Evolution of an e-learning environment based on desktop computer to ubiquitous computing: GUI design issues

Abstract

Using the new wireless technologies, mobile devices with small displays (handhelds, personal digital assistants, mobile phones) are present in many environments. We are interested in the effective use of such mobile computing devices for supporting collaborative learning. We want to show its application in a study case: the teaching of Domotics. To reach this goal, we analyze the tasks, which are susceptible of improvement through mobile computing. We will take as starting point a collaborative e-learning environment of domotical design, based on the desktop metaphor, and called Domosim-TPC. We pretend to adapt this tool to the characteristics of mobile devices. This evolution is based in a task-based analysis. In this paper we describe some learned lessons in the semi-automatic generation of users interfaces for a PDA-type devices. This generation process is carried out starting from the user interface for desktop devices.