Orientador: Maria Cecília Calani Baranauskas / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T16:34:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maike_VanessaReginaMargarethLima_M.pdf: 5180251 bytes, checksum: a5d3e94b56b16fe26f5e66182c41dfde (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Motivar os alunos na sala de aula é um desafio constante para os educadores. Jogos e tecnologia figuram, a princípio, como facilitadores dessa tarefa, mas empregá-los no contexto educacional também apresenta diversas dificuldades a serem vencidas. Em primeiro lugar, há o desafio de juntar harmoniosamente a mecânica do jogo com o conteúdo a ser ensinado. Em seguida, está a dificuldade em fazer o professor entender o jogo e/ou aceita-lo como educacionalmente válido. Na intersecção entre esses dois desafios há um terceiro, que é possibilitar aos professores criarem jogos, integrando seus próprios conteúdo e estilo. Portanto, nesta dissertação, buscamos superar tais desafios utilizando os jogos do tipo RPG (Role Playing Game), da modalidade "de mesa". As investigações conduzidas obtiveram como principais contribuições um framework para a criação de aventuras educacionais de RPG, bem como os requisitos e o design de uma ferramenta de autoria que implementa esse framework. O framework proposto, denominado "Beginning, Middle and End (BME)", busca sistematizar o processo de criação de aventuras, tornando-o mais fácil de entender e mais rápido de utilizar. O design tanto do framework quanto da ferramenta foi feito em conjunto com as partes interessadas (professores, alunos e pesquisadores), resultando em uma das muitas possíveis interpretações do uso do RPG "de mesa" na sala de aula. Esta interpretação é, portanto, um reflexo do contexto em que este trabalho foi desenvolvido, mas as investigações estão detalhadas de maneira a permitir que sejam repetidas em outros contextos. Esta dissertação relata, então, esforços no sentido de apoiar e alavancar o uso de jogos educacionais do tipo RPG na sala de aula. Assim, a ferramenta de autoria proposta é uma consequência desses esforços e espera-se que o processo de seu design, aqui descrito, contribua para fomentar a utilização, em contexto educacional, não apenas de jogos de RPG, mas também de computadores e de outros tipos de jogos / Abstract: Motivating students in the classroom is a constant challenge for educators. At a first glance, games and technology seem like facilitators in this task, but employing them in the educational context also presents several difficulties to be overcomed. First, there¿s the challenge of harmoniously joining the game mechanics with the content being taught. Then, there¿s the difficulty in making the teacher understand and/or accept the game as educationally valid. In the intersection between these two challenges there¿s a third one, which is allowing teachers to create games, integrating their own content and style. Thus, in this dissertation we seek to overcome such challenges by using the table-top modality of the Role Playing Game (RPG) category of games. The conducted investigations obtained as main contributions a framework for the creation of educational table-top RPG adventures, as well as the requirements and the design of an authoring tool that implements this framework. The proposed framework, named "Beginning, Middle and End (BME)", seeks to systematize the process of creating adventures, making it easier to understand and quicker to use. The design of both the framework and the tool was made along with the interested parties (teachers, students and researchers), resulting in one of the many possible interpretations of the use of table-top RPGs in the classroom. This interpretation is, therefore, a reflection of the context in which this work was developed, but the investigations are detailed enough so that they can be repeated in other contexts. So, this dissertation reports the efforts aimed at supporting and ignite the use, in the classroom, of educational games of the RPG category. Hence, the proposed authoring tool is a consequence of these efforts, and it is hoped that its design process described here contributes to promote the utilization, in educational context, not only of RPG games, but also of computers and other kinds of games / Mestrado / Ciência da Computação / Mestra em Ciência da Computação

The purpose of this research was to measure users' satisfaction with computer support in the higher education environment. The data for this study were gathered over a 5-week period using an online survey. Subjects (N=180) were members of a college at a major Texas university, which included both faculty and staff. SERVQUAL was the instrument used in this study. Two-ways statistical ANOVA analyses were conducted and revealed three statistically significant differences for Gender, Classification, and Comfort Level.

Orientador: Sérgio Ferreira do Amaral / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T08:14:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maddalena_TaniaLucia_M.pdf: 3560884 bytes, checksum: 2abeea4f014bd99d7e400725d8e721c9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Novas práticas de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras em espaços virtuais vêm se estabelecendo a partir do acesso e do uso criativo das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (TIC). Frente ao novo contexto, a formação continuada de professores numa diversidade de linguagens (visuais, audiovisuais, hipermediais, digitais) e nas práticas de Letramento Digital é um desafio da educação do século XXI. A presente pesquisa, pensada e concebida como pesquisa-ação, nos termos de Barbier (2002), pretendeu avançar numa contextualização da utilização, criação e autoria de Recursos Educativos Digitais para o ensino do espanhol no Brasil, focando na concepção do professor-autor do seu próprio material educativo mediatizado pelas TIC no atual contexto contemporâneo da Cibercultura. O trabalho de campo, realizado entre setembro 2012 e junho 2013, se constituiu em um curso de formação continuada para professores de espanhol oferecido na modalidade de educação a distância. O grupo discente do curso foi composto por 60 professores de Espanhol como Língua Estrangeira (ELE) de escolas públicas das regiões sul, sudeste e centro-leste do Brasil. A proposta curricular foi oferecer a oportunidade de aperfeiçoamento no uso crítico das TIC, edição digital, e participação ativa na Internet, numa lógica de propostas didático-pedagógicas que promoveram a autoria de Recursos Educativos Digitais para o ensino do espanhol nas redes virtuais / Abstract: New practices of teaching and learning of foreign languages in virtual spaces are being established from the access and creative use of Information Technology and Communication (ICT). Compared to that new context, the training of teachers in a variety of languages (visual , audio, hypermedia , digital) and practices of Digital Literacy is a challenge for XXI century education . This research , designed and conceived as action research ( BARBIER, 2002 ) sought to advance a contextualization and the use , creation and authorship of Digital Educational Resources for teaching Spanish in Brazil , focusing on the concept of teacher - author of his educational material itself mediated by ICT in the current contemporary Cyberculture. The fieldwork , conducted between September 2012 and June 2013 , was offered as continuing distance education course for Spanish teacher. There were 60 students of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE ) in public schools of South, Southeast and Central -West of Brazil . The proposed curriculum was to provide the opportunity for improvement in the critical use of ICT , digital editing and active participation on the Internet, in the logic of didactic pedagogical proposals that promote authorship of Digital Educational Resources for teaching Spanish in Virtual Networks / Mestrado / Ciencias Sociais na Educação / Mestra em Educação

A expansão da modalidade de Educação a Distância (EAD) e a presença cada vez maior das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) na educação, tornam a utilização de ferramentas computacionais imprescindíveis no auxílio aos professores, tanto para produção de conteúdos digitais, quanto na tarefa de avaliação do aprendizado. A avaliação do aprendizado acarreta muito trabalho ao professor, principalmente aquelas de caráter formativo, que favorecem o desenvolvimento continuado do aprendizado dos alunos. Uma forma de aliviar essa carga de trabalho tem sido a utilização dos Sistemas Gerenciadores de Curso (SGC). Dentre esses sistemas encontra-se o Moodle, que disponibiliza o módulo Quiz, que dispõe de recursos para avaliações automáticas. Contudo seu uso não é simples, sendo frequentes as reclamações de professores quanto a sua usabilidade, o que pode desmotivar seu uso. Nesse contexto, o objetivo do presente trabalho é ajudar a compreender e reduzir as dificuldades enfrentadas por professores no emprego do módulo Quiz do Moodle. Para isso foi realizado um estudo para identificar os principais elementos que interferem na usabilidade de ferramentas para autoria de questionários online. Os resultados obtidos foram utilizados para modelar e produzir um protótipo alternativo ao do módulo Quiz, denominado de iQuiz, que resultou na seguinte contribuição tecnológica: uma interface para aplicação sobre o núcleo do Quiz e um modelo para integração dos componentes envolvidos na composição do novo ambiente. Para a criação do protótipo foi aplicado a abordagem de desenvolvimento centrado no usuário, utilizando testes de usabilidade em conjunto com outros métodos, tais como avaliação heurística. Neste trabalho também apresentamos os resultados de uma avaliação do modelo implementado, indicando uma efetiva melhoria de usabilidade. Tanto especialistas em TIC e professores participantes das avaliações mostraram-se mais confortáveis com o uso do iQuiz, alcançando melhores resultados quanto à produção de questionários. / The expansion of the distance learning education, allied to the ubiquitous presence of the Infor- mation and Communications Technology (ICT) in education, make the use of computational tools essential to the teacher. They are used in the content production, as well to help teacher to assess the students. However, the learning assessment entails a lot of work to the teacher, especially under the model of formative assessments. One way to alleviate this workload, has been the use of Course Management Systems (CMS). Among these systems is Moodle, which provides the Quiz module, used for creating assessments with automatic evaluation. However the Quiz operation is not simple, it is not rare a teacher complains about its usability. In this context, the objective this work is to help understand and reduce the difficulties faced by teachers in the use of Moodle Quiz. To do this, a study was conducted to identify the main elements that influence the usability of tools for online questionnaire authoring. From this study, was defined a model, that generated an alternative environment to the Quiz module, denoted by iQuiz. This resulted in the two technological contribution: an interface for application to the core of the Quiz and a model for integration of components involved in the composition of the new environment. To produce the prototype of iQuiz, was used an approach centered in the user, together with usability tests, among other methods, such as heuristic evaluation. In this work, it is also presented the results of an application of the iQuiz with ICT specialists and teachers, indicating an effective improvement of usability. Both, ICT specialists and teachers, rated iQuiz as comfortable to produce new questionnaires. For the creation of the prototype has been applied to approach to development focused on the user, using usability tests together with other methods, such as heuristic evaluation. This resulted in significant improvement in the quality of the final interface and consequently, greater user satisfaction, an essential factor to motivate them to use the new environment.

No description available.

Syftet med denna studie är att få kunskap om speciallärares erfarenheter av språkutvecklande arbete i skolan, med fokus på återkoppling till elever när datorn som skrivverktyg används. Studien baseras på en intervjuundersökning av tio speciallärare. Det är en sociokulturell ansats som har använts vid analys- och tolkningsarbetets genomförande. Resultatet av studien visar att elevers delaktighet i ett språkutvecklande sammanhang hade betydelse när återkoppling gavs. Det är i samspel och i dialog mellan lärare och elev som möjligheter och villkor för barns delaktighet har synliggjorts. Det är när återkopplingen har skett direkt, i processen, som det har funnits förutsättningar att möta elevers olika behov och möjliggöra lärande. Det är då som eleverna har fått vägledning om hur de kan ta sig vidare för att närma sig målen. När återkopplingen gavs mot ett färdigt resultat blev återkopplingen fördröjd och ledde bort från lärandeprocessen. Då synliggjordes svårigheter att möta elevers individuella behov. Den praktiska datorkompetensen hos lärarna har i studien visat sig ha betydelse för elevers möjligheter att närma sig sina lärandemål. / The aim of this study is to gain knowledge of special education teachers´ experiences from language development in schools, with focus on feedback to pupils when the computers is used as a writing tool. The study is based on interviews with ten special education teachers. A socio-cultural model was used during the interpretation and analysing phase. It is through interaction and dialogue between teacher and pupil, that possibilities and terms for the pupil´s participation has been made visible. It is when the instant feedback given during the process, that you can find the possibilities to meet with the needs of that particular pupil to enable learning. That is when the pupils has been given guidance how to further approach his or her goals. If feedback is only provided later and is more goal-oriented, the learning process is delayed, with greater difficulties to meet with the pupil´s particular needs. The study also shows that the practical competence in computer usage among the special education teachers is important for pupils´ possibilities of reaching their goals.

This dissertation explores virtual storytelling for conveying cultural stories effectively. We set out to investigate: (1) the strengths and/or weaknesses of VR as a storytelling medium; (2) the use of a culturally familiar introductory VE to preface a VE presenting traditional storytelling; (3) the relationship between presence and story experience. We conducted two studies to pursue these aims. Our aims were stated in terms of effective story experience, in the realm of cultural heritage. This was conceptualised as a story experience where story comprehension, interest in the story’s cultural context and story enjoyment were achieved, and where boredom and confusion in the story were low. This conceptualisation was empirically validated by our studies. Three storytelling scenarios were created to tell a traditional San story: text (T); a storytelling VE with no introductory VE (VR+NI); a storytelling VE with a hip-hop themed introductory VE (VR+I). These scenarios comprised our experimental conditions. Questionnaires, measuring interest in hip-hop and the story experience aspects identified above, were developed and psychometrically validated. Study 1 was conducted with a sample of 44 high-school learners and Study 2 with 98 university students. Both studies used a between-subjects design. Study 2 was a refined version of Study 1, improving Study 1’s questionnaires for use in Study 2 and considering two additional variables: attention to the story and perceived strangeness of the story. For our first aim, story experience in the text and VR storytelling scenarios were compared. In Study 1 and 2, comprehension was significantly higher in the T condition than in the two VR conditions combined and attention was higher in Study 2’s T condition. Therefore, we conclude that text is better for achieving story comprehension. In Study 1, interest and enjoyment were significantly higher in the VR condition, while boredom was higher in the T condition. But, no significant differences between text and VR were noted for these variables in Study 2. Comparisons of the T and VR conditions across Study 1 and 2 showed a particularly poor story experience in Study 1’s T group; we speculate that this was due to differences in Study 1 and 2’s samples and procedures. Barring this, there were no interest, enjoyment or boredom differences between T and VR across Study 1 and 2. Thus, we conclude, conservatively, that text and VR are equally good in terms of interest enjoyment and boredom. Confusion was higher in Study 1’s T condition, but this result was counter-intuitive since this condition had also shown higher comprehension. In contrast, Study 2’s VR condition showed significantly higher confusion and lower strangeness. We conclude that Study 1’s participants had reported strangeness rather than confusion and, while virtual storytelling resulted in more confusion, it also resulted in less perceived strangeness of the story. Presence and story experience in the VR+NI and VR+I storytelling scenarios were compared for our second aim. The introductory VE only had an effect for participants who showed a pre-existing interest in hip-hop. In Study 1’s VR+I condition, hip-hop interest was a significant predictor of enjoyment. In Study 2’s VR+I condition, those who identified hip-hop as a favourite music genre showed significantly higher presence than those who identified other genres as a favourite. This suggests that strongly themed introductory VE’s do not benefit virtual storytelling, and that content familiarity and preference interact with VE content to influence virtual experiences. Regarding our third aim; we did not find strong evidence of a relationship between presence and story experience since presence only correlated significantly with interest in Study 1.

Intermediaries are necessary to overcome challenges of Internet use for many users in the developing world. However the need for co-presence with intermediaries can be inconvenient for beneficiaries, and the process is time consuming for intermediaries. We work with an NGO programme called Link which wanted to expose high school students from low income urban communities of Cape Town to Internet career guidance content, but did not have the staff power for regular in-person meetings with all of the students they wanted to reach. We present Internet-supported intermediation, in which intermediaries create a source of content that is tailored to beneficiaries and is accessible using the most appropriate Internet technologies for the context. We discuss the use of two technologies, the web as accessed by conventional computers (preferred by the NGO), and the mobile Internet accessed through low end feature phones. In the target demographic the mobile Internet is very popular for entertainment, especially because of low cost for communication via instant messaging, but the web is more frequently used for tasks outside of entertainment. Using an Action Research approach we implement two Internet systems to support Link intermediation, one a conventional website and the other a text interface suitable for access through mobile instant messaging. We evaluate the systems to determine whether they increase the impact of Link intermediation, and compare the usage of each to determine relative adoption of the technologies for a task outside of entertainment. Students demonstrated capable but slow website use in controlled evaluations, but almost no use occurred outside of our presence. Most students were experienced mobile Internet users, and some began unsolicited use of the mobile system and demonstrated it to their peers. In eight months of simultaneous deployment website users demonstrated minimal engagement, while mobile system users made repeated visits at all hours of the day from varied locations such as homes spread across the city. Students’ most frequent use of computers took place at venues where many users competed, and they prioritised other activities over the website during that access. Mobile use could take place when these restrictions did not apply. The mobile system demonstrated the benefit of Internet support for intermediation: the number of students who viewed career guidance content through it no longer affected the Link team’s effort, while students no longer had to travel to a single meeting place to access content. The consistent higher use of the mobile system than the website shows that the mobile Internet is suitable for non-entertainment use cases by low income urban youth.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.

Os sistemas de ensino, baseados em redes de computadores, denominados Ambientes de Ensino Distribuídos, são uma excelente alternativa de solução para o ensino a distância1, pelo fato de manterem os recursos instrucionais centralizados, permitindo um maior controle sobre o processo, e de colocarem estes recursos simultaneamente à disposição de diversos alunos ao mesmo tempo, possibilitando oportunidades de ensino a um maior número de pessoas e diminuindo os custos de sistemas educacionais em larga escala. Os Ambientes de Ensino Inteligentes, por outro lado, constituem uma classe de instrumentos de ensino muito mais avançados do ponto de vista pedagógico. Resultados experimentais, no entanto, levam a crer que uma solução ideal para a Educação a Distância deveria privilegiar os dois aspectos. Os avanços mais recentes no campo dos ambientes de ensino inteligentes têm proposto o uso de arquiteturas baseadas em sociedades de agentes. Os princípios dos sistemas multiagentes têm mostrado um potencial bastante adequado ao desenvolvimento de sistemas de ensino, devido ao fato de a natureza do problema de ensino e aprendizagem ser mais facilmente resolvido de forma cooperativa. Ambientes de ensino baseados em arquiteturas multiagentes possibilitam suportar o desenvolvimento de sistemas de forma mais robusta, mais rápida e com menores custos, tornando-os mais atrativos, do ponto de vista de seu aproveitamento real, não ficando restrito a um protótipo. O objetivo deste trabalho, portanto contempla o desenvolvimento de uma infraestrutura de projeto, desenvolvimento e implementação de sistemas de Ambientes Inteligentes Distribuídos de Aprendizagem (Distributed Intelligent Learning Environment - DILE), denominado JADE - Java Agent for Distance Education Framework baseado em abordagem de Arquiteturas Multiagentes, voltado para a Educação a Distância. O JADE propõe uma infra-estrutura de projeto, desenvolvimento e implementação de sistemas de Ambientes Inteligentes Distribuídos de Aprendizagem (Distributed Intelligent Learning Environment - DILE) baseado na abordagem de Arquiteturas Multiagentes, voltado para a Educação a Distância, para múltiplos domínios. / Educational systems supported by computer networks - referred to as Distributed Learning Environments (DLE) - can indeed be an excellent option for overcoming distance teaching obstacles. Chiefly, because instructional resources are centralized, thus allowing for a better handle over the learning process. Secondly, these resources are concurrently available to several students at a time, subsequently opening up the doors for more learning opportunities to a greater amount of people, hence reducing the educational systems costs on a much larger scale. On the other hand, from a pedagogical point of view, the so-called Intelligent Learning Environments (ILE) offer more advanced teaching tools. Nevertheless, experimental findings indicate that an ideal solution for Distance Education should observe both DLE and ILE methods. The latest advances in the science of Intelligent Learning Environments (ILE) recommend the use of frameworks supported by agent associations. Advances in the multi-agent systems approach have shown a large potential for the development of educational systems, because the type of problems that emerge from teaching and learning can be solved more easily in a cooperative manner. Teaching environments managed by a multi-agent program facilitates the development of systems in a more robust and faster way, thus aptly lowering costs and making them more appealing, when you consider the real grades benefits without strictly adhering to a particular prototype. The objective of this project therefore, is to design and build an outlined structure that will encompass an assortment of projects, developments, and implementations of Distributed Intelligent Learning Environment -(DILE) systems. This achievement is labeled as: JADE-Java Agent for Distance Education framework, which depends on a multi-agent approach conducted towards distance learning. JADE tenders an infra-structure that is multi-faceted by projects, development, and the implementation of Distributed Intelligent Learning Environment-(DILE) systems based on a multi-agent approach directed towards multiple uses for distance learning.