Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences

This is the 4^th International Workshop on Culturally-Aware Tutoring Systems (CATS2013), to be held in conjunction with The International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED2013) at Memphis, USA between July 9 and 13, 2013.

CATS2013 is a follow-up to the three previously successful CATS workshop editions organized in conjunction with ITS2008, AIED2009, and ITS2010. It similarly proposes to discuss the place of culture in the AIED research field. Considering culture in AIED research is important because culture is known to have a strong impact on many cognitive and affective processes including those related to learning. Furthermore, people with different cultural backgrounds develop alternative interpretations and strategies, and do not similarly appraise their environment, and this naturally reflects in their interactions with AIED systems.

Previous CATS workshop editions generated great discussions and eventually brought new players into this specific research trend. They were also an occasion for people from related research fields (e.g. autonomous agents, HCI) to share their culture-related work with the AIED community.

CATS2013 proposes to consider interconnections between culture and AIED from three different perspectives:

• Designing AIED systems to teach cultural knowledge and intercultural skills;
• Enculturating AIED systems (i.e. developing AIED mechanisms that incorporate cultural features);
• Considering cultural biases in the AIED research production, and ways to deal with them.

Join them on their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/CATS.international.workshop

On March 9, 2013, the Ateneo’s School of Science and Engineering held its annual open house for prospective freshmen. The Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences was invited to exhibit some of its posters and to demonstrate its projects, to illustrate the types of outputs that the Computer Science majors may produce should they decide to come to the Ateneo.

Stephanie Go (typing on the computer) with her project, "Developing a Kinect-Enabled Rail Shooter Game", produced with Marlou Ramas and Daryl Saavedra

Miguel Luis Sanchez (standing) and Antonio Rafael Umali (seated) with their project "Controlling a Robotic Hand Using a Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Interface"

Carlos Mapua with his and Nicko Caluya's thesis, "Developing a Real-Time Tactics Game Using an Optimized Cost-effective Eye-tracking Device"

Richmond Cheng (seated on the right) and Mikaela Garcia (seated on the left) with their project, "Designing and Developing an Affect-Sensitive Horror Game"

Christle Grace Carabeo (L) and Erica Marla Padilla (R) with their's and Charisse Dalida's project, "Developing an Android-Based Game Tool with Monitoring Support to Track Stroke Patient Progress During Rehabilitation"

Richmond Chiu with his and Micoh Lin's thesis "Designing an Alternate Reality Game Within the Ateneo Community as Medium for Tangential Learning"

Not photographed but still part of the exhibit were Zachary Chung and his thesis, “An Intelligent Tutoring System for Japanese Language Particles with User Assessment and Feedback” and Hans Chua, JV Vitug, and Matthew Go’s thesis, “Developing a Kinect-Controlled Action-Adventure Game for the Blind”

On March 7 and 8, the Philippine Computing Society held the 13th Philippine Computing Society Congress at the Ateneo de Manila University.  Six groups from the Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences participated in the event: Two groups presented full papers, while the other four presented posters and demonstrations.

Papers

An Intelligent Tutoring System for Japanese Language Particles with User Assessment and Feedback
Zachary T. Chung, Hiroko Nagai and Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo

Developing an Android-Based Game Tool with Monitoring Support to Track Stroke Patient Progress During Rehabilitation
Christle Grace Carabeo, Charisse May Dalida and Erica Marla Padilla

Posters

Designing an Alternate Reality Game Within the Ateneo Community as Medium for Tangential Learning
Richmond Chiu and Wihl Micoh Lin

Developing a Real-Time Tactics Game Using an Optimized Cost-effective Eye-tracking Device
Nicko Caluya and Carlos Mapua

Developing a Kinect-Enabled Rail Shooter Game
Stephanie Go, Marlou Ramas and Daryl Saavedra

Controlling a Robotic Hand Using a Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Interface
Antonio Rafael Umali, Jian Paolo Ablir and Miguel Luis Sanchez

Zachary Chung

Charisse Dalida

Antonio Rafael Umali