Ubiquitous Learning Environments and Technologies

This book focuses on the design and architecture of ubiquitous learning environments, associated technologies, various learning scenarios supported by these environments, and different contexts that arise in environments where the seamless immersion of formal and informal activities and interactions has the potential to contribute to the learning process. With particular focus on adaptivity for individual learners, the book explores the diminishing boundaries of formal and informal learning, and the potential of location-aware context-sensitive approaches that are emerging as successors to the Web 2.0 paradigm.

Dr Begona Gros is professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Barcelona, Spain. Her research interests include learning design, digital technology to support learning, videogames, and innovation methodologies. She has more than 200 research publications in refereed journals, international refereed conferences and book chapters. She is participating on a large number of editorial boards of prestigious journals and program committees of international conferences. She has recently contributed to books Digital Games and Mathematics Learning: Potential, Promises and Pitfalls (Springer, in press), Global Challenges and Perspectives in Blended and Distance Learning (IGI, 2013), Assessment and Evaluation of Time Factors in Online Teaching and Learning (IGI,2014).

Dr. Kinshuk holds the NSERC/iCORE/Xerox/Markin Research Chair for Adaptivity and Personalization in Informatics, funded by the Federal government of Canada, Provincial government of Alberta, and by national and international industries. He is also Full Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems and Associate Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology, at Athabasca University, Canada. Areas of his research interests include learning analytics, learning technologies, mobile, ubiquitous and location aware learning systems, cognitive profiling, and interactive technologies.

He has more than 370 research publications in refereed journals, international refereed conferences and book chapters. He has been twice awarded the prestigious fellowship of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2008 and 2013). He has also been invited as guest editor of 9 special issues of international journals in the past five years, and continues to serve on a large number of editorial boards of prestigious journals and program committees of international conferences. In his on-going sustained professional activities, he has initiated professional movements at international and national levels. At the international level, he is Founding Chair of IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technologies, and Founding Editor of the Educational Technology & Society Journal (SSCI indexed with Impact Factor of 1.171 according to Thomson Scientific 2012 Journal Citations Report). At the national level, he is Founding Chair of the New Zealand Chapter of ACM SIG on Computer-Human Interaction, and Past President of the Distance Education Association of New Zealand.

Dr. Grainne Conole is professor of learning innovation and Director of the Institute of Learning Innovation, University of Leicester. Prior to this, she was Chair of E-Learning at the Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, since April 2006.

She has research interests in the use, integration and evaluation of Information and Communication Technologies and e-learning and impact on organisational change. She has research, development and project management experience across the educational and technical domains; funding sources have included HEFCE, ESRC, EU and commercial sponsors. Very recent projects include the EU-funded projects OPAL, Deisgn-Practice, and X-Delia, the JISC-funded learner experience project, the ESRC TLRP Technology-Enhanced Learning project, PI led by Eileen Scanlon and Mike Sharples, as well as an OU Learning Design Project.