Introduction to Computational Thinking With MI-GO

The present study is part of a research about computational thinking and tangible robotics. A robot in development in Portugal, MI-GO robot, is part of the basis of this research. The objective is to determine the attitude of young students concerning tangible robots and to observe in what measure they contribute to the development of their STEM skills. On the other hand, it also aims to know what are the opinions of educators, teachers, and researchers concerning MI-GO's characteristics and what is their value, adequacy and suitability for the educational grades of young learners (from 5 to 10). The study consists on a qualitative approach based in a case study methodology, using the techniques of questionnaire and observation. At first the data reveal a clear adhesion to the robot and tangible programming by learners, and the researchers that analyzed the device consider it was a very adequate one and presented several suggestions to improve it.

Learning Processes in Impact Communities

Engagement processes are facing a lot of challenges since the boom of the IT. This is true when there is a face-to-face engagement process, but also when the ties are mostly virtual. Nowadays, access to social networks, platforms for content posting and sharing (blogs, wikis, etc.), and for collaborative work are changing the way people engage. Those tools have enriched the processes, but also initiated new challenges. Knowledge sharing and transfer are processes that occur when several factors are combined. One of them, and the most important, is the existence of human critical mass capable of thinking the world and finding ways of changing it for the better, in this specific case social entrepreneurship. The authors studied a pilot of an impact community, its path, and the challenges it has faced. They also implemented four interviews to specialists in the areas of networks, social entrepreneurship, and learning.

Discovery of New Knowledge for an LMS at Jordanian Universities

Learning management system (LMS) is an important tool and well suited as a learning tools and activity in universities high education. However, each institute has a different LMS tool that allows to users (management, instructors, and students) to use it for daily activity. This chapter investigates the existing LMSs at Jordanian universities, the functionality of an LMS, the strengths and weaknesses of an LMS, and the status of the LMS in higher education. The difference between the most popular LMS tools will then be discussed at Jordanian universities. This approach used to identify important factors that could or do affect the acceptance of using an LMS at Jordanian universities.

Perception of Stakeholders on the Use of Social Networking Tools for Classroom Instruction in School Environment

Social networking platforms are becoming the most important tools for interaction among people, where everybody can share, exchange, comment, discuss, and create information and knowledge in a collaborative way. The aim of this chapter is to examine the perception of stakeholders on the use of social network tools for classroom instruction in school environment in Ibadan North Local Government of Oyo State. Based on literature and experiences carried out by the researcher in Ibadan metropolis, it also explores the impact of the social networking platforms applications on personal, teaching, and learning uses among secondary students, teachers, and parents. Based on these, it is recommended that, if social networking platforms are effectively used, it will develop positive attitude towards learning as well as enhancing academic achievement among secondary school students.

Open and Big Data as a Resource to the Development of Social Innovation Initiatives and Smart Territories

The chapter aims to reflect on how social innovation and entrepreneurship (SIE) initiatives can mobilize the existing knowledge of open data on the territory in order to generate more knowledge and support the decision-making process. It therefore wants to answer the questions: How do the available data help the decision-making process of SIE initiatives? Can access to data and its analysis contribute to the resolution of social problems in a faster and more sustainable way? In order to support the answer to the previous questions, the database of the IES-SBS network (a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower social entrepreneurs) and interviews conducted with key informants were analyzed. It is concluded that access to data needs to be converted into a logical framework of information, but when this happens data/information can help the decision-making processes of SEI initiatives. This way the solution of social problems will be more quick, sustainable, and smart.

Experience Evaluation in Virtual Environments on Using an Accessible Prototype

This chapter presents the experience evaluation process of the virtual learning environment prototype MooBi accessible to deaf people. In the evaluation elaboration, the authors use the “technology as an experience framework” model of McCarthy and Wright because it approaches the sensorial, emotional, compositional, and space-time aspects. They believe that this model can provide elements for intervention in order to improve the students' experience. The authors applied the evaluation to a postgraduate listener student community from two classes to evaluate the use of MooBi as a support platform for studying. In the evaluation result, they found both positive experience attributes and unwanted experience attributes related to usability and instructional design. The authors noticed that the evaluation can be applied to other contexts since it provides a multidisciplinary view.

Social Online Networks as Spaces of Knowledge Creation, Management, and Dissemination

This chapter presents the purposes, uses, and perceptions of Luso-Brazilian lecturers/researchers in the information science and documentation area on the use of online social networks in academic environments as spaces for communication, collaboration, interaction, and availability of content, in the paradigm of science 2.0. To answer the questions and the objective outlined, a survey questionnaire was applied, including both multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions. The questionnaire was made available, in an online platform, to teachers/researchers linked to post-graduate programs in the area of information science in Brazil and Portugal.

Smart Communities

This chapter presents the ways in which researchers can promote their publications through academic social networks. In the academic world, the visibility of the scientific activity and the impact factor of the publications are extremely important, a challenging and difficult reality that researchers face when they start academic writing. In order to have greater visibility and notoriety in the academic and scientific world, it is necessary to have publications in journals with impact factor. Sharing publications through academic social networks also contributes to a wider recognition and visibility as a researcher. In a society where researchers are dismayed by the need for publications with impact factor, it is important to highlight the concern for an efficient use of academic social networks. Sharing articles through these networks will result in larger visibility of the scientific work of the researcher, projection of his or her scientific writing, and in a higher possibility of being cited by peers, thus enabling an h-index or i10.

The Role of the Organizational Actor in the Process of Social Transformation in Territories

To discuss the role of the organizational actor in the process of social transformation in territories as a promoter of social gains and responses is what this chapter is all about. The discussion was carried out through theoretical landmarks on social innovation, and an empirical study in the articulation of the semi-arid (SAA) organization, which is aimed at creating conditions for coexistence with the most arid region of Brazil. Results show that the organizational actor plays the roles of enhancing the society capacity to act, to create new roles and relationships with the other actors, and to promote access to resources, thus enabling family farmers to better meet their own needs. It is concluded that the social innovation initiative studied is characterized by its dissemination in sync with specific actions articulated in a network and adapted to the contexts, with the organizational actor as the pivot and representative of the paradigmatic transition.