Courseware for Children with Dyscalculia: DyscalCo

This project is about developing a Courseware for Children with Dyscalculia. Courseware can be simply defmed as multimedia software. The main idea is to design a mathematic courseware for dyscalculic children in Bahasa Malaysia for pupils aged 7 to 9 years old. The courseware can be used as a learning aid for teachers and parents dealing with dyscalculic children. The courseware can also be used by the dyscalculic children as a reference method to improve their mathematics skill as the courseware is full with graphics, sound and video. Further details about the project will be explained in the chapters available in this report

A kinesthetic-based collaborative learning system for distributed algorithms

In this paper, we present a learning support system DASE-E to help students understand fundamental concepts of distributed algorithms in computer science. DASE-E is a collaborative learning system, in which the task of students is to devise a distributed algorithm. DASE-E offers a set of small wireless terminals with accelerometers. Each student plays the role of a process with a terminal, according to the algorithm that students devised. Each terminal enables a student to take physical actions that control the behavior of a process in the simulator. After the role playing simulation is finished, students discuss their activity played back on a screen. We implemented the system for learning distributed leader election algorithms, had a trial exercise in our research group, and we confirmed that it is effective to learn the critical part of distributed systems and algorithms

Trilingual Mathematics M-Learning for Kindergarten Students

Mobile-learning (m-learning) has been the current trend in this mobile age and education in technology has been a norm to students. This project aim to investigate the right method of learning mathematics effectively that leads to the development of an appropriate m-learning application for pre-school students of age four to six. Children of age four to six have difficulties learning the basic concepts of mathematics as they are yet to be able to perform mental operations. They have short attention span and some parents are too occupied to accompany their children nowadays. Furthermore, there is limited local material in the market. Hence the main objectives of this project are to develop a trilingual mathematic m-learning application for pre-school students that help boost learning innitiatives at the same time able to improve their memory capability and to perform user testing on the mlearning application developed. The mathematical concepts that are included in this application are count, addition and subtraction. The development approach for this project is the Rapid Application Development (RAD) model as it has rapid prototyping features and could be developed iteratively according to users’ needs and expectation. Eclipse Indigo is the main development platform for this m-learning application. Based on the user testing, this application has gained full recognition from targeted users and all of them learned something from this application

Development of Courseware for Slow Learner Children with Reading Difficulties (“my LINUS”)

It is well known that every child whether in pre-school or primary school have the difficulties to learn on how to read at the beginning of study. They do not recognize the alphabet thus making then hard to read and write. Initially, teachers will teach them and assist them until those children passed from the difficult stage after some time. But for some children, they will take longer to understand things than the average person at their age. They required multiple explanations and extra attention from teachers. This causes them to left out at school. This type of children are classified as slow learner children which significantly more slowly than the standard for his / her age. They are not eligible to educate under the special education as they do not have any specific factor of learning disabilities problem. So the project developed is a multimedia courseware to help slow learner children to overcome their reading difficulties problem in their learning process. This project presents the development of a multimedia courseware namely „my LINUS‟ as a medium in teaching and learning specially designed for slow learner children who are having reading difficulties. The courseware will help slow learner children by approaching using a suitable technique/method with proper teaching materials necessary for them. The courseware integrates „Literasi & Numerasi‟ (LINUS) Syllabus officially prepared by the Ministry of Education for primary school children between 7 – 9 years old with the learning multimedia theme. Mainly the “my LINUS” consists of 2 sections for modules and exercises. The modules consist of 3 modules. Each modules dedicated to teach in certain area start from Module 1 continue till Module 3. Module 1 teaches user on how to recognize and pronouncing a letter. Module 2 teaches user on how to combine letters to form a word. Then the last module teaches user on how to combine words and syllable to form a complete sentences. From the developed prototype, the user – acceptance test was conducted. The testing results help to support suitability and acceptability of the courseware for further improvement. The testing was conducted on two primary school situated around Kuala Kangsar, Perak. The final result shows positive feedback on the courseware towards them

The Effect of Augmented Reality Treatment on Learning, Cognitive Load, and Spatial Visualization Abilities

This study investigated the effects of Augmented Reality (AR) on learning, cognitive load and spatial abilities. More specifically, it measured learning gains, perceived cognitive load, and the role spatial abilities play with students engaged in an astronomy lesson about lunar phases. Research participants were 182 students from a public university in southeastern United States, and were recruited from psychology research pool. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: (a) Augmented Reality and Text Astronomy Treatment (ARTAT); and (b) Images and Text Astronomy Treatment (ITAT). Upon entering the experimental classroom, participants were given (a) Paper Folding Test to measure their spatial abilities; (b) the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI) pre-test; (c) lesson on Lunar Phases; (d) NASA-TLX to measure participants’ cognitive load; and (e) LPCI post-test. Statistical analysis found (a) no statistical difference for learning gains between the ARTAT and ITAT groups; (b) statistically significant difference for cognitive load; and (c) no significant difference for spatial abilities scores

Multimedia technology in the secondary classroom: Teaching strategies and interdisciplinary curriculum design

This is a handbook of multimedia technology and multimedia production teaching strategies that include the following: lesson and unit plans, worksheets, with teacher directions and student instructions, interdisciplinary activities for use in secondary level classrooms, lists of useful reading material, and sources of supplies used in the described student multimedia activities

Examination and Assessment of Commercial Anatomical E-Learning Tools: Software Usability, Dual-Task Paradigms and Learning

Technological innovation is changing the landscape of higher education, and the competing interests and responsibilities of today’s learners have propelled the movement of post-secondary courses into the online environment. In the anatomical sciences, commercialized e-learning tools have become a critical component for teaching the intricacies of the human body when physical classroom space and cadaveric resources are limited. This dissertation comparatively assessed the impact of two commercial anatomical e-learning tools (1) a simple 2-dimensional e-learning tool (A.D.A.M. Interactive Anatomy) and (2) a complex tool that allows for a 3-dimensional perspective (Netter’s 3D Interactive Anatomy). The comparison was then extended to include a traditional visual-kinesthetic method of studying anatomy (i.e. a physical skeleton). Applying cognitive load theory and working memory limitations as guiding principles, a dual-task assessment with cross over design was used to evaluate cognitive load. Students were assessed using baseline knowledge tests, observation task reaction times (a measure of cognitive load), mental rotation test scores (a measure of spatial ability) and anatomy post-tests (a measure of knowledge recall). Results from experiments carried out in this thesis suggest that the value of commercial anatomical e-learning tools cannot be assessed adequately on the basis of an educator’s, or a software developer’s, intuition alone. Despite the delivery benefits offered by e-learning tools and the positive feedback they often receive, this research demonstrates that neither commercial e-learning tool conferred any instructional advantage over textbook images. In fact, later results showed that the visual-kinesthetic experience of physically manipulating a skeleton yielded major positive impacts on knowledge recall that A.D.A.M. Interactive Anatomy, as a visual only tool, failed to deliver. The results of this dissertation also suggest that the design of e-learning tools can differentially influence students based on their spatial ability. Moreover our results suggest that learners with low spatial ability may also struggle to relate anatomical knowledge if they are examined on contralateral images. By objectively assessing commercial anatomical e-learning tools against traditional, visual-kinesthetic modalities, educators can be confident that the learning tool they select will give their students the best chance to acquire an understanding of human anatomy

A comparison of animated versus static images in an instructional multimedia presentation

Sophisticated three-dimensional animation and video compositing software enables the creation of complex multimedia instructional movies. However, if the design of such presentations does not take account of cognitive load and multimedia theories, then their effectiveness as learning aids will be compromised. We investigated the use of animated images versus still images by creating two versions of a 4-min multimedia presentation on vascular neuroeffector transmission. One version comprised narration and animations, whereas the other animation comprised narration and still images. Fifty-four undergraduate students from level 3 pharmacology and physiology undergraduate degrees participated. Half of the students watched the full animation, and the other half watched the stills only. Students watched the presentation once and then answered a short essay question. Answers were coded and marked blind. The “animation” group scored 3.7 (SE: 0.4; out of 11), whereas the “stills” group scored 3.2 (SE: 0.5). The difference was not statistically significant. Further analysis of bonus marks, awarded for appropriate terminology use, detected a significant difference in one class (pharmacology) who scored 0.6 (SE: 0.2) versus 0.1 (SE: 0.1) for the animation versus stills group, respectively (P=0.04). However, when combined with the physiology group, the significance disappeared. Feedback from students was extremely positive and identified four main themes of interest. In conclusion, while increasing student satisfaction, we do not find strong evidence in favour of animated images over still images in this particular format. We also discuss the study design and offer suggestions for further investigations of this type