Contribution of D 2.

2 from Paraba

1. Designing EDULIVRE for a T-Learning Service

During the development of Edulivre project in LAVID we perceived the necessity of teachers training. In this project we had an experience of creation and publication of digital content using Web multiuser technology. We used a participative design, which conceives the virtual environment as a space dedicated to the primary schools 1 , and whose construction and modeling involves the educators and children. This content participative design is a practice encouraged by educators and software engineers as a way to achieve success in applications development. So we are presenting the Edulivre training course as a service for t-learning to BEACON project.

2. The Experience from schools

This work involved two Brazilian primary schools: a public school and a private school of urban area of Joo Pessoa. Joo Pessoa is the capital of Paraba, a state of the northeast of Brazil. It comprises the first step of a larger project of our research group, which aims to achieve digital inclusion. We present an experience of use of a shared multimedia space, focusing different construction steps, highlighting the use of learning fundamentals in the multimedia space conception. As previously mentioned, we adopted a participative approach to our design process. Several workshops were conducted aiming the environment modeling and content production. The experiment realized focused test-authorship with the use of digital technologies in Primary Education. The prototyping was produced with the participation of researchers, educators and students, who were invited to interact in a virtual environment designed to stimulate creative and communicative abilities. The workshops were held in order to digitalize the texts of children's stories which they authored as they were displayed through a multi dimensional virtual space. Visiting this space, the pupils can enjoy the productions of the other pupils and communicate with them. The virtual space uses a playful and dialogical language, important for learning and knowledge production. Furthermore, we analyzed the initial information concerning the initial experience held, where we can highlight the significant interaction of groups of pupils and teachers during the creation of texts and narratives. After the media production process, we had a collective and systematic study about the content and how it could help the dialogue
1

A Primary School is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education. This term is used in the United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand and in most publications of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Elementary School is the preferred term in North America while in Brazil, we call Schools of Fundamental Learning.

between teachers and students. This study was developed through dialogue between researchers and teachers who work at the two schools. Initially, we discussed the teaching-learning process and the interactivity used in the experiment; then we discussed the practical experiment, focused in this article, presenting methodological aspects, the environment modeling and implementation details. Finally, we present our final considerations. During these workshops we perceived that teachers, especially in the public school did not have familiarity with the computer and so with the technology supply. So we decided to training teacher to use this digital material. So we prepared some recommendations and videos to help teachers in the use of the digital material in their classes. Besides we interviewed teachers to know what kind of information they hope in this course. The training course is concerned in the following questions: How can I use the digital contend in my classroom? Do I need to know how to use the computer to work with these? What kind of activities can we develop in our classes (without computer) that can stimulate the use of the digital contend? How can I work with children with special care in classroom? How can I put out my doubts?

2.1 The courses

In this first experience of development contend for training teachers we are working with three themes: Citizenship, Environment Educational and Inclusion. So we are development workshops with teachers for working these themes and preparing the material for training another teachers. Fig.01 shows the main view of the themes using the Tivolo layout. The proposed functionalities are offered during the course presentation.

Fig.01: Main View of the proposed courses.

2.2 The Courses Functionalities

During the presentation of each course the functionalities listed above are offered for teachers: o Quiz support the application supports questions for teachers about the exhibited content; o Black Board the application supports a common area for the participants on the course (instructors and teachers) where they can point out their doubts as text messages. o Content enhancement the application supports additional media, synchronized or not with the video.

2.2.1 Quiz
The quiz support is a mechanism for checking the knowledge during the presentation of video contends. So if the video presents something about environment, the system will ask for the participation of the user. The Fig 2 depicts the application screen which warns the user about the quiz messages. By pressing the yellow button, the user will then start to answer the question by choosing the alternative using green or blue button; the red button will close the window. Fig 3 and fig 4 shows the question and the answer screens.

Fig 2. The Quiz invites teachers to participate..

Fig 3. The Quiz question.

Fig 4. The Quiz answer.

2.2.2 Blackboard
The blackboard is a mechanism for teachers put out their doubts and their own questions. It is a asynchronous communication tool that is very useful for sending questions and sharing questions. The Fig 5 depicts the screen exhibited in the end of each video course. By pressing the yellow button, the user will then put a message in the blackboard and pressing red button will close the window. Fig 6 shows the use of the virtual keyboard.

Fig 5. Blackboard Initial View.

Fig 6. Blackboard note.

2.2.3 Other applications

We are still working in this application. And we are now processing ne king of useful information to offer to teachers as learning objects which can be used during the classes. These functionalities are under development.