Web-based Learning Solutions for Communities of Practice

Visualising the Invisible in Science Centres and Science Museums
Figure 10. The drawing represents the area of an exhibition hall in a museum and specific data collected
during a visit. The conical areas represent the area in which specific information is being available to
the visitor for a specific exhibit. The EXPLOAR system is able to track the path of the visitor between
the exhibit and to deliver a specific record about the timing and the interactions with the exhibits. In
this way a total graph presenting the paths and the interactions with the exhibits for all visitors during
a specific period of time can be produced offering excellent data for the evaluation of the design and
the approach introduced by each exhibition.
of data downloaded they could calculate the time
spent on each exhibit, the trail that they followed,
what exhibits provoked visitors to come back,
etc. In this way the EXPLOAR service could be
used as a supportive tool in the redesign of the
exhibition, in the development of new materials
and programmes, in the reallocation and the
repositioning of specific exhibits.
TOWARDS AN OPEN LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT (CLASSROOM
AND SCIENCE CENTRE AS WELL)
VIA AUGMENTED REALITY (AR)
Computer and communication technologies have
profoundly altered our every-day lives. Since
more than a decade, great promises for improving
education arised, too. However, clear qualitative
or quantitative results are still missing. Making
a Science of Education demands a great deal of
high-quality research by focussing on the utilisation
and effects of the new technologies in both,
school and informal learning environments as
well. Only by careful monitoring students’ learning
outcomes we may narrow the numerous variable
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