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Estudos indicam que a utilização de aplicativos educacionais móveis vêm crescendo continuamente, possibilitando a alunos e professores maior flexibilidade e comodidade na execução de atividades e práticas educacionais. Embora várias instituições já tenham aderido à modalidade de aprendizagem móvel (m-learning), sua adoção ainda traz problemas e desafios organizacionais, culturais e tecnológicos. Um destes problemas consiste em como avaliar adequadamente a qualidade dos aplicativos educacionais desenvolvidos. De fato, os métodos existentes para avaliação da qualidade de software ainda são muito genéricos, não contemplando aspectos específicos aos contextos pedagógico e móvel. Nesse cenário, o presente trabalho apresenta o método MoLEva, desenvolvido para avaliar a qualidade de aplicativos educacionais móveis. O método tem como base a norma ISO/IEC 25000, sendo composto por: (i) modelo de qualidade; (ii) métricas; e (iii) critérios de julgamento. Para validar o método, foram realizados dois estudos de caso; o primeiro consistiu na aplicação do MoLEva para avaliar o aplicativo do ENEM; o segundo consistiu na aplicação do método para avaliação de aplicativos para o ensino de idiomas. A partir dos resultados obtidos, foi possível identificar problemas e pontos de melhoria nos aplicativos avaliados. Além disso, os estudos de caso conduzidos forneceram bons indicativos a respeito da viabilidade de uso do método MoLEva na avaliação de aplicativos educacionais móveis. / Studies indicate that the use of mobile learning applications has grown continuously, allowing students and teachers greater flexibility and convenience in the execution of educational activities and practices. Although several institutions have already adhered to the mobile learning (m-learning) modality, their adoption still brings organizational, cultural and technological problems and challenges. One of these problems is how to adequately evaluated the quality of the mobile learning applications developed. In fact, existing methods for evaluating software quality are still very generic, not considering aspects specific to the pedagogical and mobile contexts. In this scenario, the present work presents the MoLEva method, developed to evaluate the quality of mobile learning applications. The method is based on the ISO / IEC 25000 standard, being composed of: (i) quality model; (ii) metrics; and (iii) criteria of judgment. To validate the method, two case studies were performed; the first consisted of applying MoLEva to evaluate the ENEM application; the second consisted of applying the method for evaluating applications for language teaching. From the obtained results, it was possible to identify problems and improvement points in the evaluated applications. In addition, the case studies conducted provided good indications regarding the feasibility of using the MoLEva method in evaluating mobile learning applications.

The development and use of computational applications to support teaching and learning, together with the evolution of mobile computing, have contributed significantly to the establishment of a new learning modality known as mobile learning. Despite the benefits and facilities offered by educational applications, some problems and issues they present must be addressed. Challenges associated with mobile learning are not limited to developmental aspects or technologies. We should also consider the pedagogical aspects of this kind of application. When dealing with domain-specific software, we must be concerned about domain requirements. Therefore, it is important to have expert knowledge in the requirements engineering team and, in the case of mobile learning applications projects, such knowledge come from educators, teachers and tutors. However, capturing and transferring tacit knowledge are not trivial tasks and a supporting mechanism that guides the requirements elicitation phase in mobile learning applications projects would be of major importance. Pattern languages as a method to describe tacit knowledge is acknowledged and could be used as a supporting mechanism. Patterns constitute a mechanism for capturing domain experience and knowledge to allow such experience and knowledge to be reapplied when a new problem is encountered. Similarly, pedagogical patterns try to capture expert knowledge of the practice of teaching and learning. Aiming to solve, or at least diminish, the problems associated with mobile learning and due the lack of pedagogical patterns for this purpose, this work aims to create a pedagogical pattern language to assist the requirements elicitation phase of mobile learning applications projects. In this context, a pedagogical pattern language, named MLearning-PL, was created. It is composed of 14 patterns and focuses on assisting in the definition of mobile applications in order to keep learners motivated and committed to using such applications, considering their different learning styles and an effective knowledge acquisition. Experimental studies comparing MLearning-PL to an ad hoc approach in a pedagogical problem resolution scenario were conducted. The results obtained provided preliminary evidences of the applicability, effectiveness and efficiency of MLearning-PL. / O desenvolvimento e a utilização de aplicações computacionais como apoio ao ensino e aprendizagem, aliados à evolução da computação móvel, tem contribuído significativamente para o estabelecimento de uma nova modalidade de ensino conhecida como aprendizagem móvel. Neste cenário, as aplicações educacionais existentes, mesmo possuindo diversos benefícios e facilidades, apresentam problemas e desafios. Os desafios associados à aprendizagem móvel não se limitam a aspectos de desenvolvimento ou tecnologias. Deve-se, também, considerar os aspectos pedagógicos deste tipo de aplicação. Ao lidar com software específico de determinado domínio, deve-se considerar os requisitos de tal domínio. Portanto, é importante ter conhecimento especializado na equipe de engenharia de requisitos e, no caso de projetos de aplicativos de aprendizagem móvel, esse conhecimento é proveniente de educadores, professores e tutores. No entanto, capturar e transferir o conhecimento tácito não é uma tarefa trivial e um mecanismo de apoio para orientar a fase de elicitação de requisitos em projetos de aplicativos de aprendizagem móvel seria de suma importância. As linguagens de padrões são reconhecidas como método para descrever o conhecimento tácito e podem ser usadas como mecanismo de apoio. Os padrões são um mecanismo para capturar a experiência e o conhecimento do domínio para permitir que ele seja reaplicado quando um novo problema for encontrado. Da mesma forma, os padrões pedagógicos tentam capturar o conhecimento especializado da prática do ensino e da aprendizagem. Com o objetivo de resolver, ou pelo menos minimizar, os problemas associados à aprendizagem móvel e devido à falta de padrões pedagógicos para este propósito, este trabalho tem como objetivo criar uma linguagem de padrões pedagógicos para auxiliar na fase de elicitação de requisitos dos projetos de aplicações de aprendizagem móvel. Neste contexto, foi criada uma linguagem de padrões pedagógicos, denominada MLearning-PL, composta por 14 padrões e cujo foco é auxiliar na definição de aplicativos móveis de maneira a manter os apredizes motivados e comprometidos ao usar tais aplicativos, considerando seus diferentes estilos de aprendizagem e uma aquisição de conhecimento efetiva. Estudos experimentais comparando a MLearning- PL a uma abordagem ad hoc em um cenário de resolução de problemas pedagógicos foram realizados. Os resultados obtidos forneceram evidências preliminares a respeito da aplicabilidade, eficácia e eficiência da MLearning-PL.

The development and use of computational applications to support teaching and learning, together with the evolution of mobile computing, have contributed significantly to the establishment of a new learning modality known as mobile learning. Despite the benefits and facilities offered by educational applications, some problems and issues they present must be addressed. Challenges associated with mobile learning are not limited to developmental aspects or technologies. We should also consider the pedagogical aspects of this kind of application. When dealing with domain-specific software, we must be concerned about domain requirements. Therefore, it is important to have expert knowledge in the requirements engineering team and, in the case of mobile learning applications projects, such knowledge come from educators, teachers and tutors. However, capturing and transferring tacit knowledge are not trivial tasks and a supporting mechanism that guides the requirements elicitation phase in mobile learning applications projects would be of major importance. Pattern languages as a method to describe tacit knowledge is acknowledged and could be used as a supporting mechanism. Patterns constitute a mechanism for capturing domain experience and knowledge to allow such experience and knowledge to be reapplied when a new problem is encountered. Similarly, pedagogical patterns try to capture expert knowledge of the practice of teaching and learning. Aiming to solve, or at least diminish, the problems associated with mobile learning and due the lack of pedagogical patterns for this purpose, this work aims to create a pedagogical pattern language to assist the requirements elicitation phase of mobile learning applications projects. In this context, a pedagogical pattern language, named MLearning-PL, was created. It is composed of 14 patterns and focuses on assisting in the definition of mobile applications in order to keep learners motivated and committed to using such applications, considering their different learning styles and an effective knowledge acquisition. Experimental studies comparing MLearning-PL to an ad hoc approach in a pedagogical problem resolution scenario were conducted. The results obtained provided preliminary evidences of the applicability, effectiveness and efficiency of MLearning-PL. / O desenvolvimento e a utilização de aplicações computacionais como apoio ao ensino e aprendizagem, aliados à evolução da computação móvel, tem contribuído significativamente para o estabelecimento de uma nova modalidade de ensino conhecida como aprendizagem móvel. Neste cenário, as aplicações educacionais existentes, mesmo possuindo diversos benefícios e facilidades, apresentam problemas e desafios. Os desafios associados à aprendizagem móvel não se limitam a aspectos de desenvolvimento ou tecnologias. Deve-se, também, considerar os aspectos pedagógicos deste tipo de aplicação. Ao lidar com software específico de determinado domínio, deve-se considerar os requisitos de tal domínio. Portanto, é importante ter conhecimento especializado na equipe de engenharia de requisitos e, no caso de projetos de aplicativos de aprendizagem móvel, esse conhecimento é proveniente de educadores, professores e tutores. No entanto, capturar e transferir o conhecimento tácito não é uma tarefa trivial e um mecanismo de apoio para orientar a fase de elicitação de requisitos em projetos de aplicativos de aprendizagem móvel seria de suma importância. As linguagens de padrões são reconhecidas como método para descrever o conhecimento tácito e podem ser usadas como mecanismo de apoio. Os padrões são um mecanismo para capturar a experiência e o conhecimento do domínio para permitir que ele seja reaplicado quando um novo problema for encontrado. Da mesma forma, os padrões pedagógicos tentam capturar o conhecimento especializado da prática do ensino e da aprendizagem. Com o objetivo de resolver, ou pelo menos minimizar, os problemas associados à aprendizagem móvel e devido à falta de padrões pedagógicos para este propósito, este trabalho tem como objetivo criar uma linguagem de padrões pedagógicos para auxiliar na fase de elicitação de requisitos dos projetos de aplicações de aprendizagem móvel. Neste contexto, foi criada uma linguagem de padrões pedagógicos, denominada MLearning-PL, composta por 14 padrões e cujo foco é auxiliar na definição de aplicativos móveis de maneira a manter os apredizes motivados e comprometidos ao usar tais aplicativos, considerando seus diferentes estilos de aprendizagem e uma aquisição de conhecimento efetiva. Estudos experimentais comparando a MLearning- PL a uma abordagem ad hoc em um cenário de resolução de problemas pedagógicos foram realizados. Os resultados obtidos forneceram evidências preliminares a respeito da aplicabilidade, eficácia e eficiência da MLearning-PL.

Estudos indicam que a utilização de aplicativos educacionais móveis vêm crescendo continuamente, possibilitando a alunos e professores maior flexibilidade e comodidade na execução de atividades e práticas educacionais. Embora várias instituições já tenham aderido à modalidade de aprendizagem móvel (m-learning), sua adoção ainda traz problemas e desafios organizacionais, culturais e tecnológicos. Um destes problemas consiste em como avaliar adequadamente a qualidade dos aplicativos educacionais desenvolvidos. De fato, os métodos existentes para avaliação da qualidade de software ainda são muito genéricos, não contemplando aspectos específicos aos contextos pedagógico e móvel. Nesse cenário, o presente trabalho apresenta o método MoLEva, desenvolvido para avaliar a qualidade de aplicativos educacionais móveis. O método tem como base a norma ISO/IEC 25000, sendo composto por: (i) modelo de qualidade; (ii) métricas; e (iii) critérios de julgamento. Para validar o método, foram realizados dois estudos de caso; o primeiro consistiu na aplicação do MoLEva para avaliar o aplicativo do ENEM; o segundo consistiu na aplicação do método para avaliação de aplicativos para o ensino de idiomas. A partir dos resultados obtidos, foi possível identificar problemas e pontos de melhoria nos aplicativos avaliados. Além disso, os estudos de caso conduzidos forneceram bons indicativos a respeito da viabilidade de uso do método MoLEva na avaliação de aplicativos educacionais móveis. / Studies indicate that the use of mobile learning applications has grown continuously, allowing students and teachers greater flexibility and convenience in the execution of educational activities and practices. Although several institutions have already adhered to the mobile learning (m-learning) modality, their adoption still brings organizational, cultural and technological problems and challenges. One of these problems is how to adequately evaluated the quality of the mobile learning applications developed. In fact, existing methods for evaluating software quality are still very generic, not considering aspects specific to the pedagogical and mobile contexts. In this scenario, the present work presents the MoLEva method, developed to evaluate the quality of mobile learning applications. The method is based on the ISO / IEC 25000 standard, being composed of: (i) quality model; (ii) metrics; and (iii) criteria of judgment. To validate the method, two case studies were performed; the first consisted of applying MoLEva to evaluate the ENEM application; the second consisted of applying the method for evaluating applications for language teaching. From the obtained results, it was possible to identify problems and improvement points in the evaluated applications. In addition, the case studies conducted provided good indications regarding the feasibility of using the MoLEva method in evaluating mobile learning applications.

Mobiltelefoner används i dagsläget knappt som lärverktyg i matematikundervisningen trots att den digitala tekniken är en stor del av det svenska samhället. Genom mobile learning ges elever möjlighet att utnyttja mobiltelefonen som lärverktyg både i formella och informella sammanhang. Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om huruvida lärare ser mobiltelefonen som ett potentiellt lärverktyg i grundskolans tidigare år. Studien besvarar frågor om elva lärares inställning till och kunskap om mobiltelefonen, vad de ser som möjligheter och svårigheter med verktyget samt deras syn på mobile learning i utomhusmatematik. För att besvara dessa frågor används kvalitativa intervjuer och teorierna Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge och Radical-local teaching and learning. Resultatet visar att lärare generellt är positivt inställda till mobiltelefonen som lärverktyg och mobile learning, dock i olika utsträckning. Utifrån resultatet kan slutsatsen dras att lärare behöver fortbildning för att bli mer förtrogna med mobiltelefonens användning som lärverktyg i matematikämnet. / Cellphones are currently barely used as a learning tool in mathematics education, even though digital technology is a large part of the Swedish society. Through mobile learning, students are given the opportunity to use the cellphone as a learning tool in both formal and informal contexts. The purpose of the study is to increase knowledge about whether eleven teachers see the cellphone as a potential learning tool in the previous years of primary school. The study answers teachers' attitudes to and knowledge of the cellphone, what they see as opportunities and difficulties with the tool and their view of mobile learning in outdoor mathematics. To answer these questions, qualitative interviews and the theories Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge and Radical-local teaching and learning are used. The results show that the teachers in general are positive to the cellphone as a learning tool and the concept of mobile learning, but in varying degrees. Based on the results, it can be concluded that teachers need further training to become more confident to use cellphones as a learning tool in the subject of mathematics.

The rapid development of mobile technologies combined with access to content almost everywhere and every time allows people to experience new situations regarding learning in a wide variety of situations. Mobile learning brings the promise of learning "on the move" by allowing learners to take control over time and space, thus making learning "more natural". The field of mobile learning has rapidly evolved in the last ten years and many initiatives have been conducted worldwide. However, research results indicate that few of these efforts have produced any lasting outcomes. It is evident that these initiatives are faced with inherently complex settings and that the outcomes might not live up to their prom- ises; will not be adopted and, hence, will not become sustainable. Many of the complex issues faced by mobile learning initiatives are similar to those faced by the development of information systems. This latest statement suggests that an improved development practice might hold one piece of the key to sustainable mobile learning. The aim of the research presented in this thesis is to investigate the relation between information systems development practice and mobile learning development; and if methods and models originated within information systems development can be used to strengthen mobile learning initiatives. In order to investigate this relation, this thesis studies several mobile learning initiatives with a particular focus on how and why development and research was initiated and conducted. Concepts found in mobile learning practices are strengthened by providing a theoretical perspective with roots in information systems development. The outcomes of the studies presented in this thesis indicate that the development practice of mobile learning initiatives can be redefined in order to achieve more sustainable results. The core of this thesis consists of eight peer-reviewed scientific publications that have been presented at different international conferences. Five of the papers explore the field of mobile learning and its practice while the other three publications present the central ideas that serve as the basis for the proposed framework, how it has been developed, and the motivations behind its creation. The main contribution of this thesis is a novel development framework aimed at researchers and practitioners in the field of mobile learning. The framework defines the life-cycle of a mobile learning initiative and identifies the importance of emphasizing the concepts of scalability and sustainability during the development process. This may be a way to reduce the complexity inherent to mobile learning and its settings, and a means to improve the outcomes of coming mobile learning initiatives in terms of long lasting usable results.

Engineering contemporary distributed software applications is a challenging task due to the dynamic operating conditions in which these systems have to function. Examples are dynamic availability of resources, errors that are difficult to predict, and changing user requirements. These dynamics can affect a number of quality concerns of a system, such as robustness, openness, and performance. The challenges of engineering software systems with such dynamics have motivated the need for self-adaptation. Self-adaptation is based on the principle of separation of concerns, distinguishing two well defined systems: a managed system that deals with domain specific concerns and a managing system that deals with particular quality concerns of the managed system through adaptation with a feedback loop. State of the art in self- adaptation advocates the use of formal methods to specify and verify the system's behavior in order to provide evidence that the system's goals are satisfied. However, little work has been done on the consolidation of design knowledge to model and verify self-adaptation behaviors. To support designers, this thesis contributes with a set of formally specified templates for the specification and verification of self-adaptive behaviors of a family of distributed self-adaptive systems. The templates are based on the MAPE-K reference model (Monitor-Analyze-Plan-Execute plus Knowledge). The templates comprise: (1) behavior specification patterns for modeling the different MAPE components of a feedback loop, and (2) property specification patterns that support verification of the correctness of the adaptation behaviors. The target domain are distributed applications in which self-adaptation is used for managing resources for robustness and openness requirements. The templates are derived from expertise with developing several self-adaptive systems, including a collaborative mobile learning application in which we have applied self-adaptation to make the system robust to degrading GPS accuracy, and a robotic system in which we apply self-adaptation to support different types of openness requirements. We demonstrate the reusability of the templates in a number of case studies. / AMULETS

As mobile technologies have increasingly become a part of personal and work environments, mobile learning is emerging as a viable alternative for training and education needs. Faced with the need for innovative and cost-efficient ways for training government employees, agencies and departments are considering the use of mobile learning. The availability of a wide range of mobile technology provides many options. Other than the Department of Defense, little is known about implementing mobile learning in United States government cabinet level agencies and departments. A concurrent, mixed methods case study was used to examine how organizations decide to use, implement and evaluate mobile learning efforts. The framework and context were established through a thorough review of recent, related research literature. A purposive sampling strategy was used with the goal of targeting participants that have the greatest potential of using or considering the use of mobile learning. Three research questions guided the study and concentrated on the influences on the decision to implement mobile learning, the approaches organizations take and the methods used to evaluate implementations. A self-administered online questionnaire, using both structured and semi-structured questions and a review of publicly available documents were used to build a picture of the evidence that described the current state of mobile learning in cabinet-level agencies and departments. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected, integrated, interpreted and compared. Connections and relationships were made between mobile technology use, mobile learning environments, mobile learning content, educators and trainers, mobile learners and mobile learning evaluations. The results revealed that cabinet-level agencies and departments have begun to make use of mobile technology to support the delivery of business service. To a lesser extent, perceptions are forming, and the role of mobile learning continues being defined, as organizations are cautiously adopting its use. Policies and guidelines are in the early stages of development. The results contribute to the growing body of work on the use of mobile learning.

A field of research that is quickly becoming more prominent is the one related to embodied cognition, which states there is an important association between physical activity and cognition. However, research on the application of embodied cognition to education is still at its infancy. More research needs to be done to understand how motion can contribute to student learning, and even further, research is needed on how learning technologies might support physical activity while learning. This research sits at the intersection of embodied cognition, learning technologies, mobile devices, and mathematics education. It implements a novel learning technology platform created at WPI, called the Wearable Learning Cloud Platform (WLCP). Thanks to a child friendly app thats connect to the central web based system, the experience of elementary school children playing physically active games might be improved. This research also analyzes the importance of motor action in students’ math learning: By using three different conditions of a game called the Tangrams Race requiring different levels of physical activity (i.e. embodiment), we compared differences between fine and gross motor actions in regards to learning. Results indicated that physically active mobile games can and do improve math learning. Results also show marginal significant effect in favor of the physically active mobile games (p<0.1, Partial Eta Sq.=0.1) over traditional tutoring systems on a computer.