Andrea Valente

Interactivity and multimodality in language learning: the untapped potential of audiobooks

In this work, we present three case studies, involving classes in primary and secondary schools, in Denmark. The studies, conducted in the past 2xa0years, show how audio content can be generated and shared among teachers and learners, how audio material can be made more interactive to offer fruition similar to that of digital games, and how language learning can benefit from adding a social dimension to audiobooks. All case studies were conducted in a user-centered fashion and build on social semiotics, in which interactive audiobooks are seen as providing new ways to receive, interpret, and share literary texts. Local primary and secondary schools were involved in ethnographic user studies and qualitative evaluations with semi-functioning prototypes. In the main case study presented, social interaction was chosen as key feature to allow high-school students and teachers to annotate audiobooks, then share and comment on the annotations; the social context in this case is a digitally augmented English teaching class. To better investigate the potential of sharable audiobook annotations, we also created a mockup supporting the workflow of the main case study, using standard YouTube annotations and freely available audiobooks. The findings and technical solutions explored in the three studies are the basis for design guidelines aiming at making audiobooks interactive and better integrated in learning contexts.

Make and Play: Card Games as Tangible and Playable Knowledge Representation Boundary Objects

Having worked with transposition of domain knowledge in digital and card games, we propose a novel approach for enabling groups of primary school pupils to express their shared understanding of a topic, the group can represent their knowledge by creating a trading card game (with custom cards and rules) instead of using diagrammatical formalisms. A kit and a special design method have been devised to simplify the creation of card games, bringing the task in within the capabilities of pupils. The process of designing card games represents in itself a form of group reflection in action. The resulting card games serve as boundary objects among learners and instructors (or other participating adults, in informal contexts). The games reify the group knowledge, making it tangible and playable: each of these games can be seen as a simulation or a presentation of knowledge, for the benefit of new learners or for assessment. Studies are currently being conducted to investigate the full potential our new knowledge, and how to improve our kit further.

Quiz-R-us: Re-conceptualizing quizzes to enrich blended learning in occupational therapy study lines

In the latest years, the Danish school system has experienced an increase in digitization and experimentation with blended learning, in which traditional face-to-face instruction is combined with web-based online learning. Online quizzes have become a popular tool for students’ self and peer assessment in the education of occupational therapy, in which blended learning is becoming more commonly adopted. The use and creation of online quizzes is seen as a concrete case to explore how to enrich the practice of blended learning in the occupational therapy education, challenging the traditional notion of quizzes. This study was a cooperation between the Lillebaelt Academy’s Web Development education, and the Occupational Therapy education from the University College Lillebaelt, both in the area of Odense, Southern Denmark. Our study suggests that the use of quizzes poses complex questions in relation to the participation of teachers and students in creating quizzes and managing assessment. Hence teachers see quizzes as an opportunity for reducing their burden in assessment, but both teachers and students said that quizzes can be “dry” or “boring” and their best experiences with quizzes involved playful learning settings. Based on these findings, the Web Development students developed a series of hi-fi prototypes addressing two main issues: the need for making online quizzes more playful, and the need to support the workflow that takes place in the authoring and use of quizzes. This paper presents our findings, weaknesses of our study, and the relations between blended and playful learning.

Fables – Exploring Natural Ways of Expressing Behavior to Create Digital Simulations

We are interested in simplifying digital game design and programming for primary school teachers and their pupils. A central problem in this area is how to express knowledge about interactive digital systems in a simple yet powerful enough way, so that new digital games or interactive simulations can be generated automatically by teachers and pupils descriptions. We propose a novel approach that builds on Simon [4] and Schon [5] and the concepts of simulation and repertoire of exemplars. Instead of looking at programming concepts like conditionals and loops, we draw inspiration from soft methods like rich pictures, and formalisms like concept maps and mobile ambients. In this paper, we define the concept of fables, where a simple fable represents an exemplar and it can be interacted with digitally, as a simulation. A web-based prototype tool is under development, and we are conducting a series of workshops (last semester of 2017 and first semester of 2018) to discuss, co-develop and test our incremental prototype of the fable editor/player. Early tests and interviews indicate that fables are a viable concept with potential applicability in various domains, and that the current prototype is usable enough for further participatory development.

From Cards to Digital Games: Closing the Loop

This study is based on an iterative, participatory design investigation that we are conducting in order to create digital games that could be flexibly re-designed by players, without requiring programming knowledge. In particular we focus on digital game development, both design and implementation, for primary school pupils and their teachers. We propose a scenario where digital game development is mediated by tinkering with paper prototypes similar to board games. We address the problems of making sense and expressing rules of a digital game without programming. Analysis of our latest participatory workshop offers evidence that a board game can work as a tangible model of the computation happening in a digital game. Children understand the practice of designing games mainly as manipulation of features and behaviors of the visual elements of a game. We attempt at looking beyond visual programming, and rely instead on a tangible model of games supported by a minimalistic domain-specific language.

The Many Voices of Audiobooks: Interactivity and Multimodality in Language Learning

A case study is presented, aimed at making audiobooks interactive in the context of English teaching in Danish high-school. Social interaction was chosen as key feature to allow high-school students and teachers to annotate audiobooks, then share and comment on the annotations. This new work is supported by unpublished data from two other studies, which provided insights on the potential of interactive audiobooks. All case-studies were conducted in a user-centred fashion and build on social semiotics, in which interactive audiobooks are seen as providing new ways to receive, interpret and share literary texts within the social context of the English language class. Local primary and secondary schools were involved in ethnographic user studies and qualitative evaluations with semi-functioning prototypes. The findings and technical solutions explored in the three studies are the basis for design guidelines aiming at making audiobooks interactive and better integrated in learning contexts.

What a Tangible Digital Installation for Museums Can Offer to Autistic Children and Their Teachers

This study is a cooperation between the authors and a teacher who works with pupils affected by autism spectrum disorders 9-12 years old in a primary Danish school. The aim was assess the benefits of game-based learning with respect to teachers main challenges: facilitating the discussion of curricular subjects and enabling learning through conceptual thinking and social interaction. An existing digital and tangible installation called MicroCulture, originally created by the authors to bridge history learning across museums and schools was re-contextualised and placed at the schools disposal, in a three weeks study involving 15 pupils. Data was gathered unobtrusively, with qualitative methods. Through mediated play and teachers facilitation, children occasionally engaged in interactions leading to conceptual thinking, cooperation, and forms of role play. The authors present both problems and positive experiences the pupils and teachers had in playing at MicroCulture; the findings allowed us to outline guidelines for developing similar installations.

What Happened to Non-linear Narrative? A Pedagogical Reflection

This paper discusses findings from two studies and aims at raising awareness about the missed opportunities caused by the little adoption of non-linear narrative in learning and assessment activities. Data gathered from a longitudinal study about museum learning practice and from a semester-long investigation, conducted with circa 60 Multimedia design students, reveal that non-linear narrative is seen as difficult to create and can be met by scepticism. On the other hand, adoption of non-linear narratives as pedagogical material and as students assignments, elicits dialogue, critical reflections, and designerly forms of learning. However, non-linearity appears to clash with current assessment techniques, as institutional requirements demand linear narratives in education, both in relation to pedagogical material (textbooks) as well as students assessment (essays and dissertations). Even the latest developments in presentation tools do not offer valid support for non-linear stories. An alternative approach is proposed here, that aims at easing authoring, use and assessment of non-linear narratives by means of a pattern language and measures of non-linearity inspired by social network analysis.

Authoring of Digital Games via Card Games: Make Playful Play Happen

Literature and previous studies show that creative play is easy to emerge when children interact with tangible, low-tech toys and games than with digital games. This paradoxical situation is linked to the long-standing problem of end-users (or players) authoring of digital contents and systems. We propose a new scenario in which trading card games help making sense and re-design computer games, to support players express themselves aesthetically and in a highly creative way. Our aim is to look for a middle ground between players becoming programmers and simply editing levels. The main contributions are to show how card games can represent digital games, how playful play can emerge in card games and digital games, and to begin defining a new way to express game behavior without the use of universal programming languages.