Abstracts Track 2023

Area 1 - Information Technologies Supporting Learning
Area 2 - Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment
Area 3 - Domain Applications and Case Studies

Area 1 - Information Technologies Supporting Learning

Nr: 12
Title:

Community Citizen Inquiry: Learning Science and Learning Inquiry Methods
Authors:

Eileen Scanlon and Christothea Herodotou
Abstract: We have developed the concept of citizen science inquiry which is a combination of mass participation citizen science and learning to be a scientist through scientific inquiry (Herodotou et al, 2017). Citizen inquiry as we have developed the approach emphasises the community education aspects of participation. In this talk I will report on the development of software to support citizen science inquiry and describe the evolution of the various platforms including Activity Guides and the various instantiations of nQuire (including nQuire-it, BBC Tomorrows World nQuire) - a web platform produced for the conduct of citizen inquiries. This platform was designed to introduce members of the public to scientific inquiry of relevance to their lives and allows then to create and run online studies. We want to examine the scale of inquiries or "missions" we can support (currently more then 250,000 participants) and the ways in which participation in such missions influences engagement and appreciation of science (Scanlon et al., 2020). I will describe the intentions behind our studies and the examples of missions conducted using our plan. Our overarching aim is to determine how best to engage individuals and communities with limited or no research expertise and interest in scientific investigations with the process of designing and implementing a scientific investigation (Herodotou et al 2022). References Herodotou, Christothea; Sharples, Mike and Scanlon, Eileen eds. (2017). Citizen Inquiry: Synthesising Science and Inquiry Learning. Abingdon: Routledge. Scanlon, Eileen; Herodotou, Christothea; Sharples, Mike and McLeod, Kevin (2020). nQuire: citizens acting as scientists in massive open online learning. In: L@S '20: Proceedings of the Seventh ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale, 12-14 Aug 2020, Virtual event, USA, ACM, pp. 257–260 Herodotou, Christothea; Twiner, Alison; Scanlon, Eileen; McLeod, Kevin and Seale, Jane (2022). From participants to creators: Considerations for community-led citizen science. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2022 (Chinn, C.; Tan, E.; Chan, C. and Kali, Y. eds.), International Society of the Learning Sciences, Hiroshima, Japan, pp. 11–18.
Nr: 14
Title:

SkyNote: An AI-Enhanced Learning System for Violin
Authors:

Rafael Ramirez and Lonce Wyse
Abstract: Playing a musical instrument is a highly complex activity. It requires a complex combination of mental and sensorimotor skills, which are acquired during a long learning trajectory. Music pedagogy represents a long-standing tradition, which is mostly based on a master-apprentice model in which the student observes and imitates the teacher, the teacher provides verbal feedback on the performance of the student, and the student engages in long periods of self-study without teacher supervision. However, learning under the master-apprentice model is difficult because the time lag between the student‘s performance and the teacher‘s feedback makes the feedback to be dissociated from the online proprioceptive and auditory sensations accompanying the performance (Welch 1985) – this is especially relevant since most of the student‘s performance practice takes place long after the teacher‘s feedback. The resulting long periods of private study by the student frequently make the learning of musical instruments a rather harsh and solitary experience, resulting in high abandonment rates (Asmus, 1986; Aróstegui, 2011). In this abstract, we present the results of TELMI (www.telmi.upf.edu), an H2020 RIA European project, which aimed to address these problems by contributing to the design and implementation of new multi-modal interaction systems for music learning complementary to traditional teaching. In particular, we will describe SkyNote, a technology-enhanced music learning application based on state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, audio processing, and computer vision technologies. SkyNote provides students with tools to detect and correct their sound quality, intonation, rhythm, and gestures/posture. SkyNote assesses the quality of timbre in violin performances using machine learning techniques (Giraldo et al., 2019). After collecting audio recordings of several tone qualities and performing perceptual tests to find correlations among different timbre dimensions, we processed the audio recordings to extract acoustic features for training tone-quality models. Computational models were trained using machine learning techniques with selected audio features to provide feedback on tone quality. A real-time feedback system designed for pedagogical use was implemented in which users can train their own timbre models to assess and receive feedback on their performances. Similarly. SkyNote assesses the quality of movement/gestures in violin performances using machine learning techniques (Dalmazzo et al., 2022). After collecting videos of several correct and incorrect gestures which were labeled by an expert, we used the 2D video data as input to a deep neural network to extract 13 body points of interest (e.g. wrists, elbows, shoulders, head, hips). We then used these points of interest to train a classifier for correct and incorrect instrumental techniques. Students receive real-time feedback on their posture. Based on preliminary studies with music students, it seems that SkyNote, as a complementary tool to traditional music teaching, can contribute to more efficient music practice and instrument training.
Nr: 11
Title:

Crystal Vision: Designing and Evaluating a Virtual Reality Game for Teaching Crystallography
Authors:

Dhanush Sahasra Bejjarapu and Nishant Garg
Abstract: Recent advancements in computer graphics coupled with improvements in hardware capabilities led to the resurgence of Virtual Reality (VR). Besides gaming applications, VR has also proven to be an efficient tool for teaching concepts involving complex 3D spatial arrangements, including crystallography. Past studies demonstrated that students find learning crystallography through VR more engaging and immersive. However, not much work has been done to evaluate the influence of VR game design on user engagement and performance. In our study, a VR game named ‘Crystal Vision’ was developed to teach crystallography; 85 undergraduate students participated in 7 sessions, where each session included a lecture, pre-VR quiz, VR experience, post-VR quiz, and surveys. We found an average increase in the quiz scores before and after the VR experience by around 7%. Additionally, the average accomplishment time of the quizzes decreased by 20%. Survey results showed that most students (76%) found VR to be a better platform for spatial comprehension when compared to the 2D PowerPoint slides. In addition, comfort level while moving through the VR module was found to be directly correlated (R2 = 0.87) with the level of acceptance of VR as a supplementary teaching tool. These findings aid in decision-making for the development of more effective and engaging VR-based educational environments for complex 3D spatial concepts, such as crystallography. By considering design aspects, such as movement and navigation comfort levels, we can improve user engagement and performance and provide a positive outlook for the future of VR-based educational tools.
Nr: 13
Title:

Designing Digital Activities to Screen Locomotor Skills
Authors:

Inmaculada Arnedillo-Sánchez and Benoit Bossavit
Abstract: The development of locomotor skills enables children to move from one place to another and activates parts of the brain essential for their cognitive development. For instance, infants who can walk show a significant increase in language development compared to those who can only crawl. Thus, delays in locomotor development may impact children’s ability to learn. The assessment of locomotor development is conducted by healthcare professionals using standardised tests. Access to timely assessment to support early intervention, is hindered by the availability of professionals and associated costs. To broaden access to timely screening of locomotor skills, the MotorSense framework uses low-cost motion-based sensors to recognise the execution of locomotor skills in real-time. This paper presents the iterative design process of MotorSense activities with 98 children in the Rudimentary, Fundamental and Specialised movement phases of motor development. It examines the design decisions for scaffolding the performance of the locomotor skills: jump, hop and run; and the children’s ability to interpret these design elements given their cognitive developmental stage.

Area 2 - Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment

Nr: 2
Title:

Distance Problem-Based Learning in a Theoretical Course in Civil Engineering: Students’ Perception of Their Soft Skill Development
Authors:

Gali Naveh, Dagan Bakun-Mazor, Amit Shelef and Dorith Tavor
Abstract: Problem based learning (PBL) in academia was found to promote students’ soft skills. Despite the extensive investigation focused on this pedagogy, rigorous research on the impact of PBL in civil engineering is limited. Furthermore, until the outbreak of Covid-19, only very limited attempts and research studies were performed on PBL facilitated and conducted via information technologies. Thus, this study explored students' perceptions of the contribution of an online PBL civil engineering course to their soft skills development. The course, “Introduction to Engineering Geology”, a sophomore year course, designed to familiarize students with the basic principles of geological sciences, begins with a weekly two-hour-long Zoom lecture in each of the first two weeks of the semester. These lectures provide a general overview of the geology world, and function as the first step in supporting students' comprehensive subject knowledge. Next, the course objectives are introduced. With course staff guidance, the students participate in creating a topic list of geological phenomena. Students team up into workgroups and choose from the list a topic they are interested in learning. The students' final goal (their project) in the course is to design a product that illustrates their chosen topic, and to present it in an online exhibition. To create such a product, the students need to learn about the topic they chose and decide upon the best way to demonstrate it using a video format. To provide scaffolding, students teams meet (online) with the teaching staff for a guidance session. During the next step, each group presents its topic to other members of the class in a Zoom session, explaining how their product in the exhibition is going to be designed and what goals they want to achieve at the product presentations, which will take place later, at the online exhibition. Students receive feedback about their presentations from their classmates and the lecturer. After receiving and discussing the feedback, the students submit an abstract summarizing the theoretical background of the topic they have studied. The abstract is reviewed by the course teaching staff and returned to the students for amendments. The revised abstract is published on the course website for all students to use in learning for the final exam. The exhibition is held as a private YouTube channel, to which students upload the videos so that all the students could watch them (a sample video is accessible here) and a panel of referee composed of geology experts watched the videos, grade them and provide feedback. Using surveys, in the 2020-2021 academic year, the perception of the contribution of this course to the development of students' soft skills was explored. First, students were asked to evaluate their soft skills at the beginning and at the end of the course. At the end of the course, they were also asked to evaluate how much the course helped them to develop their soft skill. Based on 98 paired responses, results indicate students found the online PBL to improve their soft skills, and the average of their evaluation of the contribution of the course to the development of their soft skills was between 6.2 and 7.6 on an 11-point Likert scale (between 0- not at all and 10- contributed extremely). A shift in students' perception of their soft skills was also observed, with higher perception at the end of the semester than its beginning.
Nr: 5
Title:

Evaluating International Graduate Students' Development Literature Review Writing Skills Through an Online Writing Tutorial Series
Authors:

Zhi Li, Veronika Makarova and Zhengxiang Wang
Abstract: Writing up a literature review in English can be a daunting task for non-native English-speaking graduate students due to the complexities of this academic genre. To help international graduate students raise genre awareness and develop academic writing skills, a five-unit online tutorial series was designed and implemented at a large university in Canada. The tutorial focuses on the following features of the literature review genre: logical structure, academic vocabulary, syntax, as well as citation practices. Each tutorial unit includes an interactive e-book with explanations, examples, quizzes, and an individual or collaborative writing assignment. Twenty-nine non-native English-speaking graduate students participated in the tutorials and completed five writing tasks. This study reports on their developmental trajectories in writing performance in terms of cohesion, lexical features, syntactic features, and citation practices as shown in three individual writing tasks. Corpus-based analyses indicate that noticeable improvements are observed in several features (e.g., use of connectives, range and frequency of academic vocabulary) across the participants’ writing samples. Meanwhile, citation analysis shows a steady increase of both integral and non-integral citations in the participants’ writing samples, as measured with occurrence by the number of sentences, along with a more diverse use of reporting verbs and hedges in their final writing samples. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Area 3 - Domain Applications and Case Studies

Nr: 4
Title:

Perceptions of Remote Learning in the Pandemic: A Content Analysis of News Reporting
Authors:

Eileen Scanlon and Jessica Carr
Abstract: The advent of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns resulted in changes to the way that our education system was operated. This forced pivot towards remote learning resulted in a number of new experiences for students and their teachers. These were observed and commented on in the news media. In this presentation we will report on the perceptions of remote or distance education which emerge from a content analysis of a digital archive of relevant articles. In particular we will discuss ways in which the themes emerging from the content analysis reflect a misunderstanding of current approaches to technology supported remote learning. We will compare these perceptions with a case study of an experienced provider of blended learning in Higher Education, and an analysis of student attitudes to the experiences of remote learning within that setting. We will also discuss how current views of remote learning in the pandemic pivot compare with views expressed in the last century about the feasibility of remote learning in relation to difficult areas such as supporting practical work in the sciences and collaborative working. References for context Holliman, R. and Scanlon, E. (2004). Mediating science learning through information and communications technology, London, Routledge. McAndrew, P. and Scanlon, E. (2013). Open learning at a distance: lessons learned for struggling MOOCs Science, 342, pp1450-1451