Context modeling to support the design of mobile learning

ABSTRACT

The evolution of information and communication technologies in the last three decades has had an impact in all aspects of human activities. Learning has also been subject of these changes. Current research efforts in the field of mobile learning have been in many cases guided by a learner-centered approach. Context awareness and content adaptivity are crucial components in mobile learning environments. One important challenge is how to design and implement technological tools and methods to support them. In order to tackle this challenge, learners' context should be defined. In this paper, we describe our current efforts regarding how to model context in mobile learning activities. We introduce a time dependent context model based on a three pole structure that can be used to design and support context awareness in mobile learning environments. We illustrate its applicability in four different cases where mobile learning activities and implementations have been guided by the use of this model.

REFERENCES

• 1: Balatsoukas, P., Morris, A., & O'Brien, A. Learning Objects Update: Review and Critical Approach to Content Aggregation. Educational Technology & Society, 11, 2 (2008), 119--130.
• 2: Hugh Beyer , Karen Holtzblatt, Contextual design: defining customer-centered systems, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, 1998
• 3: Brown, J. S., Collins, A. and Duguid, P. Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18, 1, 1989, 32--42.
• 4: John Seely Brown , Paul Duguid, The Social Life of Information, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, 2000
• 5: Brown, P. J. The stick-e document: a framework for creating context-aware applications, Proceedings of the Electronic Publishing, Palo Alto, 1996, 259--272.
• 6: Dym, C. L. Principles of Mathematical Modeling, 2nd Edition, Elsevier Academic Press, New York, 2004.
• 7: Daniel Salber , Anind K. Dey , Gregory D. Abowd, The context toolkit: aiding the development of context-enabled applications, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: the CHI is the limit, p.434-441, May 15-20, 1999, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States [doi>10.1145/302979.303126]
• 8: Duffy, T. M., and Cunningham, D. J. Constructivism: Implications for the design and delivery of instruction. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology, 1996, 170--198
• 9: Frohberg, D. Mobile Learning is Coming of Age: What we have and what we still miss. Proceedings of DeLFI 2006. (Darmstadt, Germany, September 11--14, 2006)
• 10: Ulrich Hoppe , Niels Pinkwart , Maria Oelinger , Sam Zeini , Felisa Verdejo , Beatriz Barros , Jose Ignacio Mayorga, Building bridges within learning communities through ontologies and "thematic objects", Proceedings of th 2005 conference on Computer support for collaborative learning: learning 2005: the next 10 years!, p.211-220, May 30-June 04, 2005, Taipei, Taiwan
• 11: Richard Hull , Philip Neaves , James Bedford-Roberts, Towards Situated Computing, Proceedings of the 1st IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers, p.146, October 13-14, 1997
• 12: Hwang, G.-J., Tsai, C.-C., & Yang, S. J. H. Criteria, Strategies and Research Issues of Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 11, 2 (2008), 81--91.
• 13: Kaenampornpan, M. and O'Neill, E.: History as part of context. In proceedings of the 3rd Uk-UbiNet Workshop, 9--11 February 2005, University of Bath, UK
• 14: Arianit Kurti , Daniel Spikol , Marcelo Milrad, Bridging outdoors and indoors educational activities in schools with the support of mobile and positioning technologies, International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, v.2 n.2, p.166-186, July 2008 [doi>10.1504/IJMLO.2008.019767]
• 15: Langhaar, H. L. Dimensional analysis and theory of models. John Wiley and Sons, New York. 1951.
• 16: Lehikoinen J., Aaltonen A., Huuskonen P., Salminen I. Personal Content Experiences, Wiley, Chichester. 2007
• 17: McCarthy J., Notes on Formalizing Contexts, Proceedings of the IJCAI '93, Vol. 1, 1993, 555--560.
• 18: Kristóf Nyíri, Towards a Philosophy of M-Learning, Proceedings IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, p.121-124, August 29-30, 2002
• 19: Piaget, J. Science of education and the psychology of the child. New York: Orion Press. 1970
• 20: Schwabe, G., Göth, C. Mobile learning with a mobile game: design and motivational effects. Journal of Computer Assisted learning 21 (2005), 204--214
• 21: Antti Syvanen , Russell Beale , Mike Sharples , Mikko Ahonen , Peter Lonsdale, Supporting Pervasive Learning Environments: Adaptability and Context Awareness in Mobile Learning, Proceedings of the IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education, p.251-253, November 28-30, 2005 [doi>10.1109/WMTE.2005.62]
• 22: Sharples, M., Arnedillo Sánchez, I., Milrad, M., & Vavoula, G. Mobile Learning: Small devices, Big Issues. Book chapter to appear in Technology Enhanced Learning: Principles and Products, Kaleidoscope Legacy Book. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2008.
• 23: Sharples, M., Taylor, J., & Vavoula, G. Towards a theory of mobile learning. Proceedings of mLearn 2005. 2005
• 24: Sakari Tamminen , Antti Oulasvirta , Kalle Toiskallio , Anu Kankainen, Understanding mobile contexts, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, v.8 n.2, p.135-143, May 2004 [doi>10.1007/s00779-004-0263-1]
• 25: Peter Tarasewich, Designing mobile commerce applications, Communications of the ACM, v.46 n.12, December 2003 [doi>10.1145/953460.953489]
• 26: Vygotsky, L. S. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University press. 1978
• 27: Wickens, C. D. Engineering Psychology and Human Performance. New York, NY (USA): Harper Collins, 1992
• 28: Winters N. and Price S. Mobile HCI and the learning context: an exploration. Proceedings of Context in Mobile HCI Workshop at MobileHCI05 (Salzburg, Austria), 2005
• 29: Yang, S. J. H. Context Aware Ubiquitous Learning Environments for Peer-to-Peer Collaborative Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 9, 1 (2006), 188--201.
• 30: Zipf, A. and Jöst, M. Implementing adaptive mobile gi services based on ontologies examples from pedestrian navigation support. CEUS - Computers, Environment and Urban Systems - An Int. Journal. Special Issue on LBS and UbiGIS, 2006.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education
          Subjects: Collaborative learning

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education
          Subjects: Computer-assisted instruction (CAI); Computer-managed instruction (CMI); Distance learning

General Terms:
Design, Management, Theory

Keywords:
content adaptivity, context awareness, context model, contextual data model, mobile learning