Learning Apps
Learning Apps is the continuation of the Campus and Suma projects. Learning Apps project aims to be an on-line internet store, like the Apple Apps Store, but specialized on educational applications.
Today there exists a wide range of specific tools to support learning and teaching activities in the network. Some of them are specifically designed to learning purposes, but there is also, more general tools that are becoming used also for learning and teching purposes. Educational institutions use mostly learning management systems (LMS) such as Moodle, Sakai and others. However, popularity and adoption of social networks (e.g. Facebook) into learning and education communities provoke an increasingly inclusion of e-learning initiatives and tools. At the same time, the number of Web 2.0 tools used for learning and teaching are also growing: wikis, blogs, Google Apps and video conferencing tools are more and more used by teacher, students and educational institutions.
Although these resources are already available on the cloud, the problem is that they are very disperse, making it very challenging to find, choose and use the right tool. The Learning Apps project aims to reduce this dispersion by creating a space where teachers and educational institutions can easily find these tools, and as well as to build and personalise – with a single click – their own e-learning environment in the cloud. Hence, it will be possible to choose the most appropriate platform for teaching and learning – Moodle, Sakai, Facebook and so on – and the specific tools for each subject – blogs, wikis, chats, forums, video / audio conference and others –. The environment will also allow the addition of new tools, assessment of existing ones and attachment of information such as manuals, case studies, strategies and the contexts of use.