Networked labs for training in sciences and ICT

NEWTON is a large scale initiative to develop, integrate and disseminate innovative technology-enhanced learning (TEL) methods and tools, to create new or inter-connect existing state-of-the art teaching labs and to build a pan-European learning network platform that supports fast dissemination of learning content to a wide audience in a ubiquitous manner. NEWTON focuses on employing novel technologies in order to increase learner quality of experience, improve learning process and increase learning outcome. The NEWTON project goals are to:

• develop and deploy a set of new TEL mechanisms involving multi-modal and multi-sensorial media distribution.
• develop, integrate, deploy and disseminate state of the art technology-enhanced teaching methodologies including augmented reality, gamification and self-directed learning addressed to users from secondary and vocational schools, third level and further education, including students with physical disabilities,
• build a large platform that links all stakeholders in education, enables content reuse, supports generation of new content, increases content exchange in diverse forms, develops and disseminates new teaching scenarios, and encourages new innovative businesses.
• perform personalisation and adaptation for content, delivery and presentation in order to increase learner quality of experience and to improve learning process, and
• validate the platform impact and the effectiveness of the teaching scenarios in terms of user satisfaction, improvement of the learning and teaching experience, etc. and the underlying technology through an European-wide real-life pilot with 4 different scenarios

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Professor George Ghinea - I am a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Brunel University London. I obtained my BSc. Degree with Computer Science and Mathematics majors from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. I later went on to obtain BSc. (Hons.) and MSc. Degrees, both in Computer Science, from the same university. I was awarded my PhD – Quality of Perception: An Essential Facet of Multimedia Communications -  from the University of Reading, UK, in 2000. In it, I proposed the Quality of Perception metric, a precursor of the Quality of Experience (QoE) concept now widely known. However, whilst QoE is still a concept, QoP is a concrete metric. Thus, recognising the infotainment duality of multimedia, QoP not only characterises the subjective enjoyment associated with experiencing multimedia presentations, but also how such presentations aid a person\'s ability to assimilate informational content. My research activities lie at the confluence of Computer Science, Media and Psychology. In particular, my work focuses on the area of perceptual multimedia quality and how one builds end-to-end communication systems incorporating user perceptual requirements. I have applied my expertise in areas such as eye-tracking, telemedicine, multi-modal interaction, and ubiquitous and mobile computing. I am particularly interested in building human-centred e-systems, particularly integrating human perceptual requirements. My work has been funded by both national and international funding bodies – all of it being collaborative work with other teams and stakeholders I have been privileged to be involved with. I have also been honoured to supervise 33 PhD students to completion and to have published over 350 high-quality research articles with them and other research collaborators. Currently, my research pursuits are centered on extending the notion of multimedia with that of mulsemedia – a term which I have put forward to denote multiple sensorial media, ie. media applications that go beyond engaging the by now traditional auditory and visual senses, engaging three of our other human in a realistic manner akin to our experiences of everyday life.

Related Research Group(s)

Interactive Multimedia Systems - Building sensor and media-rich, cross-layer, inclusive e-systems, with an interest in human-machine interaction, sensorial-based interfaces, data visualisation and multimedia.

Project last modified 13/10/2023