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Current information and communication technology (ICT) has the potential to bring further changes to education. New learning techniques must be identified to take advantage of recent technological tools, such as smartphones, multimodal interfaces, multi-touch displays, etc. Game-based techniques that capitalize on ICT have proven to be very valuable. This paper presents a study aimed at validating a new educational format, inspired by the Discovery Learning technique, which integrates educational games, designed to be played on large multi-touch displays, with other types of formal and informal learning. Six classes of a primary school were involved in the study. The results showed that the proposed educational format is effective and that games on these novel multi-touch systems engage pupils very much, stimulate their collaboration and help consolidating knowledge.

Quality of e-learning systems is one of the important topics that the researchers are investigating in the last years. This paper refines the concept of quality of e-learning systems and proposes a new framework, called TICS (Technology, Interaction, Content, Services), which focuses on the most important aspects to be considered when designing or evaluating an e-learning system. Our proposal emphasizes user-system interaction as one of such important aspects. Guidelines that address the TICS aspects and an evaluation methodology, called eLSE (e-Learning Systematic Evaluation) have been derived. eLSE methodology combines a specific inspection technique with user-testing. This inspection, called AT inspection, uses evaluation patterns, called Abstract Tasks (ATs), that precisely describe the activities to be performed during inspection. The results of an empirical validation of the AT inspection technique, carried out to validate this technique, have shown an advantage of the AT inspection over the other two usability evaluation methods, demonstrating that Abstract Tasks are effective and efficient tools to drive evaluators and improve their performance. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

Several hypermedia environments have been developed in the last few years with the intention of promoting the acquisition of knowledge on a wide range of topics and developing problem-solving abilities. […]

We describe an approach for multiparadigmatic visual access to databases, which is proposed to achieve seamless integration of different interaction paradigms. The user is provided with an adaptive interface augmented by a user model, supporting different visual representations of both data and queries. The visual representations are characterized on the basis of the chosen visual formalisms, namely forms, diagrams, and icons. To access different databases, a unified data model, the Graph Model, is used as a common underlying formalism to which databases, expressed in the most popular data models, can be mapped. Graph Model databases are queried through the adaptive interface. The semantics of the query operations is formally defined in terms of graphical primitives. Such a formal approach permits us to define the concept of 'atomic query,' which is the minimal portion of a query that can be transferred from one interaction paradigm to another and processed by the system. Since certain interaction modalities and visual representations are more suitable for certain user classes, the system can suggest to the user the most appropriate interaction modality as well as the visual representation, according to the user model. Some results on user model construction are presented. Index Terms - Visual query system, multiparadigmatic interaction, user model, adaptive visual interface, graph-based data model, heterogeneous databases.

The article provides information on the M-Learning Game at Archaeological Parks in Southern Italy. It states that M-Learning is a combination of e-learning and mobile technologies designed to capture the nature of e-learning by providing users with independence from the constraints of time and location. It notes the three main phases of the game carried out by the Explore! It mentions that the user experience with an interactive system depends on system's characteristics, needs, and motivations. It also notes the importance and practical advantage of Explore!