Smart learning environments (SLEs) have gained considerable momentum in the last 20 years. The term SLE has emerged to encompass a set of recent trends in the field of educational technology, heavily influenced by the growing impact of technologies such as cloud services, mobile devices, and interconnected objects. However, the term SLE has been used inconsistently by the technology-enhanced learning (TEL) community, since different research works employ the adjective "smart" to refer to different aspects of novel learning environments. Previous surveys on SLEs are narrowly focused on specific technologies, or remain at a theoretical level that does not discuss practical implications found in empirical studies. To address this inconsistency, and also to contribute to a common understanding of the SLE concept, this paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of papers published between 2000 and 2019 discussing SLEs in empirical studies. Sixty eight papers out of an initial list of 1,341 papers were analyzed to identify: 1) what affordances make a learning environment smart; 2) which technologies are used in SLEs; and 3) in what pedagogical contexts are SLEs used. Considering the limitations of previous surveys, and the inconsistent use of the SLE concept in the TEL community, this paper presents a comprehensive characterization Manuscript sent for review July 30, 2020. Revised month day, year; Accepted month day, year. Date of publication month day, year.
Smart Learning Environments hold promise of adapting learning processes to the individual context of students and connecting formal with nonformal learning. To do so, SLEs need to know the current context of the students, regardless of the physical or virtual space where learning takes place. This paper presents an architecture that assists in the deployment and enactment of learning situations across-spaces, able to sense and react to changes in the students' context in order to adapt the learning process.
Smart Learning promises the connection between formal and informal learning, but how to offer informal learning tasks related to formal learning is still a challenge. This demonstration paper presents CasualLearn, a smart learning application that bridges formal and informal learning to learn History of Art in the Spanish region of Castile and Leon. CasualLearn uses a dataset of 16,221 contextualized informal learning tasks that were semi-automatically created exploiting Open Data from the Web. CasualLearn offers these tasks to students based on their context: their geolocation, the activity they do and the topics covered in their formal education. A demo application is currently available for Android devices.
This paper presents Casual Learn, an application that proposes ubiquitous learning tasks about Cultural Heritage. Casual Learn exploits a dataset of 10,000 contextualized learning tasks that were semiautomatically generated out of open data from the Web. Casual Learn offers these tasks to learners according to their physical location. For example, it may suggest describing the characteristics of the Gothic style when passing by a Gothic Cathedral. Additionally, Casual Learn has an interactive mode where learners can geo-search the tasks available. Casual Learn has been successfully used to support three pilot studies in two secondary-school institutions. It has also been awarded by the regional government and an international research conference. This made Casual Learn to appear in several regional newspapers, radios, and TV channels.
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