Virtual reality based behavioural learning for autistic children

Autism is a disorder in the growth and development of a brain or central nervous system that covers a large spectrum of impairment, symptoms and skills. The children who are suffering from autism face difficulties in communicating and adapting well in the community as they have trouble in understanding what others think and feel. Therefore, there is a need to design effective e-learning method to ease the communication process and to deliver required knowledge to autistic children. Past researchers have highlighted that a virtual reality based learning environment, a computer simulated environment, can facilitate the learning process among autistic children. It is also recognized that the virtual agent plays an important role in virtual worlds as it eases the communication process between the virtual environment (VE) and children with autism. This research aimed to design an effective learning environment for autistic children by developing a virtual environment prototype using face-to-face interviews and picture exchange communication system (PECS) methodology for data collection which was analysed using quantitative tests. The findings suggest that the toilet virtual environment topped the list for being the most popular learning environment among autistic children for behavioural training. The designed prototype identifies autistic children’s and their parents’ needs and also addresses limitations in an existing virtual environment

3D hologram in futuristic classroom: A review

Holography is a photographic method that records the light dispersed from a body and then produces a realistic image identified as three-dimensional Holograms. The hologram reflects and transmits using a point source of incandescent light or two-channel transmission hologram. In the world of education, 3D holograms can be integrated into mixed reality classrooms to ease the teaching and learning process. The significance of this application is to enable the 21st Century learners to experience the realistic content via 3D Holograms, thereby improving their learning curves. This paper highlights the fundamental concepts of hologram and discusses the diversified implementations of hologram as a mixed reality simulator in the futuristic classrooms. Recent technological advancements in the field of education and evidence from successful implementation of the mixed reality approach in educational research has also been debated. However, the application of Holograms in education is still confined within boundaries

Virtual agent design model for a Higher Education Institution: A Kansei approach / Chandra Reka Ramachandiran

The rapid growth of Internet users and the diversity in application technologies have motivated research scholars and educators to design intelligent tools such as virtual agents as effective learning tools. However, the success of a learning tool relies primarily on the level of acceptance of the tool by the learners and the effectiveness of the tool itself. It must be noted that the first year experience is important to new learners as failing to optimize learners’ satisfaction can lead to higher attrition rate and it is proven that effective teaching tools are essential to retain these stakeholders in a Higher Education Institution (HEI). This research addresses the gap in the evidence on effective and affective design specifications of a teaching and learning tool that deploys virtual agents. To add on, the presence of design specific stereotypes that is very inclined to certain community does not adhere to the heterogeneous community of learners in Higher Education Institution. Therefore, this research aims to design and validate a Virtual Agent Design Model (VADM) using the Kansei approach to enhance learning in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) deployed in HEI that fosters multiculturalism. This research adapts the Kansei Engineering approach which is an emerging technology used to explore and validate the learner’s satisfaction. Further, this research highlights and validates the learner’s emotional experience based on the positive Kansei value of the designed virtual agents. The outcome proposes an affective design model for virtual agent design that caters to heterogeneous community in a HEI

SOCIAL MEDIA AND CLASSROOM ENGAGEMENT: STUDENTS PERCEPTION

Over the course of the last 15 years or so, social media have shown many facetsfrom connecting people on a global-scale, to penetrating aspects of lives which otherwise might have remained private or limited to a small audience. In the realm of education, social media have also begun to infiltrate the academic world by influencing and shaping students perceptions and influencing learning engagement. With millions of students and teachers simultaneously active on social networks, it is significant to observe how the media could influence student-teacher classroom interactions as well as their online communications. Some studies have documented that teachers who disclosed information about themselves on social media were perceived as more credible by students because they were regarded as more relatable. Moreover, students stereotyping beliefs and attitudes towards teachers also come into play when formulating perceptions about teachers on social media. For instance, their communications with teachers are often formal and impersonal on social media, as teachers are viewed as authoritative figures. Consequently, students perceptions towards teachers would have a significant repercussion on their interpersonal relationships, which in turn impacts students motivation and learning engagement. Thus, this research was conducted to establish preliminary findings whether social media shape students perceptions and whether these ramifications would result in positive or negative learning engagement. Consequently, the results indicate that students are more susceptible towards teachers who are active on social media because they are perceived as being more akin to a real person who can easily be reached for immediate classroom information and instructions. Such accessibilities via social media enable learning processes to be less contrived by just the physical classroom settings