Web enhanced active learning has been demonstrated to be an effective approach in Engineering Higher Education, as it provides students with more flexibility in dealing with the development of skills related to professional knowledge. However, students require a sufficient level of self-efficacy and control over their own learning, which might…

This paper presents an exploratory study in which a humanoid robot (MecWilly) acted as a partner to preschool children, helping them to learn English words. In order to use the Socio-Cognitive Conflict paradigm to induce the knowledge acquisition process, we designed a playful activity in which children worked in pairs with another child or with…

The current pilot study tested the effectiveness of an e-learning environment built to enable students to compose music collaboratively. The participants interacted online by using synchronous and asynchronous resources to develop a project in which they composed a new music piece in collaboration. After the learning sessions, individual…

This paper describes an informal component that we added to an online formal language learning environment in order to help the learners reach relevant Internet pages they can freely use to complement their learning activity. Thanks to this facility, each lesson is enriched, at run time, with a number of links automatically retrieved from social…

Current information and communication technology (ICT) has the potential to bring further changes to education. New learning techniques must be identified to take advantage of recent technological tools, such as smartphones, multimodal interfaces, multi-touch displays, etc. Game-based techniques that capitalize on ICT have proven to be very…

Technologies are changing the way we teach and learn in many respects. A relevant and not yet fully explored aspect is that they can support, even entice, students and teachers to go beyond the school boundaries, in spatial and temporal terms. Teachers and learners can keep in touch and work together, when they are not at school; they can access…

The paper discusses the results of a research project based on the field testing of a course aimed at developing arithmetic problem solving skills in primary school pupils. The course was designed to incorporate e-learning techniques, including the use of ARI@ITALES authoring tools. These tools allowed the integration in the course of…

Of late there has been a growing interest and effort toward meeting the requirements of persons with special needs. However, most of the accessibility standards and guidelines that have been proposed have been developed by adopting a domain independent and often "technical" perspective. Such proposals are therefore often not sufficient…

Quality of e-learning systems is one of the important topics that the researchers are investigating in the last years. This paper refines the concept of quality of e-learning systems and proposes a new framework, called TICS (Technology, Interaction, Content, Services), which focuses on the most important aspects to be considered when designing or…

Describes a three-year study at an Italian secondary school that examined the role played by information and communication technologies (ICT) as cognitive tools. Discusses the theoretical context of creativity; integrating ICT into the curriculum; and scaffolding. (Author/LRW)