TangiBoard: a toolkit to reduce the implementation burden of tangible user interfaces in education

The use of Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) as an educational technology has gained sustained interest over the years with common agreement on its innate ability to engage and intrigue students in active-learning pedagogies. Whilst encouraging results have been obtained in research, the widespread adoption of TUI architectures is still hindered by a myriad of implementation burdens imposed by current toolkits. To this end, this paper presents an innovative TUI toolkit: TangiBoard, which enables the deployment of an interactive TUI system using low-cost, and presently available educational technology. Apart from curtailing setup costs and technical expertise required for adopting TUI systems, the toolkit provides an application framework to facilitate system calibration and development integration with GUI applications. This is enabled by a robust computer vision application that tracks a contributed passive marker set providing a range of tangible interactions to TUI frameworks. The effectiveness of this toolkit was evaluated by computer systems developers with respect to alternate toolkits for TUI design. Open-source versions of the TangiBoard toolkit together with marker sets are provided online through research licens

Using time-lapse and stroboscopic photography to enhance student understanding of plant growth, structure, and pollination: an inquiry-based study

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of allowing students to generate their own images in a science class as opposed to using pre-existing images. The participants in the study were 7th grade science students enrolled in a small, rural, Louisiana school. A mixed methods design was used so that call available data was collected and analyzed. The lessons used in the study were based on plant structure, growth, and propagation which fit into the mandated 7th grade science curriculum. The students were involved in the taking of still, time-lapse, and stroboscopic images throughout the study. Although an analysis of the quantitative data showed a significant increase in the test scores for both the control and treatment groups but no significant difference when they were compared to each other, the results of the qualitative study revealed many important findings about the value of the image-based learning interventions for enhancing students’ inquiry skills, on-task behavior, and observable satisfaction with studying science

An Automatic Calibration Method for Near-infrared Camera in Optical Surgical Navigation

Optical surgical navigation system (SNS) with near-infrared tracking system is becoming extensively used in clinics, and the accuracy of SNS is influenced by the calibration of near-infrared cameras (NIRCs). We propose an automatic calibration method for NIRCs. The method is based on a designed calibration board. In our experiments, corners are automatically extracted to obtain the parameters of NIRCs. This method has the advantages of saving time, efficiency in computation, high accuracy, and reliability. In our experiments, an NIRC can be calibrated in only 5 s. Meanwhile, the average relative errors of the focal length and principal point are 0.87% and 1.39%, respectively

Using Mobile Augmented Reality to Enhance Health Professional Practice Education

The use of augmented reality (AR) as a new multimedia networking technology is increasing. An investigation was made of the value of using AR as a tool to support the teaching of clinical practice skills. A series of mobile AR resources were created for use on tablet computers and smartphones to supplement clinical skills teaching in the laboratory (using image recognition), and clinical practice (using geolocation). Undergraduate students in nursing, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy tested these resources in lab sessions, a location-based campus exercise, and during clinical practice experiences. Following this, a post-exposure web survey and focus group interviews were undertaken to appraise the value of these tools. Results demonstrated that the potential for students to use technologies they already possess in AR based m-learning may offer significant advantages, and offer a practical technique to engage learners. However, these technologies remain in an early stage of development and more robust implementations and sustainable platforms are required for mainstream educational use

Web-based Simulation and Training Environment for Laparoscopic Camera Calibration

Endoscopic cameras are increasingly employed in image-guidance procedures, where the video images must be registered to data from other modalities. However, such cameras are susceptible to distortions, requiring calibration before images can be used for registration, tracking and 3D reconstruction. Camera calibration is learned in a laboratory setting, where configuring and adjusting the physical setup is tedious and not necessarily conducive to learning. A centralized resource that utilizes 3D interactive components needs to be available for training on camera calibration. In this project, a web-based training environment for camera calibration is implemented called SimCAM. SimCAM was developed using the Web Graphics Library (WebGL), Open Computer Vision (OpenCV) library, and custom software components. WebGL and OpenCV were used to simulate camera distortions and the calibration task. The main contributions include the implementation and validation of SimCAM. SimCAM was validated with a content validity study, where it was found to be useful as an introduction to camera calibration. Future work involves improving the supporting material and implementing more features, such as uncertainty propogation

Pulling together: keeping track of pedagogy, design and evaluation through the development of scenarios: a case study

This case study describes the multipurpose use of scenarios in a large multinational research project (MOBIlearn) whose aims are to design and develop a pedagogically sound mobile learning environment. Maintaining effective communication and design focus in large consortia is a wellknown problem (see Carroll, 2000), and we describe the role of scenarios in addressing this. Scenarios were initially used to simply envision the future system in order to inform design, but as the project progressed, the role of the scenarios grew to encompass (i) relating system design and implementation to pedagogy by providing a common frame of reference for developers and pedagogic experts; (ii) through a process of refinement, defining the evaluation strategy for the user trials; and (iii) allowing us to keep the user at the heart of the development project. Thus, scenarios helped to resolve the difficulty identified by Taylor (2004) of how to bring together the relatively high level issues of pedagogic evaluation and the more technical user-centred system evaluation. The development of a first-aid training scenario is used as an illustrative example

The Effect of Instructor-Produced Videos as Supplemental Material for Training Visual Screening Procedures in Occupational Therapy Education

The aim of this study was to explore student perceptions of instructor-produced videos to enhance knowledge, self-efficacy, and clinical skill with administering visual screening procedures. The video library, hosted by Vimeo™, consisted of 26 videos, with an average video duration less than 90 seconds. The videos were made available to occupational therapy students as supplemental material. Three focus groups consisting of 23 participants captured students’ perceived value of instructor-produced videos to enrich their learning. Three categories emerged from the data analysis including clinical application, learning preferences, and elements of video production. Students commented on how the videos positively influenced their ability to perform visual screening procedures, confidence with screening procedure administration and reasoning skills when evaluating client performance during visual screens. Students expressed how the videos appealed to their learning style (visual/kinesthetic). Also, they reported how the videos allowed them control over the pace of information delivery, the frequency of content delivery, and the environment in which they viewed the content. Students discussed elements of video production that enhanced their learning including actor characteristics and video use pragmatics

E-Learning

Technology development, mainly for telecommunications and computer systems, was a key factor for the interactivity and, thus, for the expansion of e-learning. This book is divided into two parts, presenting some proposals to deal with e-learning challenges, opening up a way of learning about and discussing new methodologies to increase the interaction level of classes and implementing technical tools for helping students to make better use of e-learning resources. In the first part, the reader may find chapters mentioning the required infrastructure for e-learning models and processes, organizational practices, suggestions, implementation of methods for assessing results, and case studies focused on pedagogical aspects that can be applied generically in different environments. The second part is related to tools that can be adopted by users such as graphical tools for engineering, mobile phone networks, and techniques to build robots, among others. Moreover, part two includes some chapters dedicated specifically to e-learning areas like engineering and architecture

User satisfaction on virtual reality taekwondo training material

This study focuses on the design and development of Virtual Taekwondo Training Environment (VT2E) prototype as a supplementary material for self-directed Taekwondo training. Even though there are varieties of supplementary Taekwondo training materials available, most of them have limitations in supporting self-directed training. The results of the preliminary study clearly indicated the importance of self-directed Taekwondo training among the trainees and they are facing problems while performing self-directed training at home since they do not have proper supplementary training materials to guide them. Thus, the research aims to propose the VT2E prototype as a supplementary material for self-directed Taekwondo training which incorporates Virtual Reality (VR) and Motion Capture (MoCap) technologies which is to study the trainees’ satisfaction in terms of Engaging, Presence, Usefulness and Ease of Use. The methodology of this study consists of three phases, namely; information gathering, prototype design and development and evaluation which is adapted from Vaishnavi and Kuechler (2008). In providing a useful and effective training material, the prototype incorporates the Constructivist Theory and Theory of Flow. Perception, Pearson Correlation and Regression analyses were used to determine the effects of Engaging, Presence, Usefulness and Ease of Use on trainees’ Satisfaction in using the VT2E prototype. The results provided empirical support for the positive and statistically significant relationships between usefulness and ease of use on trainees’ satisfaction. However, Engaging and Presence did not have positive and significant relationships with satisfaction. As for the conclusion, this study has looked into the possibility of introducing a new approach of training through the use of the two technologies. It is hopeful that this prototype can be a guide for self-directed Taekwondo training in enhancing the skills and performances and indirectly fullfil the trainees’ satisfaction

A Review of High School Level Astronomy Student Research Projects over the last two decades

Since the early 1990s with the arrival of a variety of new technologies, the capacity for authentic astronomical research at the high school level has skyrocketed. This potential, however, has not realized the bright-eyed hopes and dreams of the early pioneers who expected to revolutionise science education through the use of telescopes and other astronomical instrumentation in the classroom. In this paper, a general history and analysis of these attempts is presented. We define what we classify as an Astronomy Research in the Classroom (ARiC) project and note the major dimensions on which these projects differ before describing the 22 major student research projects active since the early 1990s. This is followed by a discussion of the major issues identified that affected the success of these projects and provide suggestions for similar attempts in the future.Comment: Accepted for Publication in PASA. 26 page