The impacts of learning styles, learning patterns and demographic factors on learners’ performance in a blended learning environment

Many studies have widely accepted the assumption that learning processes can be promoted when teaching styles and learning styles are well matched. In this study, the synergy between learning styles, learning patterns, and gender as a selected demographic feature and learners’ performance were quantitatively investigated in a blended learning setting. This environment adopts a traditional teaching approach of ‘one-sizefits-all’ without considering individual user’s preferences and attitudes. Hence, evidence can be provided about the value of taking such factors into account in Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems (AEHSs). Felder and Soloman’s Index of Learning Styles (ILS) was used to identify the learning styles of 59 undergraduate students at the University of Babylon. Five hypotheses were investigated in the experiment. Our findings show that there is no statistical significance in some of the assessed factors. However, processing dimension, the total number of hits on course website and gender indicated a statistical significance on learners’ performance. This finding needs more investigation in order to identify the effective factors on students’ achievement to be considered in Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems (AEHSs).

Collabowrighting the hyper(play)text: a postdramatic digital poetics

The aim of this research is to exhibit how literary playtexts can evoke multisensory trends prevalent in 21st century theatre. In order to do so, it explores a range of practical forms and theoretical contexts for creating participatory, site-specific and immersive theatre. With reference to literary theory, specifically to semiotics, reader-response theory, postmodernism and deconstruction, it attempts to revise dramatic theory established by Aristotle’s Poetics. Considering Gertrude Stein’s essay, Plays (1935), and relevant trends in theatre and performance, shaped by space, technology and the everchanging role of the audience member, a postdramatic poetics emerges from which to analyze the plays of Mac Wellman and Suzan-Lori Parks. Distinguishing the two textual lives of a play as the performance playtext and the literary playtext, it examines the conventions of the printed literary playtext, with reference to models of practice that radicalize the play form, including works by Mabou Mines, The Living Theatre and Fiona Templeton. The arguments of this practice-led Ph.D. developed out of direct engagement with the practice project, which explores the multisensory potential of written language when combined with hypermedia. The written thesis traces the development process of a new play, Rumi High, which is presented digitally as a ‘hyper(play)text,’ accessible through the Internet at www.RumiHigh.org. Here, ‘playwrighting’ practice is expanded spatially, collaboratively and textually. Plays are built, designed and crafted with many layers of meaning that explore both linguistic and graphic modes of poetic expression. The hyper(play)text of Rumi High establishes playwrighting practice as curatorial, where performance and literary playtexts are in a reciprocal relationship. This thesis argues that digital writing and reading spaces enable new approaches to expressing the many languages of performance, while expanding the collaborative network that produces the work. It questions how participatory forms of immersive and site-specific theatre can be presented as interactive literary playtexts, which enable the reader to have a multisensory experience. Through a reflection on process and an evaluation of the practice project, this thesis problematizes notions of authorship and text.

Adapting Web content for low-literacy readers by using lexical elaboration and named entities labeling

This paper presents an approach for assisting low-literacy readers in accessing Web online information. The oEducational FACILITAo tool is a Web content adaptation tool that provides innovative features and follows more intuitive interaction models regarding accessibility concerns. Especially, we propose an interaction model and a Web application that explore the natural language processing tasks of lexical elaboration and named entity labeling for improving Web accessibility. We report on the results obtained from a pilot study on usability analysis carried out with low-literacy users. The preliminary results show that oEducational FACILITAo improves the comprehension of text elements, although the assistance mechanisms might also confuse users when word sense ambiguity is introduced, by gathering, for a complex word, a list of synonyms with multiple meanings. This fact evokes a future solution in which the correct sense for a complex word in a sentence is identified, solving this pervasive characteristic of natural languages. The pilot study also identified that experienced computer users find the tool to be more useful than novice computer users do.

The perception of accessibility in Web development by academy, industry and government: a survey of the Brazilian scenario

Accessibility has become a serious issue to be considered by various sectors of the society. However, what are the differences between the perception of accessibility by academy, government and industry? In this paper, we present an analysis of this issue based on a large survey carried out with 613 participants involved with Web development, from all of the 27 Brazilian states. The paper presents results from the data analysis for each sector, along with statistical tests regarding the main different issues related to each of the sectors, such as: government and law, industry and techniques, academy and education. The concern about accessibility law is poor even amongst people from government sector. The analyses have also pointed out that the academy has not been addressing accessibility training accordingly. The knowledge about proper techniques to produce accessible contents is better than other sectors`, but still limited in industry. Stronger investments in training and in the promotion of consciousness about the law may be pointed as the most important tools to help a more effective policy on Web accessibility in Brazil.

Automatically linking live experiences captured with a ubiquitous infrastructure

Ubiquitous computing aims at providing services to users in everyday environments such as the home. One research theme in this area is that of building capture and access applications which support information to be recorded ( captured) during a live experience toward automatically producing documents for review (accessed). The recording demands instrumented environments with devices such as microphones, cameras, sensors and electronic whiteboards. Since each experience is usually related to many others ( e. g. several meetings of a project), there is a demand for mechanisms supporting the automatic linking among documents relative to different experiences. In this paper we present original results relative to the integration of our previous efforts in the Infrastructure for Capturing, Accessing, Linking, Storing and Presenting information (CALiSP). Ubiquitous computing aims at providing services to users in everyday environments such as the home. One research theme in this area is that of building capture and access applications which support information to be recorded (captured) during a live experience toward automatically producing documents for review (accessed). The recording demands instrumented environments with devices such as microphones, cameras, sensors and electronic whiteboards. Since each experience is usually related to many others (e.g. several meetings of a project), there is a demand for mechanisms supporting the automatic linking among documents relative to different experiences. In this paper we present original results relative to the integration of our previous efforts in the Infrastructure for Capturing, Accessing, Linking, Storing and Presenting information (CALiSP).

Caminhos cruzados no mundo digital: a hipermídia e a memória

Esse artigo aborda as propostas de convergência da hipermídia com a memória, a narratividade oral, as histórias de vida e o patrimônio cultural local a partir da elaboração, das funcionalidades e das aplicações do sistema HiperMemo: acervo hipermídia de memórias da Universidade Municipal de São Caetano do Sul – USCS. Tem-se por objetivo apresentar o sistema HiperMemo, desenvolvido no Núcleo de Pesquisadores de Memórias do ABC da USCS, como elemento de convergência entre as novas tecnologias digitais (a linguagem hipermídia), a memória e o patrimônio cultural.

Ferramenta visual para especificação de hiperdocumentos, segundo o método OOHDM

O desenvolvimento de artefatos de software é um processo de engenharia, como todo processo de engenharia, envolve uma série de etapas que devem ser conduzidas através de uma metodologia apropriada. Para que um determinado software alcance seus objetivos, as características conceituais e arquiteturais devem ser bem definidas antes da implementação. Aplicações baseadas em hiperdocumentos possuem uma característica específica que é a definição de seus aspectos navegacionais. A navegação é uma etapa crítica no processo de definição de softwares baseados em hiperdocumentos, pois ela conduz o usuário durante uma sessão de visita ao conteúdo de um site. Uma falha no processo de especificação da navegação causa uma perda de contexto, desorientando o usuário no espaço da aplicação. Existem diversas metodologias para o tratamento das características de navegação de aplicações baseadas em hiperdocumentos. As principais metodologias encontradas na literatura foram estudadas e analisadas neste trabalho. Foi realizada uma análise comparativa entre as metodologias, traçando suas abordagens e etapas. O estudo das abordagens de especificação de hiperdocumentos foi uma etapa preliminar servindo como base de estudo para o objetivo deste trabalho. O foco é a construção de uma ferramenta gráfica de especificação conceitual de hiperdocumentos, segundo uma metodologia de modelagem de software baseado em hiperdocumentos. O método adotado foi o OOHDM (Object-Oriented Hypermedia Design Model), por cercar todas as etapas de um processo de desenvolvimento de aplicações, com uma atenção particular à navegação. A ferramenta implementa uma interface gráfica onde o usuário poderá modelar a aplicação através da criação de modelos. O processo de especificação compreende três modelos: modelagem conceitual, modelagem navegacional e de interface. As características da aplicação são definidas em um processo incremental, que começa na definição conceitual e finaliza nas características de interface. A ferramenta gera um protótipo da aplicação em XML. Para a apresentação das páginas em um navegador Web, utilizou-se XSLT para a conversão das informações no formato XML para HTML. Os modelos criados através das etapas de especificação abstrata da aplicação são exportados em OOHDM-ML. Um estudo de caso foi implementado para validação da ferramenta. Como principal contribuição deste trabalho, pode-se citar a construção de um ambiente gráfico de especificação abstrata de hiperdocumentos e um ambiente de implementação de protótipos e exportação de modelos. Com isso, pretende-se orientar, conduzir e disciplinar o trabalho do usuário durante o processo de especificação de aplicações.

Avaliação das condições de adaptatividade ao usuário de apresentações hipermídia

O volume cada vez maior de informações que as pessoas estão precisando ter acesso, as especificidades dos ambientes onde elas encontram-se e suas características individuais são responsáveis pelo crescimento da área hipermídia adaptativa. Os sistemas desta área tentam antecipar as necessidades e desejos dos usuários, entregando-lhes um sistema o mais personalizado possível. Este trabalho distingue sistema hipermídia adaptável de sistema hipermídia adaptativo, conforme a participação do usuário na indicação de suas características ao sistema. Qualquer um destes sistemas podem ser usados em áreas tais como hipermídia educacional, informação on-line, ajuda on-line, recuperação de informações, informação institucional e gerenciamento de visões personalizadas em espaços de informações. Um sistema hipermídia com característica de adaptatividade deve considerar dados do usuário, dados de utilização e dados do ambiente. Os dados do usuário são considerados na maioria dos sistemas e usados para construir o modelo do usuário, que é uma das principais partes de um sistema da área hipermídia adaptativa. O modelo do usuário geralmente mantém informações sobre preferências, conhecimento, interesse, objetivos, background e traços de personalidade do usuário. Além do modelo do usuário, existem também o modelo do domínio e as formas de adaptação presentes em muitos modelos. Por exemplo, o modelo AHAM (Adaptive Hypermedia Application Model) define através de regras os referidos modelos e é apresentado de forma sucinta neste trabalho. As formas de adaptação de um sistema hipermídia são realizadas, usando duas tecnologias principais de adaptação: apresentação adaptativa, que inclui todas as técnicas que adaptam o conteúdo de uma página de acordo com o modelo do usuário e suporte à navegação adaptativa, que abrange as técnicas que manipulam os links de uma apresentação para adequar o hiperespaço navegacional conforme o modelo do usuário. Atualmente, existem diversos sistemas com ferramentas de autoria que permitem construir apresentações adaptativas e controlar seu processo de adaptação. Um dos sistemas que considera a maior quantidade de características adaptativas do usuário e que está disponível para as plataformas mais difundidas é o sistema AHA! (Adaptive Hypermedia Architecture) que é apresentado neste trabalho. A percepção de que o uso de uma ferramenta de autoria para hipermídia adaptativa não garante que uma apresentação seja construída com alto grau de adaptatividade impulsionou o desenvolvimento de um sistema chamado AdaptAvaliador, capaz de avaliar o grau de adaptatividade de uma apresentação em diversos aspectos. Devido às diferenças de sintaxe das apresentações criadas por diferentes ferramentas de autoria, o AdapAvaliador apenas avalia apresentações construídas no AHA!. As características, arquitetura e funcionamento do sistema de avaliação de apresentações hipermídia adaptativas são apresentadas em detalhes no presente trabalho. Para testar a eficácia do AdaptAvaliador foi desenvolvido um curso, usando o AHA!, e submetido para avaliação pelo AdaptAvaliador. O curso e os resultados obtidos com a avaliação são também apresentados neste trabalho.

Ontology-based metadata for e-learning content

Nowadays, the popularity of the Web encourages the development of Hypermedia Systems dedicated to e-learning. Nevertheless, most of the available Web teaching systems apply the traditional paper-based learning resources presented as HTML pages making no use of the new capabilities provided by the Web. There is a challenge to develop educative systems that adapt the educative content to the style of learning, context and background of each student. Another research issue is the capacity to interoperate on the Web reusing learning objects. This work presents an approach to address these two issues by using the technologies of the Semantic Web. The approach presented here models the knowledge of the educative content and the learner’s profile with ontologies whose vocabularies are a refinement of those defined on standards situated on the Web as reference points to provide semantics. Ontologies enable the representation of metadata concerning simple learning objects and the rules that define the way that they can feasibly be assembled to configure more complex ones. These complex learning objects could be created dynamically according to the learners’ profile by intelligent agents that use the ontologies as the source of their beliefs. Interoperability issues were addressed by using an application profile of the IEEE LOM- Learning Object Metadata standard.

Construtivismo de marco teórico-pedagógico a grife: um estudo a partir das mensagens veiculadas na internet

This thesis is resulted of a research on propagated the social representations of constructivism in the Internet, which as had estimated basic the idea of Moscovici (1961) of that the media it has determinative paper in the popularization of the scientific theories, in formation e propagation of the social representations and in the construction of behaviors human beings. Understanding the Internet as latest space of circulation of social communications, therefore, privileged field (and still not explored) for studies of social representations, we choose this half midiático as investigative field of our research, it if it constitutes in the "great ocean of the new informational planet" (LEVY, 2000, p. 126), besides making possible the interaction with different forms of images, different individuals, different ' world ', configuring itself as important space of symbolic production e of analysis of the representational process in the world contemporary. Based in these questions, we trace as objective to analyze the circulating speech propagated on-line on the constructivism, searching to apprehend the social representations shared the respect. This objective was constructed in face of the insertion of the theory constructivist in the educational way has two decades more than, as well as of its consolidation as reference in different social contexts, mainly in midiático. The question that directed the research was: as this theory obtains to penetrate in some layers of our society, to influence the world readings e the behaviors of different people? That modifications it suffers in this trajectory and which the paper of the Internet in this process? The corpus of the research was constituted of the substances on the theory found in the Internet, in pages in Portuguese of Google, in the period of 27 of July of 2004 the 17 of August of 2004. The data they had been analyzed on the basis of the project of analysis of content elaborated for Moscovici (1961) and in the estimated theoreticians of the social communication, in special of the hypermedia. The results had disclosed that the Internet participates of determinative form in the process of popularization of the constructivism theory, not only spreading out its estimated theoretician- methodological for the domain public (diffusion), but propagating positive beliefs and images of its postulates (propagation) and using them it service of interests politicians e financiers (propaganda). The popularization of the constructivism in the Internet and social representations of this theory propagated configure one process in which the theory passes of pedagogical theoretical landmark for grief, assuming a commercial character extremely and the status of solution for problems of the education and the society, stirring up attitudes and behaviors in public, most general possible, that comes to take care of to the interests politicians e marketing. Recognizing the diversity, the permanent renewal of information and the negotiation of directions gifts in the Internet, as well as the innumerable ones forms of access to the information found by it, we consider results of the research as fruits of the inherent characteristics to this way midiático, to the time where we call the attention for relativity these results, for the plasticity of knowing them and sensible propagated on-line e for the great challenge that the hypermedia imposes to the study of communication phenomena, of the social representations and in educational quarrels and for the necessity of new research that they investigate the forms of socialization of the information and communication propitiated by hypermedia and its implications in the construction of the symbolic universes and in practical social

Objetos de aprendizagem e alfabetização: a proposição de um encontro

This study investigates the development of Learning Objects for the literacy of children. It aims to know based in the notion of literacy teachers the main factors of academic failure in literacy and researching in Brazil, as well as identify relevant activities in the literacy process of children to support the creation of a set of Learning Objects. Refers to an exploratory research, which is configured as a qualitative nature case study, inspired in part in an action-research described by Thiollent (2003), conducted with ten early grades elementary school teachers of a public municipal school in Parnamirim / RN. As methodological options for data collection uses questionnaires and focuses on the group of teachers, analyzing the data, referring back to the ideas by Szymanski (2001; 2008) and content analysis, guided by Bardin (2002). The development of Learning Objects, follows the steps of development suggested by Garrett (2000). Rules in its multidisciplinary theoretical reference and promotes a conceptual dialogue on: Literacy; Literacy School Failure; Pedagogical Practice in Literacy; Thoughts and Language; Multimedia and Hypermedia; Learning Objects. Perceives that the act of education in literacy as an act of love, courage and social interaction between individuals - educator and pupil, so there is ownership of the object of knowledge in the relations with the world and with the experience, through a pedagogical practice that assumes all different knowledges, the moral political ideal, the mindsets of the students, and can make use of teaching materials that supports the learning process and are consistent with the educational objectives (FREIRE, 1998; FREINET, 1976; VYGOTSKY, 1998; FERREIRO AND TEBEROSKY, 1985; JONASSEN, 2000; WILEY, 2001). Figures out, through the teachers' opinions, five reasons for school failure in literacy, three inside the school environment: teacher; academic assistant and principal; student, and two outside the school environment: parents/family; government and public management. Presents a set of Learning Objects, based on the constructivist thought, developed from the identification of activities considered relevant by teachers in literacy's teaching and learning process. Suggests the use of Learning Objects as pedagogical practice in literacy as a digital resource that supports learning and can trigger important cognitive processes for the acquisition of reading and writing skills in the school environment

Um hipermídia sobre fases da lua para o ensino de astronomia a distância

The interdisciplinary nature of Astronomy makes it a field of great potential to explore various scientific concepts. However, studies show a great lack of understanding of fundamental subjects, including models that explain phenomena that mark everyday life, like the phases of the moon. Particularly in the context of distance education, learning of such models can be favored by the use of technologies of information and communication. Among other possibilities, we highlight the importance of digital materials that motivate and expand the forms of representation available about phenomena and models. It is also important, however, that these materials promote the explicitation of student's conceptions, as well as interaction with the most central aspects of the astronomical model for the phenomenon. In this dissertation we present a hypermedia module aimed at learning about the phases of the moon, drawn from an investigation on the difficulties with the subject during an Astronomy course for teaching training at undergraduate level at UFRN. The tests of three semesters of course were analyzed, taking into account also the alternative conceptions reported in the literature in astronomy education. The product makes use of small texts, questions, images and interactive animations. Emphasizes questions about the illumination of the Moon and other bodies, and their relationship to the sun, the perception from different angles of objects illuminated by a single source, the cause of the alternation between day and night, the identification of Moon's orbit around the Earth and the occurrence of the phases as a result of the position of observing it, and the perception of time involved in the phenomenon. The module incorporated considerations obtained from interviews with students in two poles where its given presential support for students of the course, and subjects from different pedagogical contexts. The final form of the material was used in a real situation of learning, as supplementary material for the final test of the discipline. The material was analyzed by 7 students and 4 tutors, among 56 users, in the period in question. Most students considered that the so called "Lunar Module" made a difference in their learning, the animations were considered the most prominent aspect, the images were indicated as stimulating and enlightening, and the text informative and enjoyable. The analysis of learning of these students, observing their responses to issues raised at the last evaluation, suggested gains in key aspects relating to the understanding of the phases, but also indicates more persistent difficulties. The work leads us to conclude that it is important to seek contributions for the training of science teachers making use of new technologies, with attention to the treatment of computer as a complementary resource. The interviews that preceded the use of the module, and the way student has sought the module if with questions and/or previous conflicts - established great difference in the effective contribution of the material, indicating that it should be used with the mediation of teacher or tutor, or via strategies that cause interactions between students. It is desirable that these interactions are associated with the recovery of memories of the subjects about previous observations and models, as well as the stimulus to new observations of phenomena

Comunicação gráfica em interfaces de hipermídia de educação a distância via web

This study aims to analyze the communication graphics of layouts of hypermedia interfaces oriented to Distance Education via the Internet. This proposal is justified by widening the offer of courses that modality and the consequent application of items of hypermedia for teaching-learning. The method of analysis involved the search nethnographic, addressed to the cycle student intermediary of the Training Program Continuing Medias in Education, and the evaluation heuristic of the interfaces of Virtual Learning Environment "E-Proinfo" and of the modules of the Cycle. This evaluation we observed the implementation of the attributes of usability and the degree of interactivity of each interface. The results revealed an inefficient implementation of the attributes of usability, which meant a consequent reduction of the levels of interactivity. As proposing the present Design Virtual Learning, a model of hypermedia layout, designed to generate usability for Virtual learning environments and extend the acquisition of literancy for students and tutors. This proposal design not hypermedia aims the demarcation of models pre-conceived, but the proposal of layout in which each element of hypermedia is applied with a view to generate a seaworthiness intuitive, more agile and efficient, in these ambients