Advances in technology, user interfaces and recent developments in the field of communications (Wi-Fi, GPRS, 3G, etc.), have created a wide range of possibilities for users and for the design and access to learning contents.
This thesis attempts to harness the opportunities for mobility and the new user interfaces that handheld touch screen devices offer, in a non-formal learning context, with a view to offer intensive courses to improve spatial skills of engineering students with the greatest difficulties in this area.
With a view to developing spatial ability, this research has addresses:
	•New tools and new formats: SketchUp and touch-screen mobile devices,
	•New contexts: distance education, and
	•User satisfaction.
This work is structured around two main priorities, differentiated by the medium used and connected by its temporal development:
1.They develop two field studies with first-year engineering students, a first study using SketchUp software and another with an interactive web application called "Building with blocks”. These two works are shown effective in improving spatial skills.
2.These results allow us to approach the design of new materials touch screen mobile devices. Two types:
	•An interactive web content (2D), optimized for iPod Touch. This research has addressed two endpoints: first of all, to analyse the effects that training can have on spatial visualisation using the educational content developed for this pilot study; and second, to evaluate the experience of users in the use of handheld touch screen devices and their degree of satisfaction with the on-line learning course proposed.
	•The purpose of this project was to design a 3D construction mobile game for 3D spatial visualization training, with the aim of familiarizing users with a 3D environment and improving their understanding of the 2D-3D relationship. This paper describes the architecture of the system that we developed, which includes several different applications: (a) a mobile game played on touchscreen devices to permit students to resolve exercises in a 3D environment; (b) a PC application, to permit the teacher to design exercises and manage users; and (c) a server application and a database to collect and manage data. Satisfaction questionnaires and observation records were kept of work done by the users in order to evaluate the mobile game. The results show a high degree of satisfaction with the game and that users realize how useful this game can be for the proposed aims.