Chorng-Shiuh Koong

An interactive item sharing website for creating and conducting on-line testing

Multiple intelligences, with its hypothesis and implementation, have ascended to a prominent status among the many instructional methodologies. Meanwhile, pedagogical theories and concepts are in need of more alternative and interactive assessments to prove their prevalence (Kinugasa, Yamashita, Hayashi, Tominaga, & Yamasaki, 2005). In general, item templates adopted in current on-line testing system are mostly true and false, multiple choice and multiple selection. More sophisticated interactive alternatives such as click and select, drag and drop, link, collide and magnetize are still in great demand. The fact that the lack of template alternatives has made it difficult for the general teachers to incorporate interactive items into testing. To underpin interactive multimedia test, this research has cultivated interactive item template as the basic sharing atomic unit. In addition, a corresponding visual item authoring system Interactive Test Item System (ITIS) (Koong et al., 2007), and an auto-grading examer were developed. Meanwhile, an item sharing website based on Web2.0 was constructed, through which users can exchange the created interactive item templates, interactive items, and interactive test sheet. The design of on-line visual authoring item editor has made it possible to create items by click and select, drag and drop, link, or parameter setting. Multimedia such as text, image, audio, and animation can be added, deleted or set to the wished animated effect to created into an interactive item, while on-line interactive testing as well as auto-grading are supported. The system was applied to the 5th graders to assess their learning performance on Social Studies. Focuses of this research are on investigating: (1) differences between interactive multimedia test and the conventional paper-and-pencil examination; (2) performance of student of different capability with different testing approaches; and (3) testees opinions toward ITIS. Essential findings are as follows: (1) students performance was consistent either in interactive test or paper-and-pencil examination, signifying capability can be tested through the system. Also, little discrimination was shown between two types of testing; (2) better performance was indicated when underachievers were implemented interactive multimedia test; and (3) positive attitudes was shown by students who have taken interactive multimedia test.

An investigation into effectiveness of different reflective learning strategies for learning operational software

Skill certification promotion is one of the main policies facilitated by the technological and vocational education, where application software instruction is regarded as the core curriculum to foster skill certification. With its close connection with problem-solving learning, application software instruction relies heavily on hands-on operation incorporating information technology to adequately unravel the challenges where living or working application is simulated as problem situations. According to Dewey (1963) and Edwards (1996), the process of reflection is characterized by the inference course where learners attempt to analyze and solve the problems. However, more evidence is needed to decide what reflective learning strategies are effective for students learning. Application software operation is categorized as procedural knowledge. Repeated drills are requisite to reach the ultimate goal of spontaneous reaction without thinking. Features of CAL system offer a well-rounded environment to meet the demands. The purposes of this study were 1) to investigate how different reflective learning strategies can affect learning effectiveness of operational application software acquisition, 2) to identify effective learning strategies and to incorporate the CAL approach with instructional practices to foster learning performance. Aiming at characteristics of operational software, this study proposed operational software learning strategy theory model based on reflective learning and Adaptive Character of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) model theories. The proposed model modified the reflective learning theory and added cyclical loop into CAL to fit for operational software instruction. The CAL system is developed and incorporated into learning activities of reflective learning theory strategy model by collecting frequent operation errors made in the first-year experiment as the source drill items. This study is conducted in a two-year sequence. A total of 172 second-grade students was recruited from a vocational high school. Different reflective learning strategies, individual and group reflective learning strategy, are implemented on two experimental groups in the first year. CAL strategy is later added into the experimental groups in the second year. The results suggest that group reflective learning strategy can enhance learning effectiveness of the holistic and medium-score group students. When reflective learning strategy is incorporated with CAL, in addition to maintaining the first-year learning effectiveness, learning effectiveness of the holistic and low-score group students can be benefited by individual reflective learning strategy. Furthermore, reflective learning incorporating with CAL has greater learning effectiveness than the learning without CAL. Display Omitted We study learning effectiveness with different reflective learning strategies (RLS).We investigate learning effectiveness of operational application software acquisition.We proposed reflective learning model for operational software instruction.Group-RLS can enhance learning effectiveness of holistic and medium-score students.With CAL, the holistic and low-score students can be benefited by individual-RLS.

The Architecture of Parallelized Cloud-Based Automatic Testing System

Software testing is the key of software quality control. However, software testing requires plenty of time, manpower and resources in hardware and software. Unfortunately, plenty of human errors may cause software testing become more difficult. To increase efficiency and reduce costs, automatic software testing is relatively important. It is possible to dynamically adjust the resources of hardware and software from the actual needs by introducing cloud technology. In this research, we proposed the paralleled cloud-based automatic testing system (PCATS) which have the advantages of real-time software testing and automatically computation scaling. PCATS can parallel the tests at the same time with distinct servers. The main contributions of this paper are automatically: (1) parse the source code to perform statistics analysis (2) generate test drivers and test cases (3) testing in virtual environments (4) paralleled testing (5) profile the consumed resources.

The applicability of interactive item templates in varied knowledge types

A well-edited assessment can enhance students learning motives. Applicability of items, which includes item content and template, plays a crucial role in authoring a good assessment. Templates in discussion contain not only conventional true & false, multiple choice, completion item and short answer but also of those interactive ones. Methods provided for answering interactive question can be click and select, drag and drop, collide, and magnetize, while operational interactive templates can include Link, Match, Classification, and Order. During the process of item authoring, dilemma often appears since not all the same interactive item template can fit into testing for different knowledge types, and different item templates also have their limitations in assessing different knowledge types. This research intends to clarify what type of interactive multimedia item template is appropriate for a certain knowledge type, and to explore how interactive multimedia item template can integrate with Blooms Taxonomy. The result indicates that (1) Link template is applicable for Remembering type of knowledge; (2) Match template is suitable for Understanding and Applying type of knowledge; and (3) both Link and Match template can better evaluate Analyzing type of knowledge. Furthermore, for the underachiever, testee is most suitable for Link item on Remembering, Math item on Understanding, Match item on Applying, Match and Link item on Analyzing type of knowledge. Study result is intended to provide information for teachers as to what interactive multimedia item template can best achieve the expected assessment effect.

Game-based image semantic CAPTCHA on handset devices

A completely automated public turing test to tell computer and human apart (CAPTCHA) is based on the Turing test, which aims to protect Internet services from automatic script attacks and spams. However, most proposed or deployed CAPTCHAs have been breached. It is possible to enhance the security of an existing CAPTCHA by adding noises systematically adding noises, but distortions would make characters recognition difficult for humans. On the other hand, most of the traditional CPATCHAs require complicated operations using keyboards and mice which may become limitations of modern handset devices. In this study, we propose a novel GISCHA using game-based image semantics with the contributions that 1) use simple keys, mouse, gesture, and accelerometer instead of complex alphabet inputs; 2) is language independent; 3) enhances the security level without annoying users; 4) is based on more advanced human cognitive abilities; and 5) make CAPTCHAs more interesting. The experiment results show that a single GISCHA challenge was completed in 9.06xa0s on average with a virtual keyboard and 10.25xa0s on average with accelerometers build in handset devices, and the pass rate of first time use is 94.8xa0%, which means that it is sufficiently easy for practical use.

On Auxiliary Information Presentation Sequence Applied to Mobile Devices

Most mobile devices can only present limited amount of information owing to their small screen size, which can result in impact and constraint eventually hinders learners from knowledge acquisition. However, with the aid of auxiliary information, learning can be achieved through the provision of picture and expository text, which makes systematic knowledge building tangible for learners. Thus, the support which auxiliary information provides for small screen mobile devices is vital both for its existence and its presentation layout and sequence. This study aims to investigate how auxiliary information presentation sequence affects learners learning achievement and cognitive load when used on mobile digital courseware. The quasi-experimental method was adopted in the research. Teaching material is adapted from the unit of 8th Grades Oxidation-Reduction. The experiment is implemented under the multimedia courseware design using different presenting sequence with picture and text combinations. Subjects of each group received different types of courseware instruction and were assessed on their learning achievement and cognitive load. Analysis gathered from experiment data reveals that different presentation of picture and text on mobile devices has significant difference on students learning achievement. Meanwhile, media presenting sequence of picture-text-text is more preferable for learning achievement and generates less cognitive load. Research result can provide reference for picture and text presenting sequence when using auxiliary information on small screen mobile devices to author digital mobile courseware.

An Implementation of Automatic Software Testing on Cloud Computing Environment

While developing high quality software, it is relatively important to perform reliable software testing. However, it may also raise the development cost, manpower and time-consuming. Limitations of different resources such as testing software and computers may also be postponed the development cycle. Cloud computing shares different resources over a network seems an alternative solution to software testing. But how to evaluate and assign these powerful resources to specific testing programs are still needed further investigation. Therefore, this study proposed an automatic software testing service with the benefits of real-time software testing and automatically computation scaling. It can perform software testing in parallel, and can automatically pare the source code to perform statistics analysis, generate test drivers and cases, and profile the consumed resources. Experiments were carried out to help users figure out the bottleneck of existed testing program and cloud systems.

A Cross-IdP Single Sign-On Method in SAML-Based Architecture

Security Assertion Markup Language, which is an XML-based framework, has been developed to describe and exchange authorization and authentication information between on-line business partners. One of the major applications is used to achieve single sign-on through different cloud services. SAML has provided the basic assertion of security that allows the user to surf hybrid clouds of the enterprise. The identify provider, which in charge of the management of the user information, can help users access these services effortlessly. However, the user anonymity of SSO from different identify providers is still an open issue even in SAML 2.0. In this study, we propose a SSO architecture for hybrid cloud to achieve identity federation cross-IdP using SAML, which provide the user an enterprise-crossed, services-integrated, backward compatible, and anonymity-maintained environment.

The Task-Oriented Circulation Planning

In the field of architecture, circulation refers to the way people move through and interact with a building. From the consumers’ aspects, they may pay more attention on the relative position of different commodities and their demands. These behaviors can be deemed as the task-oriented works, which are less discussed comparing to the path planning algorithm. The task-oriented circulation planning may involve the dynamic allocation, demands, and resources, which may be more complex than the exists path problems. In this study, a task-oriented planning of circulation planning is proposed, which is modified and based on the Minimal Spanning Tree algorithm. Properties include circulation, turning points and exit points are involved in planning the optimal solutions based on different kinds of tasks. We also implemented and demonstrated a circulation planning on department of northern Taiwan, and try to provide some suggested circulations by using consumers’ shopping lists as input. The proposed application can also be used to optimize the deployment of different commodities.

The learning effectiveness of using game-based interaction multimedia courseware on low visual capacity student

Multimedia interactive courseware has gradually become the current trend in teaching, because it can provide more motivations. The effectiveness to facilitate learning performance is also revealed according to the latest researches. However, multimedia courseware must be adaptive to learners with different capabilities before the methodology can be maximized. This study developed concrete, semi-concrete, and abstract levels of multimedia courseware based on polynomial operations from K7 math unit in an attempt to investigate the learners performance with low visual working memory capability on different types of multimedia courseware. Results indicate that only concrete courseware can effectively enhance performance of students with low visual-spatial capacity on polynomial operations learning. Findings of this study are intended to provide useful references for teachers to author multimedia courseware for learners with low visual working memory capability students in the hope that learning achievements can be facilitated when individualized learning and remedial instruction are being engaged.