DeustoTech

Quality assessment of learning technology and content.

Our main interest of research is the methodology, process and indicators to evaluate the technological quality of an educational software or hardware tool. We are especially interested in the evaluation of usability and accessibility, through experimentation with users, as well as the design of tools to develop skills and competences and to measure their impact in learning.

 

Innovative use of technology in education.

We are interested in the innovative educational use of existing technology. Virtual environments like Facebook, Tuenti or Twitter, mobile devices like mobile-telephones, iPad or eBooks and the wide variety of Web 2.0 applications open a wide range of possibilities for formal and informal learning, as well as for lifelong learning as a basis of our daily activity.

 

Integration of interactive accessible audiovisual and multimedia content in learning process.

We are working on the design, development and integration of interactive audiovisual content in digital educational objects that comply with international educational standards. Accessibility features like subtitling, voice-over or audio description may be used to promote the use among people with disabilities, moreover they have an innovative use in education since they promote the development of skills e.g. for language learning.

 

The DeustoTech Learning develops innovative learning scenarios which cover the user requirements regarding technical implementation and didactical approach. The learning scenarios integrate creative instruments such as game-based learning. Our aim is to increase the understanding and attraction of educational potential of game-based learning among learning organizations, schools, teachers, learners, and educators.Together with WebLab-DEUSTO we are working on merging remote experiments and game environment. For this purpose the online education game, based on the remote experiments - a microcontroller managed mobile bot (ROBOT) is designing.

Research of basic psychological processes involved in learning through online and offline experimentation.

Our main focus of study is to advance our understanding of how people learn, forget, or develop causal and predictive relationships. We are particularly interested in illusions of causality, and how the mechanisms related to them can also affect higher level reasoning processes like critical thinking. As the result of a tight collaboration with Basque Education Department and Labpsico (Experimental Psychology Laboratory at the University of Deusto), our findings are used to create outreach campaigns promoting critical thinking in scholars.

 

Methodological improvements in computer-based Experimental Psychology, both in the laboratory and through the Internet.

Many Experimental Psychology paradigms require extremely precise and accurate timing mechanisms to present stimuli and record participants' responses in an experiment. Our research is concerned with the accuracy of the software used to run cognitive experiments, both in the laboratory and through the Internet. We are especially interested in developing web-based applications using standard technologies (HTML5, CSS, JavaScript), with the aim of taking advantage of the Internet as a source of experimental participants.

 

Psychological aspects related to the use of technology.

We are interested in the relationship between technology and learning in both ways. On one hand, the effects of technology use on teaching and learning, and on the other hand, the psychological processes involved in learning technological competencies.