Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Researchers from the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences (ALLS) attended the 30th International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE) 2022 last November 28 to December 2, 2022 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The ICCE 2022 is a flagship conference series of the Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education (APSCE), and the theme for this year was “optimising technology for sustainable quality education in the new norm.” ICCE 2022 was the first hybrid conference organized where there were participants who attended and presented virtually, while others like most of ALLS researchers attended in-person in Impiana KLCC hotel. 

The first two days of the conference were allotted to workshops and tutorials on various themes (i.e. ICT trends, educational games, metaverse, etc.) which the participants could choose from. One of the workshops, the 10th Workshop on Technology-Enhanced STEM Education, provided an opportunity for ALLS to present the paper entitled Support Structures for Teachers Preparing for Game-based Learning by Dominique Manahan and Maria Mercedes T. Rodrigo. The paper entitled Visualization of Student Procrastination Behavior in Discussion Forum Contributions by Ezekiel Adriel Lagmay and Maria Mercedes Rodrigo was presented during the 9th ICCE Workshop on Learning Analytics and Evidence-based Education, which took place during the workshop days.

The main conference started on the third day (November 30), where the conference participants online and in-person had the opportunity to listen to respected researchers discuss their works such as Dr. Ryan Baker from the University of Pennsylvania (U.S.A.), Su Luan Wong from UPM (Malaysia), Gwo-Dong Chen from the National Central University (Taiwan), and Rebecca Ferguson from the Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University (U.K.).

During the main conference, ALLS’ research studies were given the opportunity to be presented to over 300 educators and researchers from 36 countries around the globe. The papers presented in the main conference were: An Analysis of Filipino Learners’ Game Rxperience and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Interest within Minecraft by Jonathan Casano and Maria Mercedes T. Rodrigo; Achievement, Behaviors, and STEM Interest of Frustrated and Bored Learners Using Minecraft by Maricel A. Esclamado, Maria Mercedes T. Rodrigo and Jenilyn A. Casano; For People and Planet: A Pilot Study of an Educational Mobile Game on the Sustainable Development Goals by Maria Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Louise Marie C Tulayba, Marianne U. Lim, Marlon C Moralejo, Ananea Arcega, Maria Celeste A. Marasigan-Lascano and Allyah Elizabeth Orio; and a poster on Topic-Level Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Language and Discourse Metrics Correlation in Graded Course Discussion Forums by Ezekiel Adriel Lagmay and Maria Mercedes Rodrigo.  

There were a lot of interesting research being undertaken by other educators, students and organizations that participated in the conference. The ALLS team was fortunate to have been able to meet the said participants in-person, and exchange experiences of best practices that inspire current and future work of the laboratory.

For more information about the ICCE, visit https://icce2022.apsce.net/

Dr. Didith Rodrigo and Dr. Christine Tablatin participated in the Dagstuhl Seminar 22402 Foundations for a New Perspective of Understanding Programming at the Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz Center for Informatics, Wadern, Germany last October 3-7. The purpose of the seminar is to examine how biometric technologies such as fMRI and eye tracking can be used to study novice programmers and their understanding of programming. Dr. Rodrigo presented the work of Dr. Maureen Villamor titled “An Eye Tracking Analysis of Tracing and Debugging Collaboration among Programming Pairs”, while Dr. Tablatin presented her dissertation research titled “Exploring Common Code Reading Strategies in Debugging”.

The Schloss-Dagstuhl-Leibniz Center for Informatics furthers world-class research in computer science by facilitating communication and interaction among researchers. The seminars are by-invitation only and tend to be small. All seminars and attendees are screened and vetted by the Schloss Dagstuhl Scientific Directorate. The people who attended the seminar are highly reputable in the field of programming research. Some of the notable attendees are Martha E. Crosby, Andrew Begel, Teresa Busjahn, Sarah D’Angelo, Janet Siemund, Bonita Sharif and Takatomi Kubo. The seminar provided them an opportunity to network with world leaders in computer science research.

The pilot episode of Technology-Enhanced Learning features Dr. Tanja Mitrovic, a professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Her research interests include intelligent tutoring systems, student modeling, and learning analytics.

In this episode, Dr. Didith Rodrigo invites Dr. Mitrovic to talk about her latest work on active video watching. Research shows that students learn from videos when they are completely engaged with the material. However, video-based learning tends to be a passive learning activity due to the absence of interaction with the video itself, the lack of interaction with other people, and the unavailability of feedback. To address this problem, Dr. Mitrovic together with Professor Vania Dimitrova from the University of Leeds (UK), developed AVW-Space, a platform that supports active video watching by providing note-taking, interactive visualizations, and personalized nudges.

To learn more about AVW-Space, watch the interview.

Technology-Enhanced Learning is a joint production of the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences and the Asia Pacific Society for Computers in Education.

• 1:22 What is active video watching?3:31 How does your project promote or support active video watching?
• 5:41 What are nudges and are they useful in promoting active learning?
• 11:04 AVW and softskills.
• 13:12 How do interested teachers use your Active Video Watching (AVW) platform?
• 14:14 If a teacher cannot use AVW, what are some lessons from your research that teachers can transfer to their classes?
• 16:00 Final words from Dr. Mitrovic (advice young researchers about how to develop or nurture their careers)

The ALLS YouTube channel’s Season 3 finale features Mr. Kiel Lagmay, a Learning Management System (LMS) Analysis Research Assistant of the Ateneo Laboratory for Learning Sciences.

From October to November 2020, the Philippines was struck by eight typhoons, two of which caused widespread flooding, utilities interruptions, property destruction, and loss of life. How did these severe weather conditions affect online learning participation of undergraduate and graduate students in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic?

In his talk entitled, “Quantifying the impact of Severe Weather Conditions on Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, Mr. Lagmay discusses findings on the impact of the typhoons on student online participation as well as pertinent data analysis methods relevant to this context.

Eager to learn more? Click here.

🚨 Calling STEM teachers from Grade 4 to Grade 10🚨

Join us for an online teacher training on Nurturing Interest in STEM among Filipino learners using Minecraft: Developing learning modules using What-If Hypothetical Implementations in Minecraft (WHIMC)!

📌This will be a 5-day online training composed of synchronous and asynchronous sessions where WHIMC will be explored, and you will be walked through the process of module development and designing classroom experience.

📌Teacher participants will have the opportunity to apply their learnings on module development. The expected output from the training course would be a class module aligned to the Philippine Basic Education curriculum.

📌 Teachers who will join just need their own laptop, stable internet connection, a mouse, a Zoom account and a Minecraft Java Edition account. ALLS may lend the teacher participants Minecraft Java Edition accounts, if needed.

📌Knowledge and experience with playing Minecraft is NOT required.

💻 Pre-register through https://bit.ly/ALLSteachertraining.