Bridget Cooper

Supporting high quality interaction and motivation in the classroom using ICT: the social and emotional learning and engagement in the NIMIS project

This article considers some of the final outcomes of the UK division of the NIMIS project (Networked Interactive Media in Schools). This was an international European Union funded project which involved creating a classroom of the future in three European elementary schools. This article concentrates on the outcomes of the UK section of the project in a Year 1 classroom in an elementary school near Leeds. The project set out to enhance interaction in the classroom through careful design of the system and careful selection of the hardware. This article looks in some detail at the evidence from the findings about the interactions that occurred in the classroom and the differing power relationships involved, both between teachers and children and between the children themselves. It also looks at evidence of the levels of engagement in the classroom and the emotional response of the children to lessons using the computers. It concludes that information and communications technology that is carefully planned and designed and integrated into good classroom practice can support both relationships and motivation, leading to long-lasting engagement and learning.

Effective affective in intelligent systems - building on evidence of empathy in teaching and learning

This paper considers how research into empathy in teaching and learning can inform the research into intelligent systems and intelligent agents embedded in educational applications. It also relates this research to some analysis of classroom practice completed as part of the EU funded NIMIS project. The project is developing three applications, one of which aims to support writing development with young children aged 5-6 years based on a cartoon format. The NIMIS classroom as a whole is designed to enhance and augment existing classroom practices and to foster collaboration by non-intrusive hardware and intuitive hardware and software interfaces. To this end it seeks to enhance both human and electronic communication in the classroom. Empathy is central to ensuring the quality of human communication and personal development. This paper suggests that intelligent systems that can consider more carefully the processes and feelings involved in human interactions in teaching and learning, may promote higher quality support for students in classrooms.

Designing for Interaction

Central to communication a nd understanding is the quality of empathy, which enables people to accept, be open to and understand the perspectives of others, whilst simultaneously developing their own perspective. Empathy supports and enables interaction, and creates the climate for both affective and cognitive support. An empathic approach can also be embedded in the design of computer-based learning environments by involving the users at every stage and by supporting a variety of natural human interaction. This chapter explains how this was carried out in a ‘classroom of the future’.