AbdelGhani Karkar

A pictorial mobile-based communication application for non-verbal people with autism

Non-verbal people with autism are usually unable to communicate normally using natural languages. They can, however, learn to communicate through specific symbols and images. Special education instructors have adopted this method of communication to teach non-verbal people with autism. They introduce the symbols and images to them through different methodologies. This learning process appeared to be effective but it is very long. The process is carried out manually and requires a lots of times, dedication, and resources. The instructors should find the materials in different formats and circumstances. They should repeat the lessons several times and normally in a face-to-face framework. We propose in this paper a mobile-based application that allows non-verbal people with autism to learn and communicate with their surroundings using a smart device. They can then be taught to use specific symbols and images through the smart mobile phones. They can form simple words and sentences to express their feelings and needs. The application is flexible and allows the addition of new contents very easily. To assess the progress of the users, different exercises and puzzles are proposed. These allow the users to improve their skills and to continue learning outside the classrooms.

Semantic-Web automated course management and evaluation system using mobile applications

Different types of e-assessment systems that are recognized at universities and based on the campus wireless have been developed. These systems help the students to use their Mobile Phones as learning media to access the information more easily from anywhere and at anytime. Seppala and Alamaki developed a mobile learning project for teacher training. Their study compared the effectiveness of internet, face-to-face and mobile based instructions. Al Masri has proposed a study to compare the effective strategy in paper-based assessment with mobile-based assessment for assessing university students in English literature. It has been found that students gained better scores in mobile phone-based test than in paper-based test. This paper aims to determine and measure the effects of mobile-based assessments on the perception, achievement levels and performance of the students in internet-assisted courses. The main functionalities and features of this paper are: Knowledge evaluation, automatic generation of exams, exam grading, communication, course management, and questions-bank database.

A Survey on Educational Ontologies and Their Development Cycle

Nowadays, the grid of Internet has demonstrated to be plentiful and tremendous data source of information, where diverse domains can be reached and mined. Semantic web is part of the Internet grid where knowledge is provided and has a predefined sense. People can use the big quantity of accessible information for entertainment, exploring knowledge, and learning. In this paper, we provide a survey of educational ontologies, their development life cycle, and the tools used for their implementation. The classification outcomes are beneficial not only for practicality purposes but also for building educational ontologies and their reusability, since it provides a framework for selecting the suitable methodology to be used in specific context, depending also on the requirements of the application itself.

An Arabic mobile educational system

Digital devices and computer software can assist children in improving their learning capabilities and comprehension skills. However most of these items are built without taking into consideration the effective needs and background of Arab children. We propose in this paper an Arabic-based mobile educational system that processes natural questions, extract pertinent answers from animal domain ontology, and illustrate pictures automatically. It combines the transformation of natural language questions into SPARQL queries and finds solutions for multi-phased based questions. In order to process questions, different phases are carried out which include extracting concepts from the Arabic questions, determining the pattern, extraction of word-to-word relationships, extracting knowledge from the ontology, and finding answers through direct or indirect linked data. The aim of our proposed system is to generate substantial pedagogic answers, for asked questions in the natural language, in a specific domain.

Framework for development of cognitive technology for children with hearing impairments

The main aim of this study is to investigate the needs of people with HI in the Arab world, and propose a system design that would help alleviate the challenges they face. The system design is centered on Arabic-based Natural Language Processing, with the objectives focused on presenting a multiple component educational system that utilizes multimedia-based learning, to enhance the cognitive and communication skills of children with HI.