Abstract
The legislation on the accessibility of the information and communication technologies (ICT) is not new and consequently there have been a number of international and national initiatives, however they are very focus in the Web. We are in the threshold of a more comprehensive approach in the ICT domain. The European Standard EN 301 549 specifies the accessibility requirements for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe. This study focuses on the analysis of the benefits / impact, for each group of People with Special Needs (PSN), the parameters of the European Norms (EN) for ICT products and services, which support the new legislation in the domain of public acquisition for the countries of the European Union (EU), the EU Public Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU. Questions related to methodologies, techniques and tools to evaluate the parameters of these EN will be studied in the future, as well as the models for the certification of ICT products and services, with the purpose of presenting solutions. In the future, a framework will be also designed and developed with specific functionalities and being capable of assist and facilitate the evaluation of EN parameters, and consequently the certification of the ICT products and services.

Abstract
Cognitive theorists believe that the learning process involves the integration of events into actives organizational structures termed schemata. Schemata serve a number of functions in human cognition: schemata regulates attention, organizes searches of the environment and “fill the gaps” during information processing. Thus, the mind uses schemata to selectively organize and processes all the information individuals receive from the world. This perspective fits e.g. in teaching blind and deaf people alongside of children with special education needs. The aim of the research developed until the moment was to prove that the full integration of the concept of teaching and learning in the light of cognitive theories. © Springer International Publishing AG 2018.

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This paper presents a novel descriptive model for agency in videogames as communication. Literature pertaining to interactive works including videogames has identified the need to overcome dyadic perspectives of communication in such works. Research specifically to do with agency has called for agency to no longer be confused with freedom of action, for an integrated perspective of the player and the system, and for that relationship to be viewed as a conversation. The transactional model in this paper achieves this by proposing a nested hierarchy of levels of communication that operate as an implicit contract, negotiated between the system and the player, where the object of the transaction is bio-costs, effected through the signalling of the attainability of understandings. The paper describes research antecedents, a research agenda, the basis for the model, the model itself, examples of how the model can be used to describe videogame designs, and future research.

Abstract
Higher education students exhibit difficulties in learning computer programming, particularly transitioning from initial programming to advanced programming, so it’s necessary to develop effective teaching strategies. We developed the SimProgramming approach to help students overcome learning difficulties transitioning from entry-level to advanced computer programming, by developing appropriate learning strategies. The students perform a specific set of tasks in a learning environment that simulates business operations, developing a problem-based learning assignment. One of those tasks is filling biweekly individual self-reflection and co-reflection forms. This approach was implemented at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (Portugal), in a 4th semester course of two bachelor programmes: Informatics Engineering and ICT. The students provided 37 biweekly forms, on which we conducted thematic analysis to identify their strategies for co-regulation of learning during the assignment. Students are adopting different strategies in each phase of the approach. Early phases are devoted to organization, planning, and transformation of information, and later phases focus on applying theoretical knowledge and hands-on programming. We recommend including this type of pedagogical task (biwekly self-reflection and co-reflection forms) in educational practices, in view of their contribution to improving self- and co-regulation learning strategies. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.