Learning Opportunities and Challenges of Sensor-enabled Intelligent Tutoring Systems on Mobile Platforms: Benchmarking the Reliability of Mobile Sensors to Track Human Physiological Signals and Behaviors to Enhance Tablet-Based Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Desktop-based intelligent tutoring systems have existed for many decades, but the advancement of mobile computing technologies has sparked interest in developing mobile intelligent tutoring systems (mITS). Personalized mITS are applicable to not only stand-alone and client-server systems but also cloud systems possibly leveraging big data. Device-based sensors enable even greater personalization through capture of physiological signals during periods of student study. However, personalizing mITS to individual students faces challenges. The Achilles heel of personalization is the feasibility and reliability of these sensors to accurately capture physiological signals and behavior measures. This research reviews feasibility and benchmarks reliability of basic mobile platform sensors in various student postures. The research software and methodology are generalizable to a range of platforms and sensors. Incorporating the tile-based puzzle game 2048 as a substitute for a knowledge domain also enables a broad spectrum of test populations. Baseline sensors include the on-board camera to detect eyes/faces and the Bluetooth Empatica E4 wristband to capture heart rate, electrodermal activity (EDA), and skin temperature. The test population involved 100 collegiate students randomly assigned to one of three different ergonomic positions in a classroom: sitting at a table, standing at a counter, or reclining on a sofa. Well received by the students, EDA proved to be more reliable than heart rate or face detection in the three different ergonomic positions. Additional insights are provided on advancing learning personalization through future sensor feasibility and reliability studies

Atas das Oitavas Jornadas de Informática da Universidade de Évora

Atas das Oitavas Jornadas de Informática da Universidade de Évora realizadas em Março de 2018

Disability equality and discrimination in higher education: staff and student perceptions of the 'reasonable' adjustments made for print disabled students

The aim of this research was to explore staff and student experiences of the barriers print disabled students face and the adjustments made to overcome these. Universities are obliged by the Special Education Needs and Disability Act 2001 and the Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005 to make 'reasonable' adjustments, but receive only limited guidance as to how far they have to go to do this. No literature, research-based or otherwise, has so far dealt with the full range of issues relating to the implementation of adjustments for print disabled higher education students and until now few questions have been asked about why difficulties arise. Some studies have dealt with general issues relating to disabled higher education students (e. g. Riddell, Tinklin and Wilson, 2004; Fuller et al., 2006; Healey, Fuller, Bradley and Hall, 2006) but their conclusions are not fully applicable to print disabled students. Other literature has looked at issues relating to the accessibility of documents (e. g. RNIB, 2003, 2004, 2006; JISC TechDis, 2006a, 2006b, 2007a, 2007b) but does not consider how these issues affect higher education students. A small amount of literature focuses on general issues affecting print disabled students, but so far this has only focused on the underlying impairments that lead to it in isolation (e. g. visual impairment - Roy, 2003; or dyslexia - Riddick, 2001). Several sources have produced guidelines for making reasonable adjustments for students with dyslexia (e. g. The University of Nottingham 2006a) and visual impairments (e. g. West Virginia University, 2005b), but no comparisons appear to have been made been the similarity of the two. This study expands on previous research to explore the experiences of print disabled students, both from the perspective of print disabled students themselves but also from the perspective of the staff who support them. It explores the impact of the medical and social models of disability, as well as the mediatory model of disability displayed by the disability legislation. Its findings suggest that whilst universities have made considerable progress in reducing discrimination and promoting equality, print disabled students still experience significant problems. It concludes that whilst SENDA 2001 has contributed to the progress that has been made, legislation alone may not be capable of producing the cultural change that is needed

The Theory and Practice of Online Learning

Every chapter in the widely distributed first edition has been updated, and four new chapters on current issues such as connectivism and social software innovations have been added. Essays by practitioners and scholars active in the complex, diverse, and rapidly evolving field of distance education blend scholarship and research; practical attention to the details of teaching and learning; and mindful attention to the economics of the business of education