Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences

The 26th Conference on User Modelling, Adaptation, and Personalization (UMAP) was held last July 8-11 at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. UMAP is the premier international conference for researchers and practitioners working on systems that adapt to individual users, to groups of users, and that collect, represent, and model user information. It is the successor to the biennial User Modeling (UM) and Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web-based Systems (AH) conferences that were merged in 2009. It is sponsored by ACM SIGCHI and SIGWEB, and organized with User Modeling Inc. as the Steering Committee. The proceedings are published by ACM and will be part of the ACM Digital Library.

The following papers were presented during the conference:
1.) Identifying Students’ Persistence Profiles in Problem Solving Task — Cristina Dumdumaya, Michelle Banawan, Maria Mercedes Rodrigo [PDF]
2.) Modeling Student Persistence in a Learning-By-Teaching Environment — Cristina Dumdumaya [PDF]
3.) Predicting Successful Collaboration in a Pair ProgrammingEye Tracking Experiment — Maureen Villamor, Ma. Mercedes Rodrigo [PDF]

On June 16, 2018, students of the SOSE Camp Integrated Science Technology and Engineering played Igpaw: Loyola. Approximately 25 students, all from Philippine Science High School, went to various landmarks within the Loyola Schools to trigger in-game events. They battled the aran, spoke to the young Jose Rizal, and sought advice from Fr. Dela Costa. The application was warmly received by the students. Most of them liked how the themes of Philippine history, mythology, and the Ateneo history were incorporated in the application.

Luigi Lim, Jan Santos, and Jose Beraquit of the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences exhibited ALLS’s two augmented reality games, Igpaw: Intramuros and Igpaw: Loyola at Komura book fair on June 16, 2018 at Warehouse 8 in Makati. Komura was an opportunity to raise awareness about these games.  People who tried them out expressed excitement at the use of augmented reality for storytelling. One visitor said that her children would like it and they would play Igpaw: Intramuros when they visited Intramuros. Another expressed interest because she herself wanted to make AR games.

May 31 – June 2, 2018
Virtual Training Room, Josef Baumgartner Learning Resource Center,
University of San Carlos Talamban, Cebu

The ALLS Summer School @Visayas, hosted by the University of San Carlos, was led by Dr. Jaclyn Ocumpaugh. She had conducted a two-part event, including a public lecture on the overview of processes and major interests within the educational data mining community and a workshop to provide hands-on experience to help improve participants’ understanding of the processes discussed.

Full details here.

The Ateneo de Manila Univeristy’s launched the augmented reality game Igpaw: Loyola on 9 June 2018 at the Ramon and Rosalina Siy Innovation Lobby, Areté.  This location-based game is set in the Ateneo de Manila campus. The player assumes the role of an agent of the Department of Magic, Anomalies, Ghosts, Immortals, and Spirits (M.A.G.I.S.). Walking the Loyola Schools campus with a tablet or mobile phone, the player hunts down creatures from Filipino lore, with the help of some of the University’s legendary Jesuits. The player must find these creatures, defeat them, and keep our reality safe.

The game was developed by the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences (ALLS) through a grant from the Commission on Higher Education’s Discovery-Applied Research and Extension for Trans/Inter-disciplinary Opportunities (DARE-TO) program, the Faura Research Foundation, Inc., and the Ateneo de Manila’s University Research Council and the Loyola Schools.  The game is downloadable free of charge for Android. A version for the iOS will be available shortly.

Igpaw: Loyola is ALLS’s second augmented reality game. The first one, Igpaw: Intramuros, is set in the Walled City and is still downloadable for free for both Android and iOS. While both games are intended to be fun experiences, they also provide the players with tangential learning about Filipino history and culture.