Integrating Collaborative and Decentralized Models to Support Ubiquitous Learning

The application of ubiquitous technologies in the improvement of education strategies is called Ubiquitous Learning. This article proposes the integration between two models dedicated to support ubiquitous learning environments, called Global and CoolEdu. CoolEdu is a generic collaboration model for decentralized environments. Global is an infrastructure designed to create ubiquitous learning environments. Global provides software agents that perform tasks common to ubiquitous learning processes. By extending these agents or adding new ones, a system can be specialized to support ubiquitous learning environments. The CoolEdu/Global integration created a collaborative and decentralized ubiquitous learning environment. The resulting environment was evaluated through a simulated scenario dedicated to explore its functionalities. The results were encouraging and showed the potential of deploying the environment in real situations.