ALLS Papers Accepted as Journal Papers in RPTEL

Two ALLS papers were accepted as journal papers in the Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning Journal.

The first paper, entitled “Challenges to transferring western field research methods to developing world contexts”, was written by Dr. Didith Rodrigo, Jessica Sugay, Jen Agapito, and JR Reyes.

Abstract. Much of the research currently undertaken in the area of intelligent tutoring systems hails from the 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 in to 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.

Download full paper.

The second paper, entitled “An Exploratory Study of Factors Indicative of Affective States of Students using SQL-Tutor”, was written by Thea Guia, Dr. Didith Rodrigo, Michelle Dagami, Jessica Sugay, Francis Macam, and Antonja Mitrovic.

Abstract. The goal of this study was to model the affective states exhibited by students using SQL-Tutor. Based on current literature, we selected academic affective states of interest and measured their incidence among students during an SQL-Tutor session. We observed that students using SQL-Tutor most often exhibited engaged concentration, confusion and boredom; however, none of these states were correlated with student achievement on the final exam. Using D’Mello’s Likelihood metric, L, we found that boredom and frustration tended to persist. We then correlated features extracted from SQL-Tutor log files with these two states’ L values. We found that boredom was negatively correlated with the number of completed/attempted problems, and the number of constraints used. It was positively correlated with the average time needed to complete problems and the average number of attempts. Persistent boredom was negatively correlated with the number of solved problems and positively correlated with the mean time to solve problems and the average number of attempts per solved problem. Frustration was not significantly correlated with any of the factors, but persistent frustration was negatively correlated with the number of constraints used and positively correlated with the average number of attempts per solved problem.

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ALLS Paper Accepted as Short Paper at ICCE 2013

Dr. Ma. Mercedes Rodrigo and Miguel Andres submitted the paper entitled “Media usage by Filipino students – An empirical study” to the International Conference on Computers in Education. It was accepted as a short paper and was presented during the conference, held at the Inna Grand Bali Beach, Bali, Indonesia last November 18-22, 2013.

Abstract. Between the different traditional learning tools and the rapid rise of technology and ease of access to them, students are presented with a multitude of avenues for learning. With so many resources available, students have to learn to be selective. By finding out what tools and services students use the most, this research aims to determine how students avoid information overload and getting lost in cyberspace. To do this, a survey was carried out at the Ateneo de Manila University in Manila, Philippines. Using a print questionnaire, 942 students were asked 145 questions about their media usage for learning and related topics. Analysis of the data included analysis of variance and comparing mean values by creating rankings of the different media services. It was aimed to find out what services are used the most, and to what extent. The results showed that students are more inclined to use online resources such as Google, online course material and literature, though there is still great appreciation for traditional learning media such as books and printed handouts from teachers. Filipino students seem to prefer self-learning, whether through traditional or non-traditional means, rather than learning through social media.

Download full paper.

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Call for Papers – 5th Workshop on Culturally-Aware Tutoring Systems (CATS 2014)

To occur in conjunction with the 12th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (http://its2014.its-conferences.com/), June 5 or 6, 2014. Manoa, Hawaii.

Url: http://www.cats-ws.org
Contact email: cats.workshop@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SIGoCAT

PRESENTATION

The CATS2014 workshop is a follow-up to a series of successful CATS workshop editions, organized in conjunction to ITS2008, AIED2009, ITS2010, and AIED2013.

A deeper consideration of culture has now become a recognized topic in many technology domains (e.g. HCI, autonomous agents, robotics, usability) including the ITS research field, and over the years, the CATS workshop series has clearly established itself as the premier venue for presentations and discussions of research bridging culture and educational technologies.

Culture is indeed a critical consideration in research on ITS since it has a strong impact on many cognitive and affective processes, including those related to learning. 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 our community.

CATS@ITS2014 will thus be a great occasion to continue investigating the place of culture in the ITS research field. It proposes to consider culture and ITS from three perspectives:

  • designing ITS systems to teach cultural knowledge and intercultural skills;
  • enculturating ITS systems (i.e. developing both pedagogical strategies and system infrastructure mechanisms that incorporate cultural features);
  • considering cultural challenges in the ITS research cycle, and ways to address them.

In addition to offering a forum to state-of-the-art research of this domain, CATS2014 intends to engage participants in working to expand the reach of ITS research to a greater global audience, including those disadvantaged due to a lack of resources or other obstacles.

Research at varying levels of development, and discussing features of CATS or results of CATS-related studies will be considered. Position papers are also welcome as well as papers to support in-situ demonstrations of CATS (if you want to submit such a paper, please contact the workshop organizers at cats.workshop@gmail.com) .

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • ITS systems for learning about cultures,
  • ITS systems for learning intercultural skills,
  • serious games and culture,
  • digitization of cultural knowledge and cultural skills for ITS purpose,
  • collaborative learning and cultural diversity,
  • identification of cultural variations that are relevant for ITS activities and systems,
  • enculturation of adaptive mechanisms for ITS activities and systems,
  • relations between culture and Human-Computer Interaction,
  • relations between culture and cognition,
  • relations between culture and affect,
  • relations between culture and motivation,
  • relations between culture and educational features,
  • cultural influences on the ITS research production,
  • computational modeling of individual cultural traits,
  • computational modeling of past and present cultural contexts and environments,
  • computational modeling of past and present cultural groups,
  • computational modeling of dynamics between varying socio-cultural groups,
  • assessment of cultural features of ITS systems,
  • international collaborations for cultural investigations in ITS.

It is important that each submission establishes a connection with all the following three dimensions: education, technology, and culture.

IMPORTANT DATES

March 20, 2014 Paper submission (only abstract is mandatory)
April 4, 2014 Paper submission (full version mandatory)
April 20, 2014 Acceptance Notification
May 3, 2014 Camera-ready paper due
June 5 or 6, 2014 CATS2014

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

Submissions must be exclusively in Portable Document Format (.pdf).
Submissions must be in English and should be between 5 and 10 pages according to the Springer LNCS format enforced by the workshop (see http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0).
Articles will be evaluated by two or more members of the program committee. Authors of accepted papers will be invited to make an oral presentation during the workshop. At least one author for each accepted paper will have to attend the workshop.
Please consult the CATS2014 website (http://www.cats-ws.org) for further and updated details about submission, or contact the workshop organizers at cats.workshop@gmail.com

ORGANIZATION AND PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Organizers

Emmanuel G. Blanchard, ID€ Interactive Inc., Canada
Isabela Gasparini, University of Santa Catarina State, Brazil
Amy Ogan, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Ateneo de Manila University, The Philippines

Program Committee Members

Mohammed Abdelrazek, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia
Ivon Arroyo, University of Massachussetts at Amherst, USA
Ryan SjD Baker, Teachers College Columbia University, USA
Jacqueline Bourdeau, TÈlÈuniversity of QuÈbec, Canada
Ignacio Casas Raposo, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile
J˙nia Coutinho Anacleto, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Vania Dimitrova, University of Leeds, UK
Benedict DuBoulay, University of Sussex, UK
Colette Faucher, Aix-Marseille University, France
Monique Grandbastien, University of Lorraine, France
Rudiger Heimgartner, Intercultural User Interface Consulting, Germany
Tsukasa Hirashima, Hiroshima University, Japan
Seiji Isotani, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
W. Lewis Johnson, Alelo Inc., USA
Stan Karanasios, University of Leeds, UK
Cher Ping Lim, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong
Chee Kit Looi, National Institute of Education, Singapore
Phaedra Mohammed, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago
Roger Nkambou, University of QuÈbec at MontrÈal, Canada
JosÈ Palazzo, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Elaine M. Raybourn, Sandia National Laboratories, USA
Genaro Rebolledo Mendez, University of Veracruz, Mexico
Matthias Rehm, Aalborg University, Denmark
Benjamin Nye, University of Memphis, USA
Marcelo Pimenta, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Silvia Schiaffino, ISISTAN, Argentina
Riichiro Mizoguchi, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
Mei Si, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA
Bao Hui Zhang, Nanjing University, China
Imran Zualkernan, American University of Sharjah, Unified Arab Emirates
Beverly Woolf, University of Massachussetts at Amherst, USA

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Educational Data Mining Summer School

26-30 May 2014, 8:30 to 4:30
Room CTC 112

Hosted by:

The Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences
Department of Information Systems and Computer Science
Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City

In cooperation with

The Educational Data Mining Laboratory
Teachers College, Columbia University
New York, New York

Resource Speakers:

Jaclyn Ocumpaugh, Ph.D.
Teachers College, Columbia University

Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Ph.D.
Ateneo de Manila University

The Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences (ALLS) is a research office that lies at the intersection of computer science and education. The Educational Data Mining Laboratory of Teachers College, Columbia University is headed by Dr. Ryan Baker, President of the International Educational Data Mining Society and Associate Editor of the Journal of Educational Data Mining. Both laboratories make use of statistical and data mining techniques to investigate behavioral and affective phenomena that mediate learning. These include in depth examinations of learning outcomes, prediction of STEM career choice, student help-seeking, carelessness, and conscientiousness as well as patterns of student confusion, frustration, and boredom.

The goal of the ALLS Summer School is to assist participants explore the quantitative analysis of student interactions with computer-based learning environments to derive insights about how students learn best. The Summer School will begin with a poster presentation in which participants will discuss their current work. The Summer School continues with an intensive five-day workshop that will familiarize participants with the data collection and analysis techniques that ALLS uses to conduct its research. Ample time will be provided for hands-on work. Each participant will be expected to produce a data analysis. The workshop ends with poster presentation in which resource people will critique student work and recommend ways in which the work may be extended.

The Summer School is open to current or prospective graduate students who wish to learn more about the learning sciences and its associated methods. The tentative schedule of activities is as follows:

26 May 2014
Introduction of participants
Poster presentations
Introduction to the learning sciences
Video annotation
Field observation methods

27 May 2014
Low-fidelity text replays annotation
Reliability checks
Sample interaction logs
Exploratory analysis

28 May 2014
Educational data mining

29 May 2014
Educational data mining

30 May 2014
Poster preparation
Poster presentations

To apply, prospective participants must email a 2-3 PDF document (12-point Times New Roman Font, 1 inch margins on all sides, double spaced) with the following information to Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo (mrodrigo@ateneo.edu) by 31 March 2014:

Full name
Email address
Institution
Position
Highest degree earned or ongoing studies
Describe background in statistics and data mining. What statistics or data mining packages have you used? What techniques are already familiar to you?
If you are not currently enrolled in a graduate degree program, are you planning to enroll in graduate school? What is your time line? What specialization do you intend to pursue?
Why are you interested in attending the ALLS Summer School? How is it relevant to your current or future work? How do you see yourself applying what you learned? (The response to this question must be 500 to 600 words long.)

Successful applicants will be allowed to attend the Summer School free of charge. They will, however, be responsible for their own transportation, meals, and lodging. Current graduate students also have the option of officially registering for this course and taking it for credit as CS 214 User Modeling and User Profiling for Adaptive Systems.

Slots are limited, so please apply soon!

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Augmented Reality Summer School

21-25 April 2014, 8:30 to 4:30
Room CTC 112
Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences
Department of Information Systems and Computer Science
Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City

Augmented reality refers to the superimposition of digital information on the real world. The additional layer provides the user with information that enables him to accomplish real-world tasks. Augmented reality has applications in many fields including the assembly, maintenance, and repair of complex machinery; as a visualization or training aid for surgery; for games and other forms of entertainment; and for the annotation of environments with public or private information.

The Augmented Reality Summer School is an intensive five-day workshop focused on designing and creating augmented reality applications. Resource speakers from the Interactive Media Lab of Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) in Japan will familiarize participants with augmented reality development toolkits, best practices for design and development, and opportunities for the technology’s application. By the end of the workshop, the participants will produce an augmented reality application. Resource people will critique the application and provide recommendations as to how it might be extended.

The Summer School is open to current or prospective graduate students who wish to learn more about augmented reality, its applications, the development of these applications, and how AR might be instrumental in thesis or dissertation research. The tentative schedule of activities is as follows:

April 21 – Introduction to AR, applications, familiarization with the dev enviornment
April 22 – ARToolKit
April 23 – ARToolKit
April 24 – ARToolKit
April 25 – Finalization of programs, presentation and critiquing

To apply, prospective participants must email a 2-3 page PDF document (12-point Times New Roman Font, 1 inch margins on all sides, double spaced) with the following information to Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo (mrodrigo@ateneo.edu) by 31 March 2014:

Full name
Email address
Institution
Position
Highest degree earned or ongoing studies
Describe your programming skills. What computer languages do you already know? On what systems or platforms have you programmed?
If you are not currently enrolled in a graduate degree program, are you planning to enroll in graduate school? What is your time line? What specialization do you intend to pursue?
Why are you interested in attending the Augmented Reality Summer School? How is it relevant to your current or future work? How do you see yourself applying what you learned? (The response to this question must be 500 to 600 words long.)

Successful applicants will be allowed to attend the Summer School free of charge. They will, however, be responsible for their own transportation, meals, and lodging. Current graduate students also have the option of officially registering for this course and taking it for credit as CS295.O3 Multimedia Applications.

Slots are limited, so please apply soon!

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