Personalization in an interactive learning environment through a virtual character

Traditional hypermedia applications present the same content and provide identical navigational support to all users. Adaptive Hypermedia Systems (AHS) make it possible to construct personalized presentations to each user, according to preferences and needs identified. We present in this paper an alternative approach to educational AHS where a virtual character personalizes the interaction with the user through the use of a particular recommender system. The character has natural language communication abilities; it can learn students’ profiles and use this knowledge to recommend appropriate contents and activities. Through its interaction with the user, the character is able to collect and organize information about students in order to identify appropriate suggestions of contents. The recommender system employs a knowledge representation scheme that is easy to understand and to modify, enabling teachers/tutors to explore the types of recommendations being made and to appreciate why they are made. An experiment with computer science students was carried out in order to validate the approach proposed. The results of the experiment showed that the presentation of personalized links through a virtual character had a positive impact in the users’ perception of the system as a learning tool. The combination of the virtual character with a recommender system proved to be a good alternative for the delivery of personalized contents without making constant changes in the main user interface. This approach provides mechanisms to guide users through paths of study followed by students with similar profiles, without violating the human–computer interaction principle of perceived stability.     

Role of user a priori attitude in the acceptance of mobile health: an empirical investigation

The objective of this research is to investigate the role of user attitude toward the activity supported by a mobile health application in the overall technology acceptance equation. For that, a perceived risk-motivation theoretical model integrating user attitude on quitting smoking was developed and tested empirically with 170 participants from the UK for the context of using cell phones to support smoking cessation interventions. Results show an attitude favourable to quitting smoking has a negative effect on the perceived risk, no significant effect on the motivation, and a small positive influence on the behavioural intention associated with using the mobile health service. Overall, having a positive a priori attitude toward a healthy activity is not a sufficient reason to make users accept a mobile service supporting that activity.     

Enhancing e-learning effectiveness using an intelligent agent-supported personalized virtual learning environment: An empirical investigation

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) developed under constructivism and embedded personalization learning functions have the potential to meet different requirements of different learners and thus increase e-Learning effectiveness. We formulated internal personalized learning mechanisms by implementing intelligent agents in a VLE under a constructivist learning model and further developed an e-learning effectiveness framework by integrating educational and IS theories. An empirical field experiment involving 228 university students was conducted. The findings suggested that personalized e-learning facilities enhance online learning effectiveness in terms of examination, satisfaction, and self-efficacy criteria.     

Quality management and the work environment: an empirical investigation in a public sector organization

The integration of quality management initiatives, particularly total quality management (TQM), and ergonomics has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners. Above all, the question of how TQM programs relate to ergonomic aspects of organizational design and culture is at the center of this discussion. This study examines how elements of a "typical", Deming-inspired, TQM program in the public sector interact with the work environment. Elements of the TQM program were defined and measured using the Malcom Baldridge Award criteria. The specific elements examined were "Management Support of Quality", "Information and Analysis", "Human Resources", "Processes and Quality Results", and "Customer Focus and Satisfaction". The relationship between these TQM elements and the work environment were defined through five separate hypotheses. The work environment was described by the constructs "Supervisor Support", "Task Clarity", "Task Orientation", and "Innovation". Data were obtained through survey questionnaires administered to employees of four departments in a municipal government organization. Results supported three of the hypotheses, but produced some unanticipated outcomes with regard to the other two. Namely, "Management Support of Quality" was significantly related to "Supervisor Support", "Task Orientation", "Task Clarity" and "Innovation"; "Human Resources" was significantly related to "Supervisor Support"; "Processes and Quality Results" was significantly related to "Task Orientation" and "Innovation". Contrary to predicted "Information and Analysis" was negatively related to "Innovation", and "Customer Focus" was unrelated to any of the outcome variables. The relationships between these TQM elements and work environment dimensions are discussed. Implications for TQM and ergonomic practice are analyzed, and directions for future research proposed.     

The relationship between the learning strategies and learning styles in a hypermedia environment

The relationship between hypermedia-assisted instruction and learners' different learning styles has prompted tremendous interest in educators because accommodating learners' different needs is one of the promises hypermedia technology is believed to hold. This study examined the different learning strategies by Field-independent (FI) people and Fielddependent (FD) people in a hypermedia assisted language learning setting. Sixty-three college, international students participated in the study. Findings that describe the different types of media, tools, and learning aids chosen by the FI and FD students were reported. Results from the study suggested that different learning style groups employed different learning strategies in accomplishing the same task. The results of the study indicated that the hypermedia technology has the potential to accommodate learners with different needs through its rich environment.     

The virtual playground: an educational virtual reality environment for evaluating interactivity and conceptual learning

The research presented in this paper aims at investigating user interaction in immersive virtual learning environments, focusing on the role and the effect of interactivity on conceptual learning. The goal has been to examine if the learning of young users improves through interacting in (i.e. exploring, reacting to, and acting upon) an immersive virtual environment (VE) compared to non-interactive or non-immersive environments. Empirical work was carried out with more than 55 primary school students between the ages of 8 and 12, in different between-group experiments: an exploratory study, a pilot study, and a large-scale experiment. The latter was conducted in a virtual environment designed to simulate a playground. In this “Virtual Playground,” each participant was asked to complete a set of tasks designed to address arithmetical “fractions” problems. Three different conditions, two experimental virtual reality (VR) conditions and a non-VR condition, that varied the levels of activity and interactivity, were designed to evaluate how children accomplish the various tasks. Pre-tests, post-tests, interviews, video, audio, and log files were collected for each participant, and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. This paper presents a selection of case studies extracted from the qualitative analysis, which illustrate the variety of approaches taken by children in the VEs in response to visual cues and system feedback. Results suggest that the fully interactive VE aided children in problem solving but did not provide a strong evidence of conceptual change as expected; rather, it was the passive VR environment, where activity was guided by a virtual robot, that seemed to support student reflection and recall, leading to indications of conceptual change.     

Summary of the interactive neocognitron: an environment for pattern classification performance enhancement

This paper considers the implementation of a neural network development environment, and describes a prototype that has been produced. The prototype has been targeted at pattern classifier applications, where human support can be beneficial. The initial aim of the system is to provide support for generating a neural network solution to a particular pattern classification problem. This takes the form of supporting the supervised training of a neural network. The support is designed to speed up the training process, by providing the operator with rapid indications of network performance, for the current configuration. The development environment currently supports the Neocognitron neural network paradigm, which is a versatile pattern classifier. The operation of the layers of this network can be presented to the operator, as an aid to setting up. A major consideration is the use of Graphical User Interfaces, and the use of X Windows and Motif for the development environment. In conclusion, the results of the work are considered, and future developments outlined.     

Internet project-based learning environment: the effects of thinking styles on learning transfer

The purpose of this study, in an environment of Internet project‐based learning, is to undertake research on the effects of thinking styles on learning transfer. In this study, we establish an environment that incorporates project‐based learning and Internet. Within this environment, we divide our sample of elementary school students into four groups: Executive Group, Legislative Group, Judicial Group, and Mixed Group. Taking the learning of ‘Natural Science’ as an example, we investigate the effects of different thinking styles on learning transfer. The results of this study are:

• (a) significant differences between the near transfer of the Executive Group and the Legislative Group,
• (b) no significant differences in far transfer are found among groups of different thinking styles,
• (c) the near transfer of the Mixed Group is superior to that of the Legislative Group and the Judicial Group, and
• (d) the far transfer of the Mixed Group is superior to that of the Legislative Group.

     

A study of engaging high-school students as multimedia designers in a cognitive apprenticeship-style learning environment

Educational theory and research have indicated vast potentials of engaging learners as designers. Yet we have much to learn about how to design such a learning environment effectively. This paper reports on a year-long study of investigating how a cognitive apprenticeship-based learner-as-multimedia-designer environment could enhance high-school students' motivation and learning of design knowledge. The study showed that, after participating in such an environment, students became intrinsically more motivated and had more self-confidence. They acquired better understanding of several important design skills. The results indicated that working with a client and designing for a real audience helped to bring about bigger changes in the students' motivation and design knowledge. The study also highlighted the challenges and factors important for designing such a learning environment.     

Paradise Lost: Children,multimedia and the myth of interactivity

Abstract The dramatic expansion of IT use in the primary schools of South-West Scotland, in the mid-1980s, centred on highly interactive and pupil-empowering forms such as LOGO or database management software. While later forms of IT in education which have come to dominate computer-use in the same area, such as multimedia encyclopaedias and ‘living books’, are worthwhile, their surface sophistication and information richness does not compensate for reduced interactivity levels and the consequent loss of learner engagement and control. The uncritical adoption of technological advances combined with reduced local authority resources to drive curriculum development have resulted in failure to embed one of the most radical educational initiatives of the late twentieth-century.     

Applying the self-explanation principle to multimedia learning in a computer-based game-like environment

What is the most effective way to incorporate self-explanation into an educational game? In Experiment 1, students who played a 10-level computer game about electrical circuits performed better on an embedded transfer test (i.e., level 10) if they were required to select the reason for each move from a list on levels 1–9 (selection self-explanation) than if they were not required to engage in self-explanation (d = 1.20). In Experiment 2, the same pattern of results was replicated (d = 0.71), but students who were required to type in their reason for each move on levels 1–9 (generation self-explanation) did not perform any better than those who were not required to engage in self-explanation (d = −0.06). Overall, asking students to select a reason from a list fosters some degree of reflection while not overly disrupting the flow of the game.     

Speech technology for automatic teller machines: an investigation of user attitude and performance

Despite the success and widespread use of Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), a significant proportion of bank customers can not or will not use them, or experience difficulties in their interactions. Speech technology has been suggested as a means by which non-users might be encouraged to use ATMs, while simultaneously improving usability for all. The potential advantages of speech interfaces include hands-free and eyes-free use for physically- and visuallyimpaired users, and improved ease and speed of use through increased ‘naturalness’ of the interaction. This study investigated user attitudes to the concepts of a speech-based ATM, via large-scale survey and a series of focus groups. Objective performance was also considered in user trials with a prototype speech-driven ATM. The idea of using speech for ATM transactions led to a number of concerns. Privacy (the concern over one's personal financial details being overheard) and security (the fear of potential attackers hearing the user withdraw cash) were the major reasons given. The user trials confirmed that possible solutions, such as the adoption of a hood over the ATM or the use of a telephone handset as the speech input/output device, were ineffective. Groups of impaired users, particularly visually-impaired subjects, were more positive about the concept of speech, citing various difficulties with current visual-manual interactions. Most non-users, however, would not be encouraged to use ATMs with the addition of speech. The paper discusses these and other issues relating to the likely success of using speech for ATM applications.     

The management of the end-user environment: An empirical investigation

An empirical study of 212 end-users in 31 organizations was conducted to investigate the adequacy of management and support practices of end-user computing. It was found that end-users were more satisfied with their microcomputing activities when (1) the organizational microcomputing plan was incorporated in the information systems master plan, (2) there was an information center to support end-user activity and, (3) users had access to a hot-line to solve their microcomputing problems. On the other hand, end-users were less satisfied with their microcomputing activities when there were a large number of microcomputing policies. Finally, il was observed that end-users making the most use of the support services were those who were the least satisfied with their microcomputing activities.     

Eye movement as a mediator of the relationships among time pressure,feedback, and learning performance

The goal of this study is to examine the effects of time pressure and feedback on learning performance, as mediated by eye movement. Time pressure is one of main causes of human error in the workplace. Providing participants with feedback about their performance before task completion has been shown to reduce human error in diverse domains. Since both time pressure and feedback induce motivation, which is closely related to attention, we measured participants' eye movements to trace their attention and information acquisition coupled with a visual display. Time-to-deadline (long and short) and the presence of feedback were the independent factors used while measuring participants’ performance and eye movements as they learned new information about the subject of project management and answered multiple-choice questions via self-paced online learning systems. Using structural equation modeling, we found a mediating effect of eye movement on the relationships among time-to-deadline, feedback, and learning performance. Insufficient time-to-deadline accelerated the number of fixations on the screen, which resulted in longer task completion times and increased correct rates for participants learning about project management. The models in this study suggest the possibility of predicting performance from eye movement under time-to-deadline and feedback conditions. The structural equation model in the study can be applied to online and remote learning systems, in which time management is one of the main challenges for individual learners.     

User story clustering in agile development: a framework and an empirical study

Agile development aims at rapidly developing software while embracing the continuous evolution of user requirements along the whole development process. User stories are the primary means of requirements collection and elicitation in the agile development. A project can involve a large amount of user stories, which should be clustered into different groups based on their functionality’s similarity for systematic requirements analysis, effective mapping to developed features, and efficient maintenance. Nevertheless, the current user story clustering is mainly conducted in a manual manner, which is time-consuming and subjective to human bias. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for clustering the user stories automatically on the basis of natural language processing. Specifically, the sentence patterns of each component in a user story are first analysed and determined such that the critical structure in the representative tasks can be automatically extracted based on the user story meta-model. The similarity of user stories is calculated, which can be used to generate the connected graph as the basis of automatic user story clustering. We evaluate the approach based on thirteen datasets, compared against ten baseline techniques. Experimental results show that our clustering approach has higher accuracy, recall rate and F1-score than these baselines. It is demonstrated that the proposed approach can significantly improve the efficacy of user story clustering and thus enhance the overall performance of agile development. The study also highlights promising research directions for more accurate requirements elicitation.     

System usage behavior as a proxy for user satisfaction: an empirical investigation

Organizations are increasingly recognizing that user satisfaction with information systems is one of the most important determinants of the success of those systems. However, current satisfaction measures involve an intrusion into the users' worlds, and are frequently deemed to be too cumbersome to be justified financially and practically. This paper describes a methodology designed to solve this contemporary problem. Based on theory which suggests that behavioral observations can be used to measure satisfaction, system usage statistics from an information system were captured around the clock for 6 months to determine users' satisfaction with the system. A traditional satisfaction evaluation instrument, a validated survey, was applied in parallel, to verify that the analysis of the behavioral data yielded similar results. The final results were analyzed statistically to demonstrate that behavioral analysis is a viable alternative to the survey in satisfaction measurement.     

Tracking performance characterization and improvement of a piezoactuated micropositioning system based on an empirical index

Motion tracking is an important problem in micropositioning systems dedicated to ultra-precision robotic micromanipulation. This paper investigates the periodic motion tracking performance of a micropositioning system based on an empirical tracking performance index (TPI), which is proposed with the consideration of both tracking errors and tracking frequencies. To improve the TPI of a micropositioning system with piezoelectric actuation, a two-loop controller consisting of an _H∞$H_{\infty }$ robust controller and a disturbance observer is implemented. Experimental studies are conducted on an XY parallel micropositioning system for the motion tracking tests. Results demonstrate that a sole _H∞$H_{\infty }$ robust controller is insufficient to produce a satisfactory tracking performance with low-frequency control. In contrast, the two-loop controller endows the system with both a lower tracking error and a better TPI than the conventional robust control does. The experimental results not only validate the effectiveness of the proposed control method in improving tracking performance but also confirm the feasibility of the TPI in quantitatively characterizing the performance of a micropositioning system.     

Electronic delivery of lectures in the university environment: An empirical comparison of three delivery styles

The purpose of this study was to consider the efficacy and popularity of “Virtual Lectures” (text-based, structured electronic courseware with information presented in manageable “chunks”, interaction and multimedia) and “e-Lectures” (on-screen synchrony of PowerPoint slides and recorded voice) as alternatives to traditional lectures. We considered how three modes of delivery compare when increasingly deeper forms of learning are assessed and also student reaction to electronic delivery. Fifty-eight students in three groups took three topics of a human genetics module, one in each delivery style. Results indicated no overall greater efficacy of either delivery style when all question types were taken into account but significantly different delivery-specific results depending on which level of Bloom’s taxonomy was assessed. That is, overall, questions assessing knowledge consistently achieved the highest marks followed by analysis, comprehension, evaluation and application. Students receiving traditional lectures scored significantly lower marks for comprehension questions. Students receiving Virtual Lectures scored high for knowledge, comprehension and application but significantly lower for analysis and evaluation questions. The e-Lectures scored high for knowledge questions and were the median for all question types except application. Questionnaire analysis revealed a preference for traditional lectures over computer-based but nevertheless an appreciation of the advantages offered by them.     

Investigating the interrelation between attitudes,learning readiness,and learning styles under virtual learning environment: a study among Indian students

ABSTRACT

Over the last few years there has been an increased emphasis on conceptualising, developing, and implementing virtual Learning initiatives across the Indian education sector. Effective and successful use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in academic setting requires identifying and solving many important social and behavioural issues. Without identifying and addressing these issues, their use can compound the mistakes of the past and leave the learner with a passive, un-engaging experience, leading to incomplete learning and low performance. Therefore, educators are required to recognise learner’s attitude, readiness, and learning style to take advantage of VLE. This study was conducted to find interrelationship of student attitude, readiness, and learning style towards the effective use of VLE. A total of 240 students who are using any form of VLE for their learning and research volunteered for the research, and the scales were filled via the convenience sampling method. The scales of learning readiness, attitude, and learning style were administered to the participants. The relationship among the variables of the research and the research hypotheses for the model were tested using different statistical tools like correlation, t-test and regression. The research result revealed that there is a correlation among learning readiness, attitude, and learning style, and each of these factors influence the effective use of VLE.