May 7, 2012 @ 11:30, Room: 17AB
Chair: Leila Takayama, Willow Garage, USA
Oh Dear Stacy! Social Interaction, Elaboration, and Learning with Teachable Agents - Paper
Contribution & Benefit: Results from a think-aloud study provide insight into interaction between student rapport and learning gains with a teachable agent. Contributions include theoretical perspectives and practical recommendations for implementing rapport-building agents.
Abstract » Understanding how children perceive and interact with teachable agents (systems where children learn through teaching a synthetic character embedded in an intelligent tutoring system) can provide insight into the effects of so-cial interaction on learning with intelligent tutoring systems. We describe results from a think-aloud study where children were instructed to narrate their experience teaching Stacy, an agent who can learn to solve linear equations with the student�s help. We found treating her as a partner, primarily through aligning oneself with Stacy using pronouns like you or we rather than she or it significantly correlates with student learning, as do playful face-threatening comments such as teasing, while elaborate explanations of Stacy�s behavior in the third-person and formal tutoring statements reduce learning gains. Additionally, we found that the agent�s mistakes were a significant predictor for students shifting away from alignment with the agent.
ACMObservational Study on Teaching Artifacts Created using Tablet PC - Long Case Study
Contribution & Benefit: This is an observational study conducted on professors using tablet PC. We attempt to find a common structure in teaching contents by finding a general behavior pattern across three professors.
Abstract » Teaching typically involves communication of knowledge in multiple modalities. The ubiquity of pen-enabled technologies in teaching has made the accurate capture of user ink data possible, alongside technologies to recognize voice data. When annotating on a white board or other presentation surface, teachers often have a specific style of structuring contents taught in a lecture. The availability of sketch data and voice data can enable researchers to analyze trends followed by teachers in writing and annotating notes. Using ethnographic methods, we have observed the structure that teachers use while presenting lectures on mathematics. We have observed the practices followed by teachers in writing and speaking the lecture content, and have derived models that would help computer scientists identify the structure of the content. This observational study motivates the idea that we can use speech and color change events to distinguish between strokes meant for drawing versus those meant for attention marks.
Employing Virtual Worlds for HCI Education: A Problem-Based Learning Approach - Long Case Study
Contribution & Benefit: This case study documents experiences from teaching an HCI course by employing 3D virtual worlds. Problem-based learning activities and interactive tools are presented along with key findings and educational implications.
Abstract » In this paper we describe our experience focused on teaching an introductory course in HCI by employing a 3D virtual world. Our main pedagogical philosophy is presented which claims that problem-based learning activities are necessary for HCI education. To this end, appropriate new interactive media such as virtual worlds that can support these activities must be embedded in the educational procedure. The learning activities and the interactive tools that were used are presented. Key findings and educational implications are discussed.
From Participatory to Contributory Simulations: Changing the Game in the Classroom - Paper
Contribution & Benefit: Describes the design and evaluation of a flexible multi-player simulation game for classroom use. Can guide the design of co-located large-group learning applications.
Abstract » There is much potential for supporting collaborative learning with interactive computer simulations in formal education and professional training. A number have been developed for single user and remote interaction. In contrast, our research is concerned with how such learning activities can be designed to fit into co-located large group settings, such as whole classrooms. This paper reports on the iterative design process and two in-the-wild evaluations of the 4Decades game, which was developed for a whole classroom of students to engage with a climate simulation. The system allows students to play and change the rules of the simulation, thereby enabling them to be actively engaged at different levels. The notion of Contributory Simulations is proposed as an instructional model that empowers groups to make informed, critical changes to the underlying scientific model. We discuss how large-group collaboration was supported through constraining an ecology of shared devices and public displays.
ACM