A Decentralized Infrastructure for Ubiquitous Learning Environments

Jorge Luis Victória Barbosa (University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Brazil)

Débora Nice Ferrari Barbosa (Feevale University, Brazil)

Jezer Machado de Oliveira (University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Brazil)

Solon Andrade Rabello Jr. (University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Brazil)

Abstract: This article proposes a decentralized infrastructure for ubiquitous learning environments called Global. The two main contributions of Global are its decentralized strategy and its extensible architecture based on software agents. Global can be specialized to create ubiquitous learning environments through the extension of its agents or through the addition of new agents. The article presents the infrastructure architecture, describing the agents and auxiliary components. Moreover, the article approaches the implementation and evaluation of Global through two applications dedicated to education. The evaluation showed that the infrastructure could be used for the development of decentralized learning systems, supporting specifically the characteristics considered as strategic for ubiquitous learning.

Keywords: decentralization, ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous learning

Categories: L.3.0, L.3.6, L.7.0