Agent Assistance: From Problem Solving to Music Teaching

We report on our research on agents that act and behave in a web learning environment. This research is part of a general approach to agents acting and behaving in virtual environments where they are involved in providing information, performing transactions, demonstrating products and, more generally, assisting users or visitors of the web environment in doing what they want or have been asked to do. While initially we hardly provided our agents with 'teaching knowledge', we now are in the process of making such knowledge explicit, especially in models that take into account that assisting and teaching takes place in a visualized and information-rich environment. Our main (embodied) tutor-agent is called Jacob; it knows about the Towers of Hanoi, a well-known problem that is offered to CS students to learn about recursion. Other agents we are working on assist a visitor in navigating in a virtual world or help the visitor in getting information. We are now designing a music teacher - using knowledge of software engineering and how to design multi-modal interactions, from previous projects

Virtual reality in the rehabilitation of people with intellectual disabilities

Virtual reality (VR) possesses many qualities that give it rehabilitative potential for people with intellectual disabilities, both as an intervention and an assessment. It can provide a safe setting in which to practice skills that might carry too many risks in the real world. Unlike human tutors, computers are infinitely patient and consistent. Virtual worlds can be manipulated in ways the real world cannot be and can convey concepts without the use of language or other symbol systems. Published applications for this client group have all been as rehabilitative interventions. These are described in three groups: promoting skills for independent living, enhancing cognitive performance, and improving social skills. Five groups of studies are reviewed that utilize virtual technology to promote skills for independent living: grocery shopping, preparing food, orientation, road safety, and manufacturing skills. Fears that skills or habits learnt in a virtual setting would not transfer to the real world setting have not been supported by the available evidence, apart from those studies with people with autistic spectrum disorders. Future directions are in the development of more applications for independent living skills, exploring interventions for promoting motor and cognitive skills, and the developments of ecologically valid forms of assessment

Modern piano teaching technologies

The article deals with certain approaches and methods using the latest technology to improve the results of piano teaching. Back in the nineteenth century, some teachers tried to develop special mechanical devices for their students. However, their efforts mostly failed or reduced piano playing to simple mechanical algorithms of the performer without improvising. Currently, two approaches for introducing modern technologies have become apparent in piano teaching: making group lessons more interactive and increasing the scope of individual learning along with gradual withdrawal of the teacher. In recent years, the second method has been applied more often due to the increasing technological autonomy of each person through the use of the Internet and the revolutionary advancements in the field of augmented reality tools. However, a number of new technical solutions are far from being ready for use by educational institutions and individuals; therefore, it currently seems relevant to combine modern technology with conventional music teaching practices

Music Learning with Massive Open Online Courses

Steels, Luc et al.-- Editors: Luc SteelsMassive Open Online Courses, known as MOOCs, have arisen as the logical consequence of marrying long-distance education with the web and social media. MOOCs were confidently predicted by advanced thinkers decades ago. They are undoubtedly here to stay, and provide a valuable resource for learners and teachers alike. This book focuses on music as a domain of knowledge, and has three objectives: to introduce the phenomenon of MOOCs; to present ongoing research into making MOOCs more effective and better adapted to the needs of teachers and learners; and finally to present the first steps towards 'social MOOCs’, which support the creation of learning communities in which interactions between learners go beyond correcting each other's assignments. Social MOOCs try to mimic settings for humanistic learning, such as workshops, small choirs, or groups participating in a Hackathon, in which students aided by somebody acting as a tutor learn by solving problems and helping each other. The papers in this book all discuss steps towards social MOOCs; their foundational pedagogy, platforms to create learning communities, methods for assessment and social feedback and concrete experiments. These papers are organized into five sections: background; the role of feedback; platforms for learning communities; experiences with social MOOCs; and looking backwards and looking forward. Technology is not a panacea for the enormous challenges facing today's educators and learners, but this book will be of interest to all those striving to find more effective and humane learning opportunities for a larger group of students.Funded by the European Commission's OpenAIRE2020 project.Peer reviewe

Interactive Software for Guitar Learning

In this paper we present software designed to help address problems encountered by beginning guItarists, using interactive software to find effective solutions to enhance the learning process. Software can be utilised to improve a player's ability tdhear mistakes in theIr performance, as well as to create a fun and entertaining learning environment 'to motivate the player to practice. A software prototype ~~s been developed, which served as a basIs for usabllzty testmg, to highlight the usefulness of vari~us methods of feedback and provide a way forward in developing valuable software for guitar tuition

IMUTUS - an Interactive Music Tuition System

International audienceIMUTUS is a European project that aims at the development of an open platform for training students on non-MIDI musical instruments, as well as to acquire theoretical music knowledge. The project involves many components oriented towards a new approach of music learning. After a brief overview of the system, the performance evaluation module and the music score processing components are described to show how they enforce the pedagogical approach

An adaptive tutoring machine based on Web learning assessment

[[abstract]]Student performance is difficult to measure in distance learning. The authors discuss a system which keeps track of the interaction behavior of each student while one is visiting a distance learning Web document. The system also uses a dynamic finite state machine to generate new Web documents based on the interaction behavior. The contribution of such a mechanism benefits both teachers in understanding their instruction achievement and students in realizing their learning progress.[[conferencetype]]國際[[conferencedate]]20000731~20000802[[booktype]]紙本[[conferencelocation]]New York, NY, US

Belief Exploration in a Multiple-Media Open Learner Model for Basic Harmony

Abstract. This paper focuses on whether learners of basic music theory may find a multiple-media independent open learner model useful to explore their knowledge of harmony concepts. Learners were given the option to explore example beliefs held in their learner model as music notation, audio or text, and shown how their beliefs compared to those of an expert. Results suggest users are both willing and make use of the open learner model, and show individual preferences for media format in which to view their beliefs. Participants mostly explored incorrect knowledge even though more correct knowledge was present in the model, and made greater use of the views specific to the music domain (music notation, audio) when their model showed “incorrect knowledge”. Results indicate the potential to include multi-media information in open learner models in appropriate domains

Computer assisted music instructment tutoring applied to violin practice

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENC