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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ALLS Welcomed a Summer Intern from Philippine Science High School, Visayas

ALLS was pleased to host a summer intern from Philippine Science High School, Eastern Visayas: Mary Josephine Co, or Marjo for short. Marjo is an incoming high school senior. She stayed with ALLS from April to May, 2013.

During her internship, Marjo worked with the Q Sensor in surveying whether or not electrodermal activity and skin temperature could predict a students’ engagement or interest.

About her first days in the lab, Marjo said, “Most of the days, I was just in the lab, familiarizing with the Q Sensor, what it does, what it can be used for, etc.” Using the Q Sensor, she conducted a survey on 75 psychology students.

Marjo explains, “So the experiment went like this: there were 75 psychology students invited to participate. There were videos shown to them, scenes from different movies of different genres (action, horror, comedy, romance, cartoon, drama, sci-fi). After seeing each video, they were asked to rate the video based on their level of engagement or how interesting/exciting they found it. While watching the videos, they were wearing the Q Sensor to keep track of their EDA and temperature. What we were trying to find out is if their ratings corresponded with their recorded EDA and temperature.”

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DISCS recognizes ALLS group for Outstanding Thesis (Innovation Category)

During the Seniors’ Sendoff last March 20, DISCS gave the outstanding thesis
award (innovation category) to the group of Antonio Rafael Umali, Jian Paolo
Ablir, and Miguel Luis Sanchez. The group’s thesis was entitled Controlling
a Robotic Hand Using a Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Interface. DISCS
selected the outstanding theses awardees based on their standings during the
SOSE Awards for Research and Innovation. Of all DISCS entries, the group
had the highest standing.

Miguel Luis Sanchez, Jian Paolo Ablir, Antonio Rafael Umali, Jessica O. Sugay, Jose Alfredo de Vera

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