Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences

Last July 30, 2015, ALLS had officially launched “Igpaw”, an augmented reality game highlighting Philippine History, on Google Play.

“Igpaw,” in Filipino, translates to “to jump over an obstacle.” Following that trail of thought, the game seeks to overcome the obstacle of learning motivation. As interactive and educational materials are not as prolific for Philippine History in comparison to math, science and language, the development of the game was meant to serve as an educational supplement within a novel platform.

The game allows the players to interact with an alternate reality while in Intramuros, physically interacting with the various sites. Players then use their phones or tablets to scan historical markers, which allows them to interact with the characters of the game through a “magic window.”

The game is intended for Filipino students as well as local and foreign tourists interested in Filipino history. Igpaw is intended to be a non-formal, non-traditional means of education, therefore, it was not meant to replace classroom instruction.

Igpaw: Instramuros is a serious game that uses an adventure game format to introduce players to historical figures, places, and events. The main goal of the game is to restore the fractured time stream of Intramuros, and aid with the return of the displaced historical and fictional characters.

This game was made possible through a grant from the Philippines Commission on Higher Education entitled “Design, Development and Deployment of An Augmented Reality Game for Philippine History.”

Credits:
Producer and Project Lead: Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo (Department of Information Systems and Computer Science)
Programmers: Eric Vidal, Nicko Caluya, Jayzon Ty, Jonathan Casano (Department of Information Systems and Computer Science)
Game designers: David Diy, Marco de Santos, Icon Ortega (Department of Information Systems and Computer Science)
Technical consultants: Wilhansen Li (Department of Information Systems and Computer Science and By Implication), Philip Cheang (Fine Arts Program and By Implication)
Our artists: Carl Ferraren, Gretchen Alarkon (Ateneo de Naga), Patrick Molaer (Ateneo de Naga), Wina Occiano (Ateneo de Naga), Rabboni James Matubang. George Vincent Bien, Norman Aguilar, Mc Gerard Lituanas
Our animators: Melvin Luis Mendoza, Hannah Elyse Tee (both from the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science)
Our script writers: Edgar Samar, Christine Bellen (both from the Filipino Department)
Our editor: Joseph Salazar (Filipino Department)
Our historical consultants: Jose Ma. Edito Tirol, Brian Paul Giron (History Department)
Our videographers: Camille Marie Ruiz (Department of Information Systems and Computer Science and Philosophy Department), Ma. Alyyana Antiporda (John Gokongwei School of Management)
Our creative consultants: Rofel Brion (Interdisciplinary Studies), Jerry Respeto (Filipino Department)
Our research associate: Jessica Sugay (Department of Information Systems and Computer Science)
Our quality assurance engineers: Jenilyn Agapito (Department of Information Systems and Computer Science), Franz Angelo Apoyon, Nigel Diones, Iris Mae Escoto, Jon Tristan Jeruta, Karch Malaga, Paoline Teodosio (UP Visayas)

Download Igpaw from the Google Playstore here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.alls.igpaw
It is free of charge. The iOS version is coming soon.

The Ateneo Summer Programming Camp for Teachers (ASPC-T), made possible by a grant from Google, Inc., was a two-week, whole-day training seminar for high school teachers organized by the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science of the Ateneo de Manila University. It aims to teach high school teachers about competitive programming using the C++ programming language and to equip them with the knowledge and skills to teach their own students. The culminating activity of the camp was a programming contest. A total of 32 high school teachers were awarded their certificates of participation.

Competitive programming refers to problem solving with a computer language such as Java or C++. By the end of the course, participants were able to:

• Rea­d and analyze a word problem
• Construct a space- or time-efficient solution to the problem
• Implement the solution using a computer language
• Debug the solution
• Install and test a competitive programming environment

Each lesson was comprised of a lecture, conducted by invited professors and alumni of Ateneo de Manila University or Ateneo de Naga University. Lectures were followed by individual hands-on sessions and a discussion of solutions. Some days had extended hands-on sessions in the afternoons, while some days had another lecture session instead.

The following topics were covered during the camp:

• Introduction to C++ and Control Structures
• Arrays and Strings
• Functions and Classes
• Recursion and Built-in Libraries
• Brute Force, Backtracking, and Dynamic Programming
• Combinatorics
• Introduction to Graphs and Shortest Paths

Prizes for the contest winners were provided by the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences and the Computer Society of the Ateneo.

22 or 26 June 2015
Spanish National University for Distance Education (UNED), Madrid, Spain

The 6th International Workshop on Culturally-Aware Tutoring Systems (CATS 2015) is the next edition in the series of successful CATS workshops, organized in conjunction with ITS2008, AIED2009, ITS2010, AIED2013, and ITS2014. The CATS workshop series has become a premier venue for presentations and discussions of research bridging culture and educational technologies.

In the past few years, dedicated culturally-aware technologies, guidelines, and methods have been proposed. Promising results are now emerging along with new exciting challenges for the AIED community. CATS2015 proposes to discuss culture and AIED from five perspectives:

i. the design of acquisition-oriented systems, i.e. AIED systems to teach cultural knowledge and intercultural skills;
ii. enculturating AIED systems (i.e. developing both pedagogical strategies and system infrastructure mechanisms that incorporate cultural features);
iii. considering cultural biases in the AIED research cycle, and ways to address them;
iv. the design of adaptation-oriented systems, i.e. AIED systems that can be personalized overtly or automatically based on user backgrounds and contexts; and
v. the impact of AIED systems on student affect, behavior, or learning, that might be attributable to cultural factors.

In addition to describing the current state of the art in these domains, the workshop intends to engage participants in working to expand the reach of AIED research to a greater global audience, including those disadvantaged due to a lack of resources or other obstacles.

Download the full call for papers.