Inclusion and online learning opportunities: Designing for accessibility

Higher education institutions worldwide are adopting flexible learning methods and online technologies which increase the potential for widening the learning community to include people for whom participation may previously have been difficult or impossible. The development of courseware that is accessible, flexible and informative can benefit not only people with special needs, but such courseware provides a better educational experience for all students

Investigating heuristic evaluation as a methodology for evaluating pedagogical software: An analysis employing three case studies

This paper looks specifically at how to develop light weight methods of evaluating pedagogically motivated software. Whilst we value traditional usability testing methods this paper will look at how Heuristic Evaluation can be used as both a driving force of Software Engineering Iterative Refinement and end of project Evaluation. We present three case studies in the area of Pedagogical Software and show how we have used this technique in a variety of ways. The paper presents results and reflections on what we have learned. We conclude with a discussion on how this technique might inform on the latest developments on delivery of distance learning. © 2014 Springer International Publishing

Teaching the Art of Computer Programming at a Distance by Generating Dialogues using Deep Neural Networks

While teaching the art of Computer Programming, students with visual impairments (VI) are disadvantaged, because speech is their preferred modality. Existing accessibility assistants can only read out predefined texts sequentially, word-for-word, sentence-for-sentence, whilst the presentations of programming concepts could be conveyed in a more structured way. Earlier we have shown that deep neural networks such as Tree-Based Convolutional Neural Networks (TBCNN) and Gated Graph Neural Networks (GGNN) can be used to classify algorithms across different programming languages with over 90% accuracy. Furthermore, TBCNN or GGNN have been shown useful for generating natural and conversational dialogues from natural language texts. In this paper, we propose a novel pedagogy called “Programming Assistant”, by creating a personal tutor that can respond to voice commands, which trigger an explanation of programming concepts, hands-free. We generate dialogues using DNNs, which substitute code with the names of algorithms characterising the programs, and we read aloud descriptions of the code. Furthermore, the application of the dialogue generation can be embodied into an Alexa Skill, which turns them into fully natural voices, forming the basis of a smart assistant to handle a large number of formative questions in teaching the Art of Computer Programming at a distance

Creativity in the cane fields: motivating and engaging IT students through games

In this paper we discuss the influence of the unique local environment and culture on students and teaching styles in the IT degree at James Cook University Cairns Campus. In this degree program games are used to motivate self-directed study and increase student engagement in first and second year programming subjects, and also to generate interest in learning new technologies such as programming for mobile devices. We discuss the use of a mixed reality location based game to improve attitude to teamwork by integrating students in a games subject and a general IT software engineering subject. Students learn the value of community engagement through links to a local primary school for design and evaluation of games, to ensure a balanced approach to user requirements, game design and implementation. Students have explored niche applications of games through the development of a game for children with disabilities

Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion

Validation of a development methodology and tool for IoT-based systems through a case study for visually impaired people

In this article, we validate the Test-Driven Development Methodology for Internet of Things (IoT)-based Systems (TDDM4IoTS) and its companion tool, called Test-Driven Development Tool for IoT-based Systems (TDDT4IoTS). TDDM4IoTS consists of 11 stages, including activities ranging from system requirements gathering to system maintenance. To evaluate the effectiveness of TDDM4IoTS and TDDT4IoTS, in the last four academic years from 2019, System Engineering students have developed several IoT-based systems as part of their training, from the sixth semester (third academic year). Ñawi (phonetically, Gnawi), which is the case study presented herein, is one of them, and intends to assist visually impaired people to move through open environments. Ñawi consists of a device, a mobile application and a web application. The device interacts with the environment and issues alerts to the user whenever it recognizes obstacles in their path. The mobile application targets two user roles: assisted person and caregiver. Assisted people can use the device and log in into a server when they leave home, so that the mobile application identifies and notifies obstacles in their path. All the collected data is gathered into the server, so that caregivers receive notifications and can monitor the location of their assisted people at any place and time. The web application allows caregivers to query and view more extensive information (details of events, trajectories, etc.). TDDM4IoTS has been evaluated regarding both the roles of the project members and the development cycle stages. A survey was used to evaluate the methodology. Out of a total of 47 respondents, 30 had used TDDM4IoTS and 96.66% of them were very satisfied or satisfied, with nobody unsatisfied