Touch Screen Avatar English Learning System For University Students Learning Simplicity

This paper discusses on touch screen avatar for an English language learning application system. The system would be a combination of avatar as Animated Pedagogical Agent (APA) and a touch screen application that adapt the up to date gesture-based computing which is found as having potential to change the way how we learn as it could reduce the amount of Information Communication Technology (ICT) devices used during teaching and learning process. The key here is interaction between university students and touch screen avatar intelligent application system as well as learning resources that could be learned anytime anywhere twenty four hours in seven days 24/7 based on their study time preference where they could learn at their own comfort out of the tradition. The students would be provided with a learning tool that could help them learn interactively with the current trend which they might be interested with based on their own personalization. Apart from that, their performance shall be monitored from a distance and evaluated to avoid disturbing their learning process from working smoothly and getting rid of feeling of being controlled. Thus, the students are expected to have lower affective filter level that may enhance the way they learn unconsciously. Keywords: Gesture-Based Computing, Avatar, Portable Learning Tool, Interactivity, Language Learnin

Changing Student Attitudes and Behaviours to Academic Integrity through Reflection with a Conversational Agent

Facilitated by technology, breaches of academic integrity take many different forms such as using the information as it is, collusion, fabricating information, and contract cheating. To counteract, universities offer academic integrity modules, policies, and procedures for students to follow on their websites. However, academic misconduct is still rampant. With advancements in technology, higher education institutions have an opportunity to promote ethical principles in innovative ways. In this paper, we present a work-in-progress collaborative project that proposes use of an artificially intelligent pedagogical conversational agent. The approach seeks to augment existing ways of educating students about academic integrity concepts by seeking to change their underlying motivations and beliefs about academic integrity and the consequences of misconduct through reflective review and discussion of the reasons why, consequences of and alternatives to committing academic misconduct

Value creation in corporate e-learning platforms

As the corporate world goes more and more digital, all functions of companies need to follow the trend. Learning and staff training is no exception. Companies are transforming the learning of employees to a digital format by using different kinds of e-learning platforms. These platforms can bring a lot of value to organizations if they are used correctly and for a clear purpose. By using e-learning platforms properly, companies can make the learning of employees more efficient and save significant amount of time and money due to savings e.g., in travelling costs. Interest towards e-learning itself has been growing amongst scholars. However, the existing literature mostly focuses on e-learning in a traditional student-teacher setting. Not many studies focus on e-learning in the context of staff training and people development in a corporate context. As companies around the world are already using e-learning platforms to develop the knowledge and knowhow of their employees, there is a research gap in corporate e-learning and how value is created in it. This study aims to fill the research gap of value creation in corporate e-learning platforms and the purpose of the study is to explore the various ways in which value is created in these corporate e-learning platforms. This research was done in collaboration with Turku School of Economics’ Centre for Collaborative Research unit to help them understand the key factors in successful corporate e-learning platforms. The empirical research of this study was conducted as expert interviews. The interviewees are HR professionals who have experience in the management and administration of e-learning platforms from the customer side. This gave the study a point of view of the customer organization. The interviews were conducted as theme interviews based on the theoretical framework of the study. The findings of the study were that there are three key factors that bring value to customer organizations in corporate e-learning platforms: training data, easy usability, and efficiency. Combining these value propositions from the service provider side with three value drivers from the customer side, commitment, planning, and communication, value can be created in collaboration between the service provider and the customer organization.Yritysmaailman muuttuessa yhä enemmän digitaaliseksi, yritysten kaikkien toimintojen pitää pysyä muutoksessa mukana. Henkilöstön kehittäminen ei ole poikkeus. Yritykset käyttävät digitaalisia työkaluja, kuten e-oppimisalustoja, oppimisen tukena ja tehostuskeinona. Nämä alustat luovat arvoa yrityksille, jos niitä käytetään oikein selkeään tarkoitukseen. Käyttämällä e- oppimisalustoja asianmukaisesti, yritykset voivat tehostaa työntekijöidensä oppimista ja säästää huomattavasti aikaa ja rahaa esimerkiksi matkustuskustannuksista. Tutkijoiden kiinnostus e-oppimista kohtaan on ollut kasvavaa. Aikaisempi kirjallisuus on kuitenkin pääasiassa keskittynyt e-oppimiseen perinteisessä opettaja-oppilas asetelmassa. Yrityskontekstissa tapahtuvaan henkilöstön kouluttamiseen ja henkilökohtaiseen kehittymiseen ei ole kiinnitetty paljoa huomiota. Kun yritykset ympäri maailmaa käyttävät e-oppimisalustoja kehittääkseen työntekijöidensä tietoja ja taitoja, on olemassa tutkimusaukko e-oppimisesta yrityskontekstissa ja siitä, mistä arvo e-oppimisalustoilla yrityskontekstissa muodostuu. Tämä tutkimus täyttää tuota tutkimusaukkoa. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on tutkia tapoja, joilla arvoa luodaan e-oppimisalustoilla yrityskontekstissa. Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma on tehty yhteistyössä Turun kauppakorkeakoulun Centre for Collaborative Research -yksikön kanssa tuomaan lisää ymmärrystä niistä avainasioista, jotka ovat keskeisiä onnistuneen e-oppimisalustan kehittämisessä. Tämän tutkimuksen empiirinen osio toteutettiin asiantuntijahaastatteluina. Haastateltavat ovat henkilöstöalan ammattilaisia, joilla on kokemusta e-oppimisalustan hallinnoinnista asiakasorganisaation puolella. Tämä mahdollisti asiakasorganisaation näkökulman saamisen tutkimukseen. Haastattelut toteutettiin teemahaastatteluina pohjautuen tutkimuksen teoreettiseen viitekehykseen. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että on kolme selkeää avaintekijää, jotka tuovat arvoa asiakkaalle e-oppimisalustalla yrityskontekstissa: koulutusdata, helppokäyttöisyys ja tehokkuus. Kun nämä palveluntarjoajan puolelta tulevat arvolupaukset yhdistetään kolmeen asiakasorganisaation puolelta tulevaan arvoa luovaan tekijään, sitoutuneisuuteen, suunnitelmallisuuteen ja kommunikaatioon, arvoa voidaan luoda yhteistyössä palvelun tarjoajan ja asiakasorganisaation välillä

Procedural-Reasoning Architecture for Applied Behavior Analysis-based Instructions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disability affecting as many as 1 in every 88 children. While there is no known cure for ASD, there are known behavioral and developmental interventions, based on demonstrated efficacy, that have become the predominant treatments for improving social, adaptive, and behavioral functions in children. Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)-based early childhood interventions are evidence based, efficacious therapies for autism that are widely recognized as effective approaches to remediation of the symptoms of ASD. They are, however, labor intensive and consequently often inaccessible at the recommended levels. Recent advancements in socially assistive robotics and applications of virtual intelligent agents have shown that children with ASD accept intelligent agents as effective and often preferred substitutes for human therapists. This research is nascent and highly experimental with no unifying, interdisciplinary, and integral approach to development of intelligent agents based therapies, especially not in the area of behavioral interventions. Motivated by the absence of the unifying framework, we developed a conceptual procedural-reasoning agent architecture (PRA-ABA) that, we propose, could serve as a foundation for ABA-based assistive technologies involving virtual, mixed or embodied agents, including robots. This architecture and related research presented in this disser- tation encompass two main areas: (a) knowledge representation and computational model of the behavioral aspects of ABA as applicable to autism intervention practices, and (b) abstract architecture for multi-modal, agent-mediated implementation of these practices

Agent-based systems for human learners

Applying intelligent agent technologies to support human learning activities has been the subject of recent work that reaches across computer science and education disciplines. This article discusses agent-based approaches that have been designed to address a range of pedagogical and/or curricular tasks. Three types of agents are identified in the literature: pedagogical agents, peer-learning agents, and demonstrating agents. Features of each type are considered, as well as the systems in which these agents are incorporated, examining common and divergent goals, system and agent architectures, and evaluation methodologies. Open issues are highlighted, and future directions for this burgeoning interdisciplinary field are suggested.25 page(s