Light Bulb Moments in the Classroom: Probing Design Opportunities for Ambient LA Displays in Higher Education

[EN] Teachers in higher education are tasked with the demanding job of providing support tailored to each individual student’s need. To provide tailored support, teachers need to accurately monitor students’ activities and decide on appropriate support interventions. Learning analytics applications have the potential to aid teachers to maintain an overview of their students’ activities. However, those applications are often designed as centralized graphical displays, taking teachers’ attention away from the classroom and sometimes overburdening teachers. Therefore, we investigate whether ambient LA displays offer a solution to complement traditional LA applications, as these systems are designed as objects that integrate seamlessly into the classroom context. We conducted an exploratory study in Higher Education to investigate teachers’ needs for information and their perception of ambient LA displays in relation to their teaching practice. We formulate three key findings and a set of design opportunities that flow from these findings to inform future work of supporting the HE context with ambient LA displays.We thank P.H.A. Teuwen, Y.J. Thijssen, and N.T. van de Ven for helping in the research and preparing the visual materials. We thank all the involved teachers and students. Our thanks also go to Dr. Bakker, Prof. Eggen, and Dr. Chuang who have supported this work.An, P.; Van Leeuwen, A. (2021). Light Bulb Moments in the Classroom: Probing Design Opportunities for Ambient LA Displays in Higher Education. En 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 215-223. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd21.2021.12807OCS21522

"When He Feels Cold, He Goes to the Seahorse"-Blending Generative AI into Multimaterial Storymaking for Family Expressive Arts Therapy

Storymaking, as an integrative form of expressive arts therapy, is an effective means to foster family communication. Yet, the integration of generative AI as expressive materials in therapeutic storymaking remains underexplored. And there is a lack of HCI implications on how to support families and therapists in this context. Addressing this, our study involved five weeks of storymaking sessions with seven families guided by a professional therapist. In these sessions, the families used both traditional art-making materials and image-based generative AI to create and evolve their family stories. Via the rich empirical data and commentaries from four expert therapists, we contextualize how families creatively melded AI and traditional expressive materials to externalize their ideas and feelings. Through the lens of Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC), we characterize the therapeutic implications of AI as expressive materials. Desirable interaction qualities to support children, parents, and therapists are distilled for future HCI research.Comment: to appear at ACM CHI '2

Structural failure of layered thermoelectric In₄Se_(3-δ) semiconductors is dominated by shear slippage

In₄Se_(3-δ) semiconductors exhibit high zT as an n-type TE material, making them promising materials for thermoelectric (TE) applications. However, their commercial applications have been limited by the degradation of their mechanical properties upon cyclic thermal loading, making it important to understand their stress response under external loadings. Thus we applied molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using a density functional theory (DFT) derived force field to investigate the stress response and failure mechanism of In₄Se_(3-δ) under shear loading as a function of strain rates and temperatures. We considered the most plausible slip system (001)/ based on the calculations. We find that shear slippage among In/Se layered structures dominates the shear failure of In₄Se_(3-δ). Particularly, Se vacancies promote disorder of the In atoms in the shear band, which accelerates the shear failure. With increasing temperature, the critical failure strength of In4Se3 and the fracture strain of In₄Se₃ decrease gradually. In contrast, the fracture strain of In₄Se_(2.75) is improved although the ultimate strength decreases as temperature increases, suggesting that the Se vacancies enhance the ductility at high temperature. In addition, the ultimate strength and the fracture strain for In₄Se_(2.75) increase slightly with the strain rate. This strain rate effect is more significant at low temperature for In₄Se_(2.75) because of the Se vacancies. These findings provide new perspectives of intrinsic failure of In₄Se_(3-δ) and theory basis for developing robust In₄Se_(3-δ) TE devices

NaMemo: Enhancing Lecturers' Interpersonal Competence of Remembering Students' Names

Addressing students by their names helps a teacher to start building rapport with students and thus facilitates their classroom participation. However, this basic yet effective skill has become rather challenging for university lecturers, who have to handle large-sized (sometimes exceeding 100) groups in their daily teaching. To enhance lecturers' competence in delivering interpersonal interaction, we developed NaMemo, a real-time name-indicating system based on a dedicated face-recognition pipeline. This paper presents the system design, the pilot feasibility test, and our plan for the following study, which aims to evaluate NaMemo's impacts on learning and teaching, as well as to probe design implications including privacy considerations.Comment: DIS '20 Companio

Puffy: A Step-by-step Guide to Craft Bio-inspired Artifacts with Interactive Materiality

A rising number of HCI scholars have begun to use materiality as a starting point for exploring the design's potential and restrictions. Despite the theoretical flourishing, the practical design process and instruction for beginner practitioners are still in scarcity. We leveraged the pictorial format to illustrate our crafting process of Puffy, a bio-inspired artifact that features a cilia-mimetic surface expressing anthropomorphic qualities through shape changes. Our approach consists of three key activities (i.e., analysis, synthesis, and detailing) interlaced recursively throughout the journey. Using this approach, we analyzed different input sources, synthesized peers' critiques and self-reflection, and detailed the designed experience with iterative prototypes. Building on a reflective analysis of our approach, we concluded with a set of practical implications and design recommendations to inform other practitioners to initiate their investigations in interactive materiality.Comment: 17th International Conference On Tangible Embedded And Embodied Interactio