Interactive remote instruction: lessons learned

This paper describes experiences with the use of the interactive remote instruction (IRI) system which was used to teach a computer science graduate course at Old Dominion University during the Fall 1995 semester. Through the use of high-speed networks and high performance workstations, IRI creates a virtual classroom so that geographically dispersed students can fully participate in a class. Central to this system is the availability of a personal workstation to each student through which the class is taken. Placing a workstation at each student's disposal opens the opportunity for student interaction and group collaboration. We compare this approach with other educational settings and describe lessons learned from instructor, student and technical perspectives. We also describe changes we are putting in place for an expanded usage in the coming fall semester using fiberoptic cable supporting a WAN internet protocol.     

基于WMEncoder SDK的在线多媒体课堂软件开发

在介绍Windows Media技术的基础上,利用 Windows Media Encoder 9 SDK实现在教师机上屏幕录像与广播,课室内所有学生均可在自己的电脑上接收和观看教师的讲课信息。构建一个在线多媒体课堂。     

基于R-CNN的学生课堂管理系统

随着计算机智能化的发展,计算机技术已经深入到人们日常生活.利用计算机技术可以辅助教学,但目前大多数计算机技术都是应用于检测学生课堂疲劳情况.由于学生课堂中的行为有较多种,现有的方法不能准确评估学生的课堂表现,以及衡量老师的教学水平.为了解决这个问题,提出了一种新的学生课堂管理系统,在这个系统中可以检测学生的多种课堂行为...     

Conversational learning integration in technology enhanced classrooms

Today’s college students have grown up with technology. These digital natives typically gravitate toward group activities in technology embedded social contexts. However, despite this multidimensional evolution, little has changed in conventional classrooms where they build their education experience. We investigate learning models in a classroom environment which still remains the main driver of education today. We describe a conversational learning model based on group activities which involve multi-party conversations. We implement this model in a technology-enhanced studio-classroom to “visualize” conversations which otherwise would remain abstract to learners. Teachers are empowered with instructional patterns to guide their changing role in this novel classroom environment. Based on standard assessment indicators, we conduct an experimental analysis which results show interesting tradeoffs of learning performance that favor the proposed conversational learning approach compared to those obtained from conventional instruction.     

A hardware-independent virtual reality development system

Simulating virtual reality (VR) hardware allows programs to be written in a desktop environment without constant use of limited VR resources. Rather than shifting constantly between VR and workstation environments, developers at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) wanted to be able to test VR applications on the normal workstation console. We therefore created a software simulator for VR development. It simulates various VR system features with an interface that runs on an ordinary workstation. The simulator is implemented as part of the CAVE library, the programming library originally written to support the CAVE hardware. It can, however, be used to develop applications for several VR systems, including ImmersaDesks and head-coupled displays. The library itself has been designed so that use of the simulator or any supported hardware is entirely transparent to application code     

课堂环境下用于头部行为识别的李群特征表示

头部行为是个体行为的重要组成部分,在课堂环境下对于学生的行为来说更是如此。使用传统的RGB视频图像进行头部行为识别有着许多限制,例如背景的干扰和光线的变化等,而深度图像可以通过包含的深度信息很好地处理这些问题。针对课堂环境下的头部行为识别问题,受到李群理论的启发,提出了一种从深度图像中提取李群特征表示的模型,并且使用该李群特征完成了头部行为识别任务。从深度图像中获取脸部的关键点及关键段信息,通过计算相邻帧之间关键段的旋转及位移获得能够同时表示时间空间信息的李群特征表示,使用支持向量机来完成头部行为的分类识别。在公开数据集上验证了方法的有效性,然后通过Kinect获取制作了课堂环境下的真实行为数据,实验结果表明李群特征表示方法能够有效帮助课堂环境下头部行为的识别,对课堂环境下的学生行为识别提供了帮助。     

Wireless sensors application in smart English classroom design based on artificial intelligent system

In the traditional intelligent English classroom teaching, the efficiency of students' learning is often affected by many external environments, such as the influence of learning environment, the influence of students' own condition, and the influence of teachers' teaching mode. In view of these problems, we propose a wireless sensor network technology intelligent teacher management system, which can reduce the influence of the above factors on students' learning efficiency and improve students' learning efficiency. Make students more focused on learning. The system can monitor the state of students through wireless sensors. When the students are in bad condition, the system can adopt certain measures to enhance the enthusiasm of students. At the same time, the state of students and the state of the classroom will be recorded in the internal background system, the system managers can timely monitor the state of students and teachers, and give some guidance and feedback to students and teachers. This learning system is based on machine-free learning and sensor development. It can adjust the classroom environment to suitable conditions and make students more motivated to learn. Teachers can also have a more stable play, will not cause waste of classroom time and attention loss and other phenomena. When students feel tired or sleepy in class, the management system can also actively remind students. Observing the students' state at all times in the traditional classroom will lead to the teacher's distraction, but the teacher has to observe the students' state while lecturing. This may affect teachers and affect their teaching level, and the use of this automated classroom detection technology can solve such problems. Machine learning is to improve the calculation method through various experiences, which is also a problem in the field of artificial intelligence.     

Learning in a u-Museum: Developing a context-aware ubiquitous learning environment

Context-awareness techniques can support learners in learning without time or location constraints by using mobile devices and associated learning activities in a real learning environment. Enrichment of context-aware technologies has enabled students to learn in an environment that integrates learning resources from both the real world and the digital world. Although learning outside of the traditional classroom is an innovative teaching approach, the two main problems are the lack of proper learning strategies and the capacity to acquire knowledge on subjects effectively. To manage these problems, this study proposes a context-aware ubiquitous learning system (CAULS) based on radio-frequency identification (RFID), wireless network, embedded handheld device, and database technologies to detect and examine real-world learning behaviors of students. A case study of an aboriginal education course was conducted in classrooms and at the Atayal u-Museum in Taiwan. Participants included elementary school teachers and students. We also designed and used a questionnaire based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) theory to measure the willingness for adoption or usage of the proposed system. The experimental results demonstrated that this innovative approach can enhance their learning intention. Furthermore, the results of a posttest survey revealed that most students' testing scores improved significantly, further indicating the effectiveness of the CAULS.     

A comprehensive study of parameters in physical environment that impact students’ focus during lecture using Internet of Things

We describe and analyze the impact of several parameters of the physical environment in a classroom on students’ focus, where the term “focus” refers to the students’ subjective feeling of their ability to concentrate on a lecture at a given moment. The primary goal is to identify those parameters that significantly affect students’ focus during the lectures. We had measured several parameters in a real classroom environment using different low-cost smart devices. The research is based on the dataset collected from 14 recorded lectures attended by 197 students. We had measured five parameters of the physical environment and extracted 22 features from the lecturer’s voice. After analyzing collected measurements, we had identified eight parameters that have shown to have statistically different values for “focused” and “not focused” segments. We used obtained dataset to test different classifiers and their ability to correctly classify “focused” against “not focused” segments of the lectures. We found out that AdaBoost M1 classifier had the best overall recognition accuracy (86.78%). After performing additional series of trials we identified three parameters that could be removed from the original dataset without changing classifier’s accuracy, which left us five uncorrelated parameters that have shown to have significant impact on students’ focus.     

Affective Temperature Control in Food SMEs using Artificial Neural Network

This paper highlights modeling affective temperature control in food small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Modeling defined that workstation temperature set point could be controlled based on worker heart rate and workstation environment using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The research objectives were: 1) to propose modeling affective temperature control in food SMEs based on heart rate and workstation environment; and 2) to develop an ANN model for predicting workstation temperature set point. Training and validation data were collected from six food SMEs in Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. The data of temperature set points were verified using a simulated confined room. The inputs of the ANN model were worker heart rate, workstation temperature, relative humidity distribution and light intensity. The output was temperature set point. Research results concluded satisfactory performance of ANN. The model could be used to provide environmental ergonomics in food SMEs.     

In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning

Recently, a debate has begun over whether in-class laptops aid or hinder learning. While some research demonstrates that laptops can be an important learning tool, anecdotal evidence suggests more and more faculty are banning laptops from their classrooms because of perceptions that they distract students and detract from learning. The current research examines the nature of in-class laptop use in a large lecture course and how that use is related to student learning. Students completed weekly surveys of attendance, laptop use, and aspects of the classroom environment. Results showed that students who used laptops in class spent considerable time multitasking and that the laptop use posed a significant distraction to both users and fellow students. Most importantly, the level of laptop use was negatively related to several measures of student learning, including self-reported understanding of course material and overall course performance. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

基于多Agent的学生程序文件教育系统

随着Internet和WWW的迅速发展,以Web为基础的教育系统越来越受到关注,但是,较之真实生活中的课堂教室,这种以自学成才方式学习的系统在以下几方面仍显不足;常常使学生感到呆板,沉重,目标性差,与人类教师不同,这些系统不可能了解每个学生的实际学习情况,不可能辨别学生学习中的问题,并为特殊学生提供相应帮助,我们项目的主要目的是建立一个学生智能程序文件学习系统,为每个使用Web教学系统学习的学生提供其存储信息和相应的历史记录,该系统将对学生的学习情况进行全程存储,在网上对学生评估,测试学生的学习情况和帮助教师对学生的学习情况进行分析。     

Integrating ICT into second language education in a vocational high school

Abstract This study investigated the potential impacts of integrating the Internet into an English as a second language class in a vocational senior high school in Taiwan. Twenty-nine students and a young male English teacher were involved. It was found that the students overall had a positive perception toward using Internet tools. This study indicated that the integration of information communication technology on the Internet with English facilitated the creation of a virtual environment that transformed learning from a traditional passive experience to one of discovery, exploration, and excitement in a less stressful setting. The study revealed that a computer-mediated communication environment could lower students' psychological barriers to enable them to express their opinions freely and to communicate actively on the Internet and that it could also enhance their critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills through online activities or class homepage construction. An individual case study further revealed that a task-oriented English tutoring strategy in association with email communication could motivate the student's writing competence but the student's language proficiency and grammatical accuracy did not improve. Finally, based on the findings, recommendations for future studies are made.     

Adaptive and Reliable Paging to Remote Main Memory

Workstation clusters provide significant aggregate amounts of resources, including processing power and main memory. In this paper we explore the collective use of main memory in a workstation cluster to boost the performance of applications that require more memory than a single workstation can provide. We describe the design, simulation, implementation, and evaluation of a pager that uses main memory of remote workstations in a workstation cluster as a faster-than-disk paging device and provides reliability in case of single workstation failures and adaptivity in network and disk load variations. Our pager has been implemented as a block device driver linked to the Digital UNIX operating system, without any modifications to the kernel code. Using several test applications we measure the performance of remote memory paging over an Ethernet interconnection network and find it to be up to twice as fast as traditional disk paging. We also evaluate the performance of various reliability policies and demonstrate their feasibility even over low bandwith networks such as Ethernet. We conclude that the benefits of reliable remote memory paging in workstation clusters are significant today and are likely to increase in the near future.     

It's not about seat time: Blending,flipping, and efficiency in active learning classrooms

This study examines the effect of reducing the seat time of a large lecture chemistry class by two-thirds and conducting it in an active learning classroom rather than a traditional amphitheater. To account for the reduced lecture, didactic content was recorded and posted online for viewing outside of the classroom. A second experimental section, also in a blended and flipped format, was examined the following semester as a replication. To measure student subject-matter learning, we used a standardized multiple-choice exam, and to measure student perceptions of the classroom, we used a validated survey instrument. Our findings demonstrated that in an active learning classroom, student faculty contact could be reduced by two-thirds and students achieved learning outcomes that were at least as good, and in one comparison significantly better than, those in a traditional classroom. Concurrently, student perceptions of the learning environment were improved. This suggests that pedagogically speaking, active learning classrooms, though they seat fewer students per square foot, are actually a more efficient use of physical space.     

基于三层架构的智慧教室设计

以学校数字化建设中的智慧教室研究为目的,基于物联网技术、云计算技术等按照感知层、网络层和应用层的架构体系进行智慧教室设计,具体分析了三层架构的组成、物理环境和软件环境的设计内容。研究表明,基于三层架构的智慧教室应用ZigBee技术组网能够实现教室内电气设备、教学资源等统一智能化管理与控制,采用云计算技术进行软件系统开发可以更加高效、安全地利用教室资源,为教师和学生提供优质的课堂环境,具有广泛的应用价值。     

The effects of participation,performance, and interest in a game‐based writing environment

We have observed that many computer‐supported writing environments based on pedagogical strategies have only been designed to incorporate the cognitive aspects, but motivational aspects should also be included. Hence, we theorize that integrating game‐based learning into the writing environment may be a practical approach that can facilitate student participation, not only helping students learn how to write, but also sustaining their willingness to write. In this study, we investigate the effects of the game‐based writing environment on improving students' participation, performance, and interest in writing. An experiment was conducted to compare the effectiveness of 2 approaches to writing in language arts at an elementary school. Two hundred forty‐five third grade students participated in the experiment over a period of 1 year. One hundred thirty‐nine students were assigned to an experimental group and learned with a game‐based writing environment, and 106 students were in the contrast group and learned with an online writing environment. The empirical results show that the game‐based writing environment can effectively promote students' writing participation, writing performance, interest in writing, as well as their perceptions of the use of educational self‐management games. Some implications of the experimental results are also discussed.     

Addressing the assessment challenge with an online system that tutors as it assesses

Secondary teachers across the United States are being asked to use formative assessment data (Black and Wiliam 1998a,b; Roediger and Karpicke 2006) to inform their classroom instruction. At the same time, critics of US government’s No Child Left Behind legislation are calling the bill “No Child Left Untested”. Among other things, critics point out that every hour spent assessing students is an hour lost from instruction. But, does it have to be? What if we better integrated assessment into classroom instruction and allowed students to learn during the test? We developed an approach that provides immediate tutoring on practice assessment items that students cannot solve on their own. Our hypothesis is that we can achieve more accurate assessment by not only using data on whether students get test items right or wrong, but by also using data on the effort required for students to solve a test item with instructional assistance. We have integrated assistance and assessment in the ASSISTment system. The system helps teachers make better use of their time by offering instruction to students while providing a more detailed evaluation of student abilities to the teachers, which is impossible under current approaches. Our approach for assessing student math proficiency is to use data that our system collects through its interactions with students to estimate their performance on an end-of-year high stakes state test. Our results show that we can do a reliably better job predicting student end-of-year exam scores by leveraging the interaction data, and the model based on only the interaction information makes better predictions than the traditional assessment model that uses only information about correctness on the test items.     

基于异地协同技术的网上虚拟课堂系统研究

随着网络技术在教学工作中的应用,虚拟课堂教学系统成为应用研究的一个热点。文章采用Java技术开发了基于B/S结构的多用户间协同工作支持模块(RCOM),并把该模块用于网上虚拟课堂系统(VCS)的构建,能很好地解决网络教学中的用户流动性、随意性的问题。通过VCS系统,教师可以完成分布式、基于网络的虚拟教学任务,学生只需要通过网页浏览器就可以随时随地地参加虚拟课堂的学习。文中介绍了VCS的体系结构、构建框架、功能及主要特色。