This research study is an analysis of the intertwining concepts of collaboration, prosumption, and communication in the contemporary digital educational space. The major objective of this thesis is to understand the operationalisation of the collaborative production of free and open artefacts. For this purpose, a framework is established for investigating communication and interaction activities of the people involved and their usage of ICT supported communications. Three exemplary projects are then examined using this framework: Schulbuch-O-Mat, a pilot project in which an electronic OER schoolbook is created; Memrise, an online platform which offers a wide range of user-created learning courses in a variety of topics; and VroniPlag Wiki, a wiki in which dissertations are collaboratively examined in terms of plagiarism. Data for this study were collected in the form of a comparative multiple-case study using a mix of methods such as interviews, questionnaires, participant observation, and the analysis of documents. Using situational analysis, a comparative analysis was conducted in terms of the three main aspects of this study: prosumption, collaboration, and communications. The results show that a balanced mix of communication enabling tools and services facilitates high collaboration. It was also concluded that collaborative working procedures benefit from diverse ways to address participants. The obtained data support the view that less hierarchical structures simplify collaborations and prosumption. Further research should address the issue of digital labour and exploitation as well as the management of conflicts in prosumer orientated collaborations. As a further outcome, a system of categories was derived in the analysis part of this thesis. This categorisation system serves as a foundation towards an approach of analysing collaborative communication.

On a daily basis humans interact with an increasing variety of personal electronic devices, ranging from laptops, tablets, smartphones, and e-readers to shared devices such as projected displays and interactive, digital tabletops. An emerging area of study focuses on understanding how these devices can be used together to support collaborative work. Where prior research has shown benefits of devices used individually, there is currently a lack of understanding of how devices should be used in conjunction to optimize a group's performance. In particular, the research presented in this dissertation combines qualitative and quantitative analyses of group work in three empirical studies to link the use of shared and personal devices to changes in group performance and process. In the first study, participants performed an optimization task with either a single, shared projected display or with the shared, projected display and personal laptops. Analyses of study data indicated that when personal displays were present, group performance was improved for the optimization task ($p = 0.025$). However, personal devices also reduced a group's ability to coordinate ($p = 0.016$). Additionally, when personal devices were present, individuals primarily used those devices instead of dividing time between their laptops and the shared display. To further investigate the support that shared displays provide groups, and in particular, how shared displays might support group work in multi-display settings, a follow-up study was conducted. The second study investigated how two different types of shared displays supported group work. In particular, shared workspaces, which allowed multiple users to simultaneously interact with shared content, and status displays, which provided awareness of the overall problem state to groups, were investigated. While no significant impact on group performance was observed between the two shared display types, qualitative analysis of groups working in these conditions provided insight into how the displays supported collaborative activities. Shared workspace displays provided a visual reference that aided individuals in grounding communication with their collaborators. On the other hand, status displays enabled the monitoring of a group's overall task progress. Regardless of which display was present, an individual's gaze and body position relative to the shared display supported the synchronization of group activities. Finally, where the previous two studies identified collaborative activities that were supported by the use of shared and personal displays, the experimental task performed by participants did not explore the transfer of task materials between shared and personal devices or alternative personal and shared devices. The third study addressed these limitations through the adoption of a new experimental task that enabled the exploration of how the manipulation of task artefacts supported collaborative activities, and alternative shared and personal devices in the form of interactive digital tabletops and tablet computers. In particular, the third study compared how personal and shared displays supported sensemaking groups working under three conditions: with shared, digital tables, with shared digital tables plus personal tablets, and with only personal tablets. Quantitative analyses revealed that the presence of the shared, digital tabletop significantly improved a group's ability to perform the sensemaking task ($p = 0.019$). Further, qualitative analyses revealed that the table supported key sensemaking activities: the prioritization of task materials, the ability to compare data, and the formation of group hypotheses. This dissertation makes four primary contributions to the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work. First, it identifies cases where the presence of shared and personal displays provide performance benefits to groups, and through qualitative analyses links these performance benefits to group processes. Second, observed uses are grounded in an established process model, and used to identify collaborative activities that are supported by personal and shared devices. Third, equity of participation on shared displays is found to positively correlate ($p = 0.028$), and equity of participation on personal displays is found to negatively correlate ($p = 0.01$) with group performance for sensemaking tasks. Fourth, the method for studying group process and performance based on teamwork and taskwork provides a useful foundation for future studies of collaborative work.

On a daily basis humans interact with an increasing variety of personal electronic devices, ranging from laptops, tablets, smartphones, and e-readers to shared devices such as projected displays and interactive, digital tabletops. An emerging area of study focuses on understanding how these devices can be used together to support collaborative work. Where prior research has shown benefits of devices used individually, there is currently a lack of understanding of how devices should be used in conjunction to optimize a group's performance. In particular, the research presented in this dissertation combines qualitative and quantitative analyses of group work in three empirical studies to link the use of shared and personal devices to changes in group performance and process. In the first study, participants performed an optimization task with either a single, shared projected display or with the shared, projected display and personal laptops. Analyses of study data indicated that when personal displays were present, group performance was improved for the optimization task ($p = 0.025$). However, personal devices also reduced a group's ability to coordinate ($p = 0.016$). Additionally, when personal devices were present, individuals primarily used those devices instead of dividing time between their laptops and the shared display. To further investigate the support that shared displays provide groups, and in particular, how shared displays might support group work in multi-display settings, a follow-up study was conducted. The second study investigated how two different types of shared displays supported group work. In particular, shared workspaces, which allowed multiple users to simultaneously interact with shared content, and status displays, which provided awareness of the overall problem state to groups, were investigated. While no significant impact on group performance was observed between the two shared display types, qualitative analysis of groups working in these conditions provided insight into how the displays supported collaborative activities. Shared workspace displays provided a visual reference that aided individuals in grounding communication with their collaborators. On the other hand, status displays enabled the monitoring of a group's overall task progress. Regardless of which display was present, an individual's gaze and body position relative to the shared display supported the synchronization of group activities. Finally, where the previous two studies identified collaborative activities that were supported by the use of shared and personal displays, the experimental task performed by participants did not explore the transfer of task materials between shared and personal devices or alternative personal and shared devices. The third study addressed these limitations through the adoption of a new experimental task that enabled the exploration of how the manipulation of task artefacts supported collaborative activities, and alternative shared and personal devices in the form of interactive digital tabletops and tablet computers. In particular, the third study compared how personal and shared displays supported sensemaking groups working under three conditions: with shared, digital tables, with shared digital tables plus personal tablets, and with only personal tablets. Quantitative analyses revealed that the presence of the shared, digital tabletop significantly improved a group's ability to perform the sensemaking task ($p = 0.019$). Further, qualitative analyses revealed that the table supported key sensemaking activities: the prioritization of task materials, the ability to compare data, and the formation of group hypotheses. This dissertation makes four primary contributions to the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work. First, it identifies cases where the presence of shared and personal displays provide performance benefits to groups, and through qualitative analyses links these performance benefits to group processes. Second, observed uses are grounded in an established process model, and used to identify collaborative activities that are supported by personal and shared devices. Third, equity of participation on shared displays is found to positively correlate ($p = 0.028$), and equity of participation on personal displays is found to negatively correlate ($p = 0.01$) with group performance for sensemaking tasks. Fourth, the method for studying group process and performance based on teamwork and taskwork provides a useful foundation for future studies of collaborative work.

What happens when an online community moves to a real space? Take the case of Anonymous. For several years now, this, loosely connected, entirely internet based group has been known for online pranks and griefing, often being labeled by the media as "hackers on steroids" or "the Internet Hate Machine". However, recently a significant portion of the group has taken up the cause of protesting what it sees as criminal injustices of the Church of Scientology. This move into the real world sparked various discussions which are relevant for online communities as a whole. What negotiations, compromises, and changes took place in order to move into the real world space? In what ways has the group succeeded (or failed) in maintaining the momentum needed for long term real-world protest and what can other online communities gain from this history?

Diss. Ronneby : Blekinge tekniska högskola, 2005.

abstract: With the rapid growth of mobile computing and sensor technology, it is now possible to access data from a variety of sources. A big challenge lies in linking sensor based data with social and cognitive variables in humans in real world context. This dissertation explores the relationship between creativity in teamwork, and team members' movement and face-to-face interaction strength in the wild. Using sociometric badges (wearable sensors), electronic Experience Sampling Methods (ESM), the KEYS team creativity assessment instrument, and qualitative methods, three research studies were conducted in academic and industry R&D; labs. Sociometric badges captured movement of team members and face-to-face interaction between team members. KEYS scale was implemented using ESM for self-rated creativity and expert-coded creativity assessment. Activities (movement and face-to-face interaction) and creativity of one five member and two seven member teams were tracked for twenty five days, eleven days, and fifteen days respectively. Day wise values of movement and face-to-face interaction for participants were mean split categorized as creative and non-creative using self- rated creativity measure and expert-coded creativity measure. Paired-samples t-tests [t(36) = 3.132, p < 0.005; t(23) = 6.49 , p < 0.001] confirmed that average daily movement energy during creative days (M = 1.31, SD = 0.04; M = 1.37, SD = 0.07) was significantly greater than the average daily movement of non-creative days (M = 1.29, SD = 0.03; M = 1.24, SD = 0.09). The eta squared statistic (0.21; 0.36) indicated a large effect size. A paired-samples t-test also confirmed that face-to-face interaction tie strength of team members during creative days (M = 2.69, SD = 4.01) is significantly greater [t(41) = 2.36, p < 0.01] than the average face-to-face interaction tie strength of team members for non-creative days (M = 0.9, SD = 2.1). The eta squared statistic (0.11) indicated a large effect size. The combined approach of principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) conducted on movement and face-to-face interaction data predicted creativity with 87.5% and 91% accuracy respectively. This work advances creativity research and provides a foundation for sensor based real-time creativity support tools for teams. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Computer Science 2011

O trabalho de pesquisa apresentado nesta tese tem por objetivo apoiar o projeto distribuído de sistemas integrados, considerando especificamente a necessidade de interação colaborativa entre os projetistas. O trabalho enfatiza particularmente alguns problemas que foram considerados apenas marginalmente em abordagens anteriores, como a abstração da distribuição em rede dos recursos de automação de projeto, a possibilidade de interação síncrona e assíncrona entre projetistas e o suporte a modelos extensíveis de dados de projeto. Tais problemas requerem uma infra-estrutura de software significativamente complexa, pois possíveis soluções envolvem diversos módulos, desde interfaces com o usuário até bancos de dados e middleware. Para construir tal infra-estrutura, várias técnicas de engenharia foram empregadas e algumas soluções originais foram desenvolvidas. A idéia central da solução proposta é baseada no emprego conjunto de duas tecnologias homônimas: CAD Frameworks (ambientes integrados de apoio ao projeto) e frameworks orientados a objeto. O primeiro conceito foi criado no final da década de 80 na área de automação de projeto de sistemas eletrônicos e define uma arquitetura de software em níveis, voltada ao apoio a desenvolvedores de ferramentas de projeto, administradores de ambientes de projeto e projetistas. O segundo, desenvolvido na última década na área de engenharia de software, é um modelo para arquiteturas de software visando o desenvolvimento de sub-sistemas reusáveis de software orientado a objeto. No presente trabalho, propõe-se a criação de um framework orientado a objetos que inclui conjuntos extensíveis de primitivas de dados de projeto bem como de blocos para a construção de ferramentas de CAD. Esse framework orientado a objeto é agregado a um CAD Framework, onde ele passa a desempenhar funções tipicamente encontradas em tal ambiente, tais como representação e administração de dados de projeto, versionamento, interface com usuário, administração de projeto e integração de ferramentas. O CAD Framework implementado dentro do escopo desta tese foi chamado Cave2 e seguiu a clássica arquitetura em níveis apresentada por Barnes, Harrison, Newton e Spickelmier. Durante o projeto e a implementação do Cave2, uma série de avanços em relação as abordagens anteriores foi obtida com a exploração das vantagens advindas do uso de um framework orientado a objetos: - frameworks orientados a objetos são extensíveis por definição, então o mesmo pode ser dito a respeito das implementações dos conjuntos de primitivas de dados de projeto bem como de blocos para a construção de ferramentas de CAD. Isso implica que tanto o modelo de representação de projeto quanto os módulos de software processando tal modelo podem ser atualizados ou adaptados para uma metodologia de projeto específica, e que essas atualizações e adaptações ainda herdarão os aspectos arquiteturais e funcionais implementados nos elementos básicos do framework orientado a objetos; partes do framework orientado a objetos, mas em modelos claramente separados. Isso possibilita o uso de várias estratégias para a visualização de um conjunto de dados de 15 projeto, o que dá aos participantes de uma sessão de projeto colaborativo a flexibilidade de escolha individual de estratégia de visualização; - o controle de consistência entre semântica e visualização - uma questão particularmente importante em um ambiente de projeto onde coexistem múltiplas visualizações de cada projeto - também está incluído nas fundações do framework orientado a objetos implementado. Esse mecanismo é genérico o bastante para ser usado também pelas possíveis extensões do modelo de dados de projeto, uma vez que ele é baseado na inversão de controle entre a visualização e a semântica. A visualização recebe a intenção do usuário e propaga esse evento ao modelo da semântica, o qual avalia a possibilidade de uma mudança de estado. Se positivo, ele dispara a mudança de estado em ambos os modelos de visualização e semântica. A abordagem proposta nesta tese usa tal inversão de controle para incluir um nível adicional de processamento entre a semântica e a visualização, visando o controle de consistência nos casos de múltiplas visualizações; indisponibilidade de conexão entre elas; - o uso de objetos de proxy aumentou significativamente o nível de abstração da integração de recursos de automação de projeto, pois tanto ferramentas e serviços remotos quanto os instalados localmente são acessados através de chamadas de métodos em um objeto local. A conexão aos serviços e ferramentas remotos é obtida através de um protocolo de look-up, abstraíndo completamente a localização de tais recursos na rede e permitindo a adição e remoção em tempo de execução; - o CAD Framework foi implementato completamente usando a tecnologia Java, usando dessa forma a Java Virtual Machine como intermediário entre o sistema operacional e o CAD Framework, garantindo dessa forma a independência de plataforma. Todas as contribuições listadas anteriormente contribuiram com o aumento do nível de abstração da distribuição de recursos de automação de projeto e também apresentaram um novo paradigma para a interação remota entre projetistas. O CAD Framework no qual tais contribuições foram aplicadas é capaz de suportar colaboração de granularidade fina baseada em eventos, onde cada atualização feita por um projetista pode ser propagada para o restante da equipe, mesmo que estejam todos geograficamente distribuídos. Isto pode aumentar a sinergia de grupo entre os projetistas e permitir uma troca mais rica de experiências entre eles, aumentando significativamente o potencial de colaboração quando comparado com abordages baseadas em acesso a arquivos e registros propostas anteriormente. Três estudos de caso diferentes foram realizados para validar a abordagem proposta, cada um deles envolvendo um sub-conjunto das contribuições da presente tese. O primeiro utiliza a arquitetura de distribuição de recursos baseada em proxies para implementar uma plataforma de prototipação usando módulos de hardware reconfigurável. O segundo estende as fundações do framework orientado a objetos visando suportar projeto baseado em interfaces. Essas extensões - primitivas de representação de projeto e partes de ferramentas - são usadas na implementação de uma ferramenta chamada IBlaDe, que permite a criação colaborativa de modelos funcionais e estruturais de sistemas integrados. O terceiro estudo de caso aborda a possibilidade de integração de metadados multimídia ao modelo de dados de projeto. Essa possibilidade é explorada no contexto de uma plataforma online de educação e treinamento. / The work described in this thesis aims to support the distributed design of integrated systems and considers specifically the need for collaborative interaction among designers. Particular emphasis was given to issues which were only marginally considered in previous approaches, such as the abstraction of the distribution of design automation resources over the network, the possibility of both synchronous and asynchronous interaction among designers and the support for extensible design data models. Such issues demand a rather complex software infrastructure, as possible solutions must encompass a wide range of software modules: from user interfaces to middleware to databases. To build such structure, several engineering techniques were employed and some original solutions were devised. The core of the proposed solution is based in the joint application of two homonymic technologies: CAD Frameworks and object-oriented frameworks. The former concept was coined in the late 80's within the electronic design automation community and comprehends a layered software environment which aims to support CAD tool developers, CAD administrators/integrators and designers. The latter, developed during the last decade by the software engineering community, is a software architecture model to build extensible and reusable object-oriented software subsystems. In this work, we proposed to create an object-oriented framework which includes extensible sets of design data primitives and design tool building blocks. Such object-oriented framework is included within a CAD Framework, where it plays important roles on typical CAD Framework services such as design data representation and management, versioning, user interfaces, design management and tool integration. The implemented CAD Framework - named Cave2 - followed the classical layered architecture presented by Barnes, Harrison, Newton and Spickelmier, but the possibilities granted by the use of the object-oriented framework foundations allowed a series of improvements which were not available in previous approaches: - object-oriented frameworks are extensible by design, thus this should be also true regarding the implemented sets of design data primitives and design tool building blocks. This means that both the design representation model and the software modules dealing with it can be upgraded or adapted to a particular design methodology, and that such extensions and adaptations will still inherit the architectural and functional aspects implemented in the object-oriented framework foundation; - the design semantics and the design visualization are both part of the object-oriented framework, but in clearly separated models. This allows for different visualization strategies for a given design data set, which gives collaborating parties the flexibility to choose individual visualization settings; - the control of the consistency between semantics and visualization - a particularly important issue in a design environment with multiple views of a single design - is also included in the foundations of the object-oriented framework. Such mechanism is generic enough to be also used by further extensions of the design data model, as it is based on the inversion of control between view and semantics. The view receives the user input and propagates such event to the semantic model, which evaluates if a state change is possible. If positive, it triggers the change of state of both semantics and view. Our approach took advantage of such inversion of control and included an layer between semantics and view to take into account the possibility of multi-view consistency; - to optimize the consistency control mechanism between views and semantics, we propose an event-based approach that captures each discrete interaction of a designer with his/her respective design views. The information about each interaction is encapsulated inside an event object, which may be propagated to the design semantics - and thus to other possible views - according to the consistency policy which is being used. Furthermore, the use of event pools allows for a late synchronization between view and semantics in case of unavailability of a network connection between them; - the use of proxy objects raised significantly the abstraction of the integration of design automation resources, as either remote or local tools and services are accessed through method calls in a local object. The connection to remote tools and services using a look-up protocol also abstracted completely the network location of such resources, allowing for resource addition and removal during runtime; - the implemented CAD Framework is completely based on Java technology, so it relies on the Java Virtual Machine as the layer which grants the independence between the CAD Framework and the operating system. All such improvements contributed to a higher abstraction on the distribution of design automation resources and also introduced a new paradigm for the remote interaction between designers. The resulting CAD Framework is able to support fine-grained collaboration based on events, so every single design update performed by a designer can be propagated to the rest of the design team regardless of their location in the distributed environment. This can increase the group awareness and allow a richer transfer of experiences among them, improving significantly the collaboration potential when compared to previously proposed file-based or record-based approaches. Three different case studies were conducted to validate the proposed approach, each one focusing one a subset of the contributions of this thesis. The first one uses the proxy-based resource distribution architecture to implement a prototyping platform using reconfigurable hardware modules. The second one extends the foundations of the implemented object-oriented framework to support interface-based design. Such extensions - design representation primitives and tool blocks - are used to implement a design entry tool named IBlaDe, which allows the collaborative creation of functional and structural models of integrated systems. The third case study regards the possibility of integration of multimedia metadata to the design data model. Such possibility is explored in the frame of an online educational and training platform.

Parte da comunidade de pesquisa em ensino de Física tem devotado atenção ao estudo de métodos ativos de ensino que primam pela centralização do processo de ensino-aprendizagem no aluno. Além da aprendizagem conceitual, tais métodos buscam favorecer o desenvolvimento de habilidades associadas ao trabalho colaborativo e à argumentação, e diminuir a evasão estudantil. Em disciplinas de Física Experimental alguns desses métodos envolvem a aprendizagem por modelagem científica. Contudo, o sucesso de tais iniciativas depende, entre outros fatores, do quanto os alunos se julgam capazes de realizar as atividades propostas pelo professor, ou seja, do nível de autoeficácia dos alunos em realizar determinadas ações. Pesquisas do grupo de Ensino de Física da Universidade Internacional da Flórida apontam para uma baixa mudança ou redução em níveis de autoeficácia em função do uso de métodos ativos. Com base nesses resultados propomos um estudo de caso exploratório, único e incorporado com múltiplas unidades de análise. O objetivo geral dessa dissertação é o de estudar as influências do método Episódios de Modelagem (EM) (similar ao método Modeling Instruction - MI) sobre as atitudes e crenças de autoeficácia dos estudantes em aprender física, realizar atividades experimentais e trabalhar colaborativamente. Para isso procuramos responder às seguintes questões: Quais os impactos da aplicação de Episódios de Modelagem nas crenças de autoeficácia e atitudes dos estudantes em relação a: (i) aprender física?; (ii) realizar atividades experimentais?; e (iii) trabalhar colaborativamente? Para responder a tais questões de pesquisa, adotamos as orientações metodológicas para estudo de caso de Yin (2010) e utilizamos a Teoria Social Cognitiva, em específico, o conceito de autoeficácia, de Bandura (1997). Para a investigação, realizamos um estudo exploratório com múltiplas unidades de análise (8 estudantes) na disciplina de Física Experimental II – A, que aborda os conteúdos de oscilações, ondulatória, hidrostática e termodinâmica. Os resultados mostraram que as atitudes dos alunos frente ao aprendizado de física com o método de ensino foram positivas tendo sido destacadas, principalmente, o planejamento e execução de seus próprios experimentos e as discussões fomentadas pelas apresentações dos resultados e correções das tarefas de leitura. Como fatores negativos foram mencionados: o fato da disciplina ser muito trabalhosa e de não ter tempo suficiente em aula para a realização dos planejamentos e análise de dados. Já as atitudes frente às atividades experimentais e trabalho colaborativo foram reforçadas para os sete alunos aprovados na disciplina. Sobre as crenças de autoeficácia em aprender física e em trabalhar colaborativamente, constatamos que as crenças dos alunos foram influenciadas positivamente pelas atividades desenvolvidas com o método de ensino, através de três das principais fontes destacadas por Bandura: experiências de domínio e vicárias e persuasão social. Também constatamos um reajuste na percepção dos alunos quanto aos seus níveis de autoeficácia devido às experiências vivenciadas com o método EM em comparação ao método utilizado na disciplina anterior (que utiliza roteiros dirigidos nos experimentos). Novas pesquisas são necessárias para dar continuidade a este estudo exploratório, investigando mais profundamente o processo de reajuste dos níveis de autoeficácia. / Part of the Physics Education Research (PER) community has devoted its attention to the study of Active Learning methods focusing on the centralization of the teaching-learning process at the students. Beyond the conceptual learning, these methods seek to foster the development of abilities associated to the collaborative work and argumentation, and also to decrease student’s dropout. In experimental physics disciplines, some of those methods involve the scientific modeling learning. However, the success of such initiatives depends on how much the students judge themselves capable of carrying out the activities proposed by the teacher, that is, it depends on the student’s self-efficacy levels in perform certain actions. Studies of the PER from the Florida International University show a small change or even a reduction on self-efficacy levels in function of the use of active methods. Based on those results we propose an exploratory case-study incorporated with multiple analysis unities. The general purpose of this dissertation is to study the influence of the Modeling Episodes (ME) method (similar to the MI method) on the students’ attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs about learning physics; conduct experimental activities; and work collaboratively. We tried to answer the following questions: What are the impacts of the ME application on the students’ self-efficacy beliefs and attitudes regarding: (i) learning physics?, (ii) carrying out experimental activities?, and (iii) working collaboratively? To answer these research questions we adopted the methodological orientations for Yin’s case-study and we used the Cognitive Social Theory, specifically, Bandura’s self-efficacy concept. For the investigation, we carried out an exploratory study with multiple analysis unities (8 students) at Experimental Physics II – A, class that discuss oscillations, waves, hydrostatic and thermodynamic. The results showed the students’ attitudes regarding the learning of physics as a teaching method were positive, specially: the planning and execution of their own experiments; the discussions fomented by the presentation of the results; and the evaluation of the reading assignments by the teacher. As negative factors, it was mentioned: the fact that the class was quite laborious and short time to carry out the planning and data analysis in class. Regarding the self-efficacy beliefs about learning physics and work collaboratively, the students’ beliefs were influenced positively by the activities developed with the teaching method, through three of the main sources highlighted by Bandura: mastery, vicarious experiences and social persuasion. We also identified a readjustment on student’s perception about their self-efficacy levels due to the experience with the ME method when compared to the method used in the previous experimental physics class (which used guided experimental scripts). New studies are necessary to give continuity to this exploratory study, investigating more deeply the readjustment process of the self-efficacy levels.

O trabalho de pesquisa apresentado nesta tese tem por objetivo apoiar o projeto distribuído de sistemas integrados, considerando especificamente a necessidade de interação colaborativa entre os projetistas. O trabalho enfatiza particularmente alguns problemas que foram considerados apenas marginalmente em abordagens anteriores, como a abstração da distribuição em rede dos recursos de automação de projeto, a possibilidade de interação síncrona e assíncrona entre projetistas e o suporte a modelos extensíveis de dados de projeto. Tais problemas requerem uma infra-estrutura de software significativamente complexa, pois possíveis soluções envolvem diversos módulos, desde interfaces com o usuário até bancos de dados e middleware. Para construir tal infra-estrutura, várias técnicas de engenharia foram empregadas e algumas soluções originais foram desenvolvidas. A idéia central da solução proposta é baseada no emprego conjunto de duas tecnologias homônimas: CAD Frameworks (ambientes integrados de apoio ao projeto) e frameworks orientados a objeto. O primeiro conceito foi criado no final da década de 80 na área de automação de projeto de sistemas eletrônicos e define uma arquitetura de software em níveis, voltada ao apoio a desenvolvedores de ferramentas de projeto, administradores de ambientes de projeto e projetistas. O segundo, desenvolvido na última década na área de engenharia de software, é um modelo para arquiteturas de software visando o desenvolvimento de sub-sistemas reusáveis de software orientado a objeto. No presente trabalho, propõe-se a criação de um framework orientado a objetos que inclui conjuntos extensíveis de primitivas de dados de projeto bem como de blocos para a construção de ferramentas de CAD. Esse framework orientado a objeto é agregado a um CAD Framework, onde ele passa a desempenhar funções tipicamente encontradas em tal ambiente, tais como representação e administração de dados de projeto, versionamento, interface com usuário, administração de projeto e integração de ferramentas. O CAD Framework implementado dentro do escopo desta tese foi chamado Cave2 e seguiu a clássica arquitetura em níveis apresentada por Barnes, Harrison, Newton e Spickelmier. Durante o projeto e a implementação do Cave2, uma série de avanços em relação as abordagens anteriores foi obtida com a exploração das vantagens advindas do uso de um framework orientado a objetos: - frameworks orientados a objetos são extensíveis por definição, então o mesmo pode ser dito a respeito das implementações dos conjuntos de primitivas de dados de projeto bem como de blocos para a construção de ferramentas de CAD. Isso implica que tanto o modelo de representação de projeto quanto os módulos de software processando tal modelo podem ser atualizados ou adaptados para uma metodologia de projeto específica, e que essas atualizações e adaptações ainda herdarão os aspectos arquiteturais e funcionais implementados nos elementos básicos do framework orientado a objetos; partes do framework orientado a objetos, mas em modelos claramente separados. Isso possibilita o uso de várias estratégias para a visualização de um conjunto de dados de 15 projeto, o que dá aos participantes de uma sessão de projeto colaborativo a flexibilidade de escolha individual de estratégia de visualização; - o controle de consistência entre semântica e visualização - uma questão particularmente importante em um ambiente de projeto onde coexistem múltiplas visualizações de cada projeto - também está incluído nas fundações do framework orientado a objetos implementado. Esse mecanismo é genérico o bastante para ser usado também pelas possíveis extensões do modelo de dados de projeto, uma vez que ele é baseado na inversão de controle entre a visualização e a semântica. A visualização recebe a intenção do usuário e propaga esse evento ao modelo da semântica, o qual avalia a possibilidade de uma mudança de estado. Se positivo, ele dispara a mudança de estado em ambos os modelos de visualização e semântica. A abordagem proposta nesta tese usa tal inversão de controle para incluir um nível adicional de processamento entre a semântica e a visualização, visando o controle de consistência nos casos de múltiplas visualizações; indisponibilidade de conexão entre elas; - o uso de objetos de proxy aumentou significativamente o nível de abstração da integração de recursos de automação de projeto, pois tanto ferramentas e serviços remotos quanto os instalados localmente são acessados através de chamadas de métodos em um objeto local. A conexão aos serviços e ferramentas remotos é obtida através de um protocolo de look-up, abstraíndo completamente a localização de tais recursos na rede e permitindo a adição e remoção em tempo de execução; - o CAD Framework foi implementato completamente usando a tecnologia Java, usando dessa forma a Java Virtual Machine como intermediário entre o sistema operacional e o CAD Framework, garantindo dessa forma a independência de plataforma. Todas as contribuições listadas anteriormente contribuiram com o aumento do nível de abstração da distribuição de recursos de automação de projeto e também apresentaram um novo paradigma para a interação remota entre projetistas. O CAD Framework no qual tais contribuições foram aplicadas é capaz de suportar colaboração de granularidade fina baseada em eventos, onde cada atualização feita por um projetista pode ser propagada para o restante da equipe, mesmo que estejam todos geograficamente distribuídos. Isto pode aumentar a sinergia de grupo entre os projetistas e permitir uma troca mais rica de experiências entre eles, aumentando significativamente o potencial de colaboração quando comparado com abordages baseadas em acesso a arquivos e registros propostas anteriormente. Três estudos de caso diferentes foram realizados para validar a abordagem proposta, cada um deles envolvendo um sub-conjunto das contribuições da presente tese. O primeiro utiliza a arquitetura de distribuição de recursos baseada em proxies para implementar uma plataforma de prototipação usando módulos de hardware reconfigurável. O segundo estende as fundações do framework orientado a objetos visando suportar projeto baseado em interfaces. Essas extensões - primitivas de representação de projeto e partes de ferramentas - são usadas na implementação de uma ferramenta chamada IBlaDe, que permite a criação colaborativa de modelos funcionais e estruturais de sistemas integrados. O terceiro estudo de caso aborda a possibilidade de integração de metadados multimídia ao modelo de dados de projeto. Essa possibilidade é explorada no contexto de uma plataforma online de educação e treinamento. / The work described in this thesis aims to support the distributed design of integrated systems and considers specifically the need for collaborative interaction among designers. Particular emphasis was given to issues which were only marginally considered in previous approaches, such as the abstraction of the distribution of design automation resources over the network, the possibility of both synchronous and asynchronous interaction among designers and the support for extensible design data models. Such issues demand a rather complex software infrastructure, as possible solutions must encompass a wide range of software modules: from user interfaces to middleware to databases. To build such structure, several engineering techniques were employed and some original solutions were devised. The core of the proposed solution is based in the joint application of two homonymic technologies: CAD Frameworks and object-oriented frameworks. The former concept was coined in the late 80's within the electronic design automation community and comprehends a layered software environment which aims to support CAD tool developers, CAD administrators/integrators and designers. The latter, developed during the last decade by the software engineering community, is a software architecture model to build extensible and reusable object-oriented software subsystems. In this work, we proposed to create an object-oriented framework which includes extensible sets of design data primitives and design tool building blocks. Such object-oriented framework is included within a CAD Framework, where it plays important roles on typical CAD Framework services such as design data representation and management, versioning, user interfaces, design management and tool integration. The implemented CAD Framework - named Cave2 - followed the classical layered architecture presented by Barnes, Harrison, Newton and Spickelmier, but the possibilities granted by the use of the object-oriented framework foundations allowed a series of improvements which were not available in previous approaches: - object-oriented frameworks are extensible by design, thus this should be also true regarding the implemented sets of design data primitives and design tool building blocks. This means that both the design representation model and the software modules dealing with it can be upgraded or adapted to a particular design methodology, and that such extensions and adaptations will still inherit the architectural and functional aspects implemented in the object-oriented framework foundation; - the design semantics and the design visualization are both part of the object-oriented framework, but in clearly separated models. This allows for different visualization strategies for a given design data set, which gives collaborating parties the flexibility to choose individual visualization settings; - the control of the consistency between semantics and visualization - a particularly important issue in a design environment with multiple views of a single design - is also included in the foundations of the object-oriented framework. Such mechanism is generic enough to be also used by further extensions of the design data model, as it is based on the inversion of control between view and semantics. The view receives the user input and propagates such event to the semantic model, which evaluates if a state change is possible. If positive, it triggers the change of state of both semantics and view. Our approach took advantage of such inversion of control and included an layer between semantics and view to take into account the possibility of multi-view consistency; - to optimize the consistency control mechanism between views and semantics, we propose an event-based approach that captures each discrete interaction of a designer with his/her respective design views. The information about each interaction is encapsulated inside an event object, which may be propagated to the design semantics - and thus to other possible views - according to the consistency policy which is being used. Furthermore, the use of event pools allows for a late synchronization between view and semantics in case of unavailability of a network connection between them; - the use of proxy objects raised significantly the abstraction of the integration of design automation resources, as either remote or local tools and services are accessed through method calls in a local object. The connection to remote tools and services using a look-up protocol also abstracted completely the network location of such resources, allowing for resource addition and removal during runtime; - the implemented CAD Framework is completely based on Java technology, so it relies on the Java Virtual Machine as the layer which grants the independence between the CAD Framework and the operating system. All such improvements contributed to a higher abstraction on the distribution of design automation resources and also introduced a new paradigm for the remote interaction between designers. The resulting CAD Framework is able to support fine-grained collaboration based on events, so every single design update performed by a designer can be propagated to the rest of the design team regardless of their location in the distributed environment. This can increase the group awareness and allow a richer transfer of experiences among them, improving significantly the collaboration potential when compared to previously proposed file-based or record-based approaches. Three different case studies were conducted to validate the proposed approach, each one focusing one a subset of the contributions of this thesis. The first one uses the proxy-based resource distribution architecture to implement a prototyping platform using reconfigurable hardware modules. The second one extends the foundations of the implemented object-oriented framework to support interface-based design. Such extensions - design representation primitives and tool blocks - are used to implement a design entry tool named IBlaDe, which allows the collaborative creation of functional and structural models of integrated systems. The third case study regards the possibility of integration of multimedia metadata to the design data model. Such possibility is explored in the frame of an online educational and training platform.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:36:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EleideGTTL_DISSERT.pdf: 1128313 bytes, checksum: d050de72e7397c60828fb906337b38c5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-29 / The school inclusion presents a number of challenges that has been mobilizing initiatives and studies about its effectiveness. If on one hand in such studies and initiatives it becomes important to emphasize on the role and training of teachers, on the other, there is few studies about the role (and performance) of the pedagogical coordination in face of this process. In this sense, this research focuses on the role of educational coordination in face of the school inclusion of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and it undertakes the following study s questions: has the action by the coordinator contributed to the process of including students with Special Educational Needs? How is it presented in the process of inclusion of students with SEN in regular education? And it aims to: investigate the role of the pedagogical coordinator in the process of inclusion of students with Special Educational Needs of Primary Education at regular schools; and to analyze the limits and possibilities of the coordinator actions in the process of inclusion of students with SEN. For the effectiveness of the research, a state school of Elementary School located at the city of Natal/RN was taken as an empiric field. It was selected as research subjects 4 coordinators, 2 teachers of the Multifunctional Resources Room and 2 teachers of 6th to 9th grades. The methodological approach that was used in this research is consistent with the qualitative approach, and it is configured as a case study, as it is understood that this type of research responds to the objective of the study, assuming the observation of everyday school life, the educational document analysis and interviews with the subjects as procedures and tools to build data. The construction and analysis of the data were followed by a dialogue with the literature dedicated to coordinating education and school enrollment. Considering the responsibilities of the contemporary pedagogical coordination due to the challenges and possibilities of schooling for all students, specially regarding to what is referred as collaborative work and ongoing training of teachers, this study points out to the lack of an articulated action related to the school inclusion process, considering the monitoring of the teaching activity and its dialogue with the Multifunctional Resources Room. Moreover, the emphasis on meeting the daily school routines and the compliance with bureaucratic procedures, put it into second, restructuring of the Political-Pedagogical and the possibility of mobilization of school around the problematization and systematization of an inclusive school project. The effectiveness of school s inclusion, therefore, implies the scaling of the functions of the pedagogical coordination, as well as the reorganization of the school it self, to ensure the mediation of collaborative actions, contemplating the teachers continuing education, having as a landmark difficulties, problems and experiences constructed in the school context / O processo de inclus?o escolar apresenta uma s?rie de desafios que vem mobilizando estudos e iniciativas em torno de sua efetiva??o. Se por um lado em tais estudos e iniciativas ganha relevo a ?nfase na atua??o e forma??o dos professores, por outro, verifica-se poucos estudos sobre o papel (e a atua??o) da coordena??o pedag?gica face a esse processo. Nesse sentido, a nossa investiga??o centra-se no papel da coordena??o pedag?gica em face da inclus?o escolar de alunos com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais (NEE) e assume as seguintes quest?es de estudo: a atua??o do coordenador tem contribu?do para o processo de inclus?o de alunos com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais? Como se apresenta as a??es pedag?gicas do coordenador no processo de inclus?o de aluno com NEE no ensino regular? E tem por objetivos: investigar a atua??o do coordenador pedag?gico no processo de inclus?o de aluno com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais no Ensino Fundamental na escola regular; e analisar os limites e possibilidades das a??es do coordenador no processo inclus?o de alunos com NEE. Para a efetiva??o da pesquisa tomamos como campo emp?rico uma escola estadual de Ensino Fundamental, da cidade de Natal/RN. Foram selecionados como sujeitos da pesquisa 4 coordenadores, 2 professores da Sala de Recursos Multifuncionais e 2 professores das turmas do 6? ao 9? ano. O percurso metodol?gico que utilizamos insere-se na abordagem qualitativa e se configura como um Estudo de Caso, por compreendermos que essa modalidade de pesquisa responde ao objetivo do estudo, assumindo como procedimentos e instrumentos de constru??o de dados, a observa??o do cotidiano escolar, a an?lise de documentos educacionais e a realiza??o de entrevistas com os sujeitos da pesquisa. A constru??o e a an?lise dos dados foram acompanhadas da interlocu??o com a literatura que se dedica ? coordena??o pedag?gica e ? inclus?o escolar. Considerando as atribui??es contempor?neas da coordena??o pedag?gica em decorr?ncia dos desafios e possibilidades da escolariza??o de todos os alunos, sobretudo no que se refere ao trabalho colaborativo e ? forma??o continuada dos professores, o nosso estudo aponta para uma aus?ncia de uma a??o articulada no que se refere ao processo de inclus?o escolar, considerando o acompanhamento das atividades docentes e sua interlocu??o com a Sala de Recursos Multifuncionais. Al?m disso, a ?nfase no atendimento das rotinas do cotidiano escolar e da observ?ncia de procedimentos burocr?ticos, secundarizaram, entre outras coisas, a reestrutura??o do Projeto Pol?tico-Pedag?gico e a possibilidade de mobiliza??o da escola em torno da problematiza??o e da sistematiza??o de um projeto escolar inclusivo. A efetiva??o da inclus?o escolar, por conseguinte, implica no redimensionamento das atribui??es da coordena??o pedag?gica, bem como, da pr?pria reorganiza??o escolar, no sentido de assegurar a media??o de a??es colaborativas, contemplando, inclusive, a forma??o continuada dos professores, tendo como marco as dificuldades, os problemas e as experi?ncias constru?das no contexto escolar