A Culturally Aware Approach to Learning System Interface Design

This mixed methods research explored interface design strategies for users from different cultures and localized settings. Guided by the cultural-historical development theory and HCI research, four critical factors—navigation design, information organization, layout design, and visuals—were investigated in designing culturally relevant interfaces for Americans and Taiwanese. American and Taiwanese groups—both contained two sub-groups of 30 participants—were recruited for the quantitative phase. Each participant was exposed to only one interface with content composed in their native language. However, one sub-group in each ethnic group was exposed to a culturally relevant interface and another was exposed to an alien interface. MANOVA on overall performance in both American and Taiwanese groups were significant. Americans performed better using the American interface (Wilks’s Λ=.85, F= 5.15, p< .01). They had significantly shorter performance time in the American (M=775) than the Taiwanese (M=1003) interface (F=6.29, p<.05), but differences on performance accuracy were not significant (F=2.74, p=.103). Taiwanese performed better using the Taiwanese interface (Wilks’s Λ=.67, F=14.06, p< .01). They had shorter performance time in the Taiwanese (M=743) than the American (M=1353) interface (F=6.29, p<.05), and they also had higher performance accuracy on the Taiwanese (M=11.7) than the American (M=10.0) interface (F=7.94, p<.01). In addition, t-test on overall preference in both American and Taiwanese groups were significant. Americans preferred the American (M=58.5) over the Taiwanese (M=53.0) interface (t=2.11, p< .05). And Taiwanese preferred the Taiwanese (M=58.7) over the American (M=46.9) interface (t=3.48, p<.01). Qualitative interviews of six American and six Taiwanese participants revealed three themes: First, when searching, Taiwanese were explorative and relied on hierarchical relationships; while Americans relied on prior experiences and analytical categorizations. Second, both groups have higher affiliation with design features matching their preferences. Finally, matching design features with users’ expectations and needs promotes positive perceptions and enhances interface usability. Both quantitative and qualitative Results imply that user interface designers should consider cultural perspectives when designing interfaces for online learning systems. Further studies might consider the relative impacts of the navigation, information structure, layout, and visual design on a broad range of user differences might have on learning

Exploring the Use of Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TRPGs) to Highlight and Develop Creativity Competencies

This project explores how tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs) are an underutilized mechanism for developing the affective skills that constitute the foundation of creativity and reinforcing the emerging concept of the creative experience through the application of experience design principles. Outlining the core concepts of creative experience, experience design, and gamification, along with the associated role of phenomenology and embodied cognition, the project establishes a case for the intersectionality of these elements in understanding how to develop creativity. Expanding further, the project explores what existing literature shows about TRPG ability to exercise and develop cognitive, psychological, sociological, and emotional competencies through unique elements like narrative, immersion, transference of experience, and skill acquisition. This project posits that the unique manifestation of these inherent elements is what differentiates TRPGs as a creative experience tool unmatched by other training approaches. The outcomes of this project identify how existing TRPGs might be modified to maximize the effect of character creation, game mechanics, and the role of the Game Master to start exploring and testing the effectiveness for developing creativity skills and creative experience identifiers. Additionally, the outcomes include a brief description of the need to expand research in this area, with three initial suggestions for research opportunities that address gaps in existing knowledge and open doors for more research on creativity and the creative experience

Unmanned Systems Sentinel / 11 January 2016

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Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

The Smartpen as a Mediational Tool for Learning Language and Content Areas: The Case of English Learners in Mainstream Classrooms

The use of mobile devices for supporting the instruction of second language (L2) learners is an emerging and rapidly growing area of inquiry. Previous research on mobile assisted language learning (MALL) has concentrated on the development of isolated linguistic skills through a common set of mobile technologies, such as PDAs and iPods, with limited attention given to alternative mobile devices or situations of L2 learning that require the simultaneous learning of language and academic content (Wu, Jim Wu, Chen, Kao, Lin, & Huang, 2012; Viberg & Grönlund, 2012; 2013). In particular, little is understood about how English Learners (ELs) educated within mainstream classrooms choose to appropriate mobile technologies to meet their learning needs, with respect to both their development linguistically and across academic course disciplines. To inform this gap in research, this study used a quasi-ethnographic, instrumental case study design to explore how a group of middle school ELs used an understudied mobile device, the Echo Smartpen, to mediate their learning of language skills (e.g., speaking, reading, writing, listening, vocabulary) and of academic content areas (e.g., math, science, social studies). It also sought to examine how the Smartpen could assist ELs\u27 learning processes with respect to individual learner characteristics (e.g., affective, cognitive, metacognitive). To accomplish this purpose, multiple sources of data were collected from seven student participants, their English as a Second Language (ESL) specialist, and primary mainstream teacher. These sources consisted of technologically-mediated digital data, such as the students\u27 digitized notebooks, as well as traditional methods qualitative data collection, including individual and focus group interviews, and learning artifacts. The overall theoretical framework guiding the data analysis was Vygotskian sociocultural theory (SCT), complemented by grounded theory and the constant comparison coding method (Strauss & Corbin, 1990; 1998). Key principles for the analysis were the Vygotskian notions of mediated learning through physical and psychological tool use (Lantolf, 2000). Findings from this study provide insights about the process of mediated language and content learning with the Smartpen for ELs clustered around three major themes: 1) extended opportunities for language learning through self-constructed artifacts; (2) extended opportunities for content learning through co-constructed artifacts; and (3) extended learning self with the Smartpen. In addition to the main emergent themes, research findings incorporate the participant-based metaphorical concept of time travel as an important sub-thematic element in tracing ELs\u27 use of the Smartpen across temporal and educational contexts (e.g., school and home). Finally, this study concludes with a discussion of theoretical and pedagogical implications for the integration of mobile devices for ELs in mainstream settings, as well as with recommendations for future research deriving from this research

The Poetics of Self-fashioning: Between nonsense and meaning

This paper reflects on the role of garments in the changing sense of self through the literary notions of “estrangement/ defamiliarisation” (Shklovsky) and “poetic function” (Jakobson). What are the poetic or prosaic qualities of artefacts: what is it that renders some garments mundane and others captivating, auratic, and ‘disruptive’? How and why certain clothes tell us much more about human’s need of protection or decency? I suggest that it is contingent on the relationship between self and other articulated through the notion of defamiliarisation. Shklovsky suggests that poetic language is structured, impeded, distorted speech, as opposed to economical and correct prose, that it removes the perceiver from the domain of automatic, or conventional, perception, making them pause and dwell on what is being perceived. Applying this to other domains of art, Shklovsky proposes that artistic practice aims to make objects foreign and unfamiliar, to increase the difficulty of perception, because the process of perception itself is the main purpose. (Shklovsky 1991, 12-3) The physical proximity and ubiquity often render cloth and clothing invisible, ‘nonsensical’ material. Yet precisely because of this proximity, once estranged, garments can be effective means of self-objectification. With the material qualities showing ourselves to us and touching us, garments are powerful metaphorical as well as mimetic representation of the self, at once the trace and symbol the self. Depending on our perceptiveness as a wearer, the materiality of garment can trigger a “disruption of rhythm” (ibid., 14), or defamiliarisation, allowing us a ‘poetic experience’, as Shklovsky would put it. The ambiguity, or the disrupted meanings, brought on by the estrangement however, is quickly settled into a new meaning: our need for the immutable reality, the unique unchanging self, inevitably draws a new distinct boundary. This sequential steps—the garment as a poetic device, estrangement, ambiguity, the generation of new meaning and self—is potentially unending, as the authentic unchanging self, lying in a never-attainable beyond, is faithfully pursued, but also constantly doubted and subverted. This understanding of garment as a poetic device unsettles the deep-seated surface/depth dichotomy: the self is not anything ‘hidden,’ ‘underneath’ or ‘behind’ to uncover, but transient, multiple, and constantly self-generating. Dressing practice as self-making is thus an iterative, poetic process, the constant oscillation between self and other, between nonsense and renewed meaning. This permanent passage is conducted through bodily engagement, the visceral and emotional process of interacting with the material other. The multiple realities experienced in this passage is materialized in our dressed selves, the constantly self-fashioning bodies

The Future of Semiconductor Intellectual Property Architectural Blocks in Europe

Semiconductor intellectual property (IP) blocks, also known as IP cores, are reusable design components that are used to build advanced integrated circuits (ICs). It is typically impossible to create new IC designs without pre-designed IP blocks as a starting point. These design components are called ¿intellectual property¿ blocks because they are traded as rights to use and copy the design. Firms that focus on this business model are often called ¿chipless¿ semiconductor firms. IP cores are perhaps the most knowledge-intensive link in the information economy value chain. They define the capabilities of billions of electronic devices produced every year. As all products are becoming increasingly intelligent and embedded with information processing and communication capabilities, future developments in semiconductor IP will have a profound impact on the future developments in the overall knowledge economy and society. At present, the IC industry is approaching the most fundamental technological disruption in its history. The rapid incremental innovation that has led to exponential growth in the number of transistors on a chip and expanded the applications of ICT to all areas of human life is about to end. This discontinuity¿the end of semiconductor scaling¿opens up new business opportunities and shifts the focus of ICT research to new areas. The main objective of this study is to describe the current state and potential future developments in semiconductor IP, and to relate the outcomes of the study to policy-related discussions relevant to the EU and its Member States.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

Contributions to sustainable urban transport : decision support for alternative mobility and logistics concepts

Increasing transport activities in cities are a substantial driver for congestion and pollution, influencing urban populations’ health and quality of life. These effects are consequences of ongoing urbanization in combination with rising individual demand for mobility, goods, and services. With the goal of increased environmental sustainability in urban areas, city authorities and politics aim for reduced traffic and minimized transport emissions. To support more efficient and sustainable urban transport, this cumulative dissertation focuses on alternative transport concepts. For this purpose, scientific methods and models of the interdisciplinary information systems domain combined with elements of operations research, transportation, and logistics are developed and investigated in multiple research contributions. Different transport concepts are examined in terms of optimization and acceptance to provide decision support for relevant stakeholders. In more detail, the overarching topic of urban transport in this dissertation is divided into the complexes urban mobility (part A) in terms of passenger transport and urban logistics (part B) with a focus on the delivery of goods and services. Within part A, approaches to carsharing optimization are presented at various planning levels. Furthermore, the user acceptance of ridepooling is investigated. Part B outlines several optimization models for alternative urban parcel and e-grocery delivery concepts by proposing different network structures and transport vehicles. Conducted surveys on intentional use of urban logistics concepts give valuable hints to providers and decision makers. The introduced approaches with their corresponding results provide target-oriented support to facilitate decision making based on quantitative data. Due to the continuous growth of urban transport, the relevance of decision support in this regard, but also the understanding of the key drivers for people to use certain services will further increase in the future. By providing decision support for urban mobility as well as urban logistics concepts, this dissertation contributes to enhanced economic, social, and environmental sustainability in urban areas