever, para empresas que operam nesta area de atividade, a sua dinâmica nos novos media e reduzida. O estudo aqui apresentado pretende servir de base a criacao de um modelo de gestao de conteudos a empregar nos social media , de forma a ser adotado em empresas startups (com negocios B2B), com o intuito de captar novos stakeholders . http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/217549777987