Mystery in the museum: collaborative learning activities using handheld devices

In this paper, we describe the experience of designing a collaborative learning activity for a traditional historical/cultural museum. The activity, based on a “Mystery in the Museum” story, involves collaboration of small groups of students through mobile handheld devices. An application has been built that permits authoring of such activities, while a usability evaluation study was performed that revealed some of the limitations of the design. The reported findings can be of use to those interested in following similar approaches in cultural and educational settings, and draw conclusions of general interest relating to interaction and collaboration through mobile technology. Categories and Subject Descriptors C.5.3 [Computer System Implementation]: Microcomputers – portable devices (personal digital assistants). H.5.3 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: Group and Organization Interfaces – collaborative computing, computersupported cooperative work, synchronous interac...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: MHCI
• Authors: Jorge Simarro Cabrera, Henar Muñoz Frutos, Adrian G. Stoica, Nikolaos M. Avouris, Yannis A. Dimitriadis, Georgios Fiotakis, Katerina Demeti Liveri
• Keywords: Collaborative Learning, Collaborative Learning Activity, Human Computer Interaction, MHCI 2005, Mobile Handheld Devices