On the Use of Large Interactive Displays to Support Collaborative Engagement and Visual Exploratory Tasks

Large interactive displays can provide suitable workspaces for learners to conduct collaborative learning tasks with visual information in co-located settings. In this research, we explored the use of these displays to support collaborative engagement and exploratory tasks with visual representations. Our investigation looked at the effect of four factors (number of virtual workspaces within the display, number of displays, position arrangement of the collaborators, and collaborative modes of interaction) on learners’ knowledge acquisition, engagement level, and task performance. To this end, a user study was conducted with 72 participants divided into 6 groups using an interactive tool developed to support the collaborative exploration of 3D visual structures. The results of this study showed that learners with one shared workspace and one single display can achieve better user performance and engagement levels. In addition, the back-to-back position with learners sharing their view and control of the workspaces was the most favorable. It also led to improved learning outcomes and engagement levels during the collaboration process.

A Collaborative Exploration of Ako Māori and its Impact on Māori Learners in Legal Studies

<p>How can Māori culturally preferred pedagogies be implemented in a secondary classroom in a unit standard assessment context? What impact does this implementation have on the emotional engagement, intellectual reasoning and intrinsic growth of the learners? This research was undertaken by way of “interviews as chat” and journal recording, followed by a collaborative storying session which occurred around emerging themes. Formative data collection occurred from a question/suggestion box, work samples, attendance data and my journal. Lastly summative data was collected through a second round of interviews. This research concludes that a collaborative exploration of ako Māori is of significant benefit to Māori learners, although the Pākehā-centric assessment system restricts a teacher's ability to fully embrace a kaupapa Māori educational paradigm.</p>

A Collaborative Exploration of Ako Māori and its Impact on Māori Learners in Legal Studies

<p>How can Māori culturally preferred pedagogies be implemented in a secondary classroom in a unit standard assessment context? What impact does this implementation have on the emotional engagement, intellectual reasoning and intrinsic growth of the learners? This research was undertaken by way of “interviews as chat” and journal recording, followed by a collaborative storying session which occurred around emerging themes. Formative data collection occurred from a question/suggestion box, work samples, attendance data and my journal. Lastly summative data was collected through a second round of interviews. This research concludes that a collaborative exploration of ako Māori is of significant benefit to Māori learners, although the Pākehā-centric assessment system restricts a teacher's ability to fully embrace a kaupapa Māori educational paradigm.</p>

Immunized Token-Based Approach for Autonomous Deployment of Multiple Mobile Robots in Burnt Area

Collaborative exploration, sensing and communication in previously unknown environments with high network latency, such as outer space, battlefields and disaster hit areas are promising in multi-agent applications. When disasters such as large fires or natural disasters occur, previously established networks might be destroyed or incapacitated. In these cases, multiple autonomous mobile robots (AMR) or autonomous unmanned ground vehicles carrying wireless devices and/or thermal sensors can be deployed to create an end-to-end communication and sensing coverage to support rescue efforts or access the severity of damage. However, a fundamental problem is how to rapidly deploy these mobile agents in such complex and dynamic environments. The uncertainties introduced by the operational environment and wide range of scheduling problem have made solving them as a whole challenging. In this paper, we present an efficient decentralized approach for practical mobile agents deployment in unknown, burnt or disaster hit areas. Specifically, we propose an approach that combines methods from Artificial Immune System (AIS) with special token messages passing for a team of interconnected AMR to decide who, when and how to act during deployment process. A distributed scheme is adopted, where each AMR makes its movement decisions based on its local observation and a special token it receives from its neighbors. Empirical evidence of robustness and effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through simulation.