Author(s):
García-Peñalvo, Francisco J. 
; Johnson, Mark ; Alves, Gustavo R. ; Minović, Miroslav
Date: 2013
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/3185
Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
Description
Learning and teaching processes, like all human activities, can be mediated through the use of tools. Information
and communication technologies are now widespread within education. Their use in the daily
life of teachers and learners affords engagement with educational activities at any place and time and not
necessarily linked to an institution or a certificate. In the absence of formal certification, learning under
these circumstances is known as informal learning. Despite the lack of certification, learning with technology
in this way presents opportunities to gather information about and present new ways of exploiting
an individual’s learning. Cloud technologies provide ways to achieve this through new architectures,
methodologies, and workflows that facilitate semantic tagging, recognition, and acknowledgment of informal
learning activities. The transparency and accessibility of cloud services mean that institutions and
learners can exploit existing knowledge to their mutual benefit. The TRAILER project facilitates this aim by
providing a technological framework using cloud services, a workflow, and a methodology. The services
facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge associated with informal learning activities ranging
from the use of social software through widgets, computer gaming, and remote laboratory experiments.
Data from these activities are shared among institutions, learners, and workers. The project demonstrates
the possibility of gathering information related to informal learning activities independently of the context
or tools used to carry them out.
