Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Mobile devices allow learners to work outside the classroom to enhance colla-
borative learning both indoor (e.g., museums) or outdoor (e.g., parks) spaces that
present any didactic interest [12]. New mobile devices are equipped with features
that facilitate the acquisition of contextual information and location. Contextual
information includes any data that can be used to characterize a person, place or
object that is considered relevant to the interaction between users, between user
and applications or systems, or even between systems and applications [3]. In ad-
dition to the relevant information that context provides, it is important to consider
other parameters that relevantly affect this type of information, such as identifica-
tion, time and location [3]. The information exchange taking place between tech-
nology and users, in order to contextualize an environment in which learning takes
place, and customize the content of the learning activity can be understood as col-
laboration. Thus, Context-aware Learning must take into account the interactions
between people and the different technological components of the system in all its
combinations.
Providing contextual information and fostering collaboration between students
benefit the learning process [1]. Moreover the combination of Collaborative and
Context-aware Learning naturally leads to thinking about ubiquitous learning
spaces, characterized by “providing intuitive ways for identifying right collabora-
tors, right contents and right services in the right place at the right time based on
learners surrounding context such as where and when the learners are (time and
space), what the learning resources and services available for the learners, and
who are the learning collaborators that match the learners' needs” [13].
Attending to different technologies there are several trends focused on provide
context information to the learning process. A first approach to provide contextual
information is “tagging the context”. RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) is
the most spread technology [14]. Its use is tedious because teachers have to tag
any object they would like to characterize. GPS (Global Positioning System) is the
most used technology to provide location in Context-aware Learning [15]. This
location system provides a high accuracy level and is currently implemented in a
wide range of smart phones and mobile devices. In those cases, the mobile device
provides a position to the system. Those solutions are used in different scenarios
such as route planning [15]. However, most of those works implement specific
applications, but do not propose a general purpose model in which GPS technolo-
gy is included to facilitate the provision of contextual data. Moreover, teachers
cannot decide the activity they would like to implement.
Indoor environments are very common in learning: museums, laboratories or
the school are places where activities that require mobility can be developed. Try-
ing to cover this lack, different location systems based on Active RFID [15] or
Wi-Fi [16] are used. Both cases the performance of systems is similar: student's
position is determined by the access point which is providing coverage in each
moment. This type of approach has significant limitations when developing con-
text-aware learning activities: the location accuracy is too poor so teachers are not
able to characterize small areas or individual items. This situation presents an
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