Teaching programming at a distance: the Internet software visualization laboratory

This paper describes recent developments in our approach to teaching computer programming in the context of a part-time Masters course taught at a distance. Within our course, students are sent a pack which contains integrated text, software and video course material, using a uniform graphical representation to tell a consistent story of how the programming language works. The students communicate with their tutors over the phone and through surface mail. Through our empirical studies and experience teaching the course we have identified four current problems: (i) students' difficulty mapping between the graphical representations used in the course and the programs to which they relate, (ii) the lack of a conversational context for tutor help provided over the telephone, (iii) helping students who due to their other commitments tend to study at 'unsociable' hours, and (iv) providing software for the constantly changing and expanding range of platforms and operating systems used by students. We hope to alleviate these problems through our Internet Software Visualization Laboratory (ISVL), which supports individual exploration, and both synchronous and asynchronous communication. As a single user, students are aided by the extra mappings provided between the graphical representations used in the course and their computer programs, overcoming the problems of the original notation. ISVL can also be used as a synchronous communication medium whereby one of the users (generally the tutor) can provide an annotated demonstration of a program and its execution, a far richer alternative to technical discussions over the telephone. Finally, ISVL can be used to support asynchronous communication, helping students who work at unsociable hours by allowing the tutor to prepare short educational movies for them to view when convenient. The ISVL environment runs on a conventional web browser and is therefore platform independent, has modest hardware and bandwidth requirements, and is easy to distribute and maintain. Our planned experiments with ISVL will allow us to investigate ways in which new technology can be most appropriately applied in the service of distance education

Towards music-driven procedural animation

We present our approach towards the development of a framework for the creation of music-driven procedural animations. We intend to explore the potential that elementary musical features hold for driving engaging audio-visual animations. To do so, we bring forward an integrated environment where real-time musical information is available and may be flexibly used for manipulating different aspects of a dynamic animation. In general terms, our approach consists of developing a virtual scene, populated by controllable entities, termed actors, and using scripting to define how these actors' behaviour or appearance change in response to musical information. Scripting operates by establishing associations, or mappings, between musical events, such as the ringing of notes or chords, or sound information, such as the frequency spectrum, and changes in the animation. The scenario we chose to explore is comprised of two main actors: trees and wind. Trees grow in an iterative process, and may develop leaves, while swaying in response to the wind field. The wind is represented as a vector field whose configuration and strength can be altered in real-time. Scripting then allows for synchronising these changes with musical events, providing a natural sense of harmony with the accompanying music. By having real-time access to musical information, as well as control over a reactive animation we believe to have taken a first step towards exploring a novel interdisciplinary concept with vast expressive potential.This work has been supported by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019

Design of an Application to Collect Data and Create Animations from Visual Algorithm Simulation Exercises

Visual Algorithm Simulation (VAS) exercises are commonly used in Computer Science education to help learners understand the logic behind the abstractions used in programming. These exercises also present problems common in the daily work of Computer Science graduates. Aalto University uses the JSAV library to create VAS exercises and evaluate the solutions submitted by students. The evaluation process counts the amount of correct steps given by the user during the exercise. However, because more detailed data is not collected, teachers currently can not recreate and analyse the submitted solutions more in depth. This thesis presents the design, development and evaluation of an application prototype, which can be easily integrated in existing VAS exercises created with the JSAV library. The prototype is called Player Application, and it is designed as a service that can be easily integrated into other systems while still remaining independent. The Player Application consists of two main independent components: the Exercise Recorder and the Exercise Player. A third important contribution is the new JSON-based Algorithm Animation Language, which is designed to describe, structure and store the data collected from the VAS exercises. The prototype was successfully tested in an online environment by importing the Exercise Recorder into existing exercises and replaying the submitted solutions in the Exercise Player. The tests showed that its design and architecture were valid. Next, the aim is to create a mature application, which can be used at Aalto University and other institutions, in addition the prototype still needs further development to support more VAS exercise types

Science ASSISTments: Creation of Engaging Visual Objects for Microworlds

This document describes programming effort and instructional documentation contributing to the goals of the Science ASSISTments project. An existing spreadsheet containing past MCAS test question numbers was updated with an improved system for viewing the questions in the ASSISTments server. New graphics for a Microworld under development were created, and a detailed tutorial was written to assist future efforts in visual object construction

Using Data in Undergraduate Science Classrooms

Provides pedagogical insight concerning the skill of using data The resource being annotated is: http://www.dlese.org/dds/catalog_DATA-CLASS-000-000-000-007.htm

IV. Effective Exhibits and Courtroom Technology

Have you perfected your process of trial preparation into an art of war? Are you getting all you can out of the opportunities witnesses and opposing counsel let slip during trial? Do your juries leave the courtroom wanting to reach the verdict that you've clearly stated you want? Join our panel of seasoned trial lawyers for an engaging day of learning and tactics exchange and take your courtroom presentation skills to the next level of excellence

Customizing Experiences for Mobile Virtual Reality

A criação manual de conteúdo para um jogo é um processo demorado e trabalhoso que requer um conjunto de habilidades diversi cado (normalmente designers, artistas e programadores) e a gestão de diferentes recursos (hardware e software especializados). Dado que o orçamento, tempo e recursos são frequentemente muito limitados, os projetos poderiam bene ciar de uma solução que permitisse poupar e investir noutros aspectos do desenvolvimento. No contexto desta tese, abordamos este desa o sugerindo a criação de pacotes especí cos para a geração de conteúdo per sonalizável, focados em aplicações de Realidade Virtual (RV) móveis. Esta abordagem divide o problema numa solução com duas facetas: em primeiro lugar, a Geração Procedural de Conteúdo, alcançada através de métodos convencionais e pela utilização inovadora de Grandes Modelos de Lin guagem (normalmente conhecidos por Large Language Models). Em segundo lugar, a Co-Criação de Conteúdo, que enfatiza o desenvolvimento colaborativo de conteúdo. Adicionalmente, dado que este trabalho se foca na compatibilidade com RV móvel, as limitações de hardware associadas a capacetes de RV autónomos (standalone VR Headsets) e formas de as ultrapassar são também abordadas. O conteúdo será gerado utilizando métodos actuais em geração procedural e facilitando a co-criação de conteúdo pelo utilizador. A utilização de ambas estas abordagens resulta em ambi entes, objectivos e conteúdo geral mais re-jogáveis com muito menos desenho. Esta abordagem está actualmente a ser aplicada no desenvolvimento de duas aplicações de RV distintas. A primeira, AViR, destina-se a oferecer apoio psicológico a indivíduos após a perda de uma gravidez. A se gunda, EmotionalVRSystem, visa medir as variações nas respostas emocionais dos participantes induzidas por alterações no ambiente, utilizando tecnologia EEG para leituras precisas

An e-learning platform for delivering educational contents in a school environment

Learning is a continuous process, without end, which takes place throughout life, and is the result of the interaction of an individual with a physical external environment, a social context or with herself. In what new technologies may help improving and making more effective the interaction of an individual during his learning process? This paper describes the use of a platform for delivering educational contents to students, to put theories into practice through the use of an LMS and highlight the strengths and weaknesses that have these learning tools in a school environment, in which - besides its formative aspect - upbringing is important.learning management system, digital contents.