ALLS @ Grand Challenges in Computing 2018

Posted on February 12, 2021 by admin

The Grand Challenges in Computing (GCC), held on July 27-28, 2018 at the University of the Immaculate Conception, Texas St./Bonifacio St., Davao City, is an annual conference organized annually by the CSP-SPICE. This year, in partnership with the Computing Society of the Philippines-Special Interest Group on Information and Computing Education (CSP-SPICE), the University of the Immaculate Conception had hosted GCC. The two day conference featured special lectures from prominent researchers and educators in the information and communications technology and contributed research papers on computing and ICT.

ALLS representatives, Dr. Maria Mercedes Rodrigo, Cesar Alipiz Tecson, and Michelle Banawan, were included among the panel of reactors.

 

Posted in News & Events | Leave a comment

ALLS at the National Academy of Science and Technology 40th Annual Scientific Meeting

Posted on February 12, 2021 by admin

The theme was “Science-based Transformations for Sustainability and Resiliency” at the 40th Annual Scientific Meeting organized by the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines on July 17 – 21. The gathering seeks to help ventilate, discuss, clarify and expound science and technology issues and to use the results to formulate policies and other functions. According to the institution, the event also serves to provide analyses and science-based solutions and policy bouncy castle recommendations to the government, the private sector and society at large.

ALLS, represented by Joal Rose Lin, Jose Isidro Beraquit, Japeth Samaco, and Nicole Bugayong, was part of the Ateneo contingent.  We showed the Igpaw: Intramuros, Igpaw: Loyola, and reADMU.tx

Posted in News & Events | Leave a comment

Lessons for Higher Education from the COVID-19 Transition to Online Teaching and Learning

Posted on February 12, 2021 by admin

Background

COVID-19 forced schools and universities to deploy distance learning solutions in order to reach the approximately 1.5 billion students affected worldwide (UNESCO-A, 2002). In the Philippines, face-to-face classes were suspended following the proclamation placing the entire Luzon under enhanced community quarantine from March 15 – April 14, 2020 (Proclamation No. 929 s. 2020 by the President of the Philippines, 2020), which was later extended until April 30. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) advised higher education institutions to implement distance learning methods in an effort to provide students with academic continuity despite the suspensions. The Ateneo de Manila University were among those who shifted to distance learning to maximize the academic term. The school was halfway through the Second Semester of Academic Year 2019-2020 when class suspensions were implemented. Hence, ADMU resorted to online teaching and learning methods from March 16, 2020 to May 8, 2020.

This abrupt shift to distance or online modes is referred to as Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). ERT is the temporary shift of instruction from a face-to-face or blended mode to an alternate delivery mode  in response to the COVID-19 crisis (Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust, & Bond, 2020). It involves the use of fully remote jumping castle teaching solutions such as mobile learning, radio, Zoom-based lectures, or any other methods that are contextually feasible.This move to ERT (Milligan, 2020) was unprecedented in scale, with both teachers and students employing a trial-and-error strategy to muddle through the uncertainty (Burgess & Sievertsen, 2020). Institutions of varying types and sizes  all over the world were forced to improvise quick solutions in unprecedented circumstances (Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust, & Bond, 2020). The crisis required the academic manpower to redesign in a short period of time what was supposed to be an already planned out academic term.

This research is part of a larger multi-national, multi-institutional study to learn how universities adapted to emergency remote teaching and what effects these adaptations had on students, administrators, and faculty.

Research Objective

The main objective of this research project is to determine the ways in which administrators and faculty adapted to emergency remote teaching  to provide students with academic continuity when schools had to abruptly shift to online modes.  Specifically, it aims to answer the question: How did administrators, faculty, and students implement and cope with emergency remote teaching  when face-to-face classes were suspended as a response to the COVID-19 crisis?

Consequently, the study also aims to contribute through its results to the larger multi-national, multi-institutional study that seeks to compare and contrast strategies in which universities adapted to the crisis.

Explanation of the Interdisciplinary Component

The research is situated at the intersection of education and technology.  The research questions are concerned with technology access and usage, teaching and learning strategies, and learning outcomes.

Significance and Potential Impact In Any Of The Priority Areas

The research falls within  the education reform priority area. Findings from this study may have an impact on current transitions to online education in areas of curriculum design, teacher preparation, policy preparation, and technology use and innovation.  In time of global flux, one of the roles of universities is to provide an even keel.  As a QS (2020) report stated: Higher education should lead the way in showing a calm and measured approach to crisis management while remaining decisive and effective without minimizing or dismissing credible risks.

 

Funded by: Ateneo University Research Council (URC)

 

 

Posted in Past Research Grants | Leave a comment

Xiphias: Using A Multi-Dimensional Approach Towards Creating Meaningful-Gamification-Based Badge Mechanics

Posted on February 12, 2021 by admin

Background

One of the early definitions of Gamification in the context of Education is the addition of game-like elements and mechanics to a learning process (Deterding et. al, 2011). This early definition had been carried out by teachers through incorporating the use of points (Neve et al, 2014), badges (Ibáñez et al., 2014; Neve et al, 2014; Pirker et al., 2014) and leaderboards (Gibbons, 2013) in the conduct of their face-to-face classes. These implementations reported positive outcomes such as increased engagement (Hamari et al., 2014), small but significant increase in short-term test scores (Bakkes et al., 2012) and generally positive user experience (Garner et al., 2005). The research community coined the term PBL Gamification or PBL frameworkto refer to Gamification systems and initiatives of such nature.

Over time, criticisms for PBL gamification grew stronger as researchers noted some adverse effects of doing PBL. For instance, there are reports of attrition and disengagement among the students who see themselves at the bottom 25% of the leaderboards (Christy & Fox, 2014). There are also students who stop working when a streak of solving correct answers get broken (Butler & Ahmed, 2016). Perhaps most importantly, Nicholson showed through a series of studies that using badges in conjunction with points and leaderboards only supported extrinsic motivation i.e. taking away these rewards or proofs of skill end up also taking away the observed motivation and behaviors that facilitate learning outcomes among students (Nicholson, 2013; Nicholson 2015).

Hence, initiatives towards Meaningful Gamification were started, where, in contrast to the PBL framework, the game mechanics applied to the learning process seeks to activate internal motivation (Sailer and Homner, 2020). One such initiative is the work of Marczewski where they introduced the Gamification User-Types Hexad to first figure out what type of player the user of the Gamification system is, then design the Gamification mechanics around this information (Marczewski, 2016).

Researchers who designed their work around the User-Types Hexad framework still utilize badges. However, unlike the PBL implementation where the badges are given as a reward to notable academic milestones such as getting a perfect score in an exam or submitting the best project, the Hexad framework implementation would package the badges as an award to a game design element that a particular user type would most probably engage with (Tondello et. al, 2016). For example, a student who is labelled as an ‘Achiever user-type’ based on her answers to the User-Types Hexad Questionnaire (Tondello et. al, 2016) ends up being givenQuests (mundane tasks covered in an epic narrative e.g. solve equation 1 to unlock the sword you may use to slay the dragon in equation 10)because Quests are shown to be motivating toAchievers (). Completing a series of Quests then unlocks tiers of badges designed to show one’s proficiency for completing quests.

While the Hexad framework’s intuition to design rewards based on a player type seems to be a promising step towards Meaningful Gamification, Yu-kai Chou, the pioneer of the Octalysis Gamification Framework (Chou, 2018) offers some helpful criticisms regarding the Hexad framework’s limitations. In the context of the Quests mechanic for example, Chou makes the case that calling something a Quest instead of a task and thinking that it would automatically make the same original actions fun and engaging is a shallow way to gamify work/study. A deeper dive into the user’s motivations would be needed to ensure that the gamification design does not end up being yet another shallow Gamification experience (Chou, 2018).

This proposal is an attempt to extend the literature by responding to Yu-kai Chou’s invitation for the creation of a Gamification framework whose design elements and mechanics are more deeply rooted in user motivations. We propose a collection of badge mechanics that are conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct i.e. a combination of the Behavior Change Model of James Clear (2016), the Lost Connections model of Johann Hari (2018) and the Big Five Model (also known as the Five Factor Model) of Jordan Peterson (2007).

The main distinguishing characteristic of this implementation compared to the PBL or Hexad framework is that the proposed badge mechanics (1) primarily reward process over outcomes (Clear, 2016), (2) incorporates support for well being in face-to-face or online distance learning scenarios (Hari, 2018) and (3) treats the users/students as a collection of independent traits rather than a player-type (Peterson et. al, 2007). Details of these design decisions are described in the sections that follow.

Previous Work: History of Xiphias

The first iteration of Xiphias was implemented in 2012 where the design of the Gamification intervention follows the PBL framework. In this version of Xiphias, students in an introductory programming course were exposed to a competitive programming interface where they may earn badges as a result of solving programming problems.

Figure 1. 1st Implementation of XIphias showing the leaderboard and the badge system.

As an initial effort to understand the system’s effects, student behaviors were observed. Among the positively notable are the activation of the shy students’ ability to mingle with their programming team mates, evident display of feelings relating to triumph (banging on the desks and celebratory shourting when a correct verdict from the online judge is received) and student initiated study groups so they may “do better in the next competition”. Students were also found sharing the badges they earned through social media.

Figure 2. Screenshot of a student sharing his Xiphias badge to Facebook

The authors however note that there were instances when the students who can’t catch up with the performance of the faster students resorted to crying, tantrums/cursing and total disengagement. A phenomenon also observed in other PBL-based implementations (Toda et. al, 2017).

Hence, to address these cons, a second iteration of Xiphias was started. The intuition was, if we utilize the Gamification User-Types Hexad (Tondello, 2016), students may be labelled as belonging to different player types and we can design multiple win conditions for each type i.e. the students who are not good/comfortable at earning badges through competitive programming (1st implementation)may find other ways to ‘win the game’i.e. arrive at the desired learning outcomes.

In this iteration, students were first asked to answer the User-Types Hexad Questionnaire, then the Xiphias team designed badges whose mechanics correspond to the different user types of the respondent pool.

In figure 3 for example, we may find an ‘Event Badge’ that is awarded to students who are able to consistently attend Social Events sanctioned by the school such as acquaintance parties, university-wide competitions and outreach volunteer work among others. The Event Badge mechanic caters to the ‘Socializer’ Hexad-User Type and, as with all badges, has tiers which are unlocked the more a student would repeat a behavior encouraged by the badge. This example shows that the primary focus is shifted from securing the outcomes (Can the student program?), into first creating avenues to reward the student’s natural motivations so she does not disengage with the school environment (Is the student ok and ready to receive instruction?). Only after getting the student to a state of internal motivation should the Gamification system introduce an invitation towards securing learning outcomes– here lies the attempt to align the second implementation of Xiphias with the Meaningful Gamification paradigm.

Figure 3. 2nd Implementation of Xiphias showing the revised badges (top left) the leveling tiers (top right) and the student submission interface (bottom)

Unfortunately, because of time constraints this second iteration was only able to (1) verify if the System was usable (Lopez et. al, 2018) through two iterations of usability testing and (2) validate if the design of the badge mechanics match the user types as recommended by the Hexad framework (Lopez et. al, 2019). The Xiphias project at this point is still inconclusive as to whether the badge mechanics used as an attempt to activate internal motivation among its students eventually end up positively influencing learning outcomes (actual grades) and well being (Quality of Life self reports) when respondents are given enough time to interact with the system.

Hence, this proposal tries to address the loose ends of the two previous implementations by deepening the rationale behind the design of the badge mechanics (Peterson et. al, 2007) and finally testing for outcomes (Clear, 2018) and influence to well being (Hari, 2018).

Objectives

The main objective of the study is to design, create and test a few novel Meaningful -Gamification-based badges through a multi-dimensional approach where the badge mechanics are based on three constructs namely, (1) Clear’s Behavior Change Model of Clear, (2) Hari’s Lost Connections Model and (3) Peterson et. al’s Five Factors Model.

In light of this, the research formally seeks to answer the following research questions:

  1. How will Meaningful-Gamification badge mechanics look like if designed using a multi-dimensional approach?
  2. What indicators of engagement can be identified from the users’ interactions with the new Xiphias badge mechanics?
  3. To what extent do the new XIphias badges affect student performance?
  4. To what extent do the new Xiphias badges affect student learning experience?
  5. To what extent do the new Xiphias badges affect student wellbeing?

*users – teachers and students to be invited as respondents to the study.

Significance

The research falls under the priority area on Public Education Reform, more specifically under education and technological innovation.

The study will contribute to the ongoing work on finding strategies for implementing Meaningful Gamification in educational contexts. The results can provide value to future design efforts in creating new ways of instrumenting learning tools that are appropriate for today’s learners.

In a recent meta-analysis by Sailer and Homner on the Gamification of Learning (Sailer and Homner, 2020) the authors noted that the results of their analysis of 1686 Scopus-indexed studies on the gamification in the context of education suggest that the factors contributing to successful gamification are still somewhat unresolved, especially for cognitive learning outcomes– our results should contribute to this unresolved discussion.

 

Funded by: Ateneo University Research Council (URC)

Posted in Past Research Grants | Leave a comment

For People and Planet: Gamified Tutorials for Middle School on Sustainable Development

Posted on February 11, 2021 by admin

Background

The urgent call for everyone to do something to mitigate climate change has been made by different groups, especially in the face of imminent hazards. Climate action, however, is not only the responsibility of particular sectors but also extends to individuals. Furthermore, climate change is only one aspect of a bigger context, which is sustainability. As early as 1972, the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth (Meadows et al. 1972) already called for a “world system… that is sustainable.” Eventually, there were attempts to reconcile economic development with environmental integrity, leading to the concept of sustainable development (Purvis, Mao, & Robinson, 2019).

Getting individuals to commit to and act for sustainability is not easy because this often challenges them to sacrifice some convenience and comfort. Awareness about sustainability should start at a young age, when mindsets and habits are being developed. It is also important that learners view them within their own context because ultimately, sustainability solutions begin with the individual.

Most of the sustainability aspirations were articulated in the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) for the period 2000-2015 (UN, 2015). The MDGs became the starting point for the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) developed in 2015 “to address urgent global challenges over the next 15 years” (UN, 2016). Based on these goals, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was crafted. It was designed to be a roadmap that would involve different players and sectors. After four years of implementation, however, there are gaps in the awareness of these goals and how every sector and every individual could actually contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. The SDG Academy, affiliated with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has developed many learning modules, generally designed for the adult learner and which they share with the public. There have been some materials for younger learners using different approaches such as storytelling (Frieda Makes a Difference: The Sustainable Development Goals and How You Too Can Change the World – UN, 2019; The Sustainable Development Goals by Yak – UN), tips (170 Daily Actions to Transform Our World, UN, n.d.), board game (https://go-goals.org, UN), comics (The Planet and the 17 Goals – Margreet de Heer, http://margreetdeheer.com/eng/globalgoals.html) and stickers (SDG Pandas, UN).

However, there is a dearth of materials that show the interconnections of systems, which is inherent to the idea of sustainability, and which can be used for Philippine learners. This proposal hopes to fill in the gap for good sustainability learning materials that would connect, not just cognitively, but also emotionally, to a young Philippine audience.

Objectives and/or Research Problem

Because the 17 SDGs can be overwhelming, the Business for Sustainable Development (formerly Philippine Business for the Environment) clustered them into five thematic areas: natural capital, food systems, social services, livable communities, and ethics and governance (See Figure 1). The broad objective of this project is to create narrative, contextualized, computer-based teaching and learning materials that illustrate these five themes.  Grounding and contextualizing the SDGs in this manner will, we hope, make them more relatable and concrete.

Figure 1. 17 SDGs arranged under five clusters Business for Sustainable Development (n.d.).

The goals of the project are:

  • For learners to articulate ways to make their family/community more sustainable

  • For learners to develop habits that contribute to a more sustainable community

  • For teachers to use the materials to supplement their lessons

Explanation of the Interdisciplinary Component

The design and development of these modules requires a variety of skills:  The project will need subject matter experts who can explain the domain; education experts to help analyze the target learners and their needs; instructional designers who design the instructional messages and interactions to best appeal to the target learners; multimedia designers to produce videos, animations, and audio; game designers to help plot the modules so as to keep motivation high; and programmers to author the content and media into a cohesive whole. The project will therefore have to bring together representatives from the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (specifically the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences), the Ateneo Institute for Sustainability, and the Science and Art of Learning and Teaching (SALT) Institute.

 

Funded by: Ateneo University Research Council (URC)

 

Posted in Past Research Grants | Leave a comment