DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COLLABORATIVE SMARTWATCH APPLICATION SUPPORTING EMPLOYEES IN INDUSTRIAL WORKFLOWS

Due to new technological developments and the availability of affordable wearable devices like smartwatches, which recently hit the consumer market, employees in the corporate context can benefit from ubiquitous access to information. Especially in industrial production, there are complex and high involving workflows, which require the collaboration of multiple persons spread over different divisions. In such scenarios, fast and reliable communication is difficult and often disturbs work. Since smartwatches can be worn permanently on the body and the em-ployee has non-disruptive access to information without the use of hands, such devices offer big potential for seamless support and guidance within a service system. In this paper, we identify a representative problem composed of a quality assurance process with practical relevance and design and implement an information system based on smartwatches in a design science ap-proach. Since we infer meta-requirements for our system from the results of qualitative studies, the needs of employees are strongly considered and the developed software can be applied in a broad class of related problems. Finally, we evaluate the created meta-artifact in the identified scenario in order to obtain insights and knowledge about building information systems based on smartwatches for collaborative workflow support

Play to get Instant Feedback – Using Game-Based Apps to Overcome the Feedback Gap in Lectures and Online Teaching

The COVID-19 situation accelerated the digital transformation in educational settings worldwide. Within a short time frame of several weeks, a full digital transformation took place. In the meantime, however, the trend of this rapid digital transformation seems to be going back to face-to-face teaching, and a rollback to traditional teaching methods can be observed. In this article, we aim to show that digital teaching approaches cannot only be included in online teaching but should also be considered after returning to face-to-face teaching. In particular, we focus on improving feedback in large-scale educational settings. We observe that providing and receiving appropriate feedback on learning and teaching activities is challenging independently of the specific teaching settings (in-class or online). This is particularly problematic because feedback is essential in learning processes. To address this, we combine the concepts of learning analytics and gamification to design a lecture game app that can be used (1) to motivate students to participate in formative assessments, (2) to collect learning-related data, and (3) to analyze this data to provide instant feedback. After integrating the lecture game in different settings, we conclude that digital tools can be useful independently of the specific learning setting

Enabling the Adoption of Wearable Computers in Enterprises - Results of Analyzing Influencing Factors and Challenges in the Industrial Sector

Wearable computers like smart glasses or smartwatches enable the use of information systems in application scenarios in which information technology has rarely been used until now. The reason for this is, that users are able to interact with the devices hands-free, e.g. by using voice commands. A hands-free use is in particular relevant for enterprises in the industrial sector, as industrial workers often need to perform tasks manually, e.g. in manufacturing or maintenance. However, the technology is currently not used widely in enterprises. Thus, the aim of our research is to identify influencing factors and related challenges of using wearable computers in order to analyze how its adoption can be increased. Based on an empirical interview study within the industrial sector, we identified 11 influencing factors and 25 related challenges which affect the adoption of wearable computers

Fostering Students’ Motivation to Learn Daily on a Voluntary Basis – A Gamified Mobile Learning Approach for Formal Learning Settings

In this research study, we address the issue of fostering the students’ motivation to learn in large-scale lectures in which the student-to-lecturer ratio is high. A common challenge in large-scale lectures is that providing adequate learning support for each student on an individualized basis is often not possible (esp. due to resource constrains). In order to provide an enhanced learning support in large-scale courses by fostering the students’ (intrinsic) motivation to learn on a daily basis, we apply a problem-centered design science research approach in this study. We developed an enhanced learning concept and a mobile learning app. After two design iterations, we finished the development of the mobile learning artifact that we are currently testing in a field study in a large-scale information systems lecture. In this paper, we present the design cycles and outline our future research steps

Design and Implementation of a Usability-Framework for Smartwatches

Due to technological developments in the last decade, the class of wearable computers arose which offers innovative access to human-computer interaction. Especially smartwatches attracted attention and are established as a permanently worn computer device on many wrists nowadays. In particular, for new technologies usability is an important success factor. Although usability is a well-known domain with a long research history, unique characteristics of smartwatch applications complicate the utilization of recent usability analysis methods. Therefore, we survey recent techniques for the usability analysis, outline and respectively adapt suited approaches based on the requirements induced by the special characteristics of smartwatches. In addition, we design and implement a usability framework which facilitates the automated usability analysis for smartwatch applications in a design science research approach. Furthermore, we demonstrate the applicability of the developed framework and show the results of a usability analysis for an exemplary case study

Trust, but Verify! - An Empirical Investigation of Students’ Initial Trust in AI-Based Essay Scoring

AI is becoming increasingly important in supporting education. Nowadays, AI-based systems can score essays in high-stakes exams not only by comparing words but also by evaluating content. However, for AI-based essay scoring systems to be used, they must be trusted. Based on a scenario-based experiment with 260 students at a German university, we were able to show that their initial trust in AI-based essay scoring systems is significantly lower than in human examiners. Human control of AI-scoring can partially reduce the negative effect. The perceived system characteristics and the personality traits of the students are important factors which positively influence trustworthiness and trust, respectively. Furthermore, we could show that the more complex the essay scoring is perceived, the less trustworthy the AI-based system is classified. No influence could be seen regarding the relevance of the scoring for the students, their AI-experience and technology affinity

Bringing Light into the Dark - Improving Students’ Black-Box Testing Competencies using Game-Design Elements

As software becomes increasingly complex, there is a growing need to enhance quality assurance in software engineering. However, the lack of qualified human resources is a barrier to performing software testing activities in software companies. At the same time, software testing can be considered a tedious task and is often not done at the necessary level of detail, e.g., designing test cases. However, it is crucial for novice programmers and testers to acquire and improve their testing competencies, and to utilize testing techniques, e.g., black-box testing. Teaching software testing is often based on theoretical instructions, resulting in limited practical experience. As a result, students may not develop the necessary testing mindset, highlighting the need for more extensive software testing education. To address this issue, this paper utilizes a design science research approach to implement a gamified learning system that promotes black-box testing competencies with empirical insights from a field test

Say Hello to Your New Automated Tutor – A Structured Literature Review on Pedagogical Conversational Agents

In this paper, we present the current state of the art of using conversational agents for educational purposes. These so-called pedagogical conversational agents are a specialized type of e-learning and intelligent tutoring systems. The main difference to traditional e-learning and intelligent tutoring systems is that they interact with learners using natural language dialogs, e.g. in the form of chatbots. For the sake of our research project, we analyzed current trends in the research stream as well as research gaps. Our results show for instance that (1) there is a trend towards using mobile conversational agents in education, (2) a proper generalization of existing research results (e.g. design knowledge) is missing, and (3) there is a need for comprehensive in-depth evaluation studies and corresponding process models. Based on our results, we outline a research agenda for future research studies

What Drives a Successful Adoption of E-Learning Modules for Sustainable Management? An Empirical Investigation of Influencing Factors and Challenges

In order to have corporations contributing to the environmental and social challenges of the coming years, employees have to develop competences for sustainable management. These competences are necessary to reduce environmental impacts of production or to increase efficiency in terms of energy consumption. In this context, E-Learning modules can offer learner-centered scenarios in which employees can simulate the consequences of their decisions and thereby develop competences for sustainable management. However, such modules focusing on sustainable management have not been used widely. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of a successful adoption and the challenges facing this adoption process of E-Learning modules for sustainable management. To achieve this aim, we conducted a literature review and a qualitative interview study. Thereby, we identified eleven general and eight specific influencing factors as well as twelve related challenges that affect the adoption of E-Learning modules for sustainable management

Improve Your Modeling Skills with the Help of Your Peers – Developing and Introducing a Digital Case Study and Peer Feedback App in an Information Systems Class

The overall goal of this research study is to improve students’ modeling skills in large-scale educational settings by providing video-based case studies and introducing a formative peer feedback process to enable asynchronous, anonymous collaboration among the students. To this aim, we designed a learning concept and implemented an app that supports the provision of video-based case studies and the conduction of a double-blind peer feedback process. Our results from introducing the digital learning concept in an introductory course targeting information systems students indicate that the students’ motivation and reflection on the learning content could be fostered, and their modeling skills could be improved. Overall, we contribute with insights into how to conduct video-based case studies combined with peer feedback processes in information systems education