Television as part of Personalized Interactive Video-Based Crossmedia Informal Learning Environments

Alcina Maria Prata, Teresa Chambel

Abstract. Television always had an important role in everyday life. However, due to several circumstances, as the proliferation of new devices with improved technological characteristics, better interfaces and better communication features, the TV viewing/use paradigm evolved to a new level. Television is now often used as part of crossmedia systems, thus creating flexible solutions so helpful when learning environments and different contexts of use are the main goal. This paper briefly addresses the design of crossmedia systems able to generate personalized interactive informal learning environments from iTV, PC and mobile devices. The system that was designed to illustrate our research, and which evolved from previous versions, is called eiTV and generates a crossmedia personalized informal video-based learning environment, through the form of a web-based content, which provides extra information about users’ selected topics of interest while watching a specific video. The web content may be generated and accessed through iTV, PC and mobile devices and, depending on the viewers’ needs, viewed immediately or stored for latter view, individually or simultaneously, also from iTV, PC and mobile devices. An evaluation was carried out with mid fidelity prototypes and the achieved results were very optimistic considering that they helped rethink our crossmedia related assumptions and showed that the exploration of new functionalities and solutions were a success.

Keywords: Television, Crossmedia, Informal Learning, learning environment

Crossmedia TV Based System Developed to Help Support Students During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract. Crossmedia systems, mainly due to their flexibility and diversity of contexts of use, are becoming a strong trend in all areas but, however, with a specific and particular focus in learning contexts, so important in a society where lifelong learning is taking place. Due to their flexibility, crossmedia systems are a promising tool in harder circumstances, as for instance, when the direct contact with teachers is somehow compromised. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, 1.5 billion students were affected by the school or university closures in 195 countries, according to UNESCO´s mid-April estimates. To provide academic continuity, many institutions replaced the traditional classroom face-to-face teaching and learning process by virtual classrooms, sharing notes in digital format (i.e., PPT and PDF), videos and recorded class sessions, amongst other solutions. In many cases, this transition process was abrupt, thus forcing teachers to rapidly adapt their methodologies and tools to give the best possible support to their students. This paper describes a Crossmedia TV based system developed by the author, to support her students from a technological syllabus named Multimedia, during the COVID-19 outbreak. An evaluation was carried out with high fidelity prototypes and the achieved results were very good considering both the students’ feedback and their final grades.

Keywords: Crossmedia, Transmedia, TV based system, COVID-19, teaching methodologies.

Experiencing Flipped Classroom with Mobiles and Digital Television: a study in language learning context

Vagner Beserra, Alan César Belo Angeluci, Alexandre Quaglio, Carolina Falandes

Abstract. Educational practices were impacted by contemporary technologies, which have been transforming the way humans expand their knowledge. Blended learning methods using multiple screens have emerged as new paradigms for facing recent new media appropriation and advancing the learning process in this digital scenario. A study was carried out with 59 students from the penultimate year of high school in Chile and Brazil to address this challenge. During two weeks, they participated in a flipped classroom for practicing basic English, experimenting with Digital Television and smartphone use. Results showed significant improvement of English skills among students comparing the pre and post- test periods, having Brazilian students perform slightly more effectively than Chilean ones. Conclusions highlights how practicing languages can be benefited with Digital Television use with multiple screens in flipped classrooms situations. Future works would be improved by conducting further sessions, amplifying the observation of students’ content and characteristics.

Keywords: Teaching Method, Learning Environment, Multiple Screens.

Online Educational Videos: how to produce them according to teenagers’ preferences and teachers’ approval

Carolina Almeida, Pedro Almeida

Abstract. Following a design-based research planning and according to the preferences of teenagers, a set of videos about natural sciences concepts was produced. These videos were published on YouTube© following a communication strategy with posts on satellite networks (Facebook©, Instagram© and Twitter©) for a 13 days period. On a group session, 8 teenagers evaluated original videos and the related communication strategy. On the same session teenagers were asked about the possibility of watching similar videos in future occasions.

A total of 6 teachers were also consulted in order to validate their willingness to recommend educational videos similar to the prototyped ones.
The videos were appreciated and almost all the features were validated by the teenagers. Teachers revealed open to recommend such videos.

The results from the teenagers and teachers’ evaluations resulted in a set of guidelines for producing and sharing educational videos that may be useful for teachers and other educational players.

Keywords: Online video, Production guidelines, Educational video.

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