Evolution of an e-learning environment based on desktop computer to ubiquitous computing: GUI design issues

Using the new wireless technologies, mobile devices with small displays (handhelds, personal digital assistants, mobile phones) are present in many environments. We are interested in the effective use of such mobile computing devices for supporting collaborative learning. We want to show its application in a study case: the teaching of Domotics. To reach this goal, we analyze the tasks, which are susceptible of improvement through mobile computing. We will take as starting point a collaborative e-learning environment of domotical design, based on the desktop metaphor, and called Domosim-TPC. We pretend to adapt this tool to the characteristics of mobile devices. This evolution is based in a task-based analysis. In this paper we describe some learned lessons in the semi-automatic generation of users interfaces for a PDA-type devices. This generation process is carried out starting from the user interface for desktop devices.

[1]  Marisa E. Campbell,et al.  Conference preview: HCI 2000: usability or else! , 2000, INTR.

[2]  H. Rex Hartson,et al.  Temporal Aspects of Tasks in the User Action Notation , 1992, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[3]  Srdjan Kovacevic,et al.  UIDE—an intelligent user interface design environment , 1991 .

[4]  M. Weiser.  The Computer for the Twenty-First Century , 1991 .

[5]  José Bravo,et al.  DOMOSIMCOL: a simulation collaborative environment for the learning of domotic design , 2000, SGCS.

[6]  Mark Weiser,et al.  The future of ubiquitous computing on campus , 1998, CACM.

[7]  K. D. Duncan,et al.  TASK ANALYSIS AND TRAINING DESIGN. , 1967 .

[8]  Jean Vanderdonckt,et al.  Applying model-based techniques to the development of UIs for mobile computers , 2001, IUI '01.

[9]  Jean Vanderdonckt,et al.  Adapting to mobile contexts with user-interface modeling , 2000, Proceedings Third IEEE Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications.

[10]  Fabio Paternò,et al.  Formal Models for Cooperative Tasks: Concepts and an Application for En-Route Air-Traffic Control , 1998, DSV-IS.

[11]  Fabio Paternò.  Model-Based Design and Evaluation of Interactive Applications , 2000 .

[12]  Mark Weiser.  The computer for the 21st century , 1991 .

[13]  Fabio Paternò,et al.  ConcurTaskTrees: A Diagrammatic Notation for Specifying Task Models , 1997, INTERACT.

[14]  Fabio Paternò,et al.  CTTE: Support for Developing and Analyzing Task Models for Interactive System Design , 2002, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[15]  P. Dillenbourg,et al.  The evolution of research on collaborative learning , 1996 .

[16]  Marc Abrams,et al.  UIML: An Appliance-Independent XML User Interface Language , 1999, Comput. Networks.