Editorial: Positive Technology: Designing E-experiences for Positive Change

While there is little doubt that our lives are becoming increasingly digital, whether this change is for the better or for the worse is far from being settled. Rather, over the past years concerns about the personal and social impacts of technologies have been growing, fueled by dystopian Orwellian scenarios that almost on daily basis are generously dispensed by major Western media outlets. According to a recent poll involving some 1,150 experts, 47% of respondents predict that individuals’ well-being will bemore helped than harmed by digital life in the next decade, while 32% say people’s well-being will bemore harmed than helped. Only 21% of those surveyed indicated that the impact of technologies on people well-being will be negligible compared to now (Pew Research Center, 2018)

Piloting Multimodal Learning Analytics using Mobile Mixed Reality in Health Education

© 2019 IEEE. Mobile mixed reality has been shown to increase higher achievement and lower cognitive load within spatial disciplines. However, traditional methods of assessment restrict examiners ability to holistically assess spatial understanding. Multimodal learning analytics seeks to investigate how combinations of data types such as spatial data and traditional assessment can be combined to better understand both the learner and learning environment. This paper explores the pedagogical possibilities of a smartphone enabled mixed reality multimodal learning analytics case study for health education, focused on learning the anatomy of the heart. The context for this study is the first loop of a design based research study exploring the acquisition and retention of knowledge by piloting the proposed system with practicing health experts. Outcomes from the pilot study showed engagement and enthusiasm of the method among the experts, but also demonstrated problems to overcome in the pedagogical method before deployment with learners

Digital Games and Biodiversity Conservation

Digital games play an important role in the lives of millions of people worldwide. The games industry is expanding rapidly, and games are developing in sophistication and complexity. Games (and gaming approaches to other activities) are increasingly being used for serious or social purposes in a wide range of fields, including biodiversity conservation. This paper evaluates the potential of “conservation games” (digital games that promote conservation). It explores ways in which conservation might make use of digital games in the areas of (1) education and behavior change, (2) fundraising, and (3) research, monitoring, and planning. It discusses the risk that games may distract gamers from the real world and its problems or provide misleadingly simple narratives about conservation issues. We conclude that there is great potential for conservation to take more advantage of digital games, provided that conservation games are developed in collaboration with game design specialists, have specific rather than general aims, target a specific and conservation-relevant audience, and (above all) are fun to play.This project was funded by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative Strategic Initiative Workshop Fund.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12113/abstract

Simplifying collaboration in co-located virtual environments using the active-passive approach

The design and implementation of co-located immersive virtual environments with equal interaction possibilities for all participants is a complex topic. The main problem, on a fundamental technical level, is the difficulty of providing perspective-correct images for each participant. There is consensus that the lack of a correct perspective view will negatively affect interaction fidelity and therefore also collaboration. Several research approaches focus on providing a correct perspective view to all participants to enable co-located work. However, these approaches are usually either based on custom hardware solutions that limit the number of users with a correct perspective view or software solutions striving to eliminate or mitigate restrictions with custom image-generation approaches. In this paper we investigate an often overlooked approach to enable collaboration for multiple users in an immersive virtual environment designed for a single user. The approach provides one (active) user with a perspective-correct view while other (passive) users receive visual cues that are not perspective-correct. We used this active-passive approach to investigate the limitations posed by assigning the viewpoint to only one user. The findings of our study, though inconclusive, revealed two curiosities. First, our results suggest that the location of target geometry is an important factor to consider for designing interaction, expanding on prior work that has studied only the relation between user positions. Secondly, there seems to be only a low cost involved in accepting the limitation of providing perspective-correct images to a single user, when comparing with a baseline, during a coordinated work approach. These findings advance our understanding of collaboration in co-located virtual environments and suggest an approach to simplify co-located collaboration

The motivation of technological scenarios in augmented reality (AR): results of different experiments

Augmented Reality (AR) is an emergent technology that is acquiring more and more relevance in teaching every day. Together with mobile technology, this combination arises as one of the most effective binomials to support significant and ubiquitous learning. Nevertheless, this binomial can only prove valid if the student is motivated to use it during the learning process. An attempt was made through the implementation of Keller’s Instructional Material Motivational Survey model o determine the degree of motivation of Pedagogy, Medicine and Art students from the University of Seville for using AR-enriched notes available by means of mobile devices in the classroom. Three applications designed for the subjects of Educational Technology, Anatomy and Art served to assess it positively in terms of the motivation raised by the participation in the experiment, as well as regarding academic performance improvement. It can additionally be stated that our main finding was a link between students’ motivation to use the enriched notes and the performance obtained in the subject in which they use them. Evidence was also found that the utilization of Augmented Reality benefits the learning process

Mixed Reality using a Lidar and a 4D Studio

In this demo we present a system for creation and visualization of mixed reality by combining the spatio-temporal model of a real outdoor environment with the models of people acting in a studio. We use a LIDAR sensor to measure a scene with walking pedestrians, detect and track them, then reconstruct the static scene part. The scene is then modified and populated by human avatars created in a 4D reconstruction studio

Adoption of augmented reality technology by university students

In recent times, Augmented Reality has gained more relevance in the field of education. This relevance has been enhanced due to its ease of use, as well as the availability of the technical devices for the students. The present study was conducted with students enrolled in the Pedagogy Degree in the Faculty of Education at the University of Seville. The objective was to understand the degree of technological acceptance of students during their interaction with the AR objects produced, the performance achieved by the students, and if their gender affected their acquisition of knowledge. For this, three data collection instruments were utilized: a multiple choice test for the analysis of the student's performance after the interaction, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) diagnostic instrument, created by Davis (1989), and an “ad hoc” instrument created so that the students could evaluate the class notes enriched with the AR objects created. The study has allowed us to broaden the scientific knowledge of the TAM by Davis, to understand that AR objects can be utilized in university teaching, and to know that the student's gender does not influence learning.Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain EDU-5746-

Preserving today for tomorrow: A case study of an archive of Interactive Music Installations

This work presents the problems addressed and the first results obtained by a project aimed at the preservation of Interactive Music Installations (IMI). Preservation requires that besides all the necessary components for the (re)production of a performance, also the knowledge about these components is kept, so that the original process can be repeated at any given time. This work proposes a multilevel approach for the preservation of IMI. As case studies, the Pinocchio Square (installed in EXPO 2002) and the Il Caos delle Sfere are considered

Designing for Ballet Classes: Identifying and Mitigating Communication Challenges Between Dancers and Teachers

Dancer-teacher communication in a ballet class can be challenging: ballet is one of the most complex forms of movements, and learning happens through multi-faceted interactions with studio tools (mirror, barre, and floor) and the teacher. We conducted an interview-based qualitative study with seven ballet teachers and six dancers followed by an open-coded analysis to explore the communication challenges that arise while teaching and learning in the ballet studio. We identified key communication issues, including adapting to multi-level dancer expertise, transmitting and realigning development goals, providing personalized corrections and feedback, maintaining the state of flow, and communicating how to properly use tools in the environment. We discuss design implications for crafting technological interventions aimed at mitigating these communication challenges