No abstract

Background: Aging of the global population is slowly paving the way for new markets for care products and services. The desire of older people to maintain their independence while remaining at home is boosting the development of ambient assisted living (AAL) solutions. Lack of user awareness of AAL solutions paired with an insufficient use of user-centered and participatory design approaches in the development of these products has hindered the uptake of these solutions by end users. Objective: This study aims to describe the usability and users' experiences within a novel platform, ActiveAdvice, aimed at offering advice and a holistic market overview of AAL products and services. Methods: Usability tests were performed on the developed platform among identified prospective end users, with 32 older adults and informal carers from 4 European countries being part of the user tests. The usability and appeal of the web interface design, information flow, and information architecture were analyzed by collecting both objective and subjective measures. These would include pretest and posttest surveys, along with a series of think-aloud tasks to be performed within the platform. Results: The outcomes suggest that the ActiveAdvice platform's objectives and functionalities are mostly aligned with the needs and expectations of end users, who demonstrated interest in using it, stressing its purpose along with its simple and intuitive interaction. Task completion rates were high, and participants had good satisfaction rates when navigating the platform. However, the tests still advocate for an improved design at some points and better disclosure of information. Conclusions: Our findings shed light on a few peculiarities of interface design, information architecture, user needs, and preferred functionalities, which should be applied to future developments of similar platforms with related services. The AAL field could benefit from tools supporting the dissemination of available AAL solutions and how they can improve one's quality of life. These tools may benefit not only older adults but also caregivers, business owners, and governmental employees.

No abstract

A consciência da importância da formação inicial tem crescido nos últimos anos e a formação em investigação surge como uma dimensão a investir para a qualidade da formação e do ensino. É também sabido que os contextos nacionais têm impacto na maneira como a formação inicial de professores é estruturada e, portanto, na maneira como a investigação é valorizada. Pretende‑se comeste trabalho descrever e discutir a relação que se estabelece entre a investigação e o ensino na formação inicial de professores em dois cursos, em instituições com características distintas e em dois países diferentes – Portugal e Inglaterra. Os dados foram recolhidos com estudantes e formadores/as dos dois cursos através de entrevistas individuais e de grupo, e de grupos de discussão focalizada. Os resultados permitem concluir que o valor atribuído à investigação varia de país para país e de instituição para instituição. Os dados portugueses sugerem uma perspetiva de investigação mais próxima da investigação académica e os de Inglaterra uma perspetiva mais associada à prática. Em ambos os casos surgem inquietações relativamente à visão tecnicista do ser professor/a e à presença tardia da investigação nos programas de FIP.

No abstract