The Mastery Rubric for Statistics and Data Science: promoting coherence and consistency in data science education and training

Consensus based publications of both competencies and undergraduate curriculum guidance documents targeting data science instruction for higher education have recently been published. Recommendations for curriculum features from diverse sources may not result in consistent training across programs. A Mastery Rubric was developed that prioritizes the promotion and documentation of formal growth as well as the development of independence needed for the 13 requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities for professional practice in statistics and data science, SDS. The Mastery Rubric, MR, driven curriculum can emphasize computation, statistics, or a third discipline in which the other would be deployed or, all three can be featured. The MR SDS supports each of these program structures while promoting consistency with international, consensus based, curricular recommendations for statistics and data science, and allows 'statistics', 'data science', and 'statistics and data science' curricula to consistently educate students with a focus on increasing learners independence. The Mastery Rubric construct integrates findings from the learning sciences, cognitive and educational psychology, to support teachers and students through the learning enterprise. The MR SDS will support higher education as well as the interests of business, government, and academic work force development, bringing a consistent framework to address challenges that exist for a domain that is claimed to be both an independent discipline and part of other disciplines, including computer science, engineering, and statistics. The MR-SDS can be used for development or revision of an evaluable curriculum that will reliably support the preparation of early e.g., undergraduate degree programs, middle e.g., upskilling and training programs, and late e.g., doctoral level training practitioners.Comment: 40 pages; 2 Tables; 4 Figures. Presented at the Symposium on Data Science & Statistics (SDSS) 202

Education Unleashed: Participatory Culture, Education, and Innovation in Second Life

Part of the Volume on the Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and LearningWhile virtual worlds share common technologies and audiences with games, they possess many unique characteristics. Particularly when compared to massively multiplayer online role-playing games, virtual worlds create very different learning and teaching opportunities through markets, creation, and connections to the real world, and lack of overt game goals. This chapter aims to expose a wide audience to the breadth and depth of learning occurring within Second Life (SL). From in-world classes in the scripting language to mixed-reality conferences about the future of broadcasting, a tremendous variety of both amateurs and experts are leveraging SL as a platform for education. In one sense, this isn't new since every technology is co-opted by communities for communication, but SL is different because every aspect of it was designed to encourage this co-opting, this remixing of the virtual and the real

Art unlimited: an investigation into contemporary digital arts and the free software movement.

Computing technology has not only significantly shaped many of the contemporary artistic disciplines, it has also given birth to many new and exciting practices. Modest, low cost hardware enabled artists to manipulate real-time multimedia data and coordinate vast amounts of hardware devices, whilst high bandwidth Internet connections has allowed them to communicate and distribute their work rapidly. For this reason, art practices in the digital domain have become highly decentralized. It is therefore not surprising that the rise of free and open source software (FLOSS) has been warmly welcomed and adopted by an increasing number of practitioners. The technical advantages in free software allows them to create works of art with greater freedom and flexibility. Its open and collaborative ideology, on the other hand, further embraces the increasingly autonomous and distributed characteristics in the artistic community. This thesis aims to examine the impact of free and open source software in the context of contemporary digital arts. It will look at the current climate of both digital arts and the FLOSS movement, attempting to rationalize the implications of such a phenomena. It will also provide concrete examples of ongoing activities in FLOSS digital arts, as an evidence and documentation of its development to date. Lastly, the practical work in this research will offer a first hand insight into developing a FLOSS project within the given context

Fostering Students’ Development of Productive Representation Systems for Infinite Series

Students’ development of reasoning through algebraic symbols is a crucial component of most mathematics courses. This paper reports the journey of one second-semester calculus student, Cedric, as he attempted to reason about and create algebraic representations for arbitrary partial sums and infinite series through two exploratory teaching interviews. We report Cedric’s symbolizing activity in terms of Eckman\u27s (2023) expression framework, focusing on Cedric’s development and attribution of meaning to a personal expression template for denoting partial sums and series. Specifically, we describe how Cedric leveraged his initial meanings for partial sums to create personal expressions to reason about infinite series. We then describe Cedric\u27s construction of a general personal expression template for partial sums and series, including cognitive and physical modifications he made to his personal expression template as he symbolized various series. Our results show potentially profitable task sequences and lines of questioning that instructors might utilize to help students be more successful in constructing productive meanings for algebraic symbols

Investigation and development of a tangible technology framework for highly complex and abstract concepts

The ubiquitous integration of computer-supported learning tools within the educational domain has led educators to continuously seek effective technological platforms for teaching and learning. Overcoming the inherent limitations of traditional educational approaches, interactive and tangible computing platforms have consequently garnered increased interest in the pursuit of embedding active learning pedagogies within curricula. However, whilst Tangible User Interface (TUI) systems have been successfully developed to edutain children in various research contexts, TUI architectures have seen limited deployment towards more advanced educational pursuits. Thus, in contrast to current domain research, this study investigates the effectiveness and suitability of adopting TUI systems for enhancing the learning experience of abstract and complex computational science and technology-based concepts within higher educational institutions (HEI)s. Based on the proposal of a contextually apt TUI architecture, the research describes the design and development of eight distinct TUI frameworks embodying innovate interactive paradigms through tabletop peripherals, graphical design factors, and active tangible manipulatives. These computationally coupled design elements are evaluated through summative and formative experimental methodologies for their ability to aid in the effective teaching and learning of diverse threshold concepts experienced in computational science. In addition, through the design and adoption of a technology acceptance model for educational technology (TAM4Edu), the suitability of TUI frameworks in HEI education is empirically evaluated across a myriad of determinants for modelling students’ behavioural intention. In light of the statistically significant results obtained in both academic knowledge gain (μ = 25.8%) and student satisfaction (μ = 12.7%), the study outlines the affordances provided through TUI design for various constituents of active learning theories and modalities. Thus, based on an empirical and pedagogical analyses, a set of design guidelines is defined within this research to direct the effective development of TUI design elements for teaching and learning abstract threshold concepts in HEI adaptations

Adaptable architecture : a computational exploration into responsive design systems

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62).Based on the fact that architecture is, among other things, the crystallization of a mediation among design intentions (function), meaning and contextual constraints (performance), we as designers are obligated to produce morphologically flexible & adaptive design solutions; both during the design process and as a final outcome. In that sense this thesis is an open ended exploration of embedding rational adaptability to object design through computational tools. This thesis will speculate on the advantages of thinking architecture in terms of "adaptation" in an action-reaction fashion, evolving from the seed idea of "motion" in architecture but rather pushing and exploring the potential of digitally designed responsive buildings and the dissection of its methodological approach. Empirically, it will look into some of nature's responsive designs, arguing that buildings can be conceptualized as adaptable living organisms. It will also analyze the role of computational tools and programming languages as meaningful mediums that help designers to better understand, set-up, define and re-define design problems. It will argue that more than an automated provider of an endless number of design solution computers can work as a systematic tool, making us more conscious during the design process.by Alejandro Zulas.S.M

Effective Natural Language Interfaces for Data Visualization Tools

How many Covid cases and deaths are there in my hometown? How much money was invested into renewable energy projects across states in the last 5 years? How large was the biggest investment in solar energy projects in the previous year? These questions and others are of interest to users and can often be answered by data visualization tools (e.g., COVID-19 dashboards) provided by governmental organizations or other institutions. However, while users in organizations or private life with limited expertise with data visualization tools (hereafter referred to as end users) are also interested in these topics, they do not necessarily have knowledge of how to use these data visualization tools effectively to answer these questions. This challenge is highlighted by previous research that provided evidence suggesting that while business analysts and other experts can effectively use these data visualization tools, end users with limited expertise with data visualization tools are still impeded in their interactions. One approach to tackle this problem is natural language interfaces (NLIs) that provide end users with a more intuitive way of interacting with these data visualization tools. End users would be enabled to interact with the data visualization tool both by utilizing the graphical user interface (GUI) elements and by just typing or speaking a natural language (NL) input to the data visualization tool. While NLIs for data visualization tools have been regarded as a promising approach to improving the interaction, two design challenges still remain. First, existing NLIs for data visualization tools still target users who are familiar with the technology, such as business analysts. Consequently, the unique design required by end users that address their specific characteristics and that would enable the effective use of data visualization tools by them is not included in existing NLIs for data visualization tools. Second, developers of NLIs for data visualization tools are not able to foresee all NL inputs and tasks that end users want to perform with these NLIs for data visualization tools. Consequently, errors still occur in current NLIs for data visualization tools. End users need to be therefore enabled to continuously improve and personalize the NLI themselves by addressing these errors. However, only limited work exists that focus on enabling end users in teaching NLIs for data visualization tools how to correctly respond to new NL inputs. This thesis addresses these design challenges and provides insights into the related research questions. Furthermore, this thesis contributes prescriptive knowledge on how to design effective NLIs for data visualization tools. Specifically, this thesis provides insights into how data visualization tools can be extended through NLIs to improve their effective use by end users and how to enable end users to effectively teach NLIs how to respond to new NL inputs. Furthermore, this thesis provides high-level guidance that developers and providers of data visualization tools can utilize as a blueprint for developing data visualization tools with NLIs for end users and outlines future research opportunities that are of interest in supporting end users to effectively use data visualization tools

Computer Music and Digital Media Art Through a Web-Based Collaborative Interface

A dissertação apresentada é resultado de uma investigação em interfaces colaborativas usando tecnologias web, feita no contexto do Braga Media Arts. Como resultado é apresentado um ambiente audiovisual em rede como desenvolvimento prático, o Akson. O Akson foi inicialmente concebido como uma exploração do que poderia ser construído aproveitando a infraestrutura global da Internet, bem como a reprodução musical e visual em vários dispositivos. Este sistema foi feito pensando em seu uso em performance ao vivo e é capaz de interagir com os dispositivos do público.The dissertation presented is the result of an investigation into collaborative interfaces using web technologies, done in the context of Braga Media Arts. As a result an audiovisual environment is presented as a practical development, Akson. Akson was initially conceived of as an exploration into what could be built by leveraging global internet infrastructure as well as musical and visual playback across multiple devices. This system was done thinking about its use in live performance and is able to interact with the devices of the public