An approach about health games to social network environment

The need for contact, sharing and socializing is part of human nature, so that the community's role is vital to the survival of the species. With the development of Information and Communication Technologies and their influence on society and everyday life, led the search for new ways to build relationships and create communities among people, creating virtual communities; turn social networks emerge as new forms of association that respond to more complex understanding of human interaction in a way that the wider community; these to promote your main goal, more integrated into the games as a tool of socialization. The impact of current games at various levels, as the social and economic development, and its applicability in various fields, it becomes important to analyze the contribution of the community. It is intended in this article, a description of the factors that motivate this research to a later stage to develop the proposed objectives: to analyze the new social reality and develop a model that allows adapting the health games to social games in order to foster the creation / sustainability of communities based on social networks, aiming to raise awareness of health issues, increasing knowledge and sharing of experiences of members of communities

Examining the Effects of a Virtual Character on Learning and Engagement in Serious Games

Virtual characters have been employed for many purposes including interacting with players of serious games, with a purpose to increase engagement. These characters are often embodied conversational agents playing diverse roles, such as demonstrators, guides, teachers or interviewers. Recently, much research has been conducted into properties that affect the realism and plausibility of virtual characters, but it is less clear whether the inclusion of interactive agents in serious applications can enhance a user’s engagement with the application, or indeed increase efficacy. In a first step towards answering these questions, we conducted a study where a Virtual Learning Environment was used to examine the effect of employing a virtual character to deliver a lesso

Características de jogos educacionais para adultos mais velhos em processo de alfabetização

Este trabalho teve como objetivo identificar as principais características de jogos educacionais necessárias para auxiliar adultos mais velhos (AMV) no processo de alfabetização. A pesquisa foi delineada por meio de um estudo de caso. AMV foram observados jogando quatro jogos educativos. Após cada sessão de jogos foi respondido um questionário sobre a experiência com os jogos e, ao término, foi feita uma entrevista. Além disso, dez especialistas na área de informática responderam a um questionário de avaliação dos jogos baseado em heurísticas de jogabilidade. Foi observado que para que haja o sucesso dos jogos digitais no processo de alfabetização é preciso considerar as especificidades dos AMV e suas limitações físicas e permitir adaptações didáticas necessárias a cada AMV individualmente

Utilização da realidade virtual para ensino de informática através de um museu virtual sobre a evolução dos computadores / Using virtual reality to teach computer science through a virtual museum about the evolution of computers

Neste artigo tem-se como proposta o desenvolvimento e aplicação da Realidade Virtual (RV) como Tecnologia de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) para auxiliar no processo de ensino-aprendizado de disciplinas do Ensino Médio. A RV permite a interação e navegação de usuários em ambientes 3D mantidos por computador, utilizando de canais de mapeamento e análise do comportamento dos usuários, possibilitando a troca de informação entre o ambiente virtual e o usuário, afetando um ou vários sentidos humanos. É uma tecnologia de interação e entretenimento que pode ser aplicada com êxito para auxiliar nas estratégias de ensino em disciplinas do ensino médio. Com a evolução da educação, isto é, o aperfeiçoamento dos processos de exploração, descoberta, observação e construção de conhecimento, novas ferramentas de ensino vêm surgindo, de onde destacam-se os ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem por permitirem de uma maneira nova e diferente que pessoas possam fazer e realizar experimentos ou tarefas que elas não poderiam fazer no mundo físico/real, como voar, visitar lugares que não existem ou de difícil acesso através da manipulação e análise do próprio objeto de estudo. Assim a RV será fundamental nesse processo de evolução educacional, onde busca-se cada vez mais o uso de ferramentas digitais como TICs para a aplicação bem-sucedida de metodologias ativas de ensino em sala de aula, e principalmente neste momento de pandemia. Por conseguinte, o objetivo deste artigo refere-se ao desenvolvimento de um sistema interativo de RV por óculos, projetado, modelado e renderizado usando o software livre Blender, para auxiliar no ensino de disciplinas do ensino médio, especificamente nas aulas de introdução a informática, podendo ser estendido a outras disciplinas

Towards Understanding and Developing Virtual Environments to Increase Accessibilities for People with Visual Impairments

The primary goal of this research is to investigate the possibilities of utilizing audio feedback to support effective Human-Computer Interaction Virtual Environments (VEs) without visual feedback for people with Visual Impairments. Efforts have been made to apply virtual reality (VR) technology for training and educational applications for diverse population groups, such as children and stroke patients. Those applications had already shown effects of increasing motivations, providing safer training environments and more training opportunities. However, they are all based on visual feedback. With the head related transfer functions (HRTFs), it is possible to design and develop considerably safer, but diversified training environments that might greatly benefit individuals with VI. In order to explore this, I ran three studies sequentially: 1) if/how users could navigate themselves with different types of 3D auditory feedback in the same VE; 2) if users could recognize the distance and direction of a virtual sound source in the virtual environment (VE) effectively; 3) if users could recognize the positions and distinguish the moving directions of 3D sound sources in the VE between the participants with and without VI. The results showed some possibilities of designing effective Human-Computer Interaction methods and some understandings of how the participants with VI experienced the scenarios differently than the participants without VI. Therefore, this research contributed new knowledge on how a visually impaired person interacts with computer interfaces, which can be used to derive guidelines for the design of effective VEs for rehabilitation and exercise

The Effect of Story Narrative in Multimedia Learning

abstract: ELearning, distance learning, has been a fast-developing topic in educational area. In 1999, Mayer put forward “Cognitive Theory of Multimedia learning” (Moreno, & Mayer, 1999). The theory consisted of several principles. One of the principles, Modality Principle describes that when learners are presented with spoken words, their performance are better than that with on-screen texts (Mayer, R., Dow, & Mayer, S. 2003; Moreno, & Mayer, 1999).It gave an implication that learners performance can be affected by modality of learning materials. A very common tool in education in literature and language is narrative. This way of storytelling has received success in practical use. The advantages of using narrative includes (a) inherent format advantage such as simple structure and familiar language and ideas, (b) motivating learners, (c) facilitate listening, (d) oral ability and (e)provide schema for comparison in comprehension. Although this storytelling method has been widely used in literature, language and even moral education, few studies focused it on science and technology area. The study aims to test the effect of narrative effect in multimedia setting with science topic. A script-based story was applied. The multimedia settings include a virtual human with synthetic speech, and animation on a solar cell lesson. The experiment design is a randomized alternative- treatments design, in which participants are requested to watch a video with pedagogical agent in story format or not. Participants were collected from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Result of transfer score and retention score showed that no significant difference between narrative and non-narrative condition. Discussion was put forward for future study.Dissertation/ThesisMasters Thesis Engineering 201

PRE-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING EXPERIENCES VIEWED AS A CULTURAL ACTIVITY

What are the experiences of career-changing pre-service middle school teachers undergoing a group-based activity as part of their training? This series of studies explored two aspects of answering this question. In the first manuscript, a methodology of a novel virtual phenomenology interview technique attempts to determine the influence of a virtual world interviewer compared to a traditional face-to-face setting. While syntactical and other significant differences were found, there was no significant difference found comparing meaning units derived from both settings. In the second manuscript, these meaning units were analyzed to create an essence of the experience for the study\u27s participants, using a modified version of Moustakas\u27 (1994) phenomenology technique viewed through the lens of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (Engeström, 1987). The transcripts of participants were analyzed using this phenomenological technique yielded five meaning themes: Teamwork Function, Grade Orientation, Assignment Structure Conflict, Theory versus Practice Divergence, and Tool for Future Practice. Tensions within the elements of the activity system were identified from the interview transcripts and examined. These findings were used to create a composite textural description, a composite structural description, explained using a graphic depiction of knotworking (Engeström, 1999), and a narrative essence of the experience. A conclusion of both studies, noting a summary of the findings, implications for teacher education, limitations of the studies, and recommendations for future research is also presented

O impacto das ferramentas multimédia na motivação para a aprendizagem e no desempenho dos estudantes de medicina

O crescimento exponencial da tecnologia tem permitido novas abordagens de ensino, e ao começar a enraizar-se no processo de aprendizagem, surgem novos desafios de adaptação por parte dos alunos e também por parte dos professores. A medicina, sendo uma área de constantes mudanças, requer uma capacidade de adaptação tremenda por quem a pratica. Da mesma forma, também o ensino médico evolui, na tentativa de dar respostas a novos desafios e exigências que este tipo de formação requer. Os métodos tradicionais parecem perder terreno no ensino médico, e os alunos começam a ganhar cada vez mais responsabilidade pela sua aprendizagem e pelos seus resultados. A análise de diversos estudos, dos quais resultaram 88 referências bibliográficas criteriosamente selecionadas, serviu de base para a revisão da literatura, de modo a responder aos objetivos delineados nesta dissertação: (1) esclarecer qual o impacto das ferramentas multimédia na motivação e no desempenho dos estudantes de medicina, fazendo uma comparação com os métodos tradicionais de ensino; (2) esclarecer quais seriam as ferramentas mais eficazes, refletindo sobre a pertinência da inclusão deste tipo de metodologia no currículo de ensino das escolas médicas. A adoção de estratégias de e-learning, e tudo o que lhe está associado, ou blended learning, oferece ao aluno um maior controlo e liberdade no que diz respeito à forma como quer estudar, sendo este tipo de estratégias mais bem vistas e melhor aceites quando oferecidas como um complemento aos métodos tradicionais. Com a combinação de ferramentas multimédia, o impacto sentido em parâmetros como o desenvolvimento das aptidões teórico-práticas, satisfação no processo de aprendizagem e maximização do tempo de sala de aula, é positivo. Além disso, o tempo de estudo individual também sai beneficiado, sendo feito de forma mais eficiente. O mesmo efeito benéfico verifica-se com as taxas de motivação e retenção e com os resultados dos processos de avaliação de conhecimentos, onde o impacto desta combinação parece trazer ainda mais vantagens. Com esta monografia pretendeu-se contribuir para o entendimento de qual seria a melhor estratégia a adotar, e quais as ferramentas multimédia que melhor se adequam na educação médica atual, não deixando de expor os benefícios ou malefícios que poderão advir destas escolhas.The exponential growth of technology has allowed the emergence of new approaches in the teaching setting, and as it begins to take it’s space in the students' learning process, new challenges of adaptation arise, both for students and teachers. Being medicine an area of constant change, it requires a tremendous capacity of adaptation by those who practice it. Similarly, medical education is also evolving in an attempt to respond to the new challenges and demands that this type of training requires. Traditional methods seem to be losing ground in medical education, and students are beginning to gain more and more responsibility for their learning and results. The analysis of several studies, which resulted in 88 carefully selected bibliographical references served as a foundation for the integrated review of literature, in order to meet the objectives outlined in this dissertation: (1) clarify what type of impact multimedia tools bring to motivation and performance of medical students, and whether their introduction will bring different results when compared to traditional teaching methods; (2) clarify what might be the most effective tools, reflecting on the relevance of including this type of methodology in the teaching curriculum of medical schools. The adoption of e-learning strategies, and all that is associated with it, or blended learning, offers students greater control and freedom with regard to the way they want to study, and this type of strategies are better viewed and accepted when offered as a complement to traditional methods. With the combination of multimedia tools, the impact felt in parameters such as the development of theoretical and practical skills, satisfaction in the learning process and maximization of classroom time, is positive. In addition, individual study time also benefits and is done more efficiently. It is also the case with the motivation and retention rates and with the results of the knowledge evaluation processes, where the impact of this combination seems to bring even more advantages. This paper is intended to contribute to the understanding of which strategy can potentially be the best to adopt, and which multimedia tools are best suited to the current state of medical education, while not failing to expose the benefits or harm that may arise from these choices

Causal inference in generalizable environments: systematic representative design

Causal inference and generalizability both matter. Historically, systematic designs emphasize causal inference, while representative designs focus on generalizability. Here, we suggest a transformative synthesis – Systematic Representative Design (SRD) – concurrently enhancing both causal inference and “built-in” generalizability by leveraging today’s intelligent agent, virtual environments, and other technologies. In SRD, a “default control group” (DCG) can be created in a virtual environment by representatively sampling from real-world situations. Experimental groups can be built with systematic manipulations onto the DCG base. Applying systematic design features (e.g., random assignment to DCG versus experimental groups) in SRD affords valid causal inferences. After explicating the proposed SRD synthesis, we delineate how the approach concurrently advances generalizability and robustness, cause-effect inference and precision science, a computationally-enabled cumulative psychological science supporting both “bigger theory” and concrete implementations grappling with tough questions (e.g., what is context?) and affording rapidly-scalable interventions for real-world problems