Characteristics of pervasive learning environments in museum contexts

There is no appropriate learning model for pervasive learning environments (PLEs), and museums maintain authenticity at the cost of unmarked information. To address these problems, we present the LieksaMyst PLE developed for Pielinen Museum and we derive a set of characteristics that an effective PLE should meet and which form the basis of a new learning model currently under development. We discuss how the characteristics are addressed in LieksaMyst and present an evaluation of the game component of LieksaMyst. Results indicate that, while some usability issues remain to be resolved, the game was received well by the participants enabling them to immerse themselves in the story and to interact effectively with its virtual characters

Serious interface design for dental health: Wiimote-based tangible interaction for school children

This paper describes a camera-based approach towards creating a tangible interface for serious games. We introduce our game for dental health targeted at school children which implements the Nintendo WiiMote as infrared camera. Paired with a gesture-recognition system, this combination allows us to apply real-world items as input devices. Thereby, the game tries to address different aspects of dental hygiene along with the improvement of children's motor skills. In our focus group test, we found that tangible interfaces offer great potential for educational purposes and can be used to engage kids in a playful learning process by addressing their childlike curiosity and fostering implicit learning

Resonating Experiences of Self and Others enabled by a Tangible Somaesthetic Design

Digitalization is penetrating every aspect of everyday life including a human's heart beating, which can easily be sensed by wearable sensors and displayed for others to see, feel, and potentially "bodily resonate" with. Previous work in studying human interactions and interaction designs with physiological data, such as a heart's pulse rate, have argued that feeding it back to the users may, for example support users' mindfulness and self-awareness during various everyday activities and ultimately support their wellbeing. Inspired by Somaesthetics as a discipline, which focuses on an appreciation of the living body's role in all our experiences, we designed and explored mobile tangible heart beat displays, which enable rich forms of bodily experiencing oneself and others in social proximity. In this paper, we first report on the design process of tangible heart displays and then present results of a field study with 30 pairs of participants. Participants were asked to use the tangible heart displays during watching movies together and report their experience in three different heart display conditions (i.e., displaying their own heart beat, their partner's heart beat, and watching a movie without a heart display). We found, for example that participants reported significant effects in experiencing sensory immersion when they felt their own heart beats compared to the condition without any heart beat display, and that feeling their partner's heart beats resulted in significant effects on social experience. We refer to resonance theory to discuss the results, highlighting the potential of how ubiquitous technology could utilize physiological data to provide resonance in a modern society facing social acceleration.Comment: 18 page

Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research

The students’ acceptance and use of their university’s virtual learning environment

The proliferation of digital and mobile devices, including; smartphones and tablets has led policy makers and practitioners to include these ubiquitous technologies in the realms of education. A thorough review of the relevant literature suggests that both students as well as their course instructors are becoming increasingly acquainted with the adoption of education technologies in the higher educational context. Hence, this study explores the university students’ readiness to engage with the virtual learning environment (VLE). The methodology has integrated measuring items that were drawn from the educational technology literature, including the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, to better understand the students’ perceptions towards VLE. It investigated whether they were influenced by their instructors or by fellow students to use VLE. The results suggest that most of the research participants were using this technology as they believed that it supported them in their learning outcomes. The findings also revealed that the students were not coerced by their course instructors or by other individuals to engage with VLE. Moreover, the university’s facilitating conditions had a significant effect on the participants’ usage of VLE. In conclusion, this contribution puts forward key implications to practitioners. It also clarifies the limitations of this study and proposes future research directions.peer-reviewe