Sign Language Tutoring Tool

In this project, we have developed a sign language tutor that lets users learn isolated signs by watching recorded videos and by trying the same signs. The system records the user's video and analyses it. If the sign is recognized, both verbal and animated feedback is given to the user. The system is able to recognize complex signs that involve both hand gestures and head movements and expressions. Our performance tests yield a 99% recognition rate on signs involving only manual gestures and 85% recognition rate on signs that involve both manual and non manual components, such as head movement and facial expressions.Comment: eNTERFACE'06. Summer Workshop. on Multimodal Interfaces, Dubrovnik : Croatie (2007

Attitudes to Makaton in the ages on integration and inclusion

The Makaton Vocabulary was developed in the 1970’s and became, and has remained, one of most pervasive and influential pedagogical approaches for children with severe learning difficulties. This article looks at attitudes towards Makaton and compares findings from two studies, carried out in a sample of special schools in the south west of England during 1986 and 1995. Overall, the results suggest that attitudes towards the use of Makaton signs have become more positive. Makaton signs are now regarded, overall, as supporting and facilitating language development, and earlier concerns about stigmatisation have declined. There is some evidence to suggest that this latter change is influenced by changes in attitudes to British Sign Language. The 1986 study predicted that new technology would have a significant impact on attitudes to language and communication systems such as Makaton, but this prediction was not supported in the 2005 study. The article highlights also how different attitudes towards Makaton can exist within the same school, and how this situation can have a significant impact on the educational experiences and opportunities of children with severe learning difficulties. The article concludes that the apparent educational movements of integration or inclusion produce different attitudes towards Makaton and how it is used. However, although Makaton signing has become seen as a tool to create educational inclusion, the extent to which the system itself has actually changed is a contentious issu

Chapter 6: Culture and Ethics

The OTiS (Online Teaching in Scotland) programme, run by the now defunct Scotcit programme, ran an International e-Workshop on Developing Online Tutoring Skills which was held between 8–12 May 2000. It was organised by Heriot–Watt University, Edinburgh and The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. Out of this workshop came the seminal Online Tutoring E-Book, a generic primer on e-learning pedagogy and methodology, full of practical implementation guidelines. Although the Scotcit programme ended some years ago, the E-Book has been copied to the SONET site as a series of PDF files, which are now available via the ALT Open Access Repository. The editor, Carol Higgison, is currently working in e-learning at the University of Bradford (see her staff profile) and is the Chair of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)

Deaf Writers in the University Writing Center

University Writing Cente

An Intelligent Tutoring System for Cloud Computing

Intelligent tutoring system (ITS) is a computer system which aims to provide immediate and customized or reactions to learners, usually without the intervention of human teacher's instructions. Secretariats professional to have the common goal of learning a meaningful and effective manner through the use of a variety of computing technologies enabled. There are many examples of professional Secretariats used in both formal education and in professional settings that have proven their capabilities. There is a close relationship between private lessons intelligent, cognitive learning and design theories; and there are ongoing to improve the effectiveness of ITS research. And it aims to find a solution to the problem of over-reliance on students' teachers for quality education. The program aims to provide access to high-quality education to every student, and therefore the reform of the education system as a whole. In this paper, we will use Intelligent Tutoring System Builder (ITSB) to build an education system on cloud computing in terms of the concept of cloud computing and components and how to take advantage of cloud computing in the field

Using Applied Behavior Analysis in Software to help Tutor Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

There are currently many tutoring software systems which have been designed for neurotypical children. These systems cover academic topics such as reading and math, and are made available through various technological mediums. The majority of these systems were not designed for use by children with special needs, in particular those who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Since the 1970's, studies have been conducted on the use of Applied Behavior Analysis to help autistic children learn [1]. This teaching methodology is proven to be very effective, with many patients having their diagnosis of autism dropped after a few years of treatment. With the advent of ubiquitous technologies such as mobile devices, it has become apparent that these devices could also be used to help tutor autistic children on academic subjects such as reading and math. Though the delivery of tutoring material must be made using Applied Behavior Analysis techniques, given that ABA therapy is currently the only form of treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder endorsed by the US Surgeon General [2], which further makes the case for incorporating it into an academics tutoring system tailored for autistic children. In this paper, we present a mobile software system which can be utilized to tutor children who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the subjects of reading and math. The software makes use of Applied Behavior Analysis techniques such as a Token Economy system, visual and audible reinforcers, and generalization. Furthermore, we explore how combining Applied Behavior Analysis and technology, could help extend the reach of tutoring systems to these children.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Preparing Teachers for Their Prophetic Role to Serve with Heart, Head, and Hands

As teacher preparation programs seek to diversify their pre-service teachers’ exposure to teaching situations, Mount Vernon Nazarene University’s Education Department has discovered how to maximize its freshman’s educational technology field experiences through meaningful cross-cultural community service. A plan has been implemented since the spring of 2004 where candidates taking educational technology classes are required to give 8 hours of technology tutoring as a community service to populations in cross-cultural situations. Based on the Spring 2004 successes, the cross-cultural tutoring opportunities have been expanded, leading to renewed vision in candidates’ perspectives on education and job placements. At a freshman level, this challenge sets the tone for further diverse field exposure. This study will look at the multiple positive outcomes that result from a model that uses technology tutoring as the pre-service candidates’ first exposure to a cross-cultural instructional environment and thus enhances the prophetic call that rests on teachers

Supporting peer interaction in online learning environments

This paper reports two studies into the efficacy of sentence openers to foster online peer-to-peer interaction. Sentence openers are pre-defined ways to start an utterance that are implemented in communication facilities as menu’s or buttons. In the first study, typical opening phrases were derived from naturally occurring online dialogues. The resulting set of sentence openers was implemented in a semi-structured chat tool that allowed students to compose messages in a freetext area or via sentence openers. In the second study, this tool was used to explore the students’ appreciation and unprompted use of sentence openers. Results indicate that students hardly used sentence openers and were skeptical of their usefulness. Because both measures were negatively correlated with students’ prior chat experience, optional use of sentence openers may not be the best way to support students’ online interaction. Based on these findings, alternative ways of using sentence openers are discussed and topics for further research are advanced

Robust Modeling of Epistemic Mental States

This work identifies and advances some research challenges in the analysis of facial features and their temporal dynamics with epistemic mental states in dyadic conversations. Epistemic states are: Agreement, Concentration, Thoughtful, Certain, and Interest. In this paper, we perform a number of statistical analyses and simulations to identify the relationship between facial features and epistemic states. Non-linear relations are found to be more prevalent, while temporal features derived from original facial features have demonstrated a strong correlation with intensity changes. Then, we propose a novel prediction framework that takes facial features and their nonlinear relation scores as input and predict different epistemic states in videos. The prediction of epistemic states is boosted when the classification of emotion changing regions such as rising, falling, or steady-state are incorporated with the temporal features. The proposed predictive models can predict the epistemic states with significantly improved accuracy: correlation coefficient (CoERR) for Agreement is 0.827, for Concentration 0.901, for Thoughtful 0.794, for Certain 0.854, and for Interest 0.913.Comment: Accepted for Publication in Multimedia Tools and Application, Special Issue: Socio-Affective Technologie