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Serious games have a great potential to help people developing new skills or improving previously existing ones. Deaf and blind community face considerable challenges and difficulties regarding to the acquisition of skills in literacy. The design of serious games to meet the needs of the target groups where the deaf and blind people are struggling to master literacy would therefore seem to offer a very considerable contribution. With this project, not only we are promoting the knowledge for this restricted community, but we are also encouraging other people to learn and become able to better understand this communities. Therefore, this article aims to discuss the use of serious games for deaf and blind people, as well as illustrate the development methodology of inclusive serious games by presenting specific concepts for each target audience. We have used the cognitive model proposed by Mayer (2005) to describe some fundamental principles behind multimedia learning, defined from his theory and based on the evidences that are essential for the elaboration of serious games for deaf and blind people. We hope that the games developed, and guidelines provided will help game designers to achieve successful implementation in inclusive games. [For the full proceedings, see ED621557.]

Producing quality digital educational content is the goal of any teaching/learning system, including the teaching/learning technologies contexts. This paper introduces how the Quantitative Evaluation Framework may be used to accurately evaluate the digital content produced throughout the development process of an inclusive and integrative MOOC in Educational Technologies, based on a Postgraduate Degree from Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (School of Engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto). The model is sustained in the SCORM standards, adopting the ISO 9126 standard as a reference, and it proposes a quantitative representation in an orthogonal three-dimensional environment: pedagogical, ergonomics, and management. Each of these domains comprises a set of factors for which it is quite relevant to determine the degree of the system's performance. The factor is a component that represents the performance degree of the digital content in the system, following a predetermined quality criterion. The measurement of the quality of the educational digital contents is assured by quantitative methods, similar to the evaluation techniques commonly used in the education system, which makes its application simpler. [For the complete proceedings, see ED590269.]

Promoted by the significant increase of large scale internet access, many audiences have turned to the web and to its resources for learning and inspiration, with diverse sets of skills and intents. In this context, Multimedia Online Open Courses (MOOC) consist in learning models supported on user-friendly web tools that allow anyone with minimum computer literacy to get involved. Although this model is popular abroad, it is not commonly used in the Portuguese Higher Education scenario. Therefore, this paper presents a proposal for structuring in a MOOC an already validated set of post-graduation courses in the field of Information and Communication Technologies applied to education in Portuguese. This paper also aims to establish a threshold for perfect MOOC framing in higher education contexts. The Quantitative Evaluation Framework (QEF) approach was selected for this evaluation to highlight the strengths and limitations of the Post-graduations in Technologies and Computing Applied to Education. With this project we intend to contribute for promoting education professionals' personal training at distance, in a stimulating, interactive and flexible environment, giving access to knowledge to innumerable amount of professionals who might not have access to these courses with adjustable schedules, and real life validation (and accreditation). [For the complete proceedings, see ED579335.]

The aim of this paper is to present a Postgraduate Specialization with a different concept of the traditional ones. Instead of having to follow a curriculum previously established, hard and sequential, time-limited, you can choose the frequency of any course units according to their availability and current needs. It is not a proposal it is already a work in operation, working in Blended Learning. In the chapter of the education in Portugal teachers in primary and secondary education have their activity of teaching is developed in accordance with the fundamental principles enshrined in the Portuguese Constitution and within the framework of the general and specific principles under the Ministry of education. Considering the teachers' training needs to perform in-service training that are intended to ensure the updating, improvement, retraining and support for the profession of teaching staff, aiming at further development objectives in career and mobility under this Statute. [For full proceedings, see ED571430.]

In the realm of education, deaf students face significant communication barriers that limit their integration and success within intellectual communities. Due to the use of distinct mother languages, a communication gap arises between deaf and non-deaf communities. This poses serious difficulties for deaf students, who communicate primarily in sign language and are unable to fluently read materials written in spoken language. As most didactic materials in higher education are available exclusively in spoken languages, this further limits the opportunities and chances for deaf students to succeed. While technological advancements have made it possible to create tools and services that translate between spoken and sign languages, they are often expensive and not widely available in educational settings. The proposal is a pedagogical model that seeks to overcome these obstacles and foster inclusivity by offering deaf students access to educational resources in their mother language -- sign language. This is accomplished using Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) paired with automatic sign language translation technology. To demonstrate this model's effectiveness, a digital literacy course for schoolteachers was developed and evaluated within a group of users, including deaf students. The paper discusses the state-of-the-art of digital educational content available to the deaf, the process of translating digital learning materials into sign languages, the specifications needed to structure educational content for the deaf, and an example of the development methodology for creating multilingual learning objects for the deaf. The evaluation results indicate that MOOC is inclusive and positively impacts deaf students' learning outcomes. The proposed pedagogical model has significant implications for improving access to education and promoting inclusivity for deaf students worldwide. By utilizing technological advancements and creating inclusive digital educational materials, it is possible to bridge the communication gap between deaf and non-deaf individuals, thereby enabling deaf students to acquire, expand, and improve their knowledge in various subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technology continues to advance and more institutions adopt assistive technologies strategies, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the most effective ways to implement assistive technologies strategies in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to explore how assistive technologies strategies can be effectively integrated into higher education for disabled communities. Orientation and mobility are often underestimated. People with disabilities, such as deaf, blind, and physically impaired people, are often challenged with navigation problems. Signage is the most common mechanism of wayfinding information, but orientation is much more complex. To address the lack of inclusion and accessibility that overwhelms indoor environments, such as schools and public services, an Indoor Mapping application was designed. The target is the ISEP community -- its students, staff, and visitors. The aim is to create an assistive technology, that can guide disabled students, but also incoming and Erasmus students that struggle in their early days at the University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourist activity has grown to be of extreme importance for a country’s economy, notably in several countries like Portugal, where the tourism sector accounts for over 15% of the national GDP. As of this moment, ensuring that our country has conditions to welcome and assist every tourist interested in our cultural heritage tourism while offering equal opportunities in the access information and use of infrastructures, is a priority. The Inclusive Cultural Heritage Tourism project uses assistive technologies, as well as inclusive and educative tools, to enhance inclusive tourism and to raise awareness of the lack of inclusion and accessibility of the deaf community, through regular interaction between deaf and non-deaf communities promoted by a Community of Practice developed for this purpose. One of its major purposes is to inform and educate about sign language. Also, this forum allows both communities to share their difficulties, thoughts, and ideas on matters of inclusion and tourism. This is accomplished through social networks, where a structure of interaction is built to enable the discussion and engagement of all participants in numerous activities. By developing a Community of Practice where everyone can communicate without barriers, we are contributing to the overall goal of the project: to create an environment where deaf and non-deaf individuals have the same opportunities to understand and be understood. The focus is to make cultural heritage venues inclusive and accessible, aiming for the easy access of deaf individuals to information and infrastructures. This, along with our community of practice, developed to assist and welcome every deaf individual, has the potential to offer better conditions to the deaf community, in their right to equal opportunities. Thus, the aim is to ensure that Portugal is able to position itself as a pioneer in inclusive tourism, as well as an up-to-date technological, inclusive, and accessible country for any tourist, local or foreigner, wishing to visit national cultural heritage venues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with hearing impairments face numerous obstacles when engaged in touristic activities or using infrastructure and services in touristic spots. When tourism is considered a social good of first necessity, new concerns arise and pressure for inclusion in the sector stimulates the advance of innovative solutions for inclusive tourism. There are also economic interests in inclusive tourism, an unexplored market niche that might compensate the expected drop on the tourism growth rate in comparison to recent years in Portugal. The ICHT project - Inclusive Cultural Heritage Tourism - aims to promote the accessibility of deaf tourists to cultural heritage by embedding new technology-aids, online and on-site, to raise awareness, to attract deaf tourists, to assist them while visiting us, and to exploit their experience as a new dissemination channel. ICHT is focused on creating digital tools and digital content in sign language to be available online, on mobile devices and on-site at cultural touristic attractions in the North of Portugal through innovative channels like games, holography, and collaborative platforms. ICHT advocates the integration of novel high-tech sign language user interfaces in tourism destinations and stimulates local operators to learn the basics of sign language communication to welcome deaf tourists in Portugal. ICHT brings in R&D world-class results in the field of automatic sign language translation qualifying Portugal to guide Inclusive Tourism worldwide and become a pioneer leading the Tourism of the Future. The full system includes an on-site application using holography, a game to play on a mobile device (before, during, and after visiting the attraction), an online collaborative platform to assist deaf and non-deaf tourists, and a set of International Sign training courses. The ICHT system will be available in five pilot installations at Torre dos Clérigos, Lello bookshop, Maia Zoo, Port wine cellars, and Viseu thermae. ICHT brings a new approach to teach sign language to the professionals in the touristic sector opening new opportunities for a more inclusive society. The sign language training together with the assistive technology tools developed by ICHT generate inclusive environments for the deaf. ICHT has the potential to become a PIN project in the Tourism sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communicating in languages other than one's mother language is a demanding task. Even when mastering basic skills in a foreign language, communication is challenging unless you are a frequent user. The vocabulary and grammar rules tend naturally to be forgotten over time. This is even more critical when distinct channels are used by one's mother language and a given foreign language; this is the current setting when communication among deaf and non-deaf users is undergoing, even in the same country. We expect that the use of technology may assist users in such cases, notably through the Figure Out application. Figure Out is a mobile application designed to translate text, automatically captured by the mobile camera, to a given language. This application will allow translation from and to any language, including sign languages. The aim is to enable everyday users like, students, and all individuals to access information in their first language or the one they choose. By simplifying access to information, the application will improve accessibility, inclusion, and communication, namely between the deaf and non-deaf communities. With Figure Out it is possible to enhance the access of, students, tourists, and the deaf population to education, culture, and international mobility while reducing communication barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycling has grown to be extremely relevant for the maintenance of our planet, but also for our well-being. Sustainability is a key issue in modern societies, relying on intergenerational care and education to promote recycling habits and social responsibility. Raising awareness towards recycling and healthy environmental habits, and motivating people to become more responsible about sustainability and the environment might be achieved through a game, designed to be simple and intuitive and to enhance the learning process. Eco Tetris is a game, designed to teach about the importance of recycling. Based on the well-known Tetris game, Eco Tetris builds upon this by adding card collecting mechanics and integrating the game with the real world via geo-referencing, beacons, and augmented reality experiences. The main goal of this game is to raise awareness and make the players more conscious of their environmental decisions and habits, while also being entertained. Our primary focus is the older generation, for whom the game is kept simple, in terms of both usability and design. Eco Tetris is a game whose main concern is to transmit knowledge on how to recycle and its importance for our planet. In this game, players are challenged to place the garbage in the right recycling bin. The mechanic is virtually the same as when recycling. Our goal is to imbue the player with recycling habits. The core gameplay loop will have the player doing the sorting exercise - separating garbage in-game, mentally associating it to its right colors. The bridge between the in-game and real-world is achieved via geo-reference modules and beacons. When visiting an eco-point, the player will have access to additional content, like an augmented reality experience, that provides positive reinforcement and knowledge about players' actions and the environment in general. We expect this game to promote ecological responsibility and a major view of one's role in the recycling process. The game is developed towards the enhancement of decision-making, memory skills, awareness, responsibility, and learning of its players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collaborative virtual worlds can be used to achieve different purposes according to the intended use. The design of 3D collaborative virtual environments for learning has been an important research field for several years. However, the research in this specific field has shown that in most of the cases, the environments do not have appropriate technical characteristics. The design of the educational collaborative virtual environments goal is to produce environments that encourage users to achieve effective learning. In this sense, the current study presents a design model for development of 3D Educational Collaborative Virtual Environments. This model is based on the engineering software techniques and methods. It is supported by a spiral cycle that allows us to develop applications. The process is divided into a set of activities that are being carried out throughout each cycle, producing several work products, with the aim to provide each team member a set of guidelines and tools necessary for to make intelligent decisions about what they do. The model is composed by five steps, namely: Conception, Analysis, Design, Implementation and Evaluation. Each step contains a set of diagrams to support the developer team in their tasks. With this model, the applications are developed in a series of incremental releases, that is, the final system is constructed, based on the refined prototype. These steps include activities that enable to quantify the quality of Educational Collaborative Virtual Environments (ECVE). It is based on the Quantitative Evaluation Framework developed by Escudeiro (Escudeiro, 2007) and allow us to have a degree of freedom in the selection of quality criteria. Thus, we can obtain a single quantitative value of quality for any domain in analysis, i.e., we can adapt it in any domain and valence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To communicate is the deepest will of every human being since their very first minute of existence, as communication is what makes human beings really feel part of a whole. One of the most transversal, barrier-dropper, and universal ways of communicating is creating art. Having that assumption in mind, this paper introduces a proposal for combining technology and arts production using an online educational Community of Practice aimed at encouraging communication and collaboration between blind/low vision individuals and deaf/hearing impaired individuals having the creation of digital artworks using a technologically developed collaborative environment. To provide a framework for this challenge, this study provides a review of concepts and examples related to the art practices from an inclusive point of view, to inclusive design, and to the essential features of reliable Communities of Practice. Furthermore, the proposal for developing a collaborative environment for creating digital artworks, combining the best practices and features of the analyzed examples, targeting at the blind and deaf communities is described as well as the evaluation model - the Quantitative Evaluation Framework - to be used to assess this creative learning and communication environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting equal opportunities and social inclusion for people with disabilities is a concern of modern societies and the European Education Area. However, despite the evolution of science and the availability of new technologies to find solutions to combat this problem, there is still a great difficulty in communication with these communities in their daily life and in different environments in which they are inserted. The educational environment is not currently prepared for these communities, which is a problem, since education has a great impact on the lives of all citizens and the existence of barriers limits future opportunities. The use of serious games in an educational environment stimulates learning and critical thinking, but despite the relevance of serious games regarding communication and social inclusion, from the information gathering we concluded that there are no large array of games and tools that facilitate its creation and are accessible to people with disabilities. In this article we will discuss and present the architecture and the development of the platform that aims to improve social inclusion and access to education for deaf and blind people. For this purpose, we will provide tools which enable these communities to participate in the creation of educational games and also playing along with all other users of the platform, in order to overcome the communication difficulties and barrier faced by these communities in their daily life, especially in the educational environment. The platform developed will allow the creation of educational games, of the genre Quiz with the possibility of integrating iBeacon technology, quickly and simply, by any and for any type of users. Both the platform and the resulting games will have input and output mechanisms that will allow the inclusion of users with disabilities, such as voice synthesis, Virtual Sign (two-way sign language translator) and voice command control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying hand configuration is a critical feature of sign language translation. In this paper, we describe our approach to recognize hand configurations in real time with the purpose of providing accurate predictions to be used in automatic sign language translation. To capture the hand configuration we rely on data gloves with 14 sensors that measure finger joints bending. These inputs are sampled at a frequency of 100Hz and fed to a classifier that predicts the current hand configuration. The classification model is created from an annotated sample of hand configurations previously acquired. We expect this approach to be accurate and robust in the sense that the performance of the classification model should not vary significantly when the classifier is being used by one or another user. The results from our experimental evaluation show that there is a very high accuracy, meaning that data gloves are a good approach to capture the descriptive features of hand configurations. However, the robustness of such an approach is not as good as desirable since the accuracy of the classifier depends on the user, i.e., the accuracy is high when the classifier is used by a user who trained it but decreases in other cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a learner-centered pedagogy in which students are assessed on their ability to go through a problem solving process. Engineering is one of the areas where PBL is a valid learning alternative/complement to the traditional methods. An engineer is a professional practitioner, concerned with applying scientific knowledge and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. The responsibilities of the engineer may include defining problems, analyzing criteria, finding and analyzing solutions, and making decisions. Engineers must weigh different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best matches the requirements. Therefore PBL clearly allows developing the skills and competences that are expected in an Engineer. In a convergent path, games and simulations can be instantiated for learning as they involve mental and physical stimulation and develop practical skills – they force the player to decide, to choose, to define priorities, to solve problems, etc. Games can easily provide a PBL environment if the correct challenges are given to the players. The objective of the eCity game is to provide a PBL-based educational platform, based on an opensource city-building simulator/game (Simcity like) and explore its simulation engine to support city development problems that relate to math, science and engineering concepts. This platform will be used for two different purposes: to motivate secondary students to an engineering academic path and to scaffold learning for higher education engineering students. And this will happen simultaneously as students from both education levels will form heterogeneous groups where the older students can guide the younger ones in the finding of the correct solution. The challenges and problems listed in the (virtual) city are based on real life situations and the learners' solutions exploited in the resolution or improvement of those situations can then be based on their experience from the real world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is very important to develop intercultural skills and inter-communication of SME managers, who intend to internationalize their companies, this way facilitating employability and European competitiveness. Serious Games are especially useful for this training because they offer immersive and engaging environment where users 'learn by doing'. This trial and error based approach supports well learning and is able also to improve teamwork, social skills, leadership and collaboration. This article presents a serious game that fosters the improvement of internationalization and language skills of SME managers. The GLOBALL Manager game is meant as a tool to support those users that want to take their companies into an international dimension. Initial tests have been promising with encouraging results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work was developed in an educational context and was introduced into the theme of the practical application in a classroom setting of the subject Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação - TIC (Information and Communication Technologies - ICT) with 5th and 6th grade students. All the work presented here was based on two premises: the use of Scratch as a tool and the students as producers of media, which in turn developed their creativity, problem solving skills, and augmented their media literacy and critical thinking aptitude. In this plan of action, we considered three phases: in the 1st phase we evaluated several methodologies for introducing Scratch; in the 2nd phase we focused on collaborative learning in small groups; in the 3rd phase the focus was on developing a game with the whole class. For the duration of this study, it was noticeable that the group of students easily adapted to Scratch. We concluded that the use of this tool motivates students and improves the learning process. It also contributes to a higher level of concentration and promotes collaborative learning. Additionally, it facilitates creativity, dialogue and the overall relationship among students. The teacher quickly understood that this tool allowed the shift into a pedagogic model based on the collaborative construction of knowledge. At the end of this paper there are suggestions of strategies that can be adopted in order to work with Scratch in the classroom. Furthermore, we offer recommendations for possible future projects in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collaborative virtual worlds can be used to achieve different purposes according to the intended use. The design of 3D collaborative virtual environments for learning has been an important research field for several years. However, the research in this specific field has shown that in most of the cases, the environments do not have appropriate technical characteristics. The design of the educational collaborative virtual environments goal is to produce environments that encourage users to achieve effective learning. In this sense, the current study presents a design model for development of 3D Educational Collaborative Virtual Environments. This model is based on the engineering software techniques and methods. It is supported by a spiral cycle that allows us to develop applications. The process is divided into a set of activities that are being carried out throughout each cycle, producing several work products, with the aim to provide each team member a set of guidelines and tools necessary for to make intelligent decisions about what they do. The model is composed by five steps, namely: Conception, Analysis, Design, Implementation and Evaluation. Each step contains a set of diagrams to support the developer team in their tasks. With this model, the applications are developed in a series of incremental releases, that is, the final system is constructed, based on the refined prototype. These steps include activities that enable to quantify the quality of Educational Collaborative Virtual Environments (ECVE). It is based on the Quantitative Evaluation Framework developed by Escudeiro (Escudeiro, 2007) and allow us to have a degree of freedom in the selection of quality criteria. Thus, we can obtain a single quantitative value of quality for any domain in analysis, i.e., we can adapt it in any domain and valence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present the overall evaluation of the Quantitative Evaluation Framework (QEF) approach which has been applied in an operational teaching environment for the last year. This environment includes the development of a serious game, supported by a web platform and extended to mobile platforms, which is being supervised by the research group GILT (Graphics, interaction &amp, learning technologies) under the frame of an international project. The serious game that has been developed is called "Time Mesh". Time Mesh is a funded quasi experimental educational software project which is being developed under the frame of a quality evaluation environment, Quantitative Evaluation Framework (QEF) (Escudeiro Paula and Bidarra José, 2006), that measures system quality throughout its development life cycle. The quality evaluation process started with a careful planning phase. It has included the purpose of the evaluation, the timing of the evaluation and who should be conducting the evaluation process. Moderating the development of "Time Mesh" with QEF assures the quality of the final product. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The use of Mobile Technologies opens new possibilities for the teaching and learning processes, taking us to a new reality, called Mobile Learning or m-Learning. The m-learning in this work is defined" as learning processes that occur, necessarily supported by the use of mobile technologies and that has mobility as a fundamental characteristic of human actors, who may be physically / geographically distant from other actors and also the physical spaces of formal education, such as classrooms, training rooms or the workplace" [1], [6]. It is author's intention to alert the academic community of the features in using M-Learning. We feel the need to develop of applications that use this type of technology, ensuring that education be accessible to all. The present work conducts a research of mobile learning as a tool to support education in higher Institutions. At same time, the authors of the present work investigated existing solutions, which have been using advanced mobile technologies to support learning process with emphasis in the use of mobile devices and they analyzed practical implications of design and education when they come into mobile virtual learning environments. A education software was developed to support the students in learning. To evaluate the system, we used the framework QEF (Quality Evaluation Framework) and we done a questionnaire. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nowadays, the virtual worlds provide the users a high level of immersion, being a stage for new concepts such as "virtual life". It seems that the only and real world is already not sufficient, and many people feel the necessity to belong to different worlds where they can move in space and in the time, advancing and retreating inside a virtual extended attractive space not to obey to the same rules and laws as the real world. The real and the virtual worlds get confused in a hybrid fusion of concepts. In this context the present paper aims to contribute to an increasing use of these environments, which we can stimulate the knowledge, including the development of learning to learn autonomy. Our research provides a definition of virtual 3D Virtual worlds, distinguish the different types of social virtual worlds (Second Life, Active Worlds and There) and makes a comparative analysis between them, based on the matrix developed by Manninen in 1999, which includes a set of measures chosen according the differences and distinctions technical and user interface criteria. Finally, we discuss the potential of three dimensional social virtual worlds for educational purposes. In the future, these worlds may provide a set of services educational including e-learning materials, course module materials, assignments and class sessions, communications between tutors and learners and e-assessment. However most of today's educational institutions will be challenged to encompass the informal and holistic learning scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]