Designing Innovative Learning Activities Using Ubiquitous Computing

In this paper we present our pedagogical and technological approach for supporting the design of novel situated learning activities that can be conducted both, outside the school and in the classroom. One main goal is to enhance the content of the curricula by bringing multimedia resources and mobile support to outdoor settings thus enriching the field experience. In order to illustrate these ideas we describe the outcomes of a trial we have conducted with thirty elementary school children. Moreover, we present the ubiquitous computing solutions we developed in order to support learning activities in the field of history. The results of our experiments indicate that children enjoyed learning in these kinds of environments where mobile devices are used in situ, thus supporting the learning activities in the context of which they are taking place.