Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) are present in all educational modalities and levels, but their adoption in primary education remains limited. This article evaluates the acceptance of MundoCRA, a VLE that enriches traditional classrooms through a virtual world where students perform educational tasks in an engaging way. Gamified activities with rewards, points, and certificates promote motivation through quizzes, challenges, and collaborative projects. MundoCRA also includes a management module that allows teachers to create and monitor tasks easily. The evaluation, based on an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), considers constructs such as perceived enjoyment, satisfaction, and gender differences. A survey of 20 teachers and 30 students from the Rural Grouped School (CRA) Sierra de Alcaraz (Spain) revealed that MundoCRA increased motivation, satisfaction, and enjoyment. Furthermore, structural equation modeling showed that perceived enjoyment and ease of use significantly influenced positive attitudes toward the platform, explaining over 70% of the variance in user attitudes.

Abstract Multimodal emotion detection has been one of the main lines of research in the field of Affective Computing (AC) in recent years. Multimodal detectors aggregate information coming from different channels or modalities to determine what emotion users are expressing with a higher degree of accuracy. However, despite the benefits offered by this kind of detectors, their presence in real implementations is still scarce for various reasons. In this paper, we propose a technology-agnostic framework, HERA, to facilitate the creation of multimodal emotion detectors, offering a tool characterized by its modularity and the interface-based programming approach adopted in its development. HERA (Heterogeneous Emotional Results Aggregator) offers an architecture to integrate different emotion detection services and aggregate their heterogeneous results to produce a final result using a common format. This proposal constitutes a step forward in the development of multimodal detectors, providing an architecture to manage different detectors and fuse the results produced by them in a sensible way. We assessed the validity of the proposal by testing the system with several developers with no previous knowledge about affective technology and emotion detection. The assessment was performed applying the Computer System Usability Questionnaire and the Twelve Cognitive Dimensions Questionnaire, used by The Visual Studio Usability group at Microsoft, obtaining positive results and important feedback for future versions of the system.

Post-stroke or post-brain injuries rehabilitation is a long-term process defined by therapists and tuned to the specific damages and their consequences for each patient. This process requires the definition of well-defined multiple exercises to be performed multiple times by each patient over a long period of time. One of the key findings in the rehabilitation domain is that exercises should be tasks and goals oriented to increase functional independence, enhance development and prevent disability [24]. Patients performing the exercises must be carefully monitored to identify progress, possible regression and prevent damages due to the inadequate performance of the exercises. The SIVIRE tool [20] provides interactive graphical feedback to patients about the performance of their exercises and deviations from nominal, planed practice but fails at providing high-level descriptions of exercises and at connecting them to high-level rehabilitation goals (e.g. gain autonomy in cleaning a room). The HAMSTERS-XLE tool [16] provides a tuneable editor and a simulator to describe goals and task models including low-level tasks covering perception of the various senses, cognition and motoric actions. This paper presents the integration of these two tools and the benefits it brings both to the patients and to the therapists. The resulting tool and its engineering are presented in detail highlighting some generic integration mechanisms. On a case study, we show how exercises can be defined in HAMSTERS-XLE, transferred to SIVRE for fine tuning, monitored by SIVRE during the multiple practices of the patient and transferred back again to HAMSTERS-XLE to monitor progress, identify issues with the exercises and provide therapists with goal and task-based data about patients' evolutions

Abstract Technological advances have facilitated new approaches to support different needs in healthcare environments. In particular, in the field of rehabilitation therapies, we can find software applications that have been developed to support the performance of specific exercises, often with different customization options. However, there are still many gaps that need to be addressed to provide more and better global solutions. In this article, we present a novel system aimed at physiotherapists, which allows them to create new rehabilitation exercises designed to meet the specific needs of their patients. This implies the creation of individualized therapies that contribute to a better and faster recovery of patients. The system consists of a virtual 3D environment with a 3D skeleton representing the patient. The physiotherapist can interact with the skeleton to design the desired postures that the patient should practice according to their personal limitations. The system allows physiotherapists to compose a complete and personalized set of exercises. Alternatively, the physiotherapist may also create the postures by means of a motion sensing device using motion- and voice-based interaction. Both options pose research challenges that the authors have addressed to provide the solution presented in this paper.

Increasing screen real-estate allows for the development of applications where a single user can manage a large amount of data and related tasks through a distributed user interface. However, such users can easily become overloaded and become unaware of display changes as they alternate their attention towards different displays. We propose AwToolkit, a novel widget set for developers that supports users in maintaing awareness in multi-display systems. The AwToolkit widgets automatically determine which display a user is looking at and provide users with notifications with different levels of subtlety to make the user aware of any unattended display changes. The toolkit uses four notification levels (unnoticeable, subtle, intrusive and disruptive), ranging from an almost imperceptible visual change to a clear and visually saliant change. We describe AwToolkit's six widgets, which have been designed for C# developers, and the design of a user study with an application oriented towards healthcare environments. The evaluation results reveal a marked increase in user awareness in comparison to the same application implemented without AwToolkit.

This article explores the key points regarding the development of distributed user interfaces to present the features that are not covered by traditional development processes and how these features are characterized. A transversal approach to tackle these new issues is also proposed. This introductory article aims to present also a resume of the main topics covered in this special issue that gathers a thorough selection of the best papers presented at the first workshop on distributed user interfaces. The goal of this workshop is to promote the discussion about the emerging topic of distribute user interfaces, answering a set of key questions: what, when, how, and why distribute a user interface among different devices to improve users' interaction.

The Collaborative Map Explorer defines a new learning artifact that allows students to explore different layers of information related to a geographical location on a map using distributed user interfaces in the same space at the same time. Students are able to manipulate geographical information using viewports that can be moved over a map that is projected on a shared surface (i.e. multitouch surface). Each viewport exposes different layers of information for a particular region on the map. These information layers are selected by the student using a mobile device. Consequently, the use of a distributed user interface provides students with the ability to address local and shared information at the same time in the same space in a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Environment. The article also includes a preliminary usability evaluation of this interaction technique that exposes the potential of this solution.

Co-Interactive Table is a client-server system designed to facilitate collaborative tasks in any kind of meeting such as sharing information and files among the participants using simple, natural and intuitive gestures. We have used technology based on mobile devices and RFID to implement the system. The system is composed of panels (one per user) forming the interactive table. A projector connected to a PC updates instantly the information generated in the meeting such as notes, ideas and the specific information of each participant. All devices used in the meeting room are connected via Wi-Fi to the Co-Interactive Table server. This server is responsible for providing important web services that coordinate and control the system performance. Besides, the system offers the possibility of performing remote meetings without losing functionality. The Co-interactive table client application runs on mobile devices with RFID reader. The system can recognize the service required by the user with a gesture as simple and natural as bringing the mobile device near the interactive table to select the desired action.