Keynote by Juan Manuel Dodero at teaconference.org

1. contributions of computational thinking and creative
computing to the design of e-assessments
keynote
Juan Manuel Dodero
juanma.dodero@uca.es
Software Process Improvement RG
Department of Informatics & Engineering
University of Cádiz
Palau Macaya, Barcelona
5-6 October 2017
20th International Technology Enhanced Assessment Conference
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya &
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology

2. where do I come from?
◦ research areas
▫ territory: criminalistics, tourism, blue growth,
cross-border relationships, natural & cultural heritage
▫ communication: digital & neuro-marketing,
mixed reality & videogames
▫ wellbeing: e-health, food & quality of life
◦ scientific & technological support
▫ statistics & data science
▫ internet, web & data engineering

3. agenda
● what is creative computing?
● creative computing in the wild
● the challenge of computational thinking
● how does it affect teaching?
● goals and hypothesis
● our computational thinking approach
● how does it work for e-assessment?
● experiences
● some results
● conclusion

4. what is creative computing about?

5. CC is about… computing
creating computational artifacts
supports young people’s
development as computational
thinkers in all aspects of their
lives, across disciplines and
contexts
CC is about empowerment
many young people
with access to computers
participate as consumers, rather
than designers or creators
CC is about creativity
CS and computing-related fields
have long been introduced to
young people disconnected from
their interests– emphasizing
technical detail over creative
potential
what is creative computing about?
(Brennan, Balch & Chung – Harvard Grad School of Education)

6. computational thinking
> Seymour Papert (1981)
“programming the computer to
[…] establish an intimate contact
with some of the
deepest ideas
from science,
from maths, and
from the art of
intellectual
model building.”
> Jeannette M. Wing (2006)
> STEM (...2008...)
the antecedents
computing in education
> Mark Guzdial (Georgia Tech)
“There is no reliable research
showing that computing makes
one more creative or more able
to problem-solve.”
“For the same reasons people
should understand biology,
chemistry or physics, it makes a
lot of sense to understand
computing in our lives”
> STEM+C
computing and humanities
& STEAM
> S. Krishnamurthi (Brown U.)
“we are just overly intoxicated
with computer science”
> English student (Stanford):
“I don’t see myself
as having skills
missing […] When
you are analyzing
Melville, you have
to unpack that
language and synthesize it
back”

7. computational thinking

8. creative computing in the wild

9. “
“Designing, developing, and deploying urban computing projects in
the wild [...] is challenging, due to the complexity of the urban context
as well as the people who live in it. What are the ways to trigger and
increase the public towards active participation or technological
uptake in urban computing?”
Flora Salim & Usman Haque (2015): “Urban computing in the wild: A
survey on large scale participation and citizen engagement with
ubiquitous computing, cyber physical systems, and Internet of
Things”, Int. Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 81 (9)

10. implications
Douglas Rushkoff (2010):
“The debate over whether the Net is good or bad for us fills the
airwaves and the blogosphere. But for all the heat of claim and
counter-claim, the argument is essentially beside the point: it’s
here; it’s everywhere. The real question is, do we direct
technology, or do we let ourselves be directed by it and those
who have mastered it?”
“Choose the former and you gain access to the control panel of
civilization. Choose the latter, and it could be the last real choice
you get to make.”

11. because... we have a challenge

12. in a mobile world...

13. with a mixed reality, …

14. gestural interactions,…
Leap motion

15. empowered by wearables and gadgets,…

16. …in a cyber-physical brave new world

17. who is going to build things like this?

18. computer scientists only?

21. high demand of specialised technical skills, which are scarce in
currently available staff & candidates for any discipline
main challenge
does this mean more people should opt for STEM & CS careers
to computer-program our complex e-assessments?

22. “
“Society needs professionals of many types and with varied skills.”
“Obviously it makes no sense for everybody to study computer
sciences [...] Computer sciences are extending naturally into more
and more disciplines: the work of the biologist, the doctor, the
architect, or the farmer of tomorrow will require developing
computing skills.”
“The solution, obviously, is to incorporate STEM into education at all
levels”
E. Dans (2017): “Computer Science, STEM and integration,” March 12th,
2017

23. “
“Designers are most effective when working directly with a medium,
and working through an intermediary seriously hinders (or even
destroys) the creative process.”
B. MacIntyre et at. (2004): “DART: A toolkit for rapid design
exploration of augmented reality experiences,” Conf. on UI and
Software Technologies

24. “
“Douglas Rushkoff’s book Program or be Programmed pertains to
artists as non-programmers working in AR. [...] Artists need to dive
into the technology to understand the rules [...]. However, [...] must the
artists keep up with the programmers? My approach has been [...] to
repurpose the software as it exists and extend this in creative ways.”
Helen Papagiannis
Artist, writer and new digital media researcher

25. how does all this affect teaching?

26. NMC horizon report 2017

27. for the secondary education

28. main challenge
involve users in creating their own wild {mobile, AR, gestural,…}
learning scenarios and e-assessments

29. focus map of the wild
mobile
devices
augmented &
virtual reality
brain &
gestural
interactions
learning
analytics &
e-assessment

30. smart devices with multimedia and sensors
multimedia
Pictures, video, sound, voice synth, etc.
sensors
GPS position, accelerometer, gyroscope,
magnetometer, etc.

31. augmented reality
markers, position, text, and image recognition
to show augmented text, audio, pictures, and
interactive 3D models
virtual reality
deploy and render 3D models and 360o
images
and videos
mixed & augmented reality capabilities

32. smart device user interfaces
touch
user interface controls: buttons, pickers,
textboxes, etc.
voice
voice command recognition

33. gestural interactions
Leap MotionTM
hand (appearing, translation, rotation) and
finger (swipe, air tap, etc.) gesture
detection
MyoTM
Armband
arm and hand gesture detection (wave in,
wave out, finger spread, fist, etc.)

34. Emotiv EPOCTM
headset:
◦ brainwaves: alpha, beta, gamma, delta
◦ patterns: engagement, focus, relaxation,
stress
◦ mental commands: push, pull, rotate,
etc.
◦ face expressions: smile, wink, blink, etc.
◦ XYZ head movement: acceleration,
angle, etc.
brain-computer interfaces (BCI)

35. specific goal
to provide an easy-to-develop creative computing approach, where
non-technical experts can create & customize their own e-learning
scenarios and e-assessments that use all such elements

36. work hypothesis
visual languages can help users to develop creative computing
abilities to build new extended learning scenarios and assessments

37. a lot of block languages

38. the VEDILS computational thinking
approach

39. http://vedils.uca.es
based on

40. App Inventor extensions
3D engine
> 3D interactive objects
(.OBJ, .3DS, .MD2, etc.)
brain & gesture
interaction
> hand gestures
> arm movements
augmented reality
> marker, text and
image recognizing
data analytics
> cloud store of
interaction data
> queries + datatables +
charts

41. data analytics
> cloud store of
interaction data
> queries + datatables +
charts
brain & gesture
interaction
> hand gestures
> arm movements
App Inventor extensions
3D engine
> 3D interactive objects
(.OBJ, .3DS, .MD2, etc.)
augmented reality
> marker, text and
image recognizing

42. configurable event capture
◦ user-generated interactive events: click,
typing, etc.
◦ sensor-emitted events: xyzAccel, lat/long,
xyzAngular, azimuth, roll, pitch, etc.
◦ app-invoked functions: playAudio,
takePicture, driveBall, etc.
event capture

43. data query & visualization
queries & visualization
◦ simple queries (map, filter, sort) and
aggregate queries (max, min, avg,
etc.)
◦ data visualization from the app:
tables and graph (bar, lines, etc.)

44. big data aspects
current integration with:
◦ flink streaming
◦ mongoDB stores
◦ google fusion tables
planned:
◦ machine learning algorithms
◦ complex event processing

45. linked open data query extension
concept search and retrieval in the
wikidata store

46. how does it work for e-assessment?

47. tracking activities
focused actions (e.g. button)global actions

48. BrainWave sensor blocks

49. tracked data

50. queries

51. data tables & charts

52. based upon computational thinking fundamentals
● conditionals
● algorithms
● queries
● events
● reporting
● charts
● ...

53. experiences...

54. ...in science & engineering

55. technical drawing perspectives
augmented reality to learn
perspectives
mechanical engineering students
from the University of Algarve

56. interactive manuals
augmented reality interactive manual to train industrial design engineering
students in the GuntTM
strain gauges

57. diedric system
augmented reality to learn
geometrical representations of
3D elements on a plane
CAD & graphical expression
students in the UCA

58. ...in behavioral sciences

59. psychomotor vigilance test
cognitive application to control the
attention of breast cancer patients
measurement of answer times and
EEG-measured brain activity values

60. N-BACK test
cognitive app to control the
working memory in breast cancer
patients
measurement of hits/failures,
answer times and brain activity
values

61. systematic desensitization
app to measure perceived emotions
in breast cancer patients through
the Geneva Emotion Wheel
user immersion in 360o
AR and VR
scenarios as a desensitization
therapy

62. … and also in humanities

63. who am I?
augmented reality version of the
classical language learning game
german as foreign language
students in the UCA faculty of
philosophy

64. who am I? game-based learning
teacher implementation for a German language course including
augmented reality & learning analytics

65. learning analytics capabilities
Google Fusion Tables data
> where are they playing from?
analytics dashboard
> projects
> users

66. interactions
> compilation of students’ interactions relevant for
assessment : e.g. number of attempts to guess a
character, characters that are more difficult to
guess, etc.
assessment results
survey
> inside the app to know learners’ opinion

67. some results

68. distribution of components used by teachers

69. distribution of blocks used by teachers

70. conclusions

71. conclusions
● not all people to enroll computer science
● not all teachers to learn programming
● but… creative computing abilities are
affordable for all
● think about computational thinking utility
for the design of learning analytics and
e-assessment
because...

72. conclusions
● not all people to enroll computer science
● not all teachers to learn programming
● but… creative computing abilities are
affordable for all
● think about computational thinking utility
for the design of learning analytics and
e-assessment
the wild is coming!

73. the end
thank you

74. learning analytics features in...
“Learning analytics in mobile applications
based on multimodal interaction”
in S. Caballé & J. Conesa (eds.)
Software Data Engineering For Network
eLearning Environments: Analytics and
Awareness Learning Services,
Springer, 2017
(forthcoming)
more info about the VEDILS approach and tool
augmented reality features in...