TurtleTablet : un jeu collaboratif et tangible sur tablette pour l'initiation à la programmation

National audienceLes jeux numériques sont souvent utilisés au collège pour initier les élèves aux bases de la programmation informatique. Par ailleurs, le travail en groupe tient une place très importante dans l’apprentissage des sciences et ces jeux sur ordinateur sont couramment effectués en groupe de deux élèves. Cependant, les interactions clavier-souris ou tactile, et la conception même de ces jeux freinent la collaboration. Le plus souvent, seul un élève est en-gagé dans l’activité à un moment donné. Pour favoriser une réelle pédagogie s’appuyant sur la collaboration, nous proposons TurtleTablet, un jeu sur tablette pour aider les élèves à comprendre comment se déroule l’exécution d’un algorithme. Les activités de ce jeu sont conçues pour un binôme d’élèves, de façon à ce que chacun ait un rôle actif. De plus, les élèves doivent manipuler des objets tangibles pour interagir avec la tablette. Ce mode d’interaction, déjà éprouvé sur tables interactives, est inédit sur tablette

Nutrition education via interactive animated storytelling devices in classroom environments

Childhood obesity has become an epidemic in developed nations and prevention in the form of education is one possible solution. My proposed thesis will combine traditional storytelling methods and constructivist educational theory with a digital, interactive animation. Through the interactive animation, a student is able to guide the central character through a story by making decisions at key points. Upon completion, an instructor leads a classroom discussion encouraging students to reflect and expand upon the decisions they have made.M.S., Digital Media -- Drexel University, 201

Multi-Touch Table for Enhancing Collaboration during Software Design

Encouraging collaborative software design through the use of Multi-touch interfaces has become increasingly important because such surfaces can accommodate more than one user concurrently, which is particularly useful for collaborative software design. This study investigated the differences in collaborative design among groups of students working in PC-based and Multi-touch table conditions to determine the potential of the Multi-touch table to increase the effectiveness of collaboration during software design. The literature includes several interesting studies reflecting the role of Multi-touch tables in enhancing collaborative activities. Research has found that Multi-touch tables increase group interaction and therefore increase the attainment of group goals. Although many research efforts have facilitated collaboration among users in software design using Unified Modelling Language (UML), these studies examined distributed collaboration and not face-to-face collaboration. However, existing research that studied facilitating co-located collaborative software design has some limitations such as using technologies that prevent parallel design activities. Collaborative software design using Multi-touch table has not been widely explored. A structured literature review revealed that no Multi-touch collaborative UML design tool is available. Thus, a Multi-touch enabled tool called MT-CollabUML was developed for this study to encourage students to work collaboratively on software design using UML in a co-located setting. Eighteen master’s level students enrolled in the Software Engineering for the Internet module were selected to participate in the study. The participants formed nine pairs. The experiment followed a counterbalanced within-subjects design where groups switched experiment conditions to ensure each group used the Multi-touch table and PC-based conditions. All collaborative UML diagramming activities were video recorded for quantitative and qualitative analysis. Results show that using the MT-CollabUML tool in the Multi-touch table condition enhanced the level of collaboration among the team members and increased their shared contribution. It also increased the equity of participation; the individuals contributed almost equally to the task, and single-person domination decreased in the Multi-touch condition. Results also show that the Multi-touch table encourages parallel-participative design where both group members work in a parallel manner to accomplish the final agreed-upon design. The analysis of verbal communication shows that both experiment conditions encouraged subjects to use collaborative learning skills

ABSTRACT Towards Seamless Support of Natural Collaborative Interactions

In order to effectively support collaboration it is important that computer technology seamlessly support users ’ natural interactions instead of inhibiting or constraining the collaborative process. The research presented in this paper examines the human-human component of computer supported cooperative work and how the design of technology can impact how people work together. In particular, this study examined children’s natural interactions when working in a physical medium compared to two computer-based environments. One of the computer environments was a traditional setup with a desktop computer and a single mouse while the other was augmented to provide each user with a mouse and a cursor. The results of this work demonstrate that given the opportunity, both in a physical and a computer environment, children will take advantage of the ability to interact concurrently. By constraining users to interact sequentially, as in the traditional computer setup, the amount of verbal interaction between users may be reduced as well as the users ’ ability to perform effectively in the environment. Enabling users to interact concurrently with multiple input devices is a first step towards developing effective collaborative environments that support users ’ natural collaborative interactions