Stroke Patient Rehabilitation: A Pilot Study of an Android-Based Game

Background Cerebral vascular accidents (strokes) are the primary cause of disability worldwide and the second leading cause of death both in the Philippines and internationally. In recent years, a number of computer-based applications have been developed to assist in the stroke recovery process. Aim This article discusses an Android-based tablet game, FINDEX, that aids in the rehabilitation process of stroke survivors with impaired fine motor skills. Method FINDEX was designed and developed in the Philippines. The game contains assessment and monitoring support for tracking the patient’s progress in terms of fine finger dexterity, for example, finger control, isolation and coordination, and range of motions. The baselines for data comparison and analysis were gathered through an initial test with subjects with normal hand function. Three stroke survivors then participated in a pilot study, using the game for a total of nine testing sessions. Results Objective measures showed that patients’ dexterity did in fact improve, although it is not possible to draw strong conclusions because of the small sample size. In subsequent interviews, patients indicated that they believed that the games helped in their recovery and said that they preferred playing with the game over performing the standard therapeutic activities. Conclusion The development of this game and the preliminary findings from the pilot study suggest that games may indeed be effective instruments for therapy

Exploring the Implications of Tutor Negativity Towards a Synthetic Agent in a Learning-by-Teaching Environment

We examine the implications of negativity in free-form dialogue between student tutors and a synthetic agent in APLUS, a learning-by-teaching online learning environment for Algebra. We attempt to determine whether the negativity of a student tutor\u27s discourse with the agent indicates that the student is learning more or less of the material and whether the feedback they give the synthetic agent is more or less accurate. We found a weak negative correlation between tutor negativity and learning gains and a strong negative correlation between tutor negativity and accuracy of feedback. Negativity might indeed indicate that student tutors lack mastery of the subject matter and need assistance themselves and detecting negativity during tutoring and providing appropriate assistance might enhance the effectiveness of APLUS and other intelligent tutoring systems

A Mobile Authoring Tool for AR Content Generation Using Images as Annotations

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows the superimposition of virtual objects onto the real world environment. Various fields, such as education, medicine, and architecture, have started adapting AR technology. However, developing AR applications, along with their contents, requires a specific skillset, which limits the number of AR-based applications that can be developed. Various authoring tools are available for desktop systems to ease the development of AR applications and content, yet only few attempts have been made to develop these kinds of tools for mobile systems. This paper describes a mobile application that allows users to author content for AR viewing using 2D images. Furthermore, the tool allows users to produce and to edit AR content on the spot. After the application was developed, a usability test was conducted with eight teachers in order to assess the difficulty of using the application. The user testing showed that the application developed was generally easy to use, and that further addition of features can improve the application

The Limits of Machine Learning

In this lecture, Dr. Rodrigo discusses how machine-learned models are constrained by the data on which they are based and by the human beings who control them. Speaker: Ma Mercedes T Rodrigo is a professor at the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science, the head of the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences, and the Executive Director of Arete. Her areas of specialization are educational technology, artificial intelligence in education, and educational data mining.https://archium.ateneo.edu/magisterial-lectures/1012/thumbnail.jp

Gaze collaboration patterns of successful and unsuccessful programming pairs using cross-recurrence quantification analysis

A dual eye tracking experiment was performed on pairs of novice programmers as they traced and debugged fragments of code. These programming pairs were categorized into successful and unsuccessful pairs based on their debugging scores. Cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA), an analysis using cross-recurrence plots (CRP), was used to determine whether there are significant differences in the gaze collaboration patterns between these pair categories. Results showed that successful and unsuccessful pairs can be characterized distinctively based on their CRPs and CRQA metrics. This study also attempted to interpret the CRQA metrics in relation to how the pairs collaborated in order to provide a somewhat clear picture of their relevance and meaning. The analysis results could serve as a precursor in helping us understand what makes a programming pair more successful over other pairs and what behaviors exhibited by unsuccessful pairs that should be avoided

Challenges to Transferring Western Field Research Materials and Methods to a Developing World Context

Much of the research currently undertaken in the area of intelligent tutoring systems hails from Western countries. To counteract any bias that this situation produces, to gain greater representation from the rest of the world, and to produce systems and publications that take cultural factors into account, experts recognize the need for more intercultural evaluations and collaborations. For these collaborations to be successful, though, methods and materials require modification. Field work methodologies used in developed countries have to be nuanced when transferred to developing world contexts. In specific, the paper describes five challenges that researchers must address in the transfer process: technology adoption, school support, infrastructure, student culture, and force majeure

Predicting Stag and Hare Hunting Behaviors Using Hidden Markov Model

In this paper, we used Hidden Markov Model (HMM) to describe the gaming behaviors of students and whether they will exhibit “stag” or “hare” hunting behavior in a mobile game for mathematics learning. We found that there is a 99% probability that the students will stay either as stag or hare hunters. Our results also suggest that they would choose arithmetic problems involving addition. These game behaviors are not beneficial to learning because they are only exhibiting mathematical skills they already know. The results of the study show that stag and hare hunters have unique traits that separate the one from the other

An Online Learning Approach to Community Building among Asian Journalists

This chapter describes a master\u27s program in journalism designed for professional Asian journalists which has drawn students from 13 Asian countries and is run by faculty members from five countries. The program uses blended learning methods combining synchronous, asynchronous, and classroom-based approaches. An exploratory study was conducted to describe the strategies used by the students and teachers to build a community of learners (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) and hence achieve the program\u27s learning goals. The study took into consideration cultural differences, in particular, those referring to educational experiences. Results show that the respondents tended to use the strategies of social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence that were appropriate to their respective class roles and that these strategies tended to reflect dominant cultural traits in Asia

Identifying Code Reading Strategies in Debugging using STA with a Tolerance Algorithm

The purpose of this study was to identify the common code reading strategies of the high and low performing students engaged in a debugging task. Using Scanpath Trend Analysis (STA) with a tolerance on eye tracking data, common scanpaths of high and low performing students were generated. The common scanpaths revealed differences in the code reading patterns and code reading strategies of high and low performing students. High performing students follow a bottom-up code reading strategy when debugging complex programs with logical and semantic errors. A top-down code reading strategy is employed when debugging programs with simple control structures, few lines of code, and simple error types. These results imply that high performing students use flexible debugging strategies based on the program structure. The generated common scanpaths of the low performing students, on the other hand, showed erratic code reading patterns, implying that no obvious code reading strategy was applied. The identified code reading strategies of the high performing students could be explicitly taught to low performing students to help improve their debugging performance

Promoting Equity and Assuring Teaching and Learning Quality: Magisterial Lectures in a Philippine University during the COVID-19 Pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced universities to shift to online learning, one of the challenges to faculty and administrators was to provide students with high-quality, curriculum-based learning materials that could be accessed despite students’ variable levels of Internet access. Part of the Ateneo de Manila University’s response to this challenge is the production of the Magisterial Lectures, an Open Educational Resource (OER) series of video lectures by some of the University’s most respected faculty members. The goals of this paper are to describe how the production of the lectures was guided by the principles of quality and equity; to discuss the use and reach of the lectures based on YouTube analytics and a survey of Ateneo students and teachers; and to measure the impact of the lectures on students’ learning experience. We enact quality in terms of curricular alignment and high production value. Equity was achieved by making the resource available publicly, free of charge. We found that the videos reached over 350,000 viewers in 37 countries. A survey of Ateneo students and teachers, the primary beneficiaries, shows that these materials were effective educational tools. Their effectiveness is attributable to the grounding of the production in quality and equity; the teachers’ careful integration of the recordings in their lessons; and the students’ engagement with the lectures following their own learning preferences and strategies