Modular Architecture for Pen-Based Digital Ink on Blended Learning Applications

Abstract

Abstract — Pen-based technologies can be combined with different kinds of hardware and software to gain pedagogical benefits on blended learning applications. Particularly, digital ink and handwriting recognition furnish the convenience to access, navigate and manipulate data more easily. It is also well know that user interfaces for pen computing can be implemented in several ways, with different techniques and for several kinds of applications. A modular programming architecture for pen-based digital ink was developed in order to provide a robust, reliable, usable and sustainable multimedia technology for a blended learning application. We present this approach and the respective advantages. Index Terms — Multimedia technologies, blended learning, modular programming, pen computing, sketch recognition. situation forces to combine different kinds of software I. I NTRODUCTION Actually, in several educational organizations, teaching is supported by multimedia technologies at different levels. In these organizations, we can found from just a simple personal computer (PC) until a complete intelligent environment. The gap between traditional and E-learning is narrowing. In this sense, Blended learning emerge like the convergence of online and face-to-face education. Josh Bersin gives a definition of blended learning as the combination of different training “media” (technologies, activities, and types of events) to create an optimum training program for a specific audience [1]. From this point of view, blended learning is a solution to integrate the different kinds of technological advances with the interaction offered in the traditional learning. Among the technologies to use in a blended learning session we can find blogs, wikis, online tools and online material, e-books, podcast and digital ink. Inking is the ability to scrawl (i.e., to write or draw awkwardly, hastily, or carelessly) directly on the screen of an electronic device with a stylus [2]. An electronic inking process gives end-users the opportunity of converting the handwritten data to objects that could be analyzed, processed, interpreted or animated, all depends of the use or applicability of this data in a teaching session. Another advantage of digital ink it is that the users (teachers, students or developers) can preserve the data in a raw format and lose none of the respective functionality. The contribution of digital ink technology to blended learning could be analyzed from three related perspectives:  Some representative examples are: Student perspective: Students can take notes in a course,