This paper presents the basis of the GENIE Learn project, a coordinated three-year research project funded by the Spanish Research Agency. The main goal of GENIE Learn is to improve Smart Learning Environments (SLEs) for Hybrid Learning (HL) support by integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools in a way that is aligned with the preferences and values of human stakeholders. This article focuses on analyzing the problems of this research context, as well as the affordances that GenAI can bring to solve these problems, but considering also the risks and challenges associated with the use of GenAI in education. The paper also details the objectives, methodology, and work plan, and expected contributions of the project in this context.

Design Thinking (DT) has emerged as a crucial skill set for engineering students, particularly in the context of Person-Machine Interaction (PMI). This study evaluates the development of DT skills among students enrolled in the PMI course, comparing their abilities before and after the intervention. Conducted over an academic year with a diverse group of undergraduate students, this research highlights significant improvements in students' design thinking capabilities, with notable differences observed across gender lines. The results underscore the effectiveness of integrating DT methodologies into engineering curricula to enhance problemsolving and innovation skills.

The integration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) activities into formal education is encouraged by policy makers to promote engineering and science studies among young people. Studies show that students would be more motivated if they connected STEM learning with real-world problems. We sought to understand how teachers used information about citizen science (CS) projects to promote knowledge connected to real-world problems. Our goal was to understand the design implications of a digital tool that could inspire teachers to create learning activities focused on real-world problems using data from CS projects and SDGs. This study described how we involved key stakeholders in the tool’s co-design process (N = 135). Results showed that key tool functionalities were optimised in the following sequence: search bar, filter(s), graphs and maps, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), real problems and CS project information, educational resources and links to other websites.

Abstract We present a platform and a dataset to help research on Music Emotion Recognition (MER). We developed the Music Enthusiasts platform aiming to improve the gathering and analysis of the so-called “ground truth” needed as input to MER systems. Firstly, our platform involves engaging participants using citizen science strategies and generate music emotion annotations – the platform presents didactic information and musical recommendations as incentivization, and collects data regarding demographics, mood, and language from each participant. Participants annotated each music excerpt with single free-text emotion words (in native language), distinct forced-choice emotion categories, preference, and familiarity. Additionally, participants stated the reasons for each annotation – including those distinctive of emotion perception and emotion induction. Secondly, our dataset was created for personalized MER and contains information from 181 participants, 4721 annotations, and 1161 music excerpts. To showcase the use of the dataset, we present a methodology for personalization of MER models based on active learning. The experiments show evidence that using the judgment of the crowd as prior knowledge for active learning allows for more effective personalization of MER systems for this particular dataset. Our dataset is publicly available and we invite researchers to use it for testing MER systems.

This paper presents the H2O Learn (Hybrid and Human-Oriented Learning) project, a coordinated research project funded by the Spanish Research Agency, which just started in 2021 and will last for three years. The main goal of the H2O Learn project is to build Trustworthy and Human-Centered Learning Analytics (TaHCLA) solutions to support human stakeholders when designing, orchestrating and (self-,socially- or co-) regulating learning in Hybrid Learning (HL). The contributions of H2O Learn consider key requirements for trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI), as defined by the European Commission: 1) fostering human (i.e., teachers, learners…) agency; 2) enabling transparency of the Learning Analytics (LA) systems; 3) seeking socio-emotional and inclusive wellbeing; and 4) promoting accountability by enabling the assessment of algorithms and design processes.

Online communities (OC) offer teachers a context for mutual inspiration, collaboration, and professional development. Yet, despite there being several studies analyzing teachers' motivations to participate in these communities, it is still unclear how these motivations relate with the supporting collaborative platforms and how they can serve as an input for defining and prioritizing design requirements. A survey study was conducted with the participants of an open online and a face-to-face training course in the different phases of a 'Maker' educational activity, which were introduced to a supporting platform for sharing, exploring, and co-creating learning designs. Information about 170 teachers' self-reported motivations to participate in a collaborative environment and their perceptions about the usefulness of the implemented features was gathered. Findings show that participants' main motivations are not only to gain knowledge, but also include to have fun or to collaborate with the community development. Regarding their perception about the supporting platform, more than the 30% of the participants acknowledged the usefulness of the features implemented and identified the lack of resources and training as the main limitations to participate. Results provide evidence of the importance of the participants motivations to determine design requirements for a platform to enhance collaboration within an OC of teachers.

This paper analyzes the effect that three different approaches for teacher professional development based on the maker education have on teachers' self-perceived ability for implementing the maker educational practices. The results indicate that there is a significant improvement regarding the feeling of being able to design maker-based educational lessons after participating in any of the professional development courses. Concretely, individual and practical activities requiring the development of a maker project are the ones that help the most to improve teachers' self-perception regarding the maker and STEM education in primary education levels.

Whether deciding to participate in a study or gain access to online applications, research suggests that individuals often fail to understand the conditions they agree to when giving consent. Limited comprehension related to the risks of big data and habituation may contribute to consent being given in a manner that counters the best interests of individuals (i.e. a privacy paradox). Who is responsible for helping students learn to make informed decisions regarding the sharing of their data? We conducted a quasi-experimental study involving 127 undergraduate students. We explored the effects on study enrolment of supporting students in making informed data sharing decisions. Prior to reading the consent form for a study involving the evaluation of a collaborative learning application, one group of participants was primed to think about data sharing risks and evaluate their participation in terms of a harm-benefit decision whereas the other group was not. The primed group scored lower on a consent form comprehension quiz yet had higher enrolment rates and were more likely to cite trust as reasoning for enrolling in the study.

We present KnowBrain (KB), an open source Dropbox-like knowledge repository with social features for informal workplace learning. KB enables users (i) to share and collaboratively structure knowledge (ii) to access knowledge via sophisticated content- and metadata-based search and recommendation, and (iii) to discuss artefacts by means of multimedia-enriched Q&A. As such, KB can support, integrate and foster various collaborative learning processes related to daily work-tasks.

This paper proposes a framework which attempts to address the barriers to the development of successful educational design research through a process which identifies gaps in current practices and devises innovations to target them. Educational design research assumes an ambitious position: a dual commitment to understand and contribute to both theory and practice. This task is confounded by the complexity of the domain and the inherent multi-stakeholder nature of most initiatives. Three barriers to success are identified: the shortage of mechanisms for cross-stakeholder dialogue, the failure to account for existing practices and contexts, and the rigid processes dictated by the dynamics of research projects. We report early findings from an attempt to address these barriers, based on an extension and adaptation of the Participatory Pattern Workshop (PPW) methodology (This paper has received the support of the Learning Layers project co-funded by the European Commission; Grant Agreement Number 318209; http://learning-layers.eu/ ).

Mobile technologies are currently being applied to facilitate the development of learning activities in diverse spaces beyond the classroom. Indoors and outdoors spaces are augmented with located digital Educational Resources (ER) through specific technologies that provide a sensory input to smart phones that can indicate position and, thus, enable located learning activities. The potentiality that smart phones have, make these devices adequate to facilitate the access to located ERs. This paper proposes four space-aware design factors (the space, the connectivity, the position-based technologies and the guidance) that have to be considered for designing located learning activities supported with smart phones. The application of the factors is explained through four illustrative located learning scenarios. The paper discusses and provides a wide-range vision of how the combination of these factors affects the design of the activity, accessing to the ERs and monitoring the students' progress.

With the aim of facilitating teachers the use of good techniques in computer assisted assessment, this paper proposes the integration of rubric functionalities in an editor compliant with the IMS question and test interoperability specification (QTI). Teachers can organize the information of an e-questionnaire using the QTI-rubric approach. They can use (and reuse) QTI elements without having a technical background or knowledge of the specification. The QTI-rubric enables automatic formative feedback for learners and the results can serve them as a personal evidence of their knowledge and capabilities.

With the aim of facilitating teachers the design of units of learning and assessment, this paper proposes the use of different educational pattern types. Depending on the type of patterns, the resulting didactic materials are specified using IMS Learning Design or IMS Question and Test Interoperability extended with integrated Web2.0-like services.

The success of Web 2.0 technologies in providing support for social interaction in educational spaces depends on how learning environments benefit from the affordances of Web 2.0 services. These services can be combined with the management of learning activities as done by IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) compliant systems. In this paper, we analyze the ability of an integrated system (blog, forum, and IMS LD activities) to instigate and support learner activity and interaction with other members of the learning network. This analysis takes the form of a case study in which a small professional learning community uses the integrated system. Four different aspects are studied in this case: The role of the tutor, the role of socially outgoing learners, the influence of the adopted educational approach, and the system's components. The paper explains how each of these aspects can play a role in augmenting learner activity and interaction, and consequently incrementing the success of learning systems.