T-learning embraces distance learning initiatives that exploit the capabilities of the modern Digital TV receivers to run interactive applications. Initially, this approach was thought of as a means to offer new learning opportunities to the masses, due to the universal penetration of the television in homes and with the horizon of the analogue switchoff by the end of this decade. Thus, Digital TV gained a strategic role in the EU’s eEurope 2005 Program for the Information Society. The idea was (and remains, within the so-called i2010 Plan) to offer educational services matching the habits established over half a century of analogue television. Accordingly, research focused on interactive informal learning, in line with the conception of the television as a medium for entertainment. Higher education was left apart as best suited to forms of distance education through the Internet and making use of personal computers (e-learning). After all, higher education students have a sufficient background to ensure that technology would not become a barrier, and they seldom have trouble when searching and using educational resources online.

Notwithstanding the above, we believe that t-learning can provide an added value in higher education, since the possibility to reach relaxed contexts (out of the formalities of e-learning) can facilitate the presentation and comprehension of certain concepts. In this line, we are working on a project to apply our research in t-learning to the courses that deal with concurrency of processes in the degree programme of Telecommunications Engineering in the University of Vigo (Spain). The experience gained in years of teaching shows that the concept of concurrency is hard to fully understand and visualize. The concurrent evolution of various processes frequently brings to light unexpected situations that invalidate the first solutions considered by the students. The role of Digital TV will be to help to analyze the dynamics of the problems and to design solutions, by means of interactive applications where processes and synchronization tools appear personified/reified as tangible entities. In these applications, several students will be able to collaborate remotely in the design and validation of solutions. Basically, the design consists in placing and configuring synchronization tools, while the validation is done by enforcing sequences of evolution to check, by means of animations, that the processes evolve as desired. For the sake of accessibility in the living room, the students are never faced with programming details or formal artefacts that, in contrast, appear regularly in the classroom and laboratories.

With the commented approach, the ultimate goal of the project is to demonstrate the possibilities of Digital TV within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). On the one hand, we will assess the potential of the medium to enhance the opportunities for continuous learning, as a complement to master classes and e-learning. On the other, we will carry out experiments to measure the success of a teaching approach based on the resolution of concurrency problems using collaborative applications. Prior to the deployment of the project during the next academic year, preliminary experiences with volunteer students have allowed us to see the enthusiastic reception of the proposal, and also to perceive glimpses of the intended didactical value.