Universidad Carlos III de Madrid - Instituto de Cultura y Tecnologia

Contact person:  Paloma Diaz 

pdp [at] inf.uc3m.es

is Full Professor at the Computer Science and Engineering of Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Escuela Politécnica Superior) and head of the Interactive Systems-Lab DEI research group. Her research mainly focus on interactive systems applied to any human activity, individual or collaborative, with a strong focus on combining hci and engineering principles to produce innovative applications of technology. As a  result of her research work she has published articles in conferences and journals and has served as committee member in various international conferences. She has ben PI of projects about designing interactive systems for web design, cultural heritage, emegergency management and civic engagment. 

Description of the smart city learning group operating in the affiliated institution

One of the main research areas of the Interactive Systems DEI LAB is the application of ICTs to support learning and training activities. Many of the projects fit within the goals of the observatory, including urThey where social games were used to support children informal learning or emerCien where different technologies including augmented reality and tabletops are used to engage children in creativity activities. The group has also participated in projects related to the use of augmented reality to support teaching activities like ModuWEB or Tipex. 

Competences

The research group has been working on the application of ICT technologies to teaching and learning processes since 1990. Different solutions have been created to support learning and training, including models of ebooks for hearing impaired children, interactive systems for adult learners or social games for children.  The group has also extensive experience in supporting the design of learning activities with a view to reduce the gap to adopt new technologies by non technological savvy users.The outcomes of this work include visual models to specify learning systems and serious games and specific educational systems and tools.

Relevant achievements, best practices, products

to be added soon

On-going challenges

We are currently exploring the uses of augmented reality and mixed environments to support educational processes in cultural heritage and emergency management. This area of research also includes the development of tools that will enable educators and instructors to create or personalize their own learning environments.

Relevant publications

• Telmo Zarraonandia, Rita Francese, Ignazio Passero, Paloma Díaz, Genoveffa Tortora

'Analysing the Suitability of Virtual Worlds for Direct Instruction and Individual Learning Activities'

IJDET 12(1): 38-51 (2014)

• Telmo Zarraonandia, Ignacio Aedo, Paloma Díaz, Alvaro Montero Montes

'Augmented Presentations: Supporting the Communication in Presentations by Means of Augmented Reality'

Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interaction 30(10): 829-838 (2014)

• Diego Alvarado, Paloma Díaz, Pedro Paredes

'ChiCo: a platform to support children co-design'

BCS HCI 2013: 57

• Paloma Díaz, Pedro Paredes, Diego Alvarado, Elisa Giaccardi

Co-designing Social Games with Children to Support Non Formal Learning.

ICALT 2012: 682-683

• Telmo Zarraonandia, Ignacio Aedo, Paloma Díaz

'Envisioning the Transformative Role of IT in Lectures'

IxD&A 15: 7-17 (2012)

• Telmo Zarraonandia, Paloma Díaz, Ignacio Aedo

A Modular Approach to Support the Multidisciplinary Design of Educational Game Experiences.

ICONIP (4) 2012: 560-567

• Steffen Lohmann, Philipp Heim, Paloma Díaz

'Exploiting the Semantic Web for Interactive Relationship Discovery in Technology Enhanced Learning.'

ICALT 2010: 302-306

• Rosa Romero Gómez, Telmo Zarraonandia, Ignacio Aedo, Paloma Díaz

'Designing Usable Educational Material for English Courses Supported by Mobile Devices.'

USAB 2010: 373-383

• Paloma Díaz, Esther Guerra, Telmo Zarraonandia, Ignacio Aedo, Carmen Luisa Padrón

'A Meta-modeling based Approach for the Multi-Disciplinary Design of Web Educational Systems'

J. UCS 15(7): 1440-1454 (2009)

• Telmo Zarraonandia, Mario Rafael Ruiz Vargas, Paloma Díaz, Ignacio Aedo

'A Virtual Environment for Learning Aiport Emergency Management Protocols'

HCI (3) 2009: 228-235