Towards the Design of a Natural User Interface for Performing and Learning Musical Gestures

AbstractA large variety of musical instruments, either acoustical or digital, are based on a keyboard scheme. Keyboard instruments can produce sounds through acoustic means but they are increasingly used to control digital sound synthesis processes with nowadays music. Interestingly, with all the different possibilities of sonic outcomes, the input remains a musical gesture. In this paper we present the conceptualization of a Natural User Interface (NUI), named the Intangible Musical Instrument (IMI), aiming to support both learning of expert musical gestures and performing music as a unified user experience. The IMI is designed to recognize metaphors of pianistic gestures, focusing on subtle uses of fingers and upper-body. Based on a typology of musical gestures, a gesture vocabulary has been created, hierarchized from basic to complex. These piano-like gestures are finally recognized and transformed into sounds

Music gestural skills development engaging teachers, learners and expert performers

International audienceThis article presents a platform for learning theoretical knowledge and practical motor skills of musical gestures by combining functionalities of Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Serious Gaming (SG). The teacher designs his/her educational scenario that can be articulated by both theoretical and practical activities. The learner accesses online multimedia courses by using his/her LMS client which can be a computer, tablet orsmartphone and the serious game by using his/her computer and the motion capture sensors. During practicing, his/her gestures are compared in real-time with the expert gestures and s/he is evaluated both in terms of correct fingerings and kinematics. Finally, the platform offers a single profile for the learner for theoretical and practical activities

A web-based learning environment exploiting 3D virtual worlds

There is no doubt that during the last few years the learning process has been greatly affected by the rapidly evolving era of information and technological development. The continuously increasing pace in computer power advancement in conjunction with new Internet technologies have led to the extensive usage of multimedia and 3D graphics, resulting to new forms of visualization, distribution and presentation of training material. The objectives of this work are to present an integrated view of interactive 3D virtual worlds used in the implementation of learning activities through the web and to analyze and design an e-learning system based on the exploitation of multimedia technologies, the Internet and 3D virtual worlds. The proposed system provides learners with an interactive 3D virtual learning environment thus enabling them to participate virtually in studying and performing simulated lab experiments for a course in Computer Graphics. Some of the aforementioned system’s highlights include the increased management and security capabilities of the virtual environment along with additional features offering simulation of various laboratory exercises

VRLAB: an interactive 3D learning environment

The recent information and networks explosion has greatly affected the fields of education and distance learning, leading to the development of educational material that provides support for interactive communication between trainers and learners. Web technology in particular stands as a medium with great educational value, mainly due to its ability to grant access to training material without any spatial or temporal constraints, thus motivating and attracting new users to experience this novel form of learning. As the Internet constantly evolves, new technologies tend to influence the domains of e-learning. The combination of the Web, multimedia and 3D graphics has resulted to the implementation of new training tools bearing advanced navigational and interactive functionalities along with appealing user interfaces that encourage learners to actively participate in the learning process. Moreover, 3D Virtual Worlds have surfaced making available new forms of visualization, distribution and presentation of training material. The objectives of the present paper are to discuss the educational value of 3D virtual worlds and the emerging challenges regarding the analysis, design and development of these innovative user interfaces. VRLAB is an e-learning system created solely to address the aforementioned issues. It offers a three dimensional multimedia user interface with extended interactivity, permitting learners to participate virtually in studying and performing simulated lab experiments for a course in Computer Graphics

Supporting synchronous communication services and delivering SCORM lessons in the Greek language through open source LMSs

Nowadays, open source e-learning applications are complete and reliable solutions that are in no case inferior to the commercial ones. Though gratis, they offer unique advantages such as support of various operating systems and the chance to experiment with their source code. Additionally, there is a vast community of developers willing to aid users in installing or using these systems. Besides the fact that they are of excellent quality, open source Learning Management Systems (LMSs) such as Dokeos, Moodle, ILIAS and ATutor can be easily adapted to new demands and challenges thus gaining popularity. This paper initially presents an authoring methodology of SCORM lessons in the Greek language which can be applicable to any of the aforementioned systems. Moreover, it focuses on Dokeos and proposes a new extension of this system in order to meet synchronous communication requirements such as videoconferencing and streaming video

Customizing Open Source LMSs in order to Meet Localization and Synchronous Communication Requirements

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) are applications that facilitate the management, observation and delivery of educational material through the Internet. Nowadays several of these systems are of such high quality that despite their free distribution and open source nature they are gaining popularity among distinct academic institutions. This paper addresses the issue of installing and adopting the open source LMS Dokeos to deliver SCORM lessons in the Greek language. Additionally, the authors demonstrate the extension of the system with direct support for new services such as videoconferencing and streaming video. The proposed methodology is applicable to any LMSs and therefore can function as the basis for coping with similar localization problems in discrete e-learning platforms

Customising open source LMSs in order to meet localization and synchronous communication requirements

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) are applications that facilitate the management, observation and delivery of educational material through the Internet. Nowadays several of these systems are of such high quality that despite their free distribution and open source nature they are gaining popularity among distinct academic institutions. This paper addresses the issue of installing and adopting the open source LMS Dokeos to deliver SCORM lessons in the Greek language. Additionally, the authors demonstrate the extension of the system with direct support for new services such as videoconferencing and streaming video. The proposed methodology is applicable to any LMSs and therefore can function as the basis for coping with similar localization problems in discrete e-learning platforms

Establishing effective learning management systems through simplicity

Designing a Learning Management System (LMS) is a combination of pedagogical design, usability and information architecture. E-Learning systems should have intuitive interfaces and clear information design, allowing learners to concentrate on learning and course developers on learning strategies, thus making e-learning more efficient. Hence, effective LMSs should include sophisticated and advanced functions, yet their interface should hide their complexity. In this paper we present the key features of an experimental LMS which follows recent usability techniques in order to accomplish simplicity. The usage of computer file management as a metaphor for management and navigation between Learning Objects (LOs) along with a clear and unambiguous user interface allow users to focus on their learning activities without excessive hassle

Identifying potentially flawed items in the context of small sample IRT analysis

Although Classical Test Theory has been used by the measurement community for almost a century, Item Response Theory has become commonplace for educational assessment development, evaluation and refinement in recent decades. Its potential for improving test items as well as eliminating the ambiguous or misleading ones is substantial. However, in order to estimate its parameters and produce reliable results, IRT requires a large sample size of examinees, thus limiting its use to large-scale testing programs. Nevertheless, the accuracy of parameter estimates becomes of lesser importance when trying to detect items whose parameters exceed a threshold value. Under this consideration, the present study investigates the application of IRT-based assessment evaluation to small sample sizes through a series of simulations. Additionally, it introduces a set of quality indices, which exhibit the success rate of identifying potentially flawed items in a way that test developers without a significant statistical background can easily comprehend and utilize

Extending LMS to Support IRT-Based Assessment Test Calibration

Developing unambiguous and challenging assessment material for measuring educational attainment is a time-consuming, labor-intensive process. As a result Computer Aided Assessment (CAA) tools are becoming widely adopted in academic environments in an effort to improve the assessment quality and deliver reliable results of examinee performance. This paper introduces a methodological and architectural framework which embeds a CAA tool in a Learning Management System (LMS) so as to assist test developers in refining items to constitute assessment tests. An Item Response Theory (IRT) based analysis is applied to a dynamic assessment profile provided by the LMS. Test developers define a set of validity rules for the statistical indices given by the IRT analysis. By applying those rules, the LMS can detect items with various discrepancies which are then flagged for review of their content. Repeatedly executing the aforementioned procedure can improve the overall efficiency of the testing process