Can You Hear What I See? Nonverbal Communication and the Changing Face of TML

Business training and education are changing. Organizations have experienced dramatic changes in their structure, competitive environment, and the demographics and demands of their employees. As a result, organizations are seeking new and innovative ways to train employees. At the same time the evolution of technology mediated learning tools (TML) has resulted in flexible, interactive, engaging, learning technology tools that promote experiential learning, analytical thinking and problem solving. Simulation based technology mediated learning (SimTML) tools are gaining popularity in practice. SimTML facilitates lifelike environments that utilize animated pedagogical agents (APAs) which employ nonverbal communication traits in their interaction with the user. The effect is a lifelike, face-to-face interaction, between the user and the APA. The result is a flexible, interactive, engaging, TML tool that promotes experiential learning, analytical thinking and problem solving. This paper explores current SimTML technology, how we interact with learning technology, and provides selection and evaluation principles for organizations to use when evaluating SimTML tools for their own training programs

The Sword, December 2019

Contents: News: A Non-Political Twitter; Airbnb to Start Verifying Listings; Amazon Unveils Alexa-Enabled Christmas Tree; Minnesota Raises Fine for Drivers Not Stopping for School Buses; Amidst Bolivia\u27s Chaos; ISIS Leader Dead but the Fight is Not Over; Jeffrey Epstein Didn\u27t Kill Himself; Take a Number: Long Wait Times at Local DMVs; Not Enough Space for a White Picket Fence: The Minneapolis 2040 Housing Plan; Returned at Last: How the Wiyot Tribe Took Back Duluwat Island; Studies Show Sleep Leads to Reduced Stress; Opinion: Why Snow is the Worst; Ok Boomer : Innocent Joke or Insult?; 2020: The Year to Turn Blue?; I Survived my Student Teaching Clinical (and yes, I still want to be a teacher); Trends Only Last So Long; Do Ghosts Co-Exist in a World With Us?; The Five-Hour Work Day; Why You Shouldn\u27t Set a New Year\u27s Resolution; It\u27s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, So Why Is Everyone So Angry?; Where to Hit the Books; 2019 Gift Guide; Flu Season: Why You Should Take It Seriously and Get Vaccinated; Sports: CSP Football Clinches First Winning Season Since 2011; CSP\u27s Volleyball Team Closes Out Regular Season; More Needs to be Done to Increase Positive Perception of Esports; Golden Bear Men\u27s Basketball Aims for Bounce Back; Lady Bears Basketball Off to a Strong Start; New-Look Timberwolves Already Seeing Signs of Improvement; Golden Bear Cross Country Season Comes to a Close; Midseason Hot Streak Keeps Playoff Hopes Alive for the Vikings; Gophers Football Remains Undefeated and in Uncharted Territory; Arts and Variety: Food Review: Hi-Lo Diner A Minneapolis Gem; Book Review: Snow Crash; Tasty Pot Review: Hot Pot Soup That Delivers Warmth in the Cold!; Movie Review: Arctic Dogs; New on Netflix: The King; A Satirical Expose of Concordia\u27s Writing Center ; Theatre/Dance Spotlight: Kalynn Fuller; Artist Spotlight: Shannon Kourajian

Looking Outside the Box: Reflecting on Gaze Interaction in Gameplay

Gaze interaction in games moved from being a tool for accessibility to be at the core of mass-market game franchises, offering enhanced controller performance and greater immersion. We propose to explore three different popular gaze-based interaction mechanics to create novel opportunities in the game design space. We developed Twileyed, a collection of three games that challenge the "common" use of gaze as a pointer to navigate; select; and aim; to pose a challenging new way to play with the eyes. We used the games as data to reflect on the gaze design space. We asked users to play the games to validate them, and we observed their experience and strategies. Based on the observations, we discussed through 5 themes, the dimensions of gaze interactions and the potential outcomes to create engaging and playful gaze-enabled games. We contribute a position in gaze gameplay design, but also a conversation starter to engage the EyePlay research community

Notes on Narrative as Medium and a Media Ecology Approach to the Study of Storytelling

Storytelling, as a distinctively human characteristic, is a product of our capacity for language and symbolic communication. Just as language is considered a medium within the field of media ecology, so too can narrative be understood as a medium of communication, as well as a kind of language, and as a fundamentally social phenomenon. As a medium, narrative interacts with and is modified by other media, undergoing significant change as it is expressed through oral tradition, dramatic performance, written documents, and audiovisual media. In particular, major changes in the nature of character and plot accompany the shift from orality to literacy, and writing and especially printing make possible new forms of tragedy as opposed to comedy, prose as opposed to poetry, and fiction as opposed to nonfiction. Storytelling continues to mutate through the introduction of new media, with increasingly greater emphasis on narrative as an environment, especially one associated with social interaction and gaming

Towards a Service-Oriented Architecture Framework for Educational Serious Games

Producing educational serious games can be costly and time-consuming. The Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach of software development can offer a solution to reduce costs and foment serious games development. In this work, we apply a model called Activity Theory-based Model of Serious Games (ATMSG) for identifying existing relevant components that can be reused for different educational serious games. We apply the derived structure to classify the elements of an existing game and to identify how it can be refactored and expanded following the SOA paradigm

Palm Trees y Nopales: The Commodification and Hybridization of the South Texas Borderlands

This dissertation examines social inequalities rooted in capital. Through research conducted in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, this project interrogates how social characters use capital to access goods and services. By investigating seasonal migration of US and Canadian retirees into the region, the work highlights the social construction of retirement, the use of state and local governances to establish white only enclaves, and the nation-state’s role in creating marginalized populations in the Texas-Mexico borderlands. Ethnography is the primary research method with demographic and popular culture analysis as secondary modes of collecting data