Papers by Michael Vallance
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2017
The impact of socioeconomic changes and technological advancements is prompting many educational ... more The impact of socioeconomic changes and technological advancements is prompting many educational institutions to rethink the processes of planning, designing and delivering courses in Higher Education. The effect is a re-emergence of the importance of curriculum design. The aim of this research is to investigate the efficacies and potential applications of graphically 'mapping' the interrelated educational needs, aspirations, concerns, and other vital interests of students, their families, teachers, administrators, employers, and policymakers, toward increasing the relevance, flexibility, and effectiveness of curricular in all domains of Higher Education. Benefits of increased efficiency, effectiveness, and agility for course planners and managers in all academic domains is anticipated. The paper summarizes the development of a mobile App to motivate such engagement in a collaborative curricular.
25th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, 2019
Conventional hand-tracking devices are constructed with inertial measurement units, bending senso... more Conventional hand-tracking devices are constructed with inertial measurement units, bending sensors, and optical technologies. However, these are limited by their high-cost and environmental factors. In this research, a hand-tracking device using a tangential force mechanical sensor for use in Immersive Virtual Environments is proposed.
In Proceedings of 18th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning and 43rd In... more In Proceedings of 18th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning and 43rd International Conference on Engineering Pedagogy.World Engineering Education Forum. 20-24 September 2015, Florence, Italy.
The paper is a description of the continuing research of the efficacy of a 3D virtual world simul... more The paper is a description of the continuing research of the efficacy of a 3D virtual world simulation to support more engaged academic practice and transformative learning in Higher Education. Within the context of a virtual Fukushima nuclear power plant, tasks of quantifiable complexity are designed using programmable robots to engage learners in robot-mediated interactions in both real and virtual worlds. The paper will demonstrate that the use of a 3D virtual simulation to facilitate the collaborative programming of robots provides opportunities for students to engage in professional interactions, constructionist learning, computational thinking and knowledge development. Keywords— computational thinking; knowledge; learning; constructivism; Oculus Rift; robots; Japan
The chapter presents learners’ understanding of Computational Thinking concepts through illustrat... more The chapter presents learners’ understanding of Computational Thinking concepts through illustrative flowcharts. Undergraduate university students design, build, and program LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robots to solve problems set as robotic tasks in a symbolic disaster scenario. Post-task flowcharts representing mental models of Computational Thinking are drawn as students reflect upon their problem-solving processes. The flowcharts are then compared with the semiotic representation of the programmed solutions. It was ascertained that students were able to express recognition of the Computational Thinking concepts of modularity, decomposition, and algorithmic logic but had difficulty expressing explicit recognition of generalization and abstraction. Subsequent implications for teaching and learning are then addressed at length in terms of task design and pedagogy.
Journal For Virtual Worlds Research, 2012
Many educational institutions make use of assessment schemes based on an ordered hierarchy of cog... more Many educational institutions make use of assessment schemes based on an ordered hierarchy of cognitive activity, where the judgments of educators on the learning progress of students are expressed using marks or grades. These have high face-validity because they appear to represent intuitively sound descriptions of learning development. The language found in many such assessment structures and their protocols reflects the hierarchy within a revised Bloom's Taxonomy where, in the cognitive domain, evaluation and synthesis is regarded as superior to analysis or application, which are themselves rewarded above memory or understanding. Virtual worlds provide an opportunity to explore new educational contexts for analyzing and measuring cognitive processes that support learning. The present research used the Second Life virtual world as a medium for remotely located students to communicate in the collaborative construction and programming of robots. Iterative tasks were used to expl...
Science education is the meaningful pursuit of comprehension, knowledge and understanding of scie... more Science education is the meaningful pursuit of comprehension, knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes. In Vygotskian, social-constructivist learning, personal interpretation, decision making and community cooperation fosters long-term understanding and transference of learned concepts. In short, the construction of knowledge requires learners to be actively involved in the process of learning. For effective science learning an instructor's pedagogical approach must be anchored in meaningful contexts so that students experience science. This research paper assesses and defines effective measurements for evaluating strategies for communicating science using LEGO robots and a Mindstorms™ RCX controller collaboratively constructed and programmed by students using virtual technologies while physically situated in different locations.
International Journal of Virtual and Augmented Reality, 2018
People who have a poor sense of direction are called 方向オンチ (houkou-onchi) in Japanese. What makes... more People who have a poor sense of direction are called 方向オンチ (houkou-onchi) in Japanese. What makes those people houkou-onchi? What are the differences between people who get lost and others? In an attempt to answer these questions, three applications were developed using virtual reality (VR), informed by the literature of cognitive psychology. The applications were used to collect data about spatial recognition and to determine the essence of houkou-onchi. Experiments were conducted in which subjects (n=23) first answered a questionnaire, then participated in three applications to test their spatial recognition and psychological ability, and finally undertook a paper-based task. The data and resultant analysis found that the faster the mental rotation ability a person has, the better he/she can understand directions. In addition, people who actively engage in their surroundings also have a better sense of direction. The article details the design, implementation and subsequent experi...
International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, 2017
Recently, virtual reality (VR) technologies have developed remarkably. However, some users have n... more Recently, virtual reality (VR) technologies have developed remarkably. However, some users have negative symptoms during VR experiences or post-experiences. Consequently, alleviating VR sickness is a major challenge, but an effective reduction method has not yet been discovered. The purpose of this article is to compare and evaluate VR sickness in two virtual environments (VE). Current known methods of reducing VR sickness were implemented. To measure VR sickness a validated simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ) was undertaken by the subjects (n=21). In addition, subjects wore a customized biological sensor in order to evaluate their physiological data by measuring responses in three kinds of natural states and two kinds of VR experience states. This quantitative data, as objective evaluations according to the biological responses, is analyzed and considered alongside subjective qualitative evaluations according to the SSQ. The outcomes and limitations of the reduction methods and ...
International Journal on Innovations in Online Education, 2017
This paper summarizes an educational researcher′s approach to determining the impact of active le... more This paper summarizes an educational researcher′s approach to determining the impact of active learning in disaster-themed 3D virtual worlds. The goal of the project is to advance students′ declarative, procedural, and meta-cognitive knowledge by implementing measurable robot-mediated interaction activities in 3D virtual worlds. Through the design and iterative development of unique active learning activities for authentic international collaboration, the participants are able to synergize engineering and science academic content with the learning processes. In addition, by actively participating in international 3D virtual tele-collaboration challenges, which include controlling basic robots within a simulated disaster zone, quantitative metrics of students′ programming skills and psychometric assessment of declarative, procedural, and meta-cognitive knowledge can be measured. This will enable educators to quantify the impact of active learning.
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2016
Recently, wider issues of social relationships, contexts, feelings and personal goals have been r... more Recently, wider issues of social relationships, contexts, feelings and personal goals have been recognized as impacting upon learning. Moreover, as the Higher Education paradigm appears to be shifting towards students as consumers, there is added pressure on academics to ensure students evaluate and subsequently ‘make sense’ of their educational experiences. This has been termed ‘meta-learning’ but there has been little research on meta-learning compared to the more recognized cognitive science term of metacognition. The paper describes a project in a Japanese university where meta-learning was promoted among first-year Systems Information Science students learning to program LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robots. Students were engaged in a collaborative, creative cycle termed TKF (Tsukutte つくって- Create)/Katatte かたって- Share)/Furikaeru Open image in new window - Reflect) to build and program robots to solve systematic problems. This paper will demonstrate that learners actively engaged in iteratively challenging robot-mediated interactive tasks can develop generic, declarative and epistemic competencies, with a consequential development of meta-learning.
— There is no consensus regarding a common set of metrics for robot task complexity and associate... more — There is no consensus regarding a common set of metrics for robot task complexity and associated human-robot interactions. In our research, tasks involving students in Japan and UK interacting in a 3D virtual world to collaboratively program robots to solve maze problems have resulted in quantitative data of immersion, Circuit Task Complexity and Robot Task Complexity which have subsequently been collated to create a proposed new metric for tasks involving robots, which we have termed Task Fidelity.
Computers & Education, 2008
The objective of the study was to find out how effective the ICT training received by teachers is... more The objective of the study was to find out how effective the ICT training received by teachers is, in assisting them to integrate ICT in their work to make it more interactive, interesting, and innovative. Even though there is a shortage of ICT infrastructure in most schools in Kenya, the biggest problem is that, even in the few schools with adequate infrastructure, teachers lack the necessary training to enable them to use the facilities to enhance learning. 88% of the respondents in this research indicated that they have computers in schools. Teacher ICT training is haphazardly done due to lack of policy and standards.
This book is a collection of pragmatic articles developed from over a decade teaching Chinese stu... more This book is a collection of pragmatic articles developed from over a decade teaching Chinese students. The contributors offer unique insights on how students from China can become better communicators and listeners, develop academic reading and writing skills, build independent learning strategies, and conduct teamwork to blend all language skills in meaningful ways. This book has been written for pre- and in-service English teachers teaching Chinese students at the tertiary level
Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2021
As education is remodelled to online solutions, instructors and students are required to adapt th... more As education is remodelled to online solutions, instructors and students are required to adapt their teaching and learning through different forms of monitoring, regulation and assessment. This remodelling requires conceptual and philosophical reflection relating to stakeholder roles and the relationship between learners and teaching materials within digital learning spaces. With a sample of 276 student participants, this article reports from a Japanese university which shifted all regular face-to-face lectures online at short notice during 2020. Self-regulated learning is drawn from to test a primary thesis that online self-regulated learning impacts achievement. It was hypothesized that metacognitive skills provide the foundation for online self-regulated learning but are not able to exert a direct effect on achievement as such skills must be mediated through applied behavioral action. Three criterion models indicated limited achievement effect sizes between 11.1% and 12.6%. The o...
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Papers by Michael Vallance