E-learning and the process of studying in virtual contexts

Abstract

During the last several decades, the cultural pressures exerted by urban societies on the rural ones have led to a loss of cultural identity in the villages of South-East Europe. We believe that e-learning represents a solution for the preservation and continuation of the cultural identity in rural communities, as defined by traditional technologies and crafts. The present approach is based on a learning-by-playing teaching method and mobile-learning in real and virtual contexts. An original software application was designed for mobile devices making use of Augmented Reality technologies and delivering as main educational content 3D reconstructions of traditional environments and objects. The application integrates AI elements in the form of software agents. In this chapter the authors present the application prototype focusing on the role of software agents for the development of narrative e-learning tools and on the evaluation of the educational outcomes. Conclusions of this research and future work are also presented. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.