On the Specification of Interaction Patterns for Collaborative T-learning

Services

Dr. José J. Pazos AriasDept. of Telematic EngineeringUniversity of VigoSpain

3rd European Conference on Interactive Television:User Centred ITV Systems, Programmes and Applications.Aalborg University,  Denmark, March 30 – April 1 2005

Index

Introduction. Our framework to deploy distributed t-learning

services. A dual approach to programming. Conclusions.

Introduction

Distance learning to develop effective policies to continuous education.

In the last years, we witnessed a fast development of e-learning technologies.

– The penetration of the Internet in homes is limited and the growing rate is slowing down.

– So, the penetration of e-learning is also limited. To overcome these problems, public administrations

are promoting other platforms, mainly mobile phones and TV.

The role of digital TV

Digital TV is an excellent position:– Every home has a TV.– Everyone feels comfortable using it.

IDTV opens many possibilities:– It is possible to broadcast data and interactive

applications.

t-learning: IDTV-based distance learning.

Development of t-learning

Profile of the potential users of t-learning. Edutainment: Education + Entertainment. We should not develop t-learning through a

direct translation of e-learning:– Social considerations.– Technical considerations.

Taking into account e-learning experience

Absence of normalization.– Higher costs of development.– Limited reusability of educational resources.

Feeling of isolation.– The reason why many people abandon the

learning initiatives.– Especially critical in t-learning environments.

Our framework

Development of collaborative t-learning services.

Within the technological context of the MHP standard.

Based on freely available technologies.

Three major aspects

1. A software architecture to support the collaborative t-learning services (courses).

2. A network infrastructure.

3. A development environment to support the creation of courses.

An architecture for distributed t-learning services

The development tool

Based on JavaBeans technology. A graphical environment to construct t-learning

services.– First release focused on broadcast-based (non-

collaborative) t-learning courses.– Second release allows defining distributed logic and

interactions among users. In a collaborative environment, it is difficult to model

the users interactions simply by interconnecting beans.

Specification of interaction patterns

Supplement the visual development interface with the formal specification approach of SCTL-MUS:

Conclusions

SCTL/MUS provides a dual approach that gathers the advantages of visual development and formal techniques:

– JavaBeans is great for the design of user interfaces and features.– SCTL/MUS is suitable to control the possible ways in which the

users can interact.– SCTL/MUS provides an elegant and powerful solution.– SCTL/MUS guarantees that the implementation of a service

adheres to the desired interaction patterns. – Developers are freed from programming details.– Finally, because the functionality is automatically split among the

sceneries allow developers to think about conjoint interaction.

Conclusions

Our approach provides for the development of collaborative services, minimizing the need of programming knowledge.

We think this framework is also valid in the development of other types of services.