Gwo-Dong Chen

Improving the authentic learning experience by integrating robots into the mixed-reality environment

The main aim of the modern popular teaching method of authentic learning has been to provide students with everyday-life challenges that develop knowledge and skills through problem solving in different situations. Many emerging information technologies have been used to present authentic environment in pedagogical purpose. However, there are few studies that have been discussed the sense of authenticity and characters in scene and how students interact with the characters involved in the task. We designed a system, RoboStage, with authentic scenes by using mixed-reality technology and robot to investigate the difference in learning with either physical or virtual characters and learning behaviors and performance through the system. Robots were designed to play real interactive characters in the task. The experiment of the study conducted with 36 junior high students. The results indicated that RoboStage significantly improved the sense of authenticity of the task and also positively affected learning motivation. Learning performance was conditionally affected by RoboStage.

A Robot as a Teaching Assistant in an English Class

Advancement in robotic research enables robot can assist human in many way. However, few researches have been done on applying on education. This paper reports field trials of using robot in an English learning classroom. In our experiment, the robot plays as a partner of a teacher. Five models of collaboration between teachers and robot are proposed. Teachers design the course flow in advance based on the learning content and these five models. Formative evaluations of the experiments are presented to show the impact of adopting robot in the classroom.

Collaborative Mentor Support in a Learning Context Using a Ubiquitous Discussion Forum to Facilitate Knowledge Sharing for Lifelong Learning.

The Internet has recently been identified as a potential enabler of lifelong learning. Web-based learning systems enable learners easily to access rich resources and actively participate in learning activities without time and distance limits. The main challenge in lifelong learning is providing the opportunity for discussion and collaborative knowledge construction to engage learners in acquiring and applying knowledge in the context of learning, working and collaboration. Moreover, knowledge sharing is a key component in the formation of communities of lifelong learners. Most online collaborative learning communities use Web text-based discussion forums for knowledge sharing. However, such discussion forums are separated from the context of learning activities. Furthermore, the facilitation of beneficial dialogue through discussion forums, requires the involvement of mentors as facilitators. This study proposes an e-book interface that enables learners easily to annotate or enter queries in a text in which questions arise, where a query context is transferred to a discussion forum. The subsequent anchors of questions are linked to a discussion forum for actuating sustained participation. A mentor finder recommends a collaborative peer based on learner knowledge level to answer the questions. Learners can also use mobile phones to access this ubiquitous discussion forum using voice/text anytime and anywhere. The experimental results showed a clear increase in the level of discussions, and most learners indicated that they benefited considerably from collaborative mentor support in an e-book learning context through the provision of a ubiquitous discussion forum.

Web Learning Portfolios: A Tool For Supporting Performance Awareness

A teacher can use student portfolios to evaluate learning performance and promote learning outcomes. The portfolios can also be used as a communication channel among students and teachers as students implement them on the web. However, it is burdensome for teachers to obtain the required information to determine student learning status. This study describes how to design a web portfolio system that enables teachers to use information technologies to guide and evaluate student learning processes. Teachers can utilize this design to analyse the web portfolios online to improve instruction, understand the progress of students and guide their learning. An evaluation of the web portfolio system by students indicates that the applied technologies help students control their learning processes through developing portfolios. Students also believe the web portfolios serve as an effective communication channel and media that can increasingly integrate their learning outcomes for assessment purposes.

Construction of cognitive maps to improve e-book reading and navigation

People have greater difficulty reading academic textbooks on screen than on paper. One notable problem is that they cannot construct an effective cognitive map because of the lack of contextual information cues and ineffective navigational mechanisms in e-books. To support the construction of cognitive maps, this paper proposes the visual cue map, which presents pages and within-page spatial cues in an interactive toolbar, and reflects the physical structure of the book and the relative relationship between cues and pages. An e-book reading system integrated with the visual cue map and 2 reading strategies-surveying and questioning-was developed, and an experiment was conducted to examine the effect of the visual cue map on the reading, reviewing, and navigational performance of readers. The results showed that participants who used the system with the visual cue map spent significantly less time to complete 10 navigational tasks and gained a higher reviewing score. Based on the results, we conclude that the visual cue map can improve navigational performance, which also improves reviewing performance. The improvements may be due to the visual cue map helping the construction of cognitive maps.

Using group communication to monitor web-based group learning

In a web group-learning environment, students must communicate with other group members on the Internet to accomplish group projects and share knowledge. Communication is likely to affect performance and so analysing the relationship between communicative relationships and group performance may help teachers to monitor groups effectively. Certain tasks are necessary to perform such an analysis — recording group communication, extracting communication relationships and determining the relationship between group communication and group performance. This study developed a method for determining relationships and rules for predicting performance to enable teachers to take act appropriately according to the predicted performance of the group. Four group performance indicators are considered — average grades within a group, project grade, frequency of resource-sharing and drop-out rate. Experimental results are presented, concerning the application of the methodology to a web class of 706 students, divided into 70 groups. The experimental results show that group communication patterns significantly affect group performance.

Improve the detection of improperly used Chinese characters in students’ essays with error model

In this research, we propose a Chinese essay error detection system that can be used in online writing tutorial environment. The system consists of word segmentation, template module, and language model module. We build the system with a dictionary for word segmentation and generation of detection templates from news corpus. We also gather the character error probabilities from students’ essays to build error model. Error types include pronunciation-related errors and composition-related errors. Our system provides two operating modes for users with different goals. For example, we can help students learn to write effectively by providing high precision correction mode; for teachers, we provide high correction detection mode which can help teachers to check students’ essays.

The Interactive Multimedia Textbook: Using A Digital Pen to Support Learning for Computer Programming

Through a field study computer science practices, we observed that students not only rely on the computer but also the programming textbook. To get overall comprehension, students organize their effort in understanding the abstract concept in the textbook and tracing the program execution constantly. The observations motivated us design an interactive textbook that integrates paper books with interactive multimedia supports for learning computer programming. Students could understand how program works from browsing multiple perspectives of program execution. We also facilitate the on-line query, enabling students to construct their own links with digital information. An evaluation with 11 students found this system can offer efficient access to the digital information while remain concentrating their attention on paper textbook, in a manner felicitous with their current reading practice.

A LOW-COST VISION-BASED HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACE FOR PEOPLE WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES

The object of this paper is to present a low-lost vision-based computer interface which allows people with disabilities to use their head movements to manipulate computers. Our system requires only one low-cost web camera and a personal computer. Several experiments were conducted to test the performance of the proposed human-computer interface.

Digital Learning Playground: supporting authentic learning experiences in the classroom

This study proposes a platform to provide a near-authentic environment, context, and situation for task-based learning. The platform includes two projection screens (a vertical and a horizontal screen) combined for situated or authentic learning. The horizontal screen extends the vertical screen scene to form a space for learning activities and performance. The platform creates learning situations using robots as surrogates of students to accomplish real-life tasks. Kolbs four-stage experiential learning cyclical model was adopted in the learning design. A simple practice was developed to examine the effect on teaching children English as a foreign language. The results reveal that children could engage deeply and feel more enjoyment using the system. Moreover, as surrogates for students to imagine that they are accomplishing real-life missions, robots could be a vital element of authentic learning in future classrooms.