Narrow Results

Situation awareness is an emerging concept in ubiquitous environments, particularly the learning ones. Situation identification techniques developed in literature aim to infer the user’s situation from the detected context. Most of the studies to date in ubiquitous learning (u-learning) field give equal importance for detected context elements to describe learner’s situation and therefore allow irrelevant context elements to have as much effect on situation description as relevant ones. Therefore, different weights need to be associated to context elements with reference to their importance to the inference process. In this paper, a new proposal for weighting u-learning context elements is detailed. The solution aims to merge different expert opinions about context elements weighting for situation description. Evidence theory is applied in order to handle uncertain and conflicting expert opinions. Experimental results are given to illustrate the applicability of the proposed solution in selecting characteristic context elements appropriate for each u-learning situation pattern and distinguishing them from others.

With the popularization of wireless networking and with the progress of mobile computing technology, the efficiency of handheld devices has been improved and more applications are possible. Combining handheld devices and E-learning will become an important way of learning in the future. This research uses access to a wireless network, handheld devices, and RFID tags to build a Context-Aware Writing System (C-Writing for short) for ubiquitous learning environments. Based on the practical use of C-Writing by students in a ubiquitous learning environment, we evaluated the learning results. We used a questionnaire to evaluate the learning situations regarding the users' attitudes, system acceptance, system quality, content quality, and interaction with the environment. The result of the research shows most of the students approve this system's benefit, and he/she is willing to use similar system for learning in the future. Moreover, students are able to efficiently improve their learning performance and students' attention and interest will be attracted to observe different things by using this system.

This project explores the potential for multi-modal learning in the use of smartphones, tablets and notebook computers in lectures and seminars at an English-as-Medium-of- Instruction (EMI) university in China. Through surveys and focus groups, existing practices are investigated and staff and students consulted to understand how these resources construct or obstruct classroom learning. Effective and innovative ways of systematically exploiting these mobile devices in teaching and learning are also explored. Preliminary findings suggest that there is a significant gap in the attitudes and perceptions between students and staff. Ways to fill this gap and implications for pedagogy will be discussed.