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.     

Generating a learning stance through perspective-taking in a virtual environment

Emerging media technologies such as virtual environments present a unique opportunity to examine the effects of perspective-taking on processes of human learning. In these environments it is possible for learners to immerse themselves in a unique visual perspective—such as that of a competent actor—and experience the ways they allocate their attention as they perform critical tasks in a domain. This study investigates whether the opportunity to experience a first-person perspective of actions in a virtual world simulation benefits learning compared to a third-person, disembodied perspective of those same events. Measures of performance within the simulation and post-assessment activities including a diagramming task indicate significant advantages for participants who received the first-person perspective. These participants had a better memory for the important tasks and task-related elements of the simulation; they committed fewer errors and exhibited less help-seeking behavior than participants with a third-person perspective. Results are described in terms of a virtual environment’s ability to generate a learning stance through person-centered perspective-taking, and potential implications for the design of instructional computer technologies are discussed.     

The virtual interactive presenter: a conversational character for interactive television

This paper describes the development of a conversational interface for interactive TV. With the advent of multi-channel digital TV, accessing Electronic Programme Guides (EPGs) will become increasingly complex. We claim that a conversational interface can support incremental refinement of user selections, thus assisting user choice without requiring extensive knowledge of the editorial categories used in the EPG. We present the system architecture and describe the building blocks of this system in terms of underlying technologies, namely speech recognition, Natural Language Processing, dialogue modelling, character animation and multi-modal presentation. The use of an animated character appears to influence the implementation of each of these basic techniques. After giving an overview of the system behaviour and architecture, we describe the various building blocks of a conversational agent as implemented in our system and to what extent each of the underlying technologies are influenced by the use of a conversational character. We report current results by describing example dialogues from the system. Finally, we compare our approach with other interface agents' paradigms.     

AH-questionnaire: An adaptive hierarchical questionnaire for learning styles

One of the main concerns when providing learning style adaptation in Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems is the number of questions the students have to answer. Most of the times, adaptive material available will discriminate among a few categories for each learning style dimension. Consequently, it is only needed to take into account the general tendency of the student and not the specific score obtained in each dimension. In this context, we present AH-questionnaire, a new approach to minimize the number of questions needed to classify student Learning Styles. Based on the Felder-Silverman’s Learning Style Model, it aims at classifying students into categories in spite of providing precise scores. The results obtained in a case study with 330 students are very promising. It was possible to predict students’ learning style preference with high accuracy and only a few questions.     

An Experiment on the Integration of Hypertext within a Multi-User Text Retrieval System

Currently, few hypertext systems allow an author to incorporate electronic textual information into a hyperdocument without first copying it from the environment in which it is stored. In order to extend a hyperdocument, an author must either manually type in the new information or import a copy of the text. To avoid this inconvenience and thus improve the user's efficiency of operation, hypertext systems must be integrated into other environments so that an author can incorporate existing text into a hyperdocument without the necessity of duplicating the text. This paper presents the results of an investigation into how hypertext could be integrated within a multi user text retrieval system and describes the design and implementation of a prototype system called Hyperbrowser.     

Integrating video-capture virtual reality technology into a physically interactive learning environment for English learning

The aim of this study is to design and develop a Physically Interactive Learning Environment, the PILE system, by integrating video-capture virtual reality technology into a classroom. The system is designed for elementary school level English classes where students can interact with the system through physical movements. The system is designed to be easily established with a minimal amount of equipments that includes a personal computer, a webcam, and a projector. The learning activities comprise six stages, holding specific tasks and learning objectives. Each stage is designed with a distinct device. These devices, including a conical cap, a pistol, a searchlight, a magnet, and a spray paint can, are designed to improve the accuracy of detection as well as to increase student enjoyment during the learning process. Furthermore, the system consists of five functional modules, such as providing an interface for teachers to incorporate appropriate learning materials according to their specific teaching requirements. An empirical study is conducted to examine the effects of the use of the PILE system by comparing two different types of English learning methods with 60 second-grade students from two classes at an elementary school in Taiwan. Four different tests are used to assess the different aspects of the system: an English learning achievement test, a questionnaire assessing students’ learning motivation, a Short Feedback Questionnaire (SFQ), and a teacher interview. The results of students’ English learning achievement tests show that there was a significant difference between the pretest and the posttest in the experimental group, as well as between the two groups in the delayed test. These results demonstrate that the system had a significantly beneficial effect on students’ long-term learning. The results from the questionnaires on students’ learning motivation and the SFQ reveal that the system enhanced the students’ learning motivation. The results gained from the teacher’s interview illustrate that the teacher believed this system was beneficial in assisting English learning. All findings collectively demonstrate that the proposed PILE system effectively assist English learning in a classroom environment.     

Virtual reality simulations and animations in a web-based interactive manufacturing engineering module

This paper presents a web-based interactive teaching package that provides a comprehensive and conducive yet dynamic and interactive environment for a module on automated machine tools in the Manufacturing Division at the National University of Singapore. The use of Internet technologies in this teaching tool makes it possible to conjure visualisations that cannot be achieved using traditional teaching materials such as transparencies. Virtual reality simulations and animations were developed and appropriately placed in the teaching materials to enhance the student understanding of complex concepts. This is especially useful in teaching automated machine tools, which deals primarily with the numerical control (NC) of the motions of automated machine tools. These virtual reality simulations and animations provide the capability of training students in NC programming and operations without the need to work on actual NC machines in the laboratory. The simulations are suitably placed in the package to engage the students and enhance their concentration, while at the same time generate interactions. Customised question types were also designed and implemented with a tutorial monitoring application.     

Personalization and Context-awareness in Social Local Search: State-of-the-art and Future Research Challenges

Location-based services (LBS) are now the platforms for aggregating relevant information about users and understanding their mobile behavior and preferences based on the location histories. The increasing availability of large amounts of spatio-temporal data brings us opportunities and challenges to automatically discover valuable knowledge. While context-aware properties quickly became the key of the success of these pervasive applications, information related to user preferences and social signals still lack of adequate capitalization. Local search in LBSs is a peculiar service where recent and current interests, the network of explicit and implicit social interactions between users can be combined for effectively performing fine-tuned and personalized recommendations of points of interest. In this article we present the various and peculiar aspects of local search in mobile scenarios. Then we explore the added value of personalization and the benefits of considering social signals, summarizing open challenges and emerging technologies.     

Personalised e-learning through an educational virtual reality game using Web services

This paper describes how a personalised educational game architecture has been used in conjunction with Web services to provide remote access to the system. The educational game is a virtual reality adventure game that performs affective user modelling by measuring emotional characteristics of users. Virtual reality (VR) games are so popular among children and adolescents that can be used for the purposes of educational software to render it more attractive and motivating. The benefits of such an application can be maximised if it is available over the Web. Software applications that operate over the Web are targeted to a wide range of users. Hence they need a high degree of adaptivity and dynamic individualisation to each user that interacts with the application. This should include the students’ emotional state that affects their learning. However, the environment of a Web-based VR-game that performs user modelling is so demanding that the technology of Web services is necessary for its effective operation and interoperability. Moreover, reusability may be achieved for the user modelling component.

基于覆盖模型的适应性超媒体系统用户建模

在适应性超媒体系统中,用户模型的建立是实现系统适应性的前提。提出的适应性学习系统,参考多种用户信息,包括用户的知识状态、认知风格,并根据用户与系统的交互行为,动态更新用户模型。作为智能型教学系统,可以帮助教师实施基于网络的课程,推荐给学生恰当的学习材料,从而提高学生的学习成绩。通过实验评估本系统的功能,对比在三种不同的网上学习环境中学生的学习效果,统计分析显示,适应性学习材料以及适应性呈现风格对于提高学生的学习成绩和学习效率是很有帮助的。     

Files in an interactive environment

A well designed file system can significantly simplify the design of and increase the reliability of interactive programs. A summary of the specifications of a convenient file system that is substantially independent of the host operating system and some experiences using the system are described.     

Development of computer-assisted virtual field trips to support multidisciplinary learning

Multidisciplinary courses are being developed at a number of US colleges and universities to highlight the connections between the rise or fall of world civilizations and the sustainable or unsustainable uses of soil and water resources. The content presented in these courses is complex because it includes concepts from disciplines as varied as geology, soil science, politics, economics, history, and anthropology. The learning goals for the courses include developing skills in the critical analysis of complex “real-world” problems for which there is often no simple or correct solution. Didactic materials for such courses are limited. Field trips to sites around the world that present some of the issues covered in the course would be ideal, but are logistically challenging. We considered that a series of virtual field trips (VFTs) to sites around the world would allow us to present students with complicated real-world situations, with which to practice critical analysis skills. The VFTs envisaged are neither tutorials nor field/lab exercises. Rather, they are meant to be complex, multi-faceted representations of a past or current civilization and how it affects or is affected by its environment. We expect that the students will use the VFTs to explore the relationships between physical geography and culture and how the decisions or actions of a civilization impact natural resources and the environment and thus affect its fate. A goal of the VFTs is that through consideration of their experiences, students arrive at novel associations that lead to dynamic in-class dialogue about the material presented and a deeper understanding of the intricacies of the situation in the field. This article describes the process of assembling a VFT, and analyzes the technological and didactic choices the process requires. Our experience with a pilot VFT suggests that no single medium (i.e., video clips, interactive maps, animation sequences, etc.) is comprehensive enough to meet the course learning goals. Thus, a web-based, open architecture format was selected for the VFTs because of its simplicity, flexibility and extensibility. Each medium was selected for its ability to support the course learning goals. The learning process was mediated by the VFT text, questions for thought, and in-class discussions. Preliminary results with the pilot VFT are encouraging.     

A methodology for solid modelling in a virtual reality environment

This paper presents a methodology for solid modelling in a virtual reality (VR) environment. Solid modelling in the VR environment is precisely performed in an intuitive manner through constraint-based manipulations. A hierarchically structured and constraint-based data model is developed to support solid modelling in the VR environment. Constraint-based manipulations are realized by allowable motions for precise 3D interactions in the VR environment. A mathematical matrix is presented for representing allowable motions. A procedure-based degree-of-freedom combination method for 3D constraint solving is presented for deriving the allowable motions from constraints. A rule-based constraint recognition engine is developed for both constraint-based manipulations and implicitly incorporating constraints into the VR environment. A prototype system has been implemented to testify the feasibility of the presented methodology.     

Recommender system in collaborative learning environment using an influence diagram

Giving useful recommendations to students to improve collaboration in a learning experience requires tracking and analyzing student team interactions, identifying the problems and the target student. Previously, we proposed an approach to track students and assess their collaboration, but it did not perform any decision analysis to choose a recommendation for the student. In this paper, we propose an influence diagram, which includes the observable variables relevant for assessing collaboration, and the variable representing whether the student collaborates or not. We have analyzed the influence diagram with two machine learning techniques: an attribute selector, indicating the most important attributes that the model uses to recommend, and a decision tree algorithm revealing four different scenarios of recommendation. These analyses provide two useful outputs: (a) an automatic recommender, which can warn of problematic circumstances, and (b) a pedagogical support system (decision tree) that provides a visual explanation of the recommendation suggested.     

Evaluating design guidelines for reducing user disorientation in a desktop virtual environment

Navigation in virtual environments can be difficult. One contributing factor is user disorientation. Two major causes of this are the lack of navigation cues in the environment and problems with navigating too close to or through virtual world objects. Previous work has developed guidelines, informed by cinematography conventions, for the construction of virtual environments to aid user comprehension of virtual space to reduce user disorientation. To validate these guidelines, two user studies have been performed where users of a desktop virtual environment are to complete a navigation task in a virtual maze. In an initial study [12], collision detection with the maze walls was not enabled and the results indicated that the guidelines were effective for reducing disorientation but not for developing the users awareness of the environment space. A second study has been performed where collision detection was enabled. Results suggest that the use of the guidelines can help reduce the incidences of user disorientation and aid navigation tasks. However, the guidelines have little impact on users ability to construct cognitive maps of the desktop virtual environment.

Use of signaling to integrate desktop virtual reality and online learning management systems

Desktop virtual reality is an emerging educational technology that offers many potential benefits for learners in online learning contexts; however, a limited body of research is available that connects current multimedia learning techniques with these new forms of media. Because most formal online learning is delivered using learning management systems, it is important to consider how to best integrate the visually complex and highly concrete desktop virtual reality into more text-driven and abstract environments such as those found in learning managements systems. This review of literature examines recent signaling literature within the context of multimedia learning and hypermedia learning. Signaling is a technique that involves using cues to emphasize important information in materials (Mayer, 2009, pp. 108–117). The analysis concluded that the depth and breadth of signaling literature is severely lacking. While certain related bodies of literature can be used to inform signaling research in desktop virtual reality and online learning management systems, no studies were found that directly address these topics. This article makes several important contributions to the body of signaling literature. First, based on what is known through literature, this article is a first attempt at examining signaling as a technique for integrating desktop virtual reality with online learning management systems. Second, this analysis resolves an important gap in literature by differentiating between signaling and cueing. Third, this article provides a survey of recent signaling-related literature and identifies specific areas that inform future work with desktop virtual reality delivered using online learning management systems. Finally, a taxonomy for classifying multimedia and hypermedia is presented as a tool for more effectively describing interventions used in signaling research.     

A framework for designing closed domain virtual assistants

Since its beginning in 1969, the Internet has grown rapidly, especially over the past few years. Companies and organizations store more and more information about themselves on the Internet. Sometimes, that information is not well organized. Other times, the huge volume of available data makes useful information difficult to be found. The result is that users have to waste their time looking for what they want to know using the traditional menu-driven navigation and keyword search that websites provide. This is a critical issue because it decreases users interest about companies. In order to avoid this problem, in this paper we propose a framework for designing virtual assistants, which are, considering first results, an ideal alternative to help users find, not only the information that they are looking for, but also some related information which could be of the highest interest.     

A virtual reality-based experimentation environment for the verification of human-related factors in assembly processes

This paper investigates the use of virtual reality (VR)-based methods for the verification of performance factors related to manual assembly processes. An immersive and interactive virtual environment has been created to provide functionality for realistic process experimentation. Ergonomic models and functions have been embedded into the VR environment to support verification and constrain experimentation to ergonomically acceptable conditions. A specific assembly test case is presented, for which a semi-empirical time model is developed employing statistical design experimentation in the virtual environment. The virtual experimentation results enable the quantification and prediction of the influence of a number of process parameters and their combination at the process cycle time.