The paper introduces Evoli Live, a student response system that represents a notable evolution in the educational dialogue paradigm. Diverging from traditional student response systems, the novelty of Evoli Live is the shift to a dynamic student-led conversation, moving away from the conventional teacher-dominated model. A key feature of Evoli Live is its ability to collect student feedback anonymously, allowing students to express themselves more freely and ask more questions without fear of judgment, which is particularly advantageous for those who tend to be more reserved. Evaluated during a lecture with 39 undergraduate students, at a large technical university, Evoli Live has proven effective in enhancing student-teacher interactions, with learners asking more questions than they normally would. The anonymity feature was perceived positively by students in the pilot study, as it encouraged them to be more open and inquisitive. Recommendations for future enhancements, such as the inclusion of sound notifications for new questions, are proposed to further increase its utility.

We present an educational application of virtual reality that we created to help students gain an in-depth understanding of the internal structure of crystals and related key concepts. Teachers can use it to give lectures to small groups (10-15) of students in a shared virtual environment, both remotely (with teacher and students in different locations) and locally (while sharing the same physical space). Lectures can be recorded, stored in an online repository, and shared with students who can either review a recorded lecture in the same virtual environment or can use the application for self-studying by exploring a large collection of available crystal structures. We validated our application with human subjects receiving positive feedback. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11042-022-13410-0https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-022-13410-0.

The advent of the Big Data challenge has stimulated research on methods to deal with the problem of managing data abundance. Many approaches have been developed, but for the most part, they attack one specific side of the problem: e.g. efficient querying, analysis techniques that summarize data or reduce its dimensionality, data visualization, etc. The approach proposed in this poster aims instead at taking a comprehensive view: first of all, it supports human exploration as an iterative and multi-step process and therefore allows building upon a previous query on to the next, in a sort of "dialogue" between the user and the system. Second, it aims at supporting a variety of user experiences, like investigation, inspiration seeking, monitoring, comparison, decision-making, research, etc. Third, and probably most important, it adds to the notion of "big" the notion of "rich": Exploratory Computing (EC) aims at dealing with datasets of semantically complex items, whose inspection may reach beyond the user's previous knowledge or expectations: an exploratory experience basically consists in creating, refining, modifying, comparing various datasets in order to "make sense" of these meanings. A crucial challenge of EC lies at the user interface level (data visualization, feedback, relevance of the results, interaction possibilities): how to convey, in an effective manner, all the possible turn-takings of this "dialogue" between the user and the system.

The advent of the Big Data challenge has stimulated research on methods and techniques to deal with the problem of managing data abundance. Many approaches have been developed, but for the most part, they attack one specific side of the problem: e.g. efficient querying, analysis techniques that summarize data or reduce its dimensionality, data visualization, etc. The approach proposed in this paper aims instead at taking a comprehensive view: first of all, it takes into account that human exploration is an iterative and multi-step process and therefore allows building upon a previous query on to the next, in a sort of “dialogue” between the user and the system. Second, it aims at supporting a variety of user experiences, like investigation, inspiration seeking, monitoring, comparison, decision-making, research, etc. Third, and probably most important, it adds to the notion of “big” the notion of “rich”: Exploratory Computing (EC) aims at dealing with datasets of semantically complex items, whose inspection may reach beyond the user's previous knowledge or expectations: an exploratory experience basically consists in creating, refining, modifying, comparing various datasets in order to “make sense” of these meanings.

This paper proposes a set of requirements for a new generation of exploratory portals, fully exploiting and developing the principles and the aims of Exploratory Computing. The first generation of exploratory portals for rich datasets (where objects are classified according to powerful taxonomies) has already provided a way to support effective user experiences, where traditional approaches (like query, search, faceted search, data mining, logical reasoning, data visualizations, . . . ), instead, would only partially satisfy "exploratory" needs. This paper discusses how and why more advanced exploratory features are still needed. A set of requirements is proposed, through examples and formal definitions.

This paper presents PoliCultura, a large-scale initiative introducing collaborative digital storytelling in formal education. PoliCultura has involved more than 17,000 participants from 2006, from pre-school to high school. It engages participants and also fosters the achievement of substantial educational benefits, monitored each year via online surveys, Skype interviews and focus groups. The paper describes the initiative and reports the evaluation's data.

There is a growing interest in the use of cooperative technologies for education. In formal education, however, such an introduction is more difficult than it may look at first sight. There are few successful cases of implementation of cooperative technologies in schools, with proper integration in the curriculum. This paper draws on empirical data from a large-scale project based in Italy, involving the development of digital narratives by school children, as part of their curricular activities. The project is in its fourth year of implementation, and it involved hundreds of classes (and thousands of pupils) every year. The paper examines several different aspects and benefits related to the implementation of digital storytelling at school, focusing upon two specific issues: 1) How digital storytelling can become "collective", i.e. involving the whole class, rather than individuals or small groups; 2) How digital storytelling can be integrated within the regular curricular activities at school, generating substantial learning benefits.

This paper presents a successful case-study of introduction of an authoring tool for multimedia storytelling in a class of 27 preschool children. Unlike more sophisticated and demanding approaches, the tool requires basic technology and is very easy to use: in spite of this simplicity, the results are highly rewarding in terms of creativity, media literacy and "traditional" educational benefits (above all the ability to narrate). We deem this extreme simplicity a pre-requisite for large-scale deployment of computational systems for kids in standard, low-tech environments.

Can ICT support inclusion? This paper presents some evidence collected during a 6-years experience with educational programs based on multi-user virtual worlds, involving more than 9,000 students from 20 different countries across 3 continents. Eloquent anecdotes, supported by quantitative data, tell us that, under some conditions, ICTs can be a powerful tool to involve disaffected students, raise interest, promote socialization and trigger important changes of attitude.

How does visual communication in multi-user educational 3D environments support interaction and collaboration? To what extent does it affect learning? How can it be improved? We investigate the role of visual communication in 3D virtual reality basing on our 8-years experience of VR-based educational projects, tested with good results by thousands of users from 17 countries. We identify 3 key aspects strongly related to the visual nature of VR, contributing to the success of collaborative experiences: virtual presence, proxemic semiotics, and peripheral awareness