Στόχος της εργασίας είναι ο σχεδιασμός, η ανάπτυξη κι η αξιολόγηση ενός πρωτότυπου εκπαιδευτικού παιχνιδιού περιπέτειας για κινητές συσκευές. / Objective of this project is the designing, the development and the evaluation of an educational adventure game for mobile devices.

Na sociedade contemporânea a utilização da tecnologia é cada vez mais incorporada no cotidiano dos indivíduos e atualmente os dispositivos móveis fazem parte do cotidiano dos estudantes. Seu uso demanda novas soluções que aproveitem suas potencialidades e potencial ubiquidade considerando, todavia as limitações que esta classe de dispositivos impõe. O presente estudo abrangeu uma investigação do uso de dispositivos móveis na área de ensino de Técnica de Programação, que é uma etapa básica e fundamental para a construção de sistemas computacionais. Este trabalho aborda a aplicação de dispositivos móveis na construção do conhecimento de algoritmos e programação, considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem dos estudantes. A pesquisa investiga como aprimorar o processo de construção de conhecimento em algoritmos, com vistas a reduzir os índices de reprovação que, ao longo dos anos, têm sido constatados nesta área. A estratégia educacional utilizada envolveu o uso do ciclo de aprendizagem de Kolb (1984), que trabalha com experiências concretas, reflexão e observação. A metodologia utilizada neste trabalho consistiu em investigar como a tecnologia móvel e os estilos preferenciais preferencial de aprendizagem dos alunos podem alavancar a melhoria neste processo de construção do conhecimento, por meio de um ambiente com objetos educacionais e que enseja interações junto do serviço de SMS. A investigação buscou também adequar as necessidades derivadas de diferentes estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem que os estudantes podem evidenciar, mas considerando as limitações e características dos dispositivos móveis. Como resultado são apresentadas sugestões para as instituições de ensino, relacionadas à utilização dos dispositivos móveis e considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem. / In the contemporary society, the use of technology has been more and more incorporated to the daily life of individuals and, currently, the mobile devices have made part of the students’ everyday routine. Their usage demands new solutions which take advantage of their potentialities and potential ubiquity regarding, though, the limitations that this class of devices impose. The current study encompassed an investigation of the use of mobile devices within the Technical Programming teaching area which is a basic and fundamental stage to the construction of computer systems. This work approaches the application of mobile devices in the knowledge construction of algorithms and programming, considering the students’ learning styles. The research investigates how to improve the process of knowledge construction on algorithms aiming at reducing the indices of failing that have been verified in this area through the years. The educational strategy utilized involved the use of the learning cycle of Kolb (1984), that works with concrete experiences, reflection and observation. The methodology used within this work consisted in investigating how the mobile technology and the attention to the students’ preferential learning style can boost the improvement within this teaching learning process through an environment with educational objects and that provides students with interactions by the SMS service. The investigation also aimed at making adequate the needs derived from different learning styles the students can evidence, but by considering the limitations and features of the mobile devices. As a result, suggestions – related to the usage of mobile devices and regarding the learning styles – are presented to the education institutions.

Na sociedade contemporânea a utilização da tecnologia é cada vez mais incorporada no cotidiano dos indivíduos e atualmente os dispositivos móveis fazem parte do cotidiano dos estudantes. Seu uso demanda novas soluções que aproveitem suas potencialidades e potencial ubiquidade considerando, todavia as limitações que esta classe de dispositivos impõe. O presente estudo abrangeu uma investigação do uso de dispositivos móveis na área de ensino de Técnica de Programação, que é uma etapa básica e fundamental para a construção de sistemas computacionais. Este trabalho aborda a aplicação de dispositivos móveis na construção do conhecimento de algoritmos e programação, considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem dos estudantes. A pesquisa investiga como aprimorar o processo de construção de conhecimento em algoritmos, com vistas a reduzir os índices de reprovação que, ao longo dos anos, têm sido constatados nesta área. A estratégia educacional utilizada envolveu o uso do ciclo de aprendizagem de Kolb (1984), que trabalha com experiências concretas, reflexão e observação. A metodologia utilizada neste trabalho consistiu em investigar como a tecnologia móvel e os estilos preferenciais preferencial de aprendizagem dos alunos podem alavancar a melhoria neste processo de construção do conhecimento, por meio de um ambiente com objetos educacionais e que enseja interações junto do serviço de SMS. A investigação buscou também adequar as necessidades derivadas de diferentes estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem que os estudantes podem evidenciar, mas considerando as limitações e características dos dispositivos móveis. Como resultado são apresentadas sugestões para as instituições de ensino, relacionadas à utilização dos dispositivos móveis e considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem. / In the contemporary society, the use of technology has been more and more incorporated to the daily life of individuals and, currently, the mobile devices have made part of the students’ everyday routine. Their usage demands new solutions which take advantage of their potentialities and potential ubiquity regarding, though, the limitations that this class of devices impose. The current study encompassed an investigation of the use of mobile devices within the Technical Programming teaching area which is a basic and fundamental stage to the construction of computer systems. This work approaches the application of mobile devices in the knowledge construction of algorithms and programming, considering the students’ learning styles. The research investigates how to improve the process of knowledge construction on algorithms aiming at reducing the indices of failing that have been verified in this area through the years. The educational strategy utilized involved the use of the learning cycle of Kolb (1984), that works with concrete experiences, reflection and observation. The methodology used within this work consisted in investigating how the mobile technology and the attention to the students’ preferential learning style can boost the improvement within this teaching learning process through an environment with educational objects and that provides students with interactions by the SMS service. The investigation also aimed at making adequate the needs derived from different learning styles the students can evidence, but by considering the limitations and features of the mobile devices. As a result, suggestions – related to the usage of mobile devices and regarding the learning styles – are presented to the education institutions.

Na sociedade contemporânea a utilização da tecnologia é cada vez mais incorporada no cotidiano dos indivíduos e atualmente os dispositivos móveis fazem parte do cotidiano dos estudantes. Seu uso demanda novas soluções que aproveitem suas potencialidades e potencial ubiquidade considerando, todavia as limitações que esta classe de dispositivos impõe. O presente estudo abrangeu uma investigação do uso de dispositivos móveis na área de ensino de Técnica de Programação, que é uma etapa básica e fundamental para a construção de sistemas computacionais. Este trabalho aborda a aplicação de dispositivos móveis na construção do conhecimento de algoritmos e programação, considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem dos estudantes. A pesquisa investiga como aprimorar o processo de construção de conhecimento em algoritmos, com vistas a reduzir os índices de reprovação que, ao longo dos anos, têm sido constatados nesta área. A estratégia educacional utilizada envolveu o uso do ciclo de aprendizagem de Kolb (1984), que trabalha com experiências concretas, reflexão e observação. A metodologia utilizada neste trabalho consistiu em investigar como a tecnologia móvel e os estilos preferenciais preferencial de aprendizagem dos alunos podem alavancar a melhoria neste processo de construção do conhecimento, por meio de um ambiente com objetos educacionais e que enseja interações junto do serviço de SMS. A investigação buscou também adequar as necessidades derivadas de diferentes estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem que os estudantes podem evidenciar, mas considerando as limitações e características dos dispositivos móveis. Como resultado são apresentadas sugestões para as instituições de ensino, relacionadas à utilização dos dispositivos móveis e considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem. / In the contemporary society, the use of technology has been more and more incorporated to the daily life of individuals and, currently, the mobile devices have made part of the students’ everyday routine. Their usage demands new solutions which take advantage of their potentialities and potential ubiquity regarding, though, the limitations that this class of devices impose. The current study encompassed an investigation of the use of mobile devices within the Technical Programming teaching area which is a basic and fundamental stage to the construction of computer systems. This work approaches the application of mobile devices in the knowledge construction of algorithms and programming, considering the students’ learning styles. The research investigates how to improve the process of knowledge construction on algorithms aiming at reducing the indices of failing that have been verified in this area through the years. The educational strategy utilized involved the use of the learning cycle of Kolb (1984), that works with concrete experiences, reflection and observation. The methodology used within this work consisted in investigating how the mobile technology and the attention to the students’ preferential learning style can boost the improvement within this teaching learning process through an environment with educational objects and that provides students with interactions by the SMS service. The investigation also aimed at making adequate the needs derived from different learning styles the students can evidence, but by considering the limitations and features of the mobile devices. As a result, suggestions – related to the usage of mobile devices and regarding the learning styles – are presented to the education institutions.

ICTs, including mobile devices, are changing rapidly, and so is the application of these technologies in various disciplines. From the literature it was determined that mobile devices have an influence on information behaviour, whether it be in the form of information seeking, searching, use, sharing, collaboration, or any other information behaviour activity. This study focused on the influence of mobile devices on the information behaviour of undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria. Understanding the influence that mobile devices have on information behaviour might improve the effective use of mobile devices in education, and might be of use to library services. A mixed methods approach was followed, consisting of questionnaires for the collection of quantitative data and focus group interviews for the collection of qualitative data. Convenience sampling was used to select undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Department of Information Science. This was followed by a census approach in which all students were invited to participate in completing the electronic self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire collected data on mobile devices and information behaviour, mobile devices and academic studies, mobile devices and clickUP, mobile devices and the Blackboard App and mobile devices and communication. The questionnaire was open from 06 October – 07 November 2013 and 201/923 (21.8%) students responded. Purposive sampling was used to invite focus group participants. The focus groups were guided by four topics: general use of mobile devices to find, access, share and use information; differences in using mobile devices to find, access, share and use information for academic purposes; different mobile devices used for different purposes; and recommendation(s) to other students for using mobile devices for academic purposes. Five focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 32 participants between 20 August and 09 September 2014. It was found that mobile devices have an influence on the information behaviour of students, confirming what was found in the literature. Mobile devices are used more in a general and social environment than in an academic one. They however hold much value for the academic environment. Participants in the study stressed the importance, the advantages, and the potential that the mobile devices have, and still could have in the future. Participants made use of multiple mobile devices in their day-to-day activities. Furthermore, it is clear that information should be available quickly, allowing access from anywhere and at any time in order to satisfy the changing demands of the information user. It may be because of this constant need for information in its various formats, that the lines between the different contexts are being blurred. / Mini Dissertation (MIT)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Information Science / MIT / Unrestricted

Universities should strive to educate students by applying new learning environments where students are given the opportunity to explore the world of education by the use of mobile devices. These technologies and mobile devices are already second nature to them and applying these devices in a learning environment will improve the students’ learning experience. It is sensible to make use of these new technologies to get students attention, since students will find learning interesting and more enjoyable. Students’ attitude towards a mobile learning environment and learning with mobile devices has already received much attention in existing literature. This study aimed to determine whether South African, University students will welcome the use of mobile devices during their studies, especially in the field of Taxation. The study also focussed on students’ attitudes towards using e-books instead of the hardcopy textbooks during their studies and during open-book assessments. This longitudinal study made use of two questionnaires to obtain the feedback on students’ perception on what they believe mobile learning to be, their acceptance and willingness to engage with a mobile learning environment and to determine whether their attitudes towards mobile learning have change over two academic years. Furthermore, statistical analysis of the data was done to determine whether a significant difference exists between the responses between male and female students. The results indicated that more males are interested in using mobile technologies for educational purposes, however, it is not significant. It was concluded that students, when given the opportunity, are interested to engage with a mobile learning environment. It was lastly concluded that no significant change in acceptance and willingness of engaging with a mobile learning environment exists over two academic years. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmchunu2014 / Taxation / unrestricted

6 pp. / Remotely sensed data are valuable for monitoring, assessing, and managing impacts to arid and semi-arid lands caused by drought or other changes in the natural environment. With this in mind, we collaborated with scientists and technologists to redevelop DroughtView, a web-based decision-support tool that combines satellite-derived measures of surface greenness with additional geospatial data so that users can visualize and evaluate vegetation dynamics across space and over time. To date, users of DroughtView have been local drought impact groups, ranchers, federal and state land management staff, environmental scientists, and plant geographers. Potential new applications may include helping to track wildland fire danger. Here, we present the functionality of DroughtView, including new capabilities to report drought impacts and share map information, as well as the data behind it.

Floating describes the act of staff moving from one unit to another based on the needs of the patients in a hospital. Many staff who float to different units express negative feelings, including anxiety and lack in self-efficacy. However, floating is both an economical and efficient method to use staff across the hospital, especially with current staffing shortages in the United States. This study investigated how the use of mobile performance support devices may help reduce anxiety and increase self-efficacy for those staff who float to different units. with access to multiple resources available on the mobile device, Bandura's social learning theory and self-efficacy concept set the framework through modeling, observing, and imitating others in order to reproduce certain behaviors and tasks and believe in one's capability to perform. a quantitative study incorporating the retrospective pretest-posttest design was conducted using the population of float staff, including both nurses and respiratory therapists, from Children's Medical Center of Dallas. Both the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and General Self-Efficacy Scale, along with a basic demographic tool, were used to explore anxiety and self-efficacy in relation to the usage of mobile performance support devices. Findings can be used to impact the negative feelings of staff towards the idea of floating.

Orientador: Eduardo Alves do Valle Junior / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T09:45:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 HidalgoFlores_PaulJoseph_M.pdf: 28047685 bytes, checksum: 055aafb9f31fc0ba5c1cfac1cc7a79b3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: Aplicações de busca visual em aparelhos móveis (Mobile Visual Search ¿ MVS) tornaram-se possíveis devido ao alto poder computacional e a multiplicidade de sensores dos novos dispositivos móveis (smart-phones, tablets). Além disso, o estado da arte em recuperação de informação multimídia baseada no conteúdo (Content Based Image Retrieval - CBIR) alcançou uma maturidade que permite realizar estas tarefas de forma eficiente. Nesta dissertação, apresentamos um estudo das principais técnicas em CBIR visual das imagens. Uma vasta investigação da literatura foi realizada, que inclui desde os descritores baseados em gradiente mais comuns aos mais recentes descritores binários e compactos. Como resultado da análise comparativa entre as principais técnicas no contexto de MVS, apresentamos as alternativas mais apropriadas para serem utilizadas em tais aplicações / Abstract: Mobile Visual Search (MVS) applications became possible due to the computational power and multiple sensors on current mobile devices (smart-phones, tablets). In addition, the state-of-the-art in content based image retrieval (CBIR) has reached a maturity to perform these tasks efficiently. In this dissertation, we present a study of the major techniques in CBIR. An extensive study of literature, including the most common descriptors based on gradients and the recently proposed binary descriptors. As a result of comparative analysis between the main techniques in the context of MVS, we present the most appropriate alternatives to use in such applications / Mestrado / Engenharia de Computação / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Research has been conducted on the effectiveness of mobile devices in education; however, few scholars have addressed how faculty members perceive the use of mobile devices in the classroom. Mobile devices in higher education have the potential to support innovative teaching modalities. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore faculty perceptions of using the mobile device as an instructional aid in a higher educational institution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The conceptual framework was Zhao and Frank's metaphorical use of ecology and the ecosystem. Three research questions focused on faculty members' perceptions of uses, challenges, and cultural effects of integrating mobile devices into teaching. A purposeful sampling method was used to find participants for the study. Criterion based logic, semistructured, face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect data from 8 full-time, expatriate faculty members (4 from the federal university and 4 from the private university of UAE) teaching in UAE for at least 2 years who were avid users of mobile technology for classroom instruction. Interviews were transcribed, and the data were coded to identify patterns and major themes. The results showed that faculty used mobile devices for instructional purposes, increasing engagement, improving collaboration and pedagogical practices, and promoting UAE culture. Faculty also reported challenges with mobile technology such as distraction and cheating. The results of the study can lead to a positive social change by guiding higher education faculty on how to improve the status quo and assist in planning pedagogy and facilitating mobile-enhanced learning environments.