It is widely recognized that quality and sustainable education is a key enabler for all the SDGs, and that affective education significantly enhances such education. However, while certain pedagogical approaches have been found to support the competencies and skills within Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), there lacks a tangible framework to facilitate ESD in classrooms. This paper introduces and demonstrates Values-based Education for Sustainable Development (VbESD): a comprehensive, replicable and actionable pedagogical framework that explicitly and holistically fosters sustainability as an intrinsic value by using the principles of Values-based Education (VbE) in an ESD context. The VbESD framework presents 8 pillars - Modelling, Inner curriculum, Reflection, Atmosphere and ethos, Curriculum, Leadership, Ethical vocabulary and Sustainable school operations (MIRACLES) - that holistically facilitate the development of intrinsic positive values into quality education for sustainable development. Using a deductive-inductive approach with two mixed-method surveys and 157 responses, VbESD was developed and validated with significant interest in, support for, and willingness to implement the framework. All surveyees responded neutral or positively to valuing sustainability, believing it is important as an intrinsic value, incorporating sustainability into the educational system, and to implementing the VbESD framework. This study proposes VbESD as a potential method for primary educational institutions and educators to nurture resilient, ethically intelligent change-leaders who can champion the social change needed for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

In this special issue, we contrast and explore different aspects of HCAI by two themes that we called for: 1) AI for humans and humans for AI, and 2) the relationship between AI and intelligence augmentation (IA). By AI for humans, we mean tools that enhance human learning and experiences through adaptive and adaptable learning environments, decision support systems, personal assistants, smart technology integration, and automation of tedious work tasks. On the other hand, humans for AI implies that humans play a crucial role in adapting AI systems and training machine learning programs, ranging from prompting and integrating new training data, refining AI algorithms, and finally to empirically studying how AI systems perform in practice (education, workplaces, and leisure activities). The human-centered approach is rooted in agency, inclusion, equity, responsible usage, and ethical considerations to avoid widening technological gaps. For the second issue, we distinguish AI from IA. AI’s long-term aim is to replace human beings with intelligent systems, whereas IA focuses on empowering and augmenting human capabilities. AI seems to have the power to replace humans by undertaking intelligent tasks that were once limited to humans, but another view on AI is to facilitate intelligence and carry out mundane and routine work tasks instead of replacing humans. This is the approach we take in this special issue, which we refer to as IA or assistive AI. Engelbart defined IA as a combination of human and automated capabilities that augment rather than replace the human intellect. The concept of IA takes advantage of machine learning techniques to assist humans rather than rendering them obsolete. For instance, with the introduction of ChatGPT 3.5, we have observed a rise in the number of technological tools aiming to integrate generative AI, such as Bard in Google Search and Copilot in Microsoft Office.

Soft skills are interpersonal, communication, and personal attributes that enable individuals to interact effectively with others in personal and workplace settings. Despite the significance of soft skills for career success, these skills are not necessarily taught in traditional academic settings. Consequently, education institutions must adopt innovative teaching strategies to stimulate student interest and encourage the learning of appropriate soft skills for the job market. This research focuses on developing an online serious game prototype, assessing the students’ familiarity with one specific soft skill (emotional intelligence), and verifying if this online digital prototype will produce performance results comparable with the onsite analogic version of the game. The final testing phase of the game prototype was conducted at the University of Bari in two parts, namely online and onsite tests. For the testing, 394 students took part, where 173 participated in the onsite analogic experience (before the lockdown) and 221 in the online serious game-based experience (during the lockdown). Various statistical techniques were performed to evaluate the prototype's effectiveness in assessing the competencies derived from the Goleman emotional intelligence model. The study has implications for the development and use of serious games in imparting training and assessment of emotional intelligence.

Despite the reported disruptive nature of blockchain technology in the extant literature, its adoption is slower than its potential. This difference between the technology’s promises and its current adoption has sparked interest in understanding the factors impeding widespread adoption. This systematic literature review (SLR), drawn from 1786 studies published between 2008 and May 2023, seeks to address this gap. Specifically, our research explores the influence of factors and their differences and commonalities on blockchain adoption. The SLR, examining individual and organisational perspectives, identifies 152 unique factors influencing 25 industries across 21 countries. This review also highlights distinct commonalities and variations in these factors across industries and countries. For instance, while regulatory issues and costs were universal concerns, the importance of technical understanding diverged between industries. Furthermore, country-specific factors, including local regulations and cultural aspects, emerged as significantly influenced insights that provide a comprehensive perspective on the dynamics of blockchain adoption, offering valuable guidance to industry practitioners and researchers striving to navigate the complexities of blockchain integration.

International students face unique challenges in pursuing higher education in a foreign country. To address these challenges and enhance their academic experience, higher education institutions are increasingly exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. This research essay aims to investigate the impact of AI on the education of international students. Instead of a traditional literature review, it employs a research approach to examine the potential applications of AI and discuss associated concerns. The research paper explores various AI applications, such as personalized learning experiences, adaptive testing, predictive analytics, and chatbots for learning and research. By analyzing the role of AI in education for international students, this research paper sheds light on how AI can improve learning efficiency and provide customized educational support. Additionally, it identifies significant risks and limitations, including privacy concerns, cultural differences, language proficiency, and ethical implications, which must be effectively addressed. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the potential impact of AI on international students’ educational experiences and offer insights into the integration of AI into educational administration and learning processes.

The COVID-19 pandemic marked an important breakthrough in human progress: from working habits to social life, the world population’s behaviours changed according to the new lifestyle requirements. In this changing environment, university courses and learning methods evolved along with other “remote” working activities. For this quasi-experimental study, we discuss the effectiveness of the changes made by the LUMSA University in Rome, comparing two different groups of students who attended a master’s course with blended and fully remote methodologies. Here, we focused our attention on the paradigm shift, comparing the data gathered during the blended course in the 2019/2020 academic year with data gathered during the same course, but conducted fully online, in the academic year 2020/2021. Considering the sample size and type, the group comparison was made using a non-parametric test (U-test). The statistical analysis results suggest that there was no substantial difference between the students’ performance, confirming that the course changes made to adapt to the pandemic situation were successful and that learning effectiveness was preserved. © 2022 by the authors.

This paper will describe the development and implementation of an Adaptive System Prototype with the aim to manage an automated and customized learning experience. After the first in-depth study on the usefulness and effectiveness of personalized learning approach, the research team intended to fill the gap between the theory of personalized learning environments and its practice trough the development of an adaptive learning plugin implemented on mostly used, Open Source, Learning Management Systems. The developed technology, follow the goal to identify any end user of the LMS, create a customized user profile with their starting skills and learning preferences in order to automatically tailor a personalized learning path. The main purpose is to maximize student’s performance. This paper describes the main steps for the implementation of the prototype of this Adaptive Learning System named iO3 (intelligent Open Cube), as it will be an intelligent, Open Source, Open Learning, Open Plugin system

This paper describes the implementation of adaptive technology in a specific, Open Source, Learning Management System (LMS). After a preliminary study about the adaptive features already built-in and the capabilities ready to perform a suitable student modeling, the research team extended those capabilities with a specific data model, student model, and tutoring engine to perform automatic monitoring and sequencing of Learning Objects for each particular learner. Testing activities has proven the efficiency method in content and course delivery and given the opportunity to further develop a predicting tool based on data mining student modeling. This provides an efficient tool in tutorship activities. This paper describes some best practices developed during a Tempus IV Project granted by EU.

The huge amount of online conversations that arises from the new means of communication between users, if analyzed and capitalized, is an important resource for companies and brands alike. Thus, a fundamental tool for the management of the relationship with customers such as CRM seems to be exceeded. The concept of a Social CRM platform was born with the objective of filling the gap between brand and customers connected to various social networks, allowing both parties to achieve tangible benefits from active participation. The key objective of this research involves the implementation of a Social CRM system, which is not yet present on the automotive market. The work starts through the identification and implementation of an experimental prototype that can define and highlight a methodological and technological best practice in the integration of heterogeneous components of an information system composed of independent software and continues with the definition of an integrated system that allows innovative Business Intelligence activities.

The in-vehicle network is composed of Electronic Control Units (ECUs) that are used to control the electronic behavior of the vehicle. These components receive information from the sensors to take action if necessary. The most commonly used communication protocol in vehicles is the Controller Area Network (CAN), a broadcast system that provides efficient and economical communication. In this context, cybersecurity is essential to ensure driver safety and proper vehicle operation. An attacker could access the internal communication network of the car and read, modify, replicate, or block the data exchanged between the ECUs, leading to various issues such as providing the driver with incorrect information regarding some vehicle consumption data, or tampering with the brakes of the car by blocking the messages before they reach the ECUs. Therefore, it is necessary to detect anomalies and attacks at an early stage to protect the driver’s safety and privacy. Once an attack is identified, a response is required. This article presents a prototype of a mobile application that receives notifications from the Vehicle Security Operations Center (V-SOC) if an attack is detected. An open-source data set has been used to test the attack phase. The results obtained for the attacks analyzed are about 100% for the accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score, but since the proposed approach aims to show communication between the V-SOC and a mobile app, we do not consider the metrics. The mobile app receives data on vehicle performance from the back-end server and displays them to the user.

Speech impairments can be extremely debilitating for individuals in many areas of their lives. Speech therapy is a field that aims to solve these disorders by taking into account multiple factors and following patients over an extended period of time. Technology can represent a powerful support system for people affected by these impairments; more specifically, Artificial intelligence (AI) can come in handy when it comes to monitoring therapies and helping children perform daily exercises to improve their condition. This research work aims at illustrating how a smart voice assistant, Amazon Alexa, and a web application called “e-SpeechT” can seamlessly work together to support every phase of speech therapy. In particular, it explores how the AI algorithms that characterize these systems can improve the overall interaction paradigm and their medical feasibility.

The technology inside modern vehicles is rapidly growing and poses newer security risks, as vehicle communication protocols are not yet fully secured and vulnerable to attacks. Consequently, the implementation of automotive cybersecurity systems has gained more attention. Controller Area Network (CAN) is one of the most studied communication protocols in the literature and lacks inherent cybersecurity measures. Several works proposed Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) using Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) algorithms to identify attacks on the CAN bus. Exploiting ML or DL techniques in a multi-class approach makes it possible to know the attack typology and to support developers’ decisions to integrate concrete design methods in the software automotive development life-cycle. However, most automotive IDSs are tested on data sets that contain raw CAN messages without the possibility of decoding these messages to understand how the attack was generated. Based on these gaps, a Multi-class Random Forest for Automotive Intrusion Detection (MaREA) is presented, and a new Synthetic Automotive Hacking Dataset (SA-Hacking Dataset) is generated with a Database for CAN (DBC) file. First, the model is validated on the Car-Hacking dataset and compared with two other works in the literature that used the same classifier and dataset for the multi-class approach. Then, the Random Forest model is tested by concatenating the Survival Analysis Dataset and the SA-Hacking Dataset. The proposed approach presented better-quality results for both the Car-Hacking dataset and the aforementioned concatenated dataset.

Quantum computing has emerged as a promising technology with the potential to revolutionize various fields, including learning analytics. This research paper explores the applications of quantum computing in learning analytics and discusses the suitability of quantum techniques for addressing the challenges posed by large-scale educational datasets. It also investigates the integration of quantum computing with existing learning analytics pipelines, highlighting compatibility issues, data representation and transformation challenges, algorithmic complexity, and evaluation considerations. By understanding the potential benefits, limitations, and integration strategies, researchers can pave the way for the development of innovative tools and approaches to analyze educational data and provide personalized learning experiences.

Cyber Security Education is considered one of the key challenges of recent years. The increase in cyber attacks requires not only technical experts but also an increase in the awareness of users using technological devices. ENISA (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) provides a common understanding of the relevant roles, competences, skills and knowledge required in cybersecurity and supports the design of training programs related to cybersecurity. Therefore, the paper proposes using cartoons to educate the user to recognize a cyber attack such as Browser in the Middle. It consists in interposing a transparent Browser between the victim and the attacker in order to steal not only credentials but sessions and sensitive data. Through the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one has the possibility to tell how the computer attack can be successful, therefore the evil witch who manages to poison Snow White through the apple, and at the same time a parallel way to save Snow White and therefore prevent the attack from happening, via a mitigation that allows URL parsing. The general aim is therefore to improve the skills, knowledge and skills in cyber security also through the education of cartoons.

This article provides an overview and real-life experience of the evaluation process of documents submitted by students in the first phase of the ARPEL4Entrep project. The project is a partnership between Advenio eAcademy, University of Bari Aldo Moro, University of Ioannina, University of Žilina, Vilnius University, AllSecure Ltd -eBusiness Systems and EUCEN European University Continuing Education Network. By leveraging the partners' e-learning infrastructure and competences, the project provides potential students with a framework for accreditation and recognition of their prior formal and non-formal learning and work experience. The project provides a structured way in which prior experience and learning can be integrated into an innovative programme of online courses that enables participants to earn 180 ECTS credits at level 6. The aim of this paper is to present the results and experiences of the evaluation of the process of recognition of prior formal and non-formal learning and work experience that has been used to address the project.

Current research faces a "war" between Human-Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence. Despite the shared goal to support the user in his/her choices, researchers seem to be unable to find a common point between the two topics. While one tends to demonstrate that the user needs to have total control of the system he/she is using, the other aims to create mathematical models that automate as much as possible, to give the user the "feeling" that the system has a brain and can think on its own. In the current work, we want to demonstrate that there is more than one possible meeting point between those two research fields, without diminishing the two ideologies. To do so we propose both the adoption of End-User Development techniques (that is a branch of the Human-Computer Interaction) to collect data, and the adoption of Artificial Intelligence models, to support the user in performing the right choice. Additionally, we also propose and discuss a couple of scenarios, specifically the programming of internet of things devices in a smart home environment, and check that the related configurations do not expose the user to potential external cyber-attacks. We will not provide any specific solution (with data and/or simulations), rather we want to discuss the potential collaboration between EUD and AI.

Nowadays, the size and complexity of the automotive development life-cycle increase the possibility of cyber-attacks. In this context, team developers play a primary role in managing cyber security, risk assessment, and all phases of software application development (concept phases, product development, cyber security validation, production, operations, and maintenance). Currently, only generic standards exist and they are difficult to put into operation due to the lack of the required skills and knowledge. Therefore, this paper presents a vision model based on Quantum Artificial Intelligence that supports developers' decisions to integrate concrete design methods in the automotive development life-cycle. Organizations need to develop their process for developing vehicle components that comply with the new automotive standards. We suggest the usage of existing data sources (e.g., existing taxonomies) on Quantum Artificial Intelligence algorithms to suggest the best way, or the correct steps, to follow time by time to achieve user solutions.

Privacy by Design and Security by Design are two fundamental aspects in the current technological and regulatory context. Therefore, software development must integrate these aspects and consider software security on one hand, and user-centricity from the design phase on the other. It is necessary to support the team in all stages of the software lifecycle in integrating privacy and security requirements. Taking these aspects into account, the paper presents VIS-PRISE prototype, a visual tool for supporting the design team in the secure agile development.

Nowadays, homes are much more than just a place to live. Pervasive technology is slowly changing people’s lives as well as their way of living, supporting them in daily activities. This wind of change is also touching homes which are becoming more and more \smart", automating at a glance users’ routine. Voice assistant devices are able to connect and control many actuators that are spread all over the house network so that the user can easily control them with the voice. In this article we want to propose a new way to exploit the Smart Home technology, exploring a new dimension to assist people in the home environment. In particular we investigate how this technology can support speech therapy and return the therapy results to the physicians. We define a cycle that can be easily implemented in an existing smart environment, to maximise the therapy results and adapt it to the changing therapy requirements. In particular, we focus our attention on how common voice assistants (such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home) can, with their interaction and control capabilities, support speech therapy, ensuring it is correctly completed at the given time.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human-Computer Interaction are getting closer and closer in modern systems, leading to a slow but constant increasing synergy between the two topics. Text prediction and voice recognition are the most know application for AI techniques. Common examples are virtual keyboards, that suggests the next word to be used in the text, systems that recognise people’s sentences, voice commands in voice assistants such as Google Home and Alexa, and many others. However, things get more difficult in contexts where a specific recognition, outside the”usual” models, are not the rule, but the exception, as in the case of the recognition of right and wrong phonemes in speech therapies. These difficulties often lie in the lack of the AI model generalisation abilities due to the small datasets used for training. In this position paper, we address this issue and we discuss the role that the culture of participation might have to support the dataset creation for speech therapy. Our aim is to investigate how combining the support of people in the creation of the phonemes samples, and the validation of those elements by the speech therapist, AI models’ accuracy can improve.

Digital Learning is rapidly evolving and adapting to new learning needs. In every field of daily life, training is a fundamental asset to achieve any goals. Modern e-learning systems aim to make learning quick and effective. The training courses are often delivered sequentially, and there is a high waste of time since learners must attend lessons on topics they already master. This research aims to demonstrate that an Adaptive Learning Strategy can optimize training by drastically reducing the throughput time of the learning path, avoiding time-wasting, and maintaining a high level of learner engagement. Those goals will be reached using a learning management system platform and an adaptive learning algorithm on a modular course to build up and deliver personalized learning paths, recognizing the prior knowledge of each user. Adaptive Learning Strategy allows the learner to optimize his/her training achieving the learning goals in a shorter time. He/she will not have to attend topics he already demonstrates to have a complete knowledge level.

It is widely recognized that sustainability education is a key enabler for the Sustainable Development Goals, and that affective education significantly enhances such education. This paper introduces and demonstrates a comprehensive, feasible and applicable pedagogical framework in which sustainability can be explicitly fostered as an intrinsic value to its students by using the principles of Values-based Education in an Education for Sustainable Development context. Following a literature review and a series of two surveys, Values-based Education for Sustainable Development (VbESD) was defined. It is an approach developed from the opportunity identified that combines the roots of what is needed-the development of positive values, quality education, and sustainable development-in order to nurture engaged, responsible citizens who can create the needed social change for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

During the lockdown period, we all have had the opportunity to renew our online teaching strategy and learn something new about the methodology useful to manage the tools (LMS, SCORM, Data Mining) we have to support our students in their study process and, above all, evaluate their performance. As long as we took it seriously and put it into practice, we have the opportunity to create some new fundamental principles of e-learning in general. Tutorship and performance evaluation are the key elements in building up a fulfilling strategy in online teaching. This paper describes the process of validation “in vivo” as the natural prosecution of a previous research project, made in 2012-2016, that defined an adaptive e-learning model for the evaluation of student's performance. The research team implemented the suggested model of adaptivity, on Moodle with a specific panel of university students, to verify the efficiency method in content and course delivery, validate the results of that research, and the effectiveness of the methodology and the technology proposed.

The purposed research aims to investigate whether it is possible to perform an In-Basket test online with the same effect as the onsite one. The onsite in-Basket test is widely used, and many behavioral and psychological studies consider it valid. Companies and organizations perform in basket tests in order to map some employee’s soft skills (time, priority, and planning management) using it in hiring and promoting processes. During a typical working day simulation, applicants receive a lot of interruptions (phone calls, SMS, mail, unpredictable events). They have to manage them in a limited time to set priorities and re-organize their working schedule. Although we are in a digital era, the In-Basket test is widely performed onsite with pen and paper. Is it possible to design and develop an online assessment experience ensuring the same level of effectiveness? The challenge was the digital transformation of this test in a Game-Based In-Basket experience. The research team had to rethink in digital light both methodological and technical aspects. For this reason, the team worked closely with “Osel s.r.l.” and “Baglietto and Partners”: two companies involved in Digital Learning and Serious Game development and Human Resources Management Consultancy. This paper describes the design of a new web-based approach and the development of an HTML5 product that embeds evaluation algorithms and experience tracking scripts. The research team is now involved in the testing phase in a Business School University in Rome involving about 500 students. The prototype of this Game will be evaluated in order to assess the effectiveness of the output using the new digital approach. Besides, a satisfaction test will be administered to users in order to analyze the overall online experience.

The potentials of the use of AR are showing up in a variety of ways can be used to create unique learning experiences. Recently, the advancement and popularity of handheld devices has enabled researchers to implement more effective learning methods. in educational as well as in corporate settings, from primary through to adult education. The industrial interest for such a technology is high, and in recent years, many attempts to use AR as a support for maintenance and repair processes. In this paper, we present an ongoing research, concerning the application of Augmented Reality technology to e-learning system for corporate training purposes. More specifically, our research goal is to figure out if corporate training would get a valuable help from the implementation of AR in training programs, seeking to explore the advantages of the use of this emerging technology in maintenance contexts’ needs. In particular, the research team starts from the evaluation of a previous research “Towards a mobile AR prototype for corporate training” (Marengo, Pagano, & Ladisa, 2017) and aims to go over some hurdles and criticism we highlighted during the research. The original purpose consisted in developing an Augmented Reality Web App for maintenance and repair training purposes. Going further, we noticed some critical aspects of the study, which could affect negatively the final goal of the research. The new aim is to introduce a complete new approach starting from a methodological and finishing to a technical point of view. In this paper, we present those reinvented approaches highlighting the design and the development phases applied to achieve our goal. The last phase of our research work presented is the development of a prototype ready for further application and testing. This represent just the beginning step of our ongoing research project.

Using games to support education, offer an engaging experience, providing some of the most important characteristics needed for the achievement of an effective learning process. Moreover, gaming contexts encourage players/learners to a positive and motivating approach towards learning contents. Basing on recent researches, this is particularly true about certain types of games and categories of players, such as business games for adults. This extents the utility of games to adult education for professional training. In 2016, Osel S.r.l. – e-learning revolution (Spin-off Company of the University of Bari - Italy) developed an innovative business game-based project commissioned by Sky Italy, which is one of the most important telecommunications company in the world. The project “House of Sky” aimed to measure the impact of the use of business games on professional training. For this purpose, after the development of the project, the evaluation phase of this research involved 700 Sky employees, participating to test sessions in order to assess knowledge base access rate, engagement in training process, customer satisfaction and employees’ product knowledge. Through a complex business-game based training program, structured into three phases – training/game, test and evaluating survey – the research team aimed to figure out how a game-based learning context could influence the training process (if positively or negatively) and in which way employees could take advantage of a similar training approach. Assessing a specific evaluation survey compared with the game results it is possible to assert the effectiveness of a business game-based approach as an innovative methodology, providing successful outcomes in terms of proficiency and of engagement of the employees in term of positive attitude developing, motivation enhancing and engagement.

Maintenance and repair skills can be very complex. Traditional methods of training may not have potential to meet future trends in maintenance and repair. In the light of this, Augmented Reality (AR) is a very promising application of an emerging technology, combining virtual environment with the real world, to support procedural tasks in corporate training. Since AR-based training is directly linked to physical objects/devices of the training context, where some additional information are overlaid onto a real world context, maintenance and repair skills could benefit from the implementation of AR in training programs and users could take advantage by using this new technology while performing job tasks. In this paper, we present an ongoing research, concerning the application of Augmented Reality technology to e-learning system for corporate training purposes. The first step of our research consists of the development of an Augmented Reality Web App for maintenance and repair training purposes, which will be useful to aid the user in the execution of some procedural tasks. In order to achieve our goal, we engaged a worldwide elevators company: Sematic-Wittur, which is volunteer participating to some phased of the research. After the development of the Web App, hands-on and evaluating test sessions will involve a focus group of the company. Moreover, our research will go one step further by analysing the efficacy of AR in corporate training in comparison with the evaluation of other training methods in the same field. Finally, the collected data will be analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Our ongoing research aims to figure out if corporate training would get a valuable help from the implementation of AR in training programs, seeking to explore the advantages of the use of this new technology in maintenance contexts' needs. In this paper, we begin from a theoretical framework on AR, we describe how we apply AR to training purposes and we explore the potential of AR, looking at the initial results of our ongoing research and at the work that is still to be done.

Recently, game-based learning and mobile learning have become increasingly important for their significant contribution to education. Game-based learning (GBL) environment combines appropriate gaming technology and didactic strategies, in order to provide engaging learning experiences. In addition, interactive mobile learning provides learners with deeper and meaningful learning experiences, which are extremely effective for language learning. As some important researches and learning theories show, innovation in learning is also represented by engaging learners into game design processes, in order to enhance learning through a stimulating and motivating strategy. The aim of the purposed research is to prove the effectiveness of an innovative strategy of learning, combining Mobile-GBL with a co-design methodology. Our research focuses particularly on foreign language learning. In order to provide a deeply involving learning experience, a codesign methodology was adopted for the development of the game "Learn German with Mr. Hut". In addition to that, the videogame was built with HTML5. The purposed game immerses 6 to 12-year-old learners in educational challenges focusing on German language learning. The focus group has been engaged in all the phases of the project. During the first phase, codesign sessions aimed to engage pupils into the design process of the game. After the development of the game, the focus group was engaged to test the game. This experiment took place in some Italian schools. The last phase consisted in evaluating questionnaires, which allowed pupils to express their opinions and views about the game. The results of our research reveal the effectiveness of a combined learning strategy, involving co-design methodology and a mobile gamebased learning environment. The analysis of the scores of the game highlights the efficacy of our game for learning and teaching German, suggesting how foreign language learning can be successfully enacted in mobile game-based learning environment combined with a co-design methodology.

In the last decade, a huge number of studies on game-based learning have revolutionized education and Information Technology (IT). The purposed research consists in a project, aiming to prove the efficacy of mobile game-based learning for language education. We ended up developing a language learning game with the most innovative HTML5 framework in order to author an engaging learning game suitable for any devices. In order to provide a deeply involving learning experience, a co-design methodology was adopted for the development of the game “Learn German with Mr. Hut”. Thus, co-design sessions were extremely useful for the development of all the parts of the game. In this paper we describe a first step of our project. Future work consists in involving the co-design focus group to test the game. Post-testing questionnaires would be administered to pupils in order to assess the efficacy of our project. The main expected result would be the assessment of the potential of a mobile game based project to improve foreign language learning. Moreover, we expect that the theoretical framework we developed would be useful and potentially effective for the development of further learning projects

This paper presents a research study planned to verify the compatibility of Learning Objects, designed in HTML5. with the three major mobile operating systems: Android, iOs and Windows Phone. The research project has been structured in four steps: how to perform, chose people, assign devices and run, analysis of results. The beta testing activities involved a group of 20 users divided into two main categories and the devices were 35 (20 smartphones and 15 tablets) on all mobile operating systems currently on the market. The Learning Object used on mobile devices is a Business Game based on Change Management contents. In the end, the goal was to verify the "HTML5 vs device" adaptability and identify the device that returned the best results with regard to various parameters considered.

This paper will describe the development and implementation of an Adaptive System Prototype with the aim to manage an automated and customized learning experience. After the first in-depth study on the usefulness and effectiveness of personalized learning approach, the research team intended to fill the gap between the theory of personalized learning environments and its practice trough the development of an adaptive learning plugin implemented on mostly used, Open Source, Learning Management Systems. The developed technology, follow the goal to identify any end user of the LMS, create a customized user profile with their starting skills and learning preferences in order to automatically tailor a personalized learning path. The main purpose is to maximize student’s performance. This paper describes the main steps for the implementation of the prototype of this Adaptive Learning System named iO3 (intelligent Open Cube), as it will be an intelligent, Open Source, Open Knowledge, Open Plugin system. Considering the state of the art of most common e-learning environments, many researchers believe that adaptive learning is a critical requirement to enhance the teaching quality and the user performance throughout the learning process. The adaptive learning feature improves the starting skills of a user, providing specific content related to his learning style. The road to follow in order to build an effective learning and teaching performance cannot overlook the aspect of personalized learning environments. Generating a customized learning path for any learner provides a challenging work for researchers involved, both, in informatics and education fields. Learning Path is a collection of different learning items that are combined to achieve a specific learning goal. Furthermore, the development of an customized (adaptive) learning path means that learner's starting skills should be evaluated for providing a tailored learning path suitable for each student. Different learners may have different characteristics, prior knowledge, starting skills, motivation or needs. This variety of "distinguishing marks" commonly requires the management of different information to different learners in a different format. Taking this in count, our research group believes that it is fundamental to develop adaptive educational systems which consider the several individualities of each student when presenting information, learning objects and/or practice opportunities, in order to make the learning process as effective, efficient, and motivating as possible. This is not a way to rethink education, but a way to reinforce opportunities of professional and educational growth. The purpose of this research study is to identify a process to deliver the right contents according to the student’s learning style and to develop/implement it in a software module. On the methodological point of view, the main questions that this research project aims to answer are: Which learning objects should be picked to build a learning path suitable for each user? How could adaptive learning be implemented in Open Source LMS? To answer these questions the research team investigates the adaptive technology and, in this paper, describes the implementation of an adaptive "strategy" in the mostly used LMS. The first step in building an adaptive learning tool is to identify the student's profile with his own learning style and starting skills in order to determine the appropriate learning content that corresponds to the individual students learning style and learning needs. In the development approach proposed, user profile is assessed and evolved using Case Based Reasoning. The Adaptive Learning Path is generated using the learner's behaviour patterns, which are modelled as the learner's characteristics like learning styles, goals and performance. In this personalized learning environment, the student’s performance will be enhanced and the expected result is to reach higher motivation to finish the course, avoid situation in which the student has to study un-useful or unsuitable contents.

This paper will describe the development and implementation of an Adaptive System Prototype with the aim to manage an automated and customized learning experience. After the first in-depth study on the usefulness and effectiveness of personalized learning approach, the research team intended to fill the gap between the theory of personalized learning environments and its practice trough the development of an adaptive learning plugin implemented on mostly used, Open Source, Learning Management Systems. The developed technology, follow the goal to identify any end user of the LMS, create a customized user profile with their starting skills and learning preferences in order to automatically tailor a personalized learning path. The main purpose is to maximize student’s performance. This paper describes the main steps for the implementation of the prototype of this Adaptive Learning System named iO3 (intelligent Open Cube), as it will be an intelligent, Open Source, Open Knowledge, Open Plugin system.

The huge amount of online conversations that arises from the new means of communication between users, if analyzed and capitalized, is an important resource for companies and brands alike. Thus, a fundamental tool for the management of the relationship with customers such as CRM seems to be exceeded. The concept of a Social CRM platform was born with the objective of filling the gap between brand and customers connected to various social networks, allowing both parties to achieve tangible benefits from active participation. Specifically, it is a strategic tool that enables companies to manage multiple social networks’ accounts through a single access point, thereby increasing the capacity to generate and manage leads constantly. The main goal of this research project consists on the implementation and experimentation in a target company (automotive field) context of a data model developed after a preliminary study of the state of the art and company’s information system situation, in order to ensure the proper transfer of innovation into business processes. Fuzzy methodology was used in order to assess and verify results and collected data.

How could data mining help the development of e-learning methodologies? How could an instructional designer take benefit from the use of adaptive learning? How could adaptive learning be implemented in an Open Source platform? In this paper will be described the implementation of adaptivity technology in a specific, Open Source, Learning Management System (LMS). After a preliminary study about the adaptive features already built-in and the capabilities ready to perform a suitable student modeling, the research team extended those capabilities with a specific data model, student model and tutoring engine to perform automatic monitoring and sequencing of Learning Objects for each particular learner. Testing activities has proven the efficiency method in content and course delivery and give the opportunity to further develop a predicting tool based on data mining student modeling. This provides an efficient tool in tutorship activities. This paper describes some best practices developed during a Tempus IV Project granted by EU

How could data mining help the development of e-learning methodologies? How could an instructional designer take benefit from the use of adaptive learning? How could adaptive learning be implemented in an Open Source platform? In this paper will be described the implementation of adaptivity technology in a specific, Open Source, Learning Management System (LMS). After a preliminary study about the adaptive features already built-in and the capabilities ready to perform a suitable student modeling, the research team extended those capabilities with a specific data model, student model and tutoring engine to perform automatic monitoring and sequencing of Learning Objects for each particular learner. The future implementation of this project is related to testing activities in order to prove the efficiency method in content and course delivery. This paper describes some best practices developed during a Tempus IV Project granted by EU.

Here is described the implementation of adaptivity in Moodle: a specific but very common Learning Management System. After a preliminary study about the adaptive built-in features in moodle learning management system, and the capabilities ready to perform a suitable student modeling, the research team extended Moodle capabilities with a specific data model, student model and tutoring engine to perform automatic monitoring and sequencing of learning objects for each particular learner. The future implementation of this project is related to testing activities in order to prove the efficiency method in content and course delivery.

The university curriculum is central in promoting and developing skills for the integration of young people in the world of work and professional/enterprises environment. The aim of this paper is to present the efficiency of an innovative methodology of a blended e-learning course from university of Bari. This course has led to acquire soft skills necessary to face the world of work as teamwork skills, collaborative building of products and re-ingegnerization, role keeping, leadership and project-management. Blended e-Learning applied to university courses can support new methodology of teaching and learning and, in the example proposed, it support the creation of innovative community such as those used in the construction of knowledge. In those innovative communities (Scardamalia, Bereiter, 2003), is important to coconstruction of knowledge in a dialogic and collaborative dimension (Dillenbourg, 1999). The innovation proposed is related to using common ICT tools in e-learning environment in an innovative way and with a soft skill centered learning process. The presentation is interesting for teachers and educators interested in in designing a course that promotes soft skills in addition to the main content and topics of the course. The course analyzed was provided by University of Bari in 2008/2009 academic year and it has a duration of six months. The course titled “Information and Communication Technologies” (ICT) eas attended by 86 students aged between 22 and 25 years, including 44 females and 42 males, one teacher and 5 tutors. The course is “blended” and the e-learning part is hosted in OpenCube O3 platform provided by Osel Consulting s.r.l. - spin-off of University of Bari (Marengo, Pagano, 2010). The course is projected with classic web2.0 tools, used according to the techniques of project management. After a brief description of the structure, the techniques adopted and the methodology, the research team was involved in evaluation of the efficency of the learning path, with particular attention to collaborative learning and soft skills developed by the students. The usefulness of skills acquired were assessed with a questionnaire compiled by a sample of students (40 students) who attended the course andhave actively entered into the world of work. This research highlight how a blended e-learning course could promote the soft skill development and prepare the students to world of work. In particular the result of the research analisys underlines the collaboration aspect and the usefulness of experience in teamwork and in real and stressful context. (Plantamura, Marengo A., Pagano A. (2010). The environment created in this experimental course is very close to real life in work environment. Great component of stress to manage, expiration of time for the deadline of every project milestone, project management, group and human resource management and many other soft skills indispensable for everyone in workplaces.

Open Source development model gives users the opportunity to contribute. The development of Open Source System does not end at deployment time but requires continuous user participation and contribution. Many companies are involved in Open Source communities for enterprise software development and a huge amount of investments are related to training and new paradigms of Distance Learning. Open Source Community approach in Learning Environments code development, in Open Source courses and Learning Objects gives each user (and each company) the opportunity to contribute to software and course development. The new e-learning frontier and the world research community interest are focused on collaborative learning approach. Using Intelligent agent and systems (based on reasoning tools or linked data complex querying) makes possible to give each learner or teacher the opportunity to build customized learning paths. Learning Intelligent System (LIS) should recommend learning objects based on learner skills and learner final goals.

The Free and OSS movement has had phenomenal impact on the industry's evolution, in fact most of the companies today, makes extensive use of Open Source software and technologies. The research communities, are engaged in the study of the open software-related development in order to highlight the advantages and disadvantages in terms of technology, reuse and economic impact. Nowadays there are no methodological best practices that set standards to determine the cost/benefit analysis for this approach. After a deep analysis of the impact that the implementation of an educational Open Source software has in workplaces, it’s possible to develop a characterization model harmonizing the variables and critical factors used in business and market contexts, and assess its effectiveness empirically. As stated in literature, the OSS phenomenon has promoted research, and everyone knows that educational field is a permanent research laboratory and when it is supported by computers (CSCL), the challenge is to find the right mix between didactic methodology and technological resources. Open Source approach stimulates viral innovation. Despite the identification of factors and variables that contribute to weigh this choice, it is not possible to define a model of characterization that can help to address a sensitive junction yet (even because there’s not enough empirical data). It need to define a model that could harmonize the largest number of variables, In order to give a valid aid to corporate management. The research team involved in this field, is experimenting on empirical basis, a model of characterization for the selection of educational software tools belonging to the different needs. The case of study that could be suitable to be showed is the Osel project (Open Source e-learning) experience, in which this model is applied and that brought successful results in terms of educational effectiveness and power of software.

With the advent of the new technologies and thanks to metadata, a new method, tag clouding has been developed to visualize and relate the information on the web sites in the course of years. Tag clouds are visual presentations of sets of words whose characteristics, size, weight and colour vary according to what they must represent. The tags contained in a tag cloud can be organized alphabetically, at random and semantically. This is a new growing phenomenon that has evolved thanks to the development of social bookmarking such as del.icio.us and extisp.icio.us that have supported the birth of such method of visual representation of set of words. The results of various studies have emphasized the importance of the visual influence of tag clouds allowing the visualization of the most used words. The continual evolution of tag clouding has been encouraged by the birth and the settling in of the so-called folksonomy that is a classification created and used by the same users to facilitate the availability of information. In fact, tag clouds have improved noticeably the availability of contents from those web sites presenting a multitude of information. In this paper the use of tag clouding is analyzed highlighting the improvements obtained and achieved to support web site usability.

There has been much debate recently about the use and benefits of virtual learning platforms but these fail to actively support users on an individual basis to actually help them learn at a pace that is appropriate to the learner and that can identify knowledge or skill gaps and address them dynamically. The aim of the research project, called iO3 - Intelligent Open Cube, is to develop such an approach and evaluate the impact on the speed and success of learning given specific learning outcomes (skills/knowledge gained by the student and new methodologies applied by the teacher). The research path will include not only a methodological and theoretical research on an “intelligent” LMS called LIS (Learning Insight System), but also its technological project and its integration on a web server.

There has been much debate recently about the use and benefits of virtual learning platforms but these fail to actively support users on an individual basis to actually help them learn at a pace that is appropriate to the learner and that can identify knowledge or skill gaps and address them dynamically. The aim of the research is to develop such an approach and evaluate the impact on the speed and success of learning given specific learning outcomes (skills/knowledge gained by the student and new methodologies applied by the teacher). As we can read in this dissertation, my research path will include not only a methodological and theoretical research on an “intelligent” LMS called LIS (Learning Insight System), but also its technological project and its integration on a web server.

This paper will explain the first step of a framework for the OSEL 2.0 (Open Source E-Learning 2.0 – http://www.osel.it) Project started from the necessity to create a flexible and integrated system, based on Open Source software, in which an Intelligent Web Agent will be integrated to manage the OSEL’s Learning Objects repository and LCMS. This approach provides high scalability and versatility for the system, as well as it is easy to upgrade; it aims at meeting some changeable requirement in the field of distance learning (yearly or even monthly innovation). The modular structure and flexibility provided by the portal developed makes this project adaptable to any SCORM compatible LCMS. In the specific, the OSEL’s repository is the integration between Learning repository software LeMill, with OSEL Taxonomy for the classification of Learning Objects. Integration between software and learning structure will improve portal features, and teaching/learning process. The flexible and modular structure of our server and our Learning Environment based on Zope, Plone, and Fle with integration of LeMill repository, provide an environment suitable for Intelligent Web Agent applications. Artificial Intelligence could rewrite the rules of learning online.

This project started from the necessity to create a flexible and integrated ontology for Learning Objects repository used by our LCMS platform. This approach provides in our LCMS, high scalability and versatility, as well as it is easy to upgrade; it aims at meeting some changeable requirement in the field of distance learning (yearly or even monthly innovation). The modular structure and flexibility provided by the portal developed makes our ontology project adaptable to any SCORM compatible LCMS. The main aim of this project is the integration between Learning repository software LeMill, with OSEL Taxonomy for the classification of Learning Objects. Integration between software and learning structure will improve portal features, and teaching/learning process. The flexible and modular structure of our server and our Learning Environment based on Zope, Plone, and Fle with integration of LeMill repository, provide an environment suitable for intelligent web agent applications. Artificial Intelligence could rewrite the rules of learning online

The aim of the project is the development of an innovative, Open Source-based eLearning portal, which provides high scalability and versatility, as well as it is easy to upgrade; it aims at meeting some changeable requirement in the field of distance learning (yearly or even monthly innovation). The modular structure and flexibility provided by the portal makes this system adaptable to any kind of educational and/or academic situation, allowing also the development in step with innovative and specific Web Technologies. The main aim of this project is the realization of an e-Learning portal with collaborative organization of contents and with a section dedicated to collaborative distance learning. Integration between software and learning structure will improve portal features, and teaching/learning process.

The aim of the project is the development of an inn ovative, Open Source-based eLearning portal, which provides high scalability and versatility, as well as it is easy to upgrade; it aims at meeting some changeable requirement in the field of distanc e learning (yearly or even monthly innovation). The modular structure and flexibility provided by t he portal makes this system adaptable to any kind of educational and/or academic situation, allo wing also the development in step with innovative and specific Web Technologies. The project has been developed thanks to the experi ence obtained in managing a postgraduate specialization course promoted by University of Bar i ( www.comedudida.org ) and it keeps developing as suitable tools for proper online form ation are designed. This experience has been studied inside the OSEL research project by Univers ity of Bari (www.osel.it ).

Il principale obiettivo del progetto è lo sviluppo di un innovativo portale di e-Learning, basato su tecnologie OpenSource, con caratteristiche di elevata scalabilità, versatilità e molto semplice da aggiornare; pronto a soddisfare le mutevoli esigenze nel campo dell'apprendimento a distanza. La sua flessibilità e la sua struttura modulare, non solo lo rende adattabile a qualsiasi tipo di situazione scolastica o universitaria, ma permette uno sviluppo al passo con le innovative tecnologie del web. Il progetto è nato grazie all'esperienza maturata nella gestione di un corso di perfezionamento post-laurea, organizzato dall'ateneo di Bari (www.comedudida.org) e si sta sviluppando tramite la ricerca di strumenti idonei ad una corretta formazione online. La scelta dei software su cui basare lo sviluppo del portale è stata effettuata secondo criteri di aggiornabilità e flessibilità rispetto alla necessità di implementare le innovazioni nelle tecnologie e nelle metodologie pedagogiche con una attenzione agli aspetti metacognitivi. Un sistema modulare permette di gestire anche aspetti di contorno al corso a distanza e di rinnovarne la struttura e aggiungere nuove features. Il carattere innovativo del progetto non poteva esimersi dal guardare alla nuova frontiera dell'apprendimento online: il mobile learning. Le possibilità offerte da Zope, Plone e Fle3 rappresentano il trampolino di lancio per la nostra ricerca, sia dal lato pedagogico, sia da quello tecnologico. Idee, metodi e sviluppo di nuovi moduli sono il futuro del nostro progetto di ricerca. Il progetto tende a realizzare un portale di e-learning con una gestione collaborativa dei contenuti, e una sezione interamente dedicata all'apprendimento collaborativo a distanza.

OSEL - OpenSource e-learning è un progetto di ricerca che ha visto la luce nel 2003, coordinato dalla Cattedra di Informatica della Facoltà di Economia dell’Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”. Oggi OSEL Condulting è una Spin Off Accademica, maturata dall’esperienza di 7 anni di ricerca sull’elearning Open. OpenCube O3 (http://ocs.osel.it), infatti, è un progetto nato dall’idea di fornire un punto di incontro tra il mondo accademico e la filosofia "Open". Nel contesto mondiale è necessario per i cittadini europei di ogni età, il raggiungimento ed il mantenimento di Competenze, standard, educazione ed esperienze per creare competizione, essere competitivi ed ottenere opportunità di crescita nella European Society of Knowledge. OpenCube O3 intende migliorare la crescita culturale e di competenze specifiche sul territorio, tenendo conto della selezione dei contenuti, di strumenti specifici, di metodi di delivery innovativi e, non per ultimo, delle specifiche necessità del discente.

Obiettivo del progetto è lo sviluppo di un innovativo portale di e-Learning, basato su tecnologie OpenSource, con caratteristiche di elevata scalabilità, versatilità e semplicità di aggiornamento. La scelta dei software su cui basare lo sviluppo ha seguito criteri di aggiornabilità e flessibilità per implementare le innovazioni nelle tecnologie e nelle metodologie pedagogiche con una attenzione agli aspetti metacognitivi. La flessibilità e la struttura modulare rende il progetto adattabile a ogni situazione scolastica o universitaria, e permette uno sviluppo in linea con le innovative tecnologie del web. Il progetto è nato nell’ambito del corso di perfezionamento post-lauream dell'ateneo di Bari (www.comedudida.org). Le possibilità offerte da Zope, Plone e Fle3 rappresentano il core della nostra ricerca, sia dal lato pedagogico, sia da quello tecnologico. Il progetto tende a realizzare un portale di e-learning con una gestione collaborativa dei contenuti, e una sezione interamente dedicata all'apprendimento collaborativo a distanza.

Il principale obiettivo del progetto è lo sviluppo di un innovativo portale di eLearning, basato su tecnologie Open Source, con caratteristiche di elevata scalabilità, versatilità e molto semplice da aggiornare; pronto a soddisfare le mutevoli esigenze nel campo dell'apprendimento a distanza. La sua flessibilità e la sua struttura modulare, non solo lo rende adattabile a qualsiasi tipo di situazione scolastica o universitaria, ma permette uno sviluppo al passo con le innovative tecnologie del web. Il progetto è nato grazie all'esperienza maturata nella gestione di un corso di perfezionamento post-laurea, organizzato dall'ateneo di Bari (www.comedudida.org) e si sta sviluppando tramite la ricerca di strumenti idonei ad una corretta formazione online. La scelta dei software su cui basare lo sviluppo del portale è stata effettuata secondo criteri di aggiornabilità e flessibilità rispetto alla necessità di implementare le innovazioni nelle tecnologie e nelle metodologie pedagogiche con una attenzione agli aspetti metacognitivi. Un sistema modulare permette di gestire anche aspetti di contorno al corso a distanza e di rinnovarne la struttura e aggiungere nuove features. Il carattere innovativo del progetto non poteva esimersi dal guardare alla nuova frontiera dell'apprendimento online: il mobile learning. Le possibilità offerte da Zope, Plone e Fle3 rappresentano il trampolino di lancio per la nostra ricerca, sia dal lato pedagogico, sia da quello tecnologico. Idee, metodi e sviluppo di nuovi moduli sono il futuro del nostro progetto di ricerca. Il progetto tende a realizzare un portale di e-learning con una gestione collaborativa dei contenuti, e una sezione interamente dedicata all'apprendimento collaborativo a distanza.