Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

T-learning for social inclusion

2009; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

1887-1542

Chiara Sancin, Valentina Castello, Vittorio Dell`Aiuto, D. Di Genova,

Education and Digital Technologies

This paper focuses on research themes related to t-learning applications. It particularly deals with digital divide and social inclusion issues and the most relevant features of t-learning. It reports also the main evidences arising from the Beacon project, funded on the last call of the 6th framework program. BEACON (Brazilian European Consortium for DTT Services) is a three years innovative research project on Digital Terrestrial Television with three core objectives: - the development of interoperability between the European (DVB) and the Brazilian (SBTVD) Digital Terrestrial Television standards; - the study of a methodology for distance learning through digital television; and - the delivery of t-learning services related to social inclusion in Sao Paulo, Brasil. The term t-learning can be related to the fruition of interactive training materials, contents and services using a digital decoder. The t-learning usability features and their ability to spread on a lager scale than eLearning open up new scenarios for teaching addressed to a broader number of potential users, in terms of both formal and non formal training. The real development of the t-learning system and its applications is based on the integration of the opportunities and functionalities of both Digital Terrestrial Television and eLearning, especially in terms of increasing interactivity, bringing up opportunities for more engaged learning and virtual communities. The development of new value added services based on the Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial (DVB-T) technology will make it possible to address a large amount of end users. The main goal is to offer learning services to users that can`t afford for economic or cultural causes an internet connection and a PC, but are TV owners, and to let them acquire knowledge in many sectors, favouring the improvement of their working competitiveness. The new digital broadcasting platforms will contribute to media diversity in many countries future and will increase the possibility of learning activities and governmental and cultural services for citizens