Les travaux effectués durant cette thèse s'inscrivent dans une problématique assez commune de nos jours : proposer de nouvelles méthodes de formation afin de s'adapter à l'évolution des besoins de la société et aux nouvelles technologies disponibles. En particulier, notre étude se focalise sur le besoin de formation à des activités métier de divers domaines (médical, automobile, aéronautique, etc.) de plus en plus complexes. Alors qu'il existe à l'heure actuelle des outils adaptés pour l'enseignement d'activités impliquant des actions avec des objets du monde réel (jeux sérieux), et d'autres outils adaptés pour l'enseignement d'activités se déroulant intégralement dans une application informatique (tutoriels de logiciel), il n'existe pas d'outil permettant d'enseigner des activités mêlant ces deux types d'opération. Dans ce mémoire, nous décrivons donc tout d'abord les différents travaux menés afin de répondre à cette première problématique. Après avoir étudié les caractéristiques respectives des Jeux Sérieux et des tutoriels de logiciel, nous formalisons l'outil de formation que nous avons conçu afin d'homogénéiser l'utilisation de ces deux catégories d'application dans un seul et même environnement. Nous introduisons alors les notions d'Environnement de Formation et de Scénario de Formation, qui font respectivement la distinction entre l'environnement dans lequel évoluent les apprenants au fur et à mesure des leçons, et la description formelle des activités à réaliser ainsi que des éléments pédagogiques et ludiques qui leurs sont liés.Cependant, le développement d'un tel outil représente une tâche particulièrement ardue pour les formateurs qui ne possèdent souvent pas l'expertise informatique requise. Cette observation vient en contradiction avec le fait que ces mêmes formateurs doivent être impliqués dans le processus de développement, du fait qu'ils possèdent à la fois l'expertise métier et l'expertise pédagogique liées aux activités métier à enseigner. Ainsi, l'étude de méthodes et d'environnements permettant de faciliter la création de tels outils constitue un deuxième axe de recherche de notre thèse. Suite à l’analyse un ensemble de langages textuels et graphiques, nous proposons dans un premier temps un langage dédié permettant de décrire nos Scénarios de Formation. Nous introduisons dans un second temps la représentation associée qui, à l'aide de plusieurs entités graphiques aux formes et à l'utilité bien définies, permet aux formateurs de décrire des scénarios en adéquation avec leurs compétences. Enfin, nous présentons l'environnement auteur permettant de faciliter la tâche aux formateurs grâce à diverses fonctionnalités d'automatisation et de capitalisation. L'ensemble de ces concepts forme la méthodologie globale que nous proposons dans cette thèse afin de rendre accessible la création de scénarios de formation aux formateurs.Finalement, ces différents travaux sont illustrés au travers de plusieurs applications ayant été implémentées afin de mettre en application nos contributions dans le contexte industriel du diagnostic automobile. Nous présentons et évaluons alors l'outil de formation et l'environnement auteur correspondants qui, ensemble, garantissent un processus industriel complet et plausible, depuis la création d'un scénario de formation jusqu'à son exécution. / The work carried out during this PhD thesis is related to a common issue these days: offering new training methods to adapt to the evolution of our society and to the new available technologies. Our study focuses on the necessity of training professional activities which take place in various domains (health, automotive, aeronautics, etc.), and which are becoming more and more complex. Nowadays, there are tools that are adapted to the training of activities involving interactions with objects from the real word (serious games), and there are other tools that are suitable for training activities which only involve the use of one or several business software applications (software tutorials). However, there are no fitting tools for training activities which involve both types of operation. In this manuscript, we first describe the work we performed to bring an answer to this problematic. After having studied the respective features of serious games and software tutorials, we formalize the training tool that we have designed to homogenize the use of these two application categories in a unique computer environment. We then introduce two notions. The first one is the notion of Training Environment, which stands for the environment in which trainees will progress to accomplish the different lessons being available through the tool. In a complementary manner, we define the notion of Training Scenario, which precisely is the formal description of one lesson in the Training Environment, with all its components: activities to be performed, pedagogical elements, and playful elements.However, the implementation of such a tool is a very complex task for trainers which often do not have the required computing expertise. This observation comes in contradiction with the fact that these very trainers must be involved in the development process, because they are the ones who own the professional expertise and the pedagogical expertise associated with the activities to be trained. Thus, the study of methods and environments easing the creation of such tools represent a second research axis for this thesis. After having analyzed a set of textual and graphical languages, we first propose a Domain Specific Modeling Language allowing the description of our Training Scenarios. Second, we introduce the associated representation which, thanks to several graphical entities well-defined, allows trainers to describe their own scenarios in line with their skills and expertise. Last, we present the authoring tool that allows to ease the scenario description task for trainers, thanks to various features which aim at automating the process and promoting reutilization. These concepts shape the global methodology that we propose in this manuscript to make training scenarios creation in trainers reach.Finally, these works are illustrated through the implementation of various applications which aims at putting into practice our contributions in the industrial context of automotive diagnostic. We then present and evaluate the corresponding training tool and authoring tool which together assure a complete and plausible industrial process, from the training scenario description to its execution.

This dissertation presents a framework which supports a group-based exploratory approach to learning and integrates 3D gaming methods and technologies with an institutional learning environment. This provides learners with anytime-anywhere access to interactive learning materials, thereby supporting a self paced and personalised approach to learning. A simulation environment based on real world data has been developed, with a computer games methodology adopted as the means by which users are able to progress through the system. Within a virtual setting users, or groups of users, are faced with a series of dynamic challenges with which they engage until such time as they have shown a certain level of competence. Once a series of domain specific objectives have been met, users are able to progress forward to the next level of the simulation. Through the use of Internet and 3D visualisation technologies, an excavation simulator has been developed which provides the opportunity for students to engage in a virtual excavation project, applying their knowledge and reflecting on the outcomes of their decisions. The excavation simulator enhances the student learning experience by providing opportunities for students to engage with the archaeological excavation process in a customisable, virtual environment. Not only does this provide students with an opportunity to put some of the theories they are familiar with into practice, but it also allows for archaeology courses to place a greater emphasis on the practical application of knowledge that occurs during the excavation process. Laconia Acropolis Virtual Archaeology (LAVA) is a co-operative exploratory learning environment that addresses the need for students to engage with archaeological excavation scenarios. By leveraging the immersive nature of gaming technologies and 3D multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), LAVA facilitates the adoption of exploratory learning practices in environments which have previously been inaccessible due to barriers of space, time or cost.

This thesis presents an ethnographic investigation of teachers’ peer-to-peer engagement in online social spaces, using the concept of teachers’ professional identity as a framework to shape and focus the study. Using Religious Education (RE) as a strong example of the wider phenomenon of teachers’ online engagement, three online social spaces (the Times Educational Supplement’s RE Forum, the National Association of Teachers of RE Facebook Page, and the Save RE Facebook Group) were investigated as case studies. A year was spent in these spaces with digital ethnographic research taking place simultaneously in each one. Data gathering primarily took the form of participant observations, in depth analysis of time-based sampled text (three 8-week samples from each space), online and offline narrative based interviews and, to a lesser extent, questionnaires, elite interviews and analysis of grey literature. The study finds that engagement in the online social spaces offered teachers opportunities to perform and construct their professional identities across a variety of topics ranging from local practical concerns to national political issues. In more practical topics the spaces could often be observed as acting as communities of practice in which professional learning took place and identities were constructed, with such online professional development influencing offline classroom practice. However, engaging across this spectrum of topics afforded users a broad conception of what it means to be a teacher, where professional identity was understood as going beyond classroom practice and integrating engagement with subject-wide, political and policy related issues at a national level. Such engagement provided many users with a feeling of belonging to a national community of peers, which, alongside political activism initiated in online interaction and meaning making debates concerning the future and identity of the subject, provided teachers with feelings of empowerment and a sense of ownership of their subject. However, the study found that teachers’ online engagement took place within structures embedded in the online social spaces that influenced and shaped engagement and the ways in which users’ professional identities were performed and constructed. These structures were linked with the design and technical affordances of the spaces, the agendas of the parent organisations that provided the spaces, and the discourses that dominated the spaces. These aspects of the spaces provided a structure that limited engagement, content and available online identity positions while additionally projecting ideal identity positions, distinctive in each space. These ideal identity positions had a constructive influence over many users who aspired to these ideals, often gaining confidence through expressing such socially validated ideals or feeling inadequate when failing to perform such ideal identity positions. Thus, this study finds a complex relationship between agency linked with active online identity performance and the constructive influence of embedded structures that contributed to the shaping of users’ engagement and their understandings of themselves as professionals and their subject.

Online examinations are an integral component of many online learning environments and a high-stake process for students, teachers and educational institutions. They are the target of many security threats, including intrusion by hackers and collusion. Collu-sion happens when a student invites a third party to impersonate him/her in an online test, or to abet with the exam questions. This research proposed a profile-based chal-lenge question approach to create and consolidate a student's profile during the learning process, to be used for authentication in the examination process. The pro-posed method was investigated in six research studies using a usability test method and a risk-based security assessment method, in order to investigate usability attributes and security threats. The findings of the studies revealed that text-based questions are prone to usability issues such as ambiguity, syntactic variation, and spelling mistakes. The results of a usability analysis suggested that image-based questions are more usable than text-based questions (p < 0.01). The findings identified that dynamic profile questions are more efficient and effective than text-based and image-based questions (p < 0.01). Since text-based questions are associated with an individual's personal information, they are prone to being shared with impersonators. An increase in the numbers of chal-lenge questions being shared showed a significant linear trend (p < 0.01) and increased the success of an impersonation attack. An increase in the database size decreased the success of an impersonation attack with a significant linear trend (p < 0.01). The security analysis of dynamic profile questions revealed that an impersonation attack was not successful when a student shared credentials using email asynchronously. However, a similar attack was successful when a student and impersonator shared information in real time using mobile phones. The response time in this attack was significantly different when a genuine student responded to his challenge questions (p < 0.01). The security analysis revealed that the use of dynamic profile questions in a proctored exam can influence impersonation and abetting. This view was supported by online programme tutors in a focus group study.

Notre travail porte sur les ressources et les connaissances professionnelles des professeurs. Nous nous intéressons en particulier à l'enseignement du nombre à l'école maternelle et considérons le cas des ressources technologiques. Concevoir et mettre en oeuvre un enseignement ayant recours à ces ressources d'une manière qui favorise les apprentissages est complexe et implique sans doute des évolutions dans les ressources, les pratiques et les connaissances professionnelles des professeurs. Notre thèse s'intéresse précisément à saisir ces évolutions et les moteurs de ces évolutions. Nous mobilisons l'approche documentaire du didactique qui nous permet d'envisager l'intégration des ressources technologiques dans le système de ressources des enseignants. Nous articulons à cette approche la notion d'orchestration et analysons les délicates gestions didactiques des ressources technologiques et de ressources tangibles dans les classes de maternelle. Notre travail s'inscrit dans un projet de conception de ressources (projet Mallette, groupe MARENE). Nous suivons sur une durée longue le travail documentaire de deux professeures impliquées dans ce projet.Nous proposons une « plongée » au coeur de la documentation de ces deux professeures. Nous mettons en évidence les articulations entre un système de ressources général et un système de ressources local, lié à l'enseignement du nombre. Nous développons les notions de ressources indispensables et pivots pour penser ces liens. Nous proposons d'y articuler la notion de blocs de ressources situées. Notre étude permet également d'identifier de nouvelles orchestrations spécifiques de l'école maternelle. Elles sont liées à des connaissances professionnelles et des ressources partagées par les professeurs exerçant dans ce contexte (importance de la manipulation en mathématiques, ressources tangibles). Cette étude met en relief des genèses documentaires différentes chez les deux professeures suivies. Nous montrons l'existence de genèses dynamiques dans lesquelles s'entrelacent des processus d'instrumentalisation et d'instrumentation portant sur la conception et la mise en oeuvre d'un enseignement impliquant les ressources technologiques, mais aussi plus largement portant sur l'enseignement du nombre. L'observation des élèves et le collectif sont des moteurs essentiels dans le déploiement de ces genèses. / Our research focuses on kindergarten teachers' resources and professional knowledge. We examine how numbers are taught, particularly with technological resources. Designing and implementing teaching units with these resources, in a fruitful way, is complex, and probably implies that these resources, along with teachers' practices and professional knowledge, evolve. We notably attempt to grasp these evolutions and their impetus. Our theoretical framework mainly refers to the documentational approach of didactics, that allows us to observe how technological resources are integrated in teachers' resource systems. We link up with this approach the notion of orchestration, and analyse the fine didactic management of technological and tangible resources in kindergarten classes. Our study lies within the framework of the research group MARENE, a project on the designing of resources and of the follow-up of their use. Thus, we follow the long-term documentation work of two teachers involved in this project.We propose an « immersion » at the core of these two teachers' documentation activity. We highlight how a general resource system is articulated with a local resource system on the teaching of numbers. We develop the notions of essential ressources and of pivotal resources in order to examine this articulation. We propose to join another notion to these, the notion of set of situated resources. Our research also makes us identify new specific orchestrations at kindergarten school. These are deeply linked to professional knowledge and to resources shared by teachers working in this context (importance, in mathematics, of manipulation, of tangible resources) . We bring out differentdocumentational geneses among the two teachers we follow. We show the dynamic geneses in which the instrumentalisation and instrumentation processes overlap, when it comes to the designing and implementation of lessons including technological ressources, but also, in a broader perspective, as regards the teaching of numbers. The observation of pupils and the collective are essential incentive for the unfolding of these geneses.

This is an ethnographic case-study of research and development practices taking place in an interdisciplinary project between education and computer sciences. The Ensemble-project, part of the Technology Enhanced Learning programme (2008-12), has studied case-based learning in a number of diverse settings in Higher Education, working to develop semantic technologies for supporting that learning. Focussing on one of the six research settings, the discipline of archaeology, the current study has had three purposes. By opening up to scrutiny the practices of research and development, it has firstly sought to understand how a shared research question is answered in practice when divergent research approaches are brought to bear upon it. Secondly, the study has followed the emergence of a piece of semantic technology through these practices. The third aim has been to assess the advantages and disadvantages of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) in studying unfolding, open-ended processes in real time. Through critical ethnographic participation, multiple ethnographic research methods, and by drawing on ANT as theoretical practice, the study has shown the precarious and unpredictable nature of research and development work, the political nature of research methods and how multiple realities can be produced using them, and the need for technology development to flexibly respond to changing circumstances. We have also seen the mutual adoption and extension of practices by the two strands of the project into each others’ domains, and how interdisciplinary tensions resolved, while they did not disappear, through pragmatic changes within the project. The study contributes to the interdisciplinary fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS) where studies on the ‘soft sciences’, such as education, are few, and a new field of Studies in Social Science and Humanities (SSH) which is emerging alongside and from within the STS. Interdisciplinary endeavours between fields pertaining largely to the natural and the social sciences respectively have not been studied commonly within either field.