Category: Topic Proposal


Introduction

Filed Under: Initial Stage: Thesis, MFA Thesis, Thesis Draft, Thesis Outline, Topic Proposal by Cinthya Guillen — Leave a comment
January 19, 2013

Problem

The era of technology education has moved from the traditional classroom into an online classroom. The advancement of technology has facilitated this move by offering systems to support online education. One of the major and most used systems for online education is Blackboard. This system offers different types of platforms to  “enable clients to engage more students in exciting new ways, reaching them on their terms and devices—and connecting more effectively, keeping students informed, involved, and collaborating together” (“Blackboard” 2013). The automated system assigns courses through a data transfer from the Student Information System (SIS).  Depending on the set up and user restrictions, instructors are able to upload their resources.  Blackboard provides messaging, discussion boards, web conference among other tools to promote communication (“Blackboard Learn | Creating a Virtual Campus” 2013). This method of online instruction may work for some fields, but their design process and execution it leaves too much to be desired in the context of basic information technology (IT) skill training. Participants report being unsatisfied with the learning process. This automated learning mechanism lacks of learner-focused options to provide students with customizable learning experiences that better meet their diverse needs.

 

Solution

Customizable e-learning experiences make it possible to address these various learner needs and preferences, enhance the learning process, and provide students with more avenues for self-directed exploratory learning. By extracting a few elements from games, we can create engaging applications that are not only instructional but also encourage exploration and promote self-directed learning.

To support this investigation, an interactive educational application named Web Designer 401 has been designed to help teach college students and IT professionals the new coding standards of web development.  The target audience is online ITGM, CS students or other participants in the fields with previous knowledge in the subject. Web Designer 401 provides learners with various options that facilitate a customizable and individualized learning experience using user-center design and user focus interaction.

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Updated Proposal

Filed Under: ITGM 765, MFA Thesis, Topic Proposal by Cinthya Guillen — Leave a comment
October 21, 2012

What is currently being done?

Online learning environments like Blackboard lack of an effective peer-to-peer learning system. The main reasons why peer-to-peer learning doesn’t work in an online environment is that it requires more than one person and relies heavily on learner’s surrounding context.
Online learning environments don’t offer student instant communication with classmates. The basic principle of accessing classes online generates a relationship between one and the computer. Online learning lacks of the sense of community shared knowledge; learning environments like Blackboard provide discussions and forums options in an attempt to create a sense of community and encourage communication between classmates. But is this enough? Communication methods of educational environments like Blackboard are not instant and depend entirely of student participation making it impossible to create peer-to-peer learning or facilitate learning by doing.
Other systems like Code Academy and KHANN Academy try satisfy users needs of an online peer-to-peer learning system. But even thou both systems make good attempts to create peer-to-peer learning they merely serve as a reinforcement tool. KHANN Academy offer video and practice reinforcement tools. While CodeAcademy is all about practice. But the feedback offered to the user isn’t enough; the goal of peer-to-peer learning is to promote cognitive thinking that leads to user acquiring knowledge not to just provide the system with the correct answer but understand the reasoning behind their response.
Conventional methods of peer-to-peer learning required at least three elements: tutor, tutee and instruction system. But when dealing with online education we can’t count with individuals connected at the same time. An online peer-to-peer system should be able to take the role of the other individual while still providing the same level of shared knowledge and reinforcement.
Solution
Peer-to-peer learning has proven a beneficial aspect of the learning process because it gives users the ability to learn from their peers without the pressures of a teacher-student interaction. The concept of collaborative learning or peer-to-peer learning has as its main purpose to achieve an academic goal. The term “collaborative or peer-to-peer learning” refers to an instruction method in which students work together toward a common goal in which students are responsible for one another’s learning as well as their own. The shared learning gives students an opportunity to engage in discussion, take responsibility for their own learning, and thus become critical thinkers (Totten, Sills, Digby, & Russ, 1991).
As we can from Totten’s description of peer-to-peer learning in a conventional peer-to-peer learning scenario we need students interaction to start and carry on the learning process. In an online environment, we can’t count with the students connecting at the same day and time therefore the essence of the system will remain but the concept will vary. The system, instruction method and interface will take care of all the missing roles allowing the student to participate in this learning process without having to wait for another student to join.

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Thesis Proposal

Filed Under: Initial Stage: Thesis, ITGM 755, MFA Thesis, Topic Proposal by Cinthya Guillen — Leave a comment
August 26, 2012

Thesis Proposal

The concept of collaborative learning, the grouping and pairing of students for the purpose of achieving an academic goal, has been widely researched and advocated throughout the professional literature. The term “collaborative or peer-to-peer learning” refers to an instruction method in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goal. The students are responsible for one another’s learning as well as their own. The shared learning gives students an opportunity to engage in discussion, take responsibility for their own learning, and thus become critical thinkers (Totten, Sills, Digby, & Russ, 1991).

According to Vygotsky (1978), students are capable of performing at higher intellectual levels when asked to work in collaborative situations than when asked to work individually. Group diversity in terms of knowledge and experience contributes positively to the learning process. Bruner (1985) contends that cooperative learning methods improve problem-solving strategies because the students are confronted with different interpretations of the given situation. The peer support system makes it possible for the learner to internalize both external knowledge and critical thinking skills and to convert them into tools for intellectual functioning.

The peer-to-peer learning environment provides an interoperable, pervasive, and seamless learning architecture to connect, integrate, and share three major dimensions of learning resources: learning collaborators, learning contents, and learning services (Chang, & Sheu, 2002; Cheng, et. al., 2005; Haruo, et. al., 2003). Peer-to-peer learning is characterized by providing intuitive ways for identifying right collaborators, right contents and right services in the right place at the right time based on learners surrounding context such as where and when the learners are (time and space), what the learning resources and services available for the learners, and who are the learning collaborators that match the learners’ needs (Ogata, & Yano, 2004; Zhang, Jin, & Lin, 2005; Takahata, et. al., 2004). As a result, the effectiveness and efficiency of peer-to-peer learning heavily relies on the surrounding context of learners.

On an online environment the human factor is different that in an in person interaction. In order to create efficient online peer-to-peer learning application Johnson & Johnson proposed the following six steps: Encourage Participation, Maintaining Social Grounding, Support Active, Learning Conversation, Support Promotive Interaction. Now that we got the roadmap to online peer-to-peer learning application we need to find a suitable fit for this application.

Invisible interfaces are a powerful tool for observational learning because the interface appears only when needed reducing the cognitive load, reducing the investment required to learn the application, and making it easier for the user to focus on the task at hand. In this thesis, I will create a tutorial like peer-to-peer application with an invisible interface following Mark Lepper’s instructional design principles for intrinsic motivation and Johnson & Johnson concepts for developing effective peer-to-peer applications.

 

Goals

  • Build collaborative knowing knowledge building or knowledge creation.
  • Learners need to be able to think creatively, solve problems, and make decisions as a team.

P2P Learning

  • Strijbos, Kirschner and Martens illustrate that multiple collaborative environments exist and learning, interaction, support and technology should be aligned: they shape – to a varying extent
  • Each CSCL environment requires a specific set of tools and pedagogy
  • Typical learning services for collaboration in virtual learning communities are content, access of certain learning subjects; making studying notes and annotation on learning subjects; group discussion, brainstorming for knowledge creation and sharing.
  • The Collaborative Learning Model identifies the characteristics exhibited by effective learning teams, namely participation, social grounding, performance analysis and group processing,application of active learning conversation skills, and promotive interaction. This model provides Intelligent Collaborative Learning System developers with a framework and set of recommendations for helping groups acquire effective collaborative learning skills.

Disadvantages of P2P Learning in Online Learning Environments

  • Lack of immediate feedback.
  • Collaboration tends to reduce the flexibility of distance education (Kreijns, 2004).
  • During collaboration coordination conflicts are more likely to occur in asynchronous CMC settings compared to face-to-face settings (Benbunan-Fich & Hiltz, 1999).
  • For any collaboration to develop it is essential that students feel the need to engage in sustained interaction (which implies that they respond to messages by other students in an asynchronous communication format) before we can even expect that the students engage in an effective knowledge building discourse.
  • How to make P2P Learning effective in Online Learning Environments: Encourage Participation, Maintaining Social Grounding, Support Active Learning Conversation, Support Promotive Interaction

Definition of Terms

  • Peer-to-Peer Learning or Collaborative Learning or ubiquitous Learning:
  • An instruction method in which students work in groups toward a common academic goal.
  • Critical-thinking Items:
  • Items that involve analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the concepts.
  • Drill-and-Practice Items:
  • Items that pertain to factual knowledge and comprehension of the concepts.

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Revised Proposal

Filed Under: Initial Stage: Thesis, ITGM 755, Topic Proposal by Cinthya Guillen — Leave a comment
August 16, 2012

THESIS PROPOSAL

Information technology and social networks are transforming practically all the aspects of the world we live in including interactive design. As Edwin Schlossberg, author of Interactive Excellence: Defining and Developing New Standards for the Twenty-first Century, said, “True interactivity is not about clicking on icons or downloading files, it’s about encouraging communication” (Schlossberg 1998). We live in an era of communication; thanks to the boom of social media users are able to put a spotlight on the best and most popular content. Therefore, it allows two levels of communication: between a user and a system and between different users also known as “social interaction”.

For the purpose of this thesis “social interaction” will be defined as a way to encourage communication. Social interaction through the use of Facebook API is not limited to commenting and sharing content. John Ferrera author of Playful Design stated that the best way to achieve social interaction is to appeal to its human need. As Jane Bozarth mentioned in her book Social Media Training, incorporating social media tools in the educational applications will help learners become more aware of their own learning process, more mindful of and deliberate about their own learning, and encourage them to take ownership of learning and then apply it to their jobs. Moreover, effective use of social media in e-learning training applications can provide additional support for sustaining new learning and transferring formal training back to the workplace.

Establishing Connections

Nowadays almost everybody in the world has a Facebook account. We connect with social media through a series of devices. We have social media apps on our phones, tablets and computers. Social media is more than an “in” status for teens and young adults. Statistic by InsideFacebook.com show that 26.1% of Facebook users are between the ages of 26-34, 14.9% between 35-44, 8% from 45-54 and 4.6% from 55 – 64. More than 50% of Facebook users are more mature, older individuals. But what is the need of social media? Social media helps us stay connected in any aspect of our lives. This connection generates a third-party communication method created by and for social media. We can see this being applied today through the use of social icons in sites like Mashable that allow you to like, pin or tweet an article. By clicking on any of these icons a connection is established between the site, the site visitor and the social media platform. This connection allows you to share with the world what you think is relevant, interesting or simply fun.

Through the use of Facebook API, applications can provide users with more than just sharing with the world. By calling the Facebook API, applications can allow users to visualize one another and stay connected. Facebook API provides applications ways to build social interaction and fulfill its user needs.

Benefits of “Social Interaction”

Social media networks like Facebook provide users with social plugins in order to quickly allow a connection between your site, your site’s visitor and Facebook. Facebook offers the world a variety of tools through their APIs allowing your site to tap into your site’s visitor Facebook information. If Facebook offer millions of possibilities to build social interactions, then why do most websites only use like and comments when we can use Facebook API to shape digital things? By maintaining a connection with Facebook, a site can offer its visitors a better user experience, a customized “look and feel” and site engagement.

How are others dealing with “Social Interaction”

Technology giants like Google have already implemented “social interaction”; in 2009 Google released Google Social Search “[as a way to help users] find the most relevant answers among the billions of interconnected pages on the web. But relevance isn’t just about pages—it’s also about relationships and that is why they introduced Google Social Search”(“Update to Google Social Search” 2011 17,02). But not all systems have a robust community to support their “social interaction;” that’s why social networks are a handy and accessible way to allow systems to join the “social interaction” and benefit from it.

Social Interaction in Learning

Current learning models follow a grade scale; a question is right or wrong. This types of models do not reflect the level of knowledge acquire, in fact they reflect how well the user understood the question and the accuracy of their response. Nowadays, learning has move from the classrooms into the web. And is time to offer the learner a skillset rather than a grade. Game-based tests can provide a different model for evaluating success—one in which learners are allowed to retry as many times as necessary to complete the game’s objectives. What matters is the outcome—whether a person has mastered the subject matter or acquired the skill set needed to complete objectives in the game. Assessing achievement in this way also gives players the chance to reflect on their own satisfaction with their performance, and to put in additional effort before submitting their results for a final grade. This design further capitalizes on the sense of agency that games naturally create.

 

Concept Application

Establish a connection with Facebook API

User allows permission for the site to access their Facebook information.

Site taps into Facebook JSDK and Facebook Graph API to obtain user Facebook information.

Once the information is obtained, a function will parse the contents, compare them against the site preset, and generate the results.

Concept Reasoning

By connecting with the Facebook API, a site will be able to provide a quality global user experience. The connection with the social network will allow the site to account for the human factors that affect interaction and interface design. The user information from the social network will factor in from the beginning. Facebook will offer the site information like first name, last name, gender and location, to name a few. This information then is used by the site to tailor the content presented to the user. For example: an educational site can show special offers and information triggers to people that were part of the military or are part of an organization that can offer them scholarships. The site can show a feed with the articles in the site that your friends like. Also, if the visitor has told Facebook that he likes soccer and is visiting a news site, then the sport’s section will load by default for this user.

This process differs from the concept of dynamic content because the system will not be drawing a route for the user to follow. The user information obtained from Facebook will allow the site to factor in the user interest, aptitudes and likes to enhance the visual, usability and technological qualities of an interface. The site will match up the user obtained input against six main qualities of successful user interface: usefulness, learnability, efficiency, ease of memorization, reliability, and user-friendliness to provide the user with a better user-oriented customized view.

Works cited:

Facebook Demographics Revisited. Ken Burbary. March 7, 2011.

http://www.kenburbary.com/2011/03/facebook-demographics-revisited-2011-statistics-2/

Google, “An Update to Google Social Search.” Last modified 2011 17,02. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/update-to-google-social-search.html.

Schlossberg, Edwin. Interactive Excellence: Defining and Developing New Standards for the Twenty-first Century.Ballantine Books, 1998.

Ferrera, John. Playful Design. Rosenfeld Media. May 16,2012.

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Thesis Topic Proposal Revised Draft

Filed Under: Initial Stage: Thesis, ITGM 755, Topic Proposal by Cinthya Guillen — Leave a comment
July 18, 2012

Thesis Topic Proposal Revised Draft

Information technology and social networks are transforming practically all the aspects of the world we live in including interactive design. As Edwin Schlossberg author of Interactive Excellence: Defining and Developing New Standards for the Twenty-first Century said: “True interactivity is not about clicking on icons or downloading files, it’s about encouraging communication.”(Schlossberg 1998). We live in there era of communication, thanks to the boom of social media users are able to put a spotlight on the best and most popular content. Therefore, allowing two levels of communication: between a user and a system and between different users also known as “social interaction”.

Establishing Connections

Nowadays almost everybody in the world has a Facebook account. We connect with social media through a series of devices. We have social media apps in our phone, tablets and computers. Social media is more that an “in” status for the teens and young adult. Statistic by InsideFacebook.com show that 26.1% of Facebook users are between the ages of 26-34, 14.9% between 35-44, 8% from 45-54 and 4.6% from 55 – 64. More than 50% of Facebook users are more mature, older individuals. But what is the need of social media? Social media helps us stay connected in any aspect of our lives. This connection generates a third-party communication method created by and for social media. We can see this being applied today through the use of social icons in sites like Mashable that allow you to like, pin or tweet an article. By clicking on any of these icons a connection is established between the site, the site visitor and the social media platform. This connection allows you to share with the world what you think is relevant, interesting or simply fun.

 

Benefits of “Social Interaction”

Social media networks like Facebook provide users with social plugins in order to quickly allow a connection between your site, your site’s visitor and Facebook. Facebook offers the world a variety of tools through their APIs allowing your site to tap into your site’s visitor Facebook information. If Facebook offer millions of possibilities to create better “interactions”, then why do most website only use like and comments when we can use Facebook API to shape digital things. By maintaining a connection with Facebook, a site can offer its visitors a better user experience, a customized “look and feel” and site engagement.

How are others dealing with“Social Interaction”

Technology giants like Google had already implemented “social interaction”, in 2009 Google released Google Social Search “[as a way to help users] find the most relevant answers among the billions of interconnected pages on the web. But relevance isn’t just about pages—it’s also about relationships and that is why they introduced Google Social Search”(“Update to Google Social Search” 2011 17,02). But not all systems have a robust community on their back to support their “social interaction” that’s why social networks are a handy and accessible way to allow systems to join the “social interaction” and benefit from it.

Concept Application

  1. Establish a connection with Facebook API
  2. User allows permission for the site to access their Facebook information.
  3. Site taps into Facebook JSDK and Facebook Graph API to obtain user Facebook information.
  4. Once the information is obtained, a function will parse the contents compare then against the site preset and generate the results.

    Concept Reasoning

By connecting with the Facebook API a site will be able to provide quality of a global user experience. The connection with the social network will allow the site to account for the human factors that affect interaction and interface design. The user information from the social network will be factor in from the beginning. Facebook will offer the site information like first name, last name, gender and location to name a few. This information then is used by the site to tailor the content presented to the user. For example: an educational site can show special offers and information trigger to people that were part of the military or are part of an organization that can offer then scholarship. The site can show a feed with the articles in the site that your friends like. Also, if the visitor has told Facebook that likes soccer and is visiting a news site then the sport section will load by default for this user.

This process differs from the concept of dynamic content because the system will not be drawing a route for the user to follow. The user information obtained from Facebook will allow the site to factor in the user interest, aptitudes and likes to enhance the visual, usability and technological qualities of an interface. The site will match up the user obtained input against six main qualities of successful user interface: usefulness, learnability, efficiency, ease of memorization, reliability, and user-friendliness to provided the user with a better user-oriented customized view.

Works cited:

Facebook Demographics Revisited. Ken Burbary. March 7, 2011.

http://www.kenburbary.com/2011/03/facebook-demographics-revisited-2011-statistics-2/

Google, “An Update to Google Social Search.” Last modified 2011 17,02. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/update-to-google-social-search.html.

Schlossberg, Edwin. Interactive Excellence: Defining and Developing New Standards for the Twenty-first Century.Ballantine Books, 1998.

 

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Selected Topic Proposal

Filed Under: Initial Stage: Thesis, ITGM 755, MFA Thesis, Topic Proposal by Cinthya Guillen — Leave a comment
July 9, 2012

Proposal

 

A new way of comunication: a user, a social network and a system.

Real-time interactive design

Information technology and social networks are transforming practically all the aspects of the world we live in including interactive design.  As Edwin Schlossberg author of Interactive Excellence: Defining and Developing New Standards for the Twenty-first Century said: “True interactivity is not about clicking on icons or downloading files, it’s about encouraging communication.”(Schlossberg 1998).  We live in there era of communication, thanks to the boom of social media users are able  to put a spotlight on the best and most popular content. Therefore, allowing two levels of communication: between a user and a system and between different users also known as “social interaction”.  But what about the new third-party communication method that social media has created. I propose a new communication method between a user, a social network and a system. This two-way communication method focuses on a social network as the link between a user and a system to have the system shape digital things for the user in order to  enhance visual, usability and technological qualities of the system’s interface providing the user with a better user experience.

 

Technology giants like Google had already implemented  “social interaction”, in 2009 Google  released Google Social Search “[as a way to help users] find the most relevant answers among the billions of interconnected pages on the web. But relevance isn’t just about pages—it’s also about relationships and that is why they introduced Google Social Search”(“Update to Google Social Search” 2011 17,02). But not all systems have a robust community on their back to support their “social interaction” that’s why social networks are a handy and accessible way to allow systems to join the “social interaction” and benefit from it.

 

The new communication method will allow systems to improve the quality of a global user experience

by allowing the system to perform real-time updates on the way it is perceived.  The social network will allow the system to account for the human factors that affect interaction and interface design.  The user information from the social network will be factor in from the beginning. This process differs from the concept of dynamic content because the system will not be drawing a route for the user to follow. The user information obtained from a social network will allow the system to factor in the user interest, aptitudes and likes to enhance the visual, usability and technological qualities of an interface. The system will match up the user obtained input against six main qualities of successful user interface: usefulness, learnability, efficiency, ease of memorization, reliability, and user-friendliness to provided the user with a better user-oriented customized view.

 

Works Cited:

Google, “An Update to Google Social Search.” Last modified 2011 17,02.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/update-to-google-social-search.html.

Schlossberg, Edwin. Interactive Excellence: Defining and Developing New Standards for

the Twenty-first Century.Ballantine Books, 1998.

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Thesis Pitches

Filed Under: Initial Stage: Thesis, ITGM 755, MFA Thesis, Pitches, Topic Proposal by Cinthya Guillen — Leave a comment
July 2, 2012

Pitch # 1

User Centered Approach to Web Design

We live in the age of technology, the web has become part of our every day live.  We have the need to access the web from everywhere with the use of multiple plataforms and devices. Visitors expect smooth transitions between different devices and plataforms while maintaining functionality.

The appeareance of HTML5 has been the biggest boom in web standards.  HTML5 offers new features that not only allow gracefull degradation for old browsers. But also provide a new set of never before seen tools that allow web designers and developer to deliver a richer, much better user experience.

Is all about the user

Nowadays, the user plays a crucial position in the development process. Designer and developer must put the user first in order to build from the bones up. We need to think on the crucial elements of a page, application or site in order to maintain those element through the different plataform and devices that the user could use. HTML5 even enables the ability for content to change how it is viewed, depending on the specific device you are using to view the content.

Proposal

I propose to explore grid structures and media queries in order to offer users a more efficient experience through different devices by taking advantage of the new capabilities of HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3. And by this way accommodating web design and development to the user explosion in portable/mobile devices thanks to the HTML5 rich platform. Most important, the new standards can also leverage viewing and content preferences by individuals.

 

Pitch # 2

 

Design for Social Networks

The Social Explotion

Nowadays social has gone viral. Everyone wants to be able to share information with others. As well as like articles, games or stories and being able to publish them in the big social plataforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.  But there is more to the social interchange between user and application than like or share something. Social plataform like Facebook have a robust API that allows developer and designer to create apps, tabs and any sort of custom scenarios that suit their needs.

Since its beginings, Facebook has break ground creating a social revolution.  As a result companies, causes, artist and almost everyone in the world has a Facebook presence. But  are there standards? Facebook offers very basic and sparse information about their best practices.

Proposal

I propose to explore the Facebook JSDK API and the Facebook Graph API to design a set of standards for native Facebook apps and Facebook tabs in order to offer a reliable user experience while maziming the assets that Facebook has to offer.  Thanks to its recent plataform updates, Facebook now is able to present its visitors with a timeline view of the  users activities. But what are the contrainst? Lets change timeline views from out of the box to a more artistic view. Facebook API offers users way more functionality and elements than share and like. By experimenting with the different Facebook API elements, I propose to design a set of standard for Facebook coding.

 

Pitch # 3

 New HTML Age: Using new HTML5 & CSS3 to create interactive websites.

The appearance of HTML5 has been the biggest boom in web standards. HMTL5 is a collection of features, technologies, and APIs that brings the power of the desktop and the vibrancy of multimedia experience to the web while amplifying the web’s core strengths of interactivity and connectivity. HTML5 includes the fifth revision of the HTML markup language, CSS3, and a series of JavaScript APIs. Together, these technologies enable you to create complex applications that previously could be created only for desktop platforms.

The new kid in town

HTML5 offers the next generation of web apps can run high-performance graphics, work offline, store a large amount of data on the client, perform calculations fast, and take interactivity and collaboration to the next level.

Proposal

I propose to explore HTML5 to create interactive websites by showcasing the key feature of HTML5:

  • Multimedia and Graphics: Details like lighting and shadows, reflections, and rich textures result in realistic compositions. High-performance features like 3D CSS, vector graphics (canvas and SVG), and WebGL turbocharge web apps with amazing 3D graphics and special effects. Rich audio APIs and low-latency networking of WebSockets—together with the graphical APIs and technologies—let you create a compelling and immerse experience for your users and audience.
  • User Interaction: Novel ways to interact with web apps have been introduced: drag and drop, geolocation, device orientation, and touch events.

 

View PDF Version:

cguillen_projectApart1

It includes images and full detail.

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