| 1. |
- Ekanayake, Hiran B., 1978-
(författare)
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Validating User Engagement and Effectiveness of Training Simulations : A mixed-methods approach informed by embodied cognition and psychophysiological measures
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Simulation-based training has gained widespread attention recently as a response to drawbacks associated with traditional training approaches, such as high training costs (instructors, equipment, etc.), high risks (e.g. pilot training), and ethical issues (e.g. medical training), as well as a lack of availability of certain training environments (e.g. space exploration). Apart from their target training domains, many of aspects of simulations differ, such as their degree of physical realism (fidelity), scenarios (e.g. story), and pedagogical aspects (e.g. after-action reviews and collaborative learning). Among those aspects, designers have mostly focused on developing high-fidelity simulations with the expectation of increasing the effectiveness of training. However, some authors suggest that the above belief is a myth as researchers have failed to identify a linear relationship between the (physical) fidelity and training effectiveness of simulations. Most researchers have therefore evaluated the correspondence between the behaviours of trainees in both real world and simulated contexts, however, the existing methods of simulation validation using behavioural measures have a number of drawbacks, such as the fact that they do not address certain complex phenomena of skills acquisition.Bridging the above knowledge gap, this research reports on empirical investigations using an improved methodology for validating training simulations. This research includes an investigation of the user experience of trainees, with respect to the acceptance of virtual scenarios provoking a similar psychophysiological response as in real world scenarios, and the training potential of simulations with respect to the positive transfer of training from a simulator to real world operational contexts. The most prominent features of the proposed methodology include the use of psychophysiological measures in addition to traditional behavioural measures and the use of natural (quasi-) experiments. Moreover, its conceptual framework was influenced by contemporary theories in cognitive science (e.g. constructivism and embodied cognition). The results of this research have several important theoretical and methodological implications, involving, for example, the dependency of the effectiveness of simulations on the perceived realism of trainees, which is more embodied than has been predicted by previous researchers, and the requirement of several different types/levels of adaptive training experience, depending on the type of trainee.
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| 2. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-
(författare)
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Representing Future Situations of Service : Prototyping in Service Design
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis describes prototyping in service design through the theoretical lens of situated cognition. The research questions are what a service prototype is, what the benefits of service prototyping are, and how prototypes aid in the process of designing services. Four papers are included. Paper one suggests that service prototyping should be considered from the perspectives of purpose, fidelity, audience, position in the process, technique, representation, validity and author. The second paper compares research about how humans use external representations to think, with reasons for using prototypes in service design and service design techniques. The third paper compares two versions of a service prototyping technique called service walkthrough; showing that walkthroughs with pauses provided both more comments in total and more detailed feedback. The fourth paper also contributes to our understanding of how prototypes aid in designing services, by connecting the surrogate situation with the future situation of service. The paper shows how the formative service evaluation technique (F-SET) uses the theory of planned behaviour to add knowledge to service prototype evaluations about the intention to use a service in the future. Taken together the research provides a deeper understanding of what prototypes are, and their roles in service prototyping. This understanding is further deepened by a discussion about service as a design material, suggesting that from a design perspective, a service consists of service concept, process and system. The service prototype acts as a surrogate for the future situation of service. The thesis describes what the benefits of using surrogates are, and shows how prototypes enhance the ability to gain knowledge about future situations. This leads to an understanding of prototyping as a way of thinking in design.
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| 3. |
- Faraon, Montathar, 1983-
(författare)
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Co-creating democracy : Conceptualizing co-creative media to facilitate democratic engagement in society
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Internet-based information and communication technology (ICT) have increasingly been used to facilitate and support democratic engagement in society. A growing body of research has demonstrated that the Internet and, in particular, social media have given citizens the opportunity to participate, interact, network, collaborate, and mobilize themselves within communities. While these media have broadened the means of exercising citizenship in many forms of participatory democracy, the technological prerequisites exist to go beyond the standard uses of social media (e.g., social networking, entertainment) and towards proactive and co-creative democratic engagement. Such engagement includes, but is not limited to, participatory activities for democratic purposes. Further, some researchers have argued that representative democracy is in decline and has several limitations related to citizens' trust in politicians and engagement with representative institutions. There is a recognition among scholars to infuse representative democracy with participatory bottom-up processes by employing ICT in an attempt to bridge these limitations. In order to further facilitate and support participatory as well as co-creative processes, this thesis elaborates a concept of co-creative media.The process of this work was guided by the following question: How can co-creative media be theoretically anchored and conceptualized in order to facilitate and support citizen engagement within democratic processes? A concept-driven design research approach was adopted to address this research question, and this resulted in five interconnected articles. Firstly, based on the results from each article, four design guidelines were formulated to further guide the design of co-creative media for democratic engagement. These design guidelines may support future participatory design processes in which stakeholders collectively contribute to the development and evaluation of co-creative media. The guidelines constitute a resource that stakeholders may use to develop adaptations of co-creative media for the purposes of facilitating democratic engagement. Secondly, the results from each article were fed forward into the concept-driven research process as theoretical and empirical insights, which were used to inform and elaborate the main contribution of this thesis, namely the concept of co-creative media.The concept of co-creative media in its form outlined by this thesis seeks to broaden citizens’ democratic engagement by means of creating virtual spaces in which new ideas, initiatives, knowledge, solutions, and digital tools could emerge. The implications of co-creative media could be to create, develop, and strengthen partnerships between communities and local services, extend digital skills in society through community-engaged practitioners, and propagate as well as coordinate large-scale co-creative practices.
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| 4. |
- Nouri, Jalal, 1982-
(författare)
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Orchestrating scaffolded outdoor mobile learning activities
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Since the beginning of time, technological innovations have formed the basis for the development of society and supported the most fundamental societal features. The educational system is no exception. This we have witnessed on many occasions, as for example in form of the transformations of learning and teaching introduced by the printing press, the calculator and computers. With the advance of mobile technology, we have received another technology that inspires research fields to study the learning and teaching potentials that mobile technology may present. It is from here this thesis takes its general starting point, namely, in the determination to critically examine the role mobile technology can play in supporting outdoor learning activities. More specifically, the thesis attempts to, on the one hand, develop an understanding of the challenges and limitations associated with scaffolding students’ mobile learning in outdoor environments. On the other hand, based on such a developed understanding, the thesis investigates how mobile technology-supported outdoor activities should be orchestrated to scaffold students learning. Orchestration is, in this thesis, understood as the process of productively coordinating supportive interventions across multiple learning activities occurring at multiple social levels involving multiple contexts, and multiple tools and media.The framework of design-based research has guided the methodological approach. Three design studies formed the empirical basis of the study of the issues. The results of the thesis indicate the difficulties and challenges in supporting students in outdoor contexts and delineate an understanding of how mobile outdoor learning activities can be orchestrated with students scaffolding needs taken into account.The thesis contributes with a conceptualization of and a model for orchestration of mobile learning activities, a framework for design-based research in mobile learning, as well as a critical perspective on the introduction of mobile technology in education.
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| 5. |
- Jonsson, Fatima, 1972-
(författare)
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Hanging out in the game café : Contextualising co-located computer game play practices and experiences
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- What social practices are people involved when staying in a game café? What kind of social setting is the game café? What are the attitudes towards playing computer games at home and in public among parents? What are the media representations of co-located game playing in public? What are the sensory experiences of playing co-located game play in public? This dissertation gives a descriptive and analytical account of the contexts and meanings of playing co-located computer games in public settings such as game cafés and LAN parties. The overall aim with the dissertation is to describe and investigate the social and cultural meanings and contexts of playing computer games in a game café. The research questions have been investigated in four empirical studies.The dissertation shows that people are involved in various social practices and activities aimed at supporting and maintaining social relationships among friends and peers. The game café can be seen as a third place, as it used by players for recreation and an escape from the pressure of home and school, a place which feels like home, is familiar and welcoming. However the game café is a limited third place used by young men who likes to play online and network games. The dissertation also shows how the social environment provides for specific sensory experiences. These sensory experiences involve sitting together side by side slapping each other’s shoulders and legs, eating candies and drinking sodas, listening to music. The representations of co-located game playing in public reproduce traditional gender roles where professional gamers are represented by men and causal gamers are represented by women (and men) as well as construct youth as party lovers. The study also suggests that parents’ attitudes towards their children playing games in public draw on traditional values and ideas about children’s play and social relationships.
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| 6. |
- Weerasinghe, Thushani, 1972-
(författare)
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Designing Online Courses for Individual and Collaborative Learning : A study of a virtual learning environment based in Sri Lanka
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Online courses of distance learning programmes at universities are designed considering the characteristics and needs of their adult learners. Basically, there are two types of learners in an online course: individual learners and collaborative learners. Designing for learner satisfaction and learning effectiveness for both types of learners is challenging. In fact, previous research has noted that many online courses fail due to poor design. As a solution, researchers have identified instructional design principles that can guide the design of successful online courses. However, these principles lack detailed information to apply them in contexts different from where they had been identified. This consideration raises a question: how does one adapt the existing design principles to design online courses that promote both individual and collaborative learning, particularly in contexts where online courses are supposed to be conducted with minimal teacher support? In the present research, this question is addressed via two sub-research questions: (1) which course components and their design features can promote learners’ satisfaction, perceived learning, and learning effectiveness, and (2) which course components and their design features can stimulate inquiry-based learning and peer-teaching? The research was carried out in the field of educational design research with sets of students and instructional designers of a virtual learning environment prepared for a university-level degree programme in Sri Lanka. Referring to the findings of this research, the thesis discusses how to design online courses that promote both individual and collaborative learning. Further, based on the findings, the thesis presents a set of design principles and guidelines to promote both individual and collaborative learning in online courses that are on information technology related subjects and prepared for distance learning programmes.
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| 7. |
- Eliasson, Johan, 1977-
(författare)
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Tools for Designing Mobile Interaction with the Physical Environment in Outdoor Lessons
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Mobile technologies are increasingly being used to support students in outdoor learning activities. For instance, in a growing number of research projects, smartphones and positioning technologies are being used to support students in exploring the natural environment. However, previous research has identified challenges with the introduction of mobile technology into outdoor lessons. One fundamental challenge is that interaction with mobile technology in outdoor lessons may distract students from interacting with the physical environment. In this thesis this challenge is approached from the perspective of human-computer interaction, guided by the following research question: How can we design, evaluate, and reflect on mobile technology for interacting with the physical environment in outdoor lessons? The thesis presents four design cases on outdoor geometry and biology lessons, which act as probes for developing conceptual design tools. The design cases were developed through a concept-driven design approach and evaluated on field tests with primary school students. Future workshop and Interaction analysis were the main methods used. The results of the field tests suggest that mobile technology needs to be designed to orientate students in their interaction with the physical environment. In line with the concept-driven design approach, the thesis proposes three design tools. The design tools proposed are: Design guidelines that are specific enough for guiding the design of mobile technology for outdoor lessons, a Design model for designing and evaluating mobile technology for outdoor lessons, and Design concepts for reflecting on the placement of mobile technology in outdoor lessons. The design tools are proposed as tools for researchers and designers to take the challenge of distraction into account in designing mobile technology for outdoor lessons.
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| 8. |
- Johansson, Magnus, 1975-
(författare)
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Do Non Player Characters dream of electric sheep? : A thesis about Players, NPCs, Immersion and Believability
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is a thesis that deals with the norms and rules of players playing online games together. It is also a thesis about believability, the current capabilities of non-player characters (NPCs) and the attitudes amongst game developers towards dynamic and systemic games AI.The primary theme of this thesis considers which means of communication and coordination in terms of norms and rules are present in groups of players and particularly in guilds and clans playing Massively Multi Online Games (MMOGs) and First Person Shooters (FPSs) respectively. The presence of norms in these types of groups has been overlooked in previous research even though guilds have been addressed to some extent. When rules have been discussed in games research, the actual use, meaning and interpretation behind these rules from a player perspective has been omitted. In this thesis rules and norms are interpreted from a guild and clan perspective as important means for coordination, used in order to keep the group together. The implicit rules are further seen as implicit rules made explicit through guild and clan forums where these groups of players express how to preserve the shared game experience. The absence of rituals, norms and rules has also been studied in temporary groups of one MMOG, with the explanation that existing relations with other players are maintained in these game sessions, but new relations are usually seen as too costly to invest in.The second theme is directed at believability and the state of current NPCs, how immersion is influenced by NPCs that do not act in believable ways. The second theme is also influenced by the first theme, whereby rules and norms are seen as valuable tools for creating believability in NPCs, directly targeting the social layer, a slightly overlooked area of research.The last section is directed at applying the results from the first section, how players play by the rules and norms of the group, and how this could foster believability in NPCs.
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| 9. |
- Karlström, Petter, 1971-
(författare)
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CALL of the Wild : Using language technology in the second language classroom
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Technology that analyzes written human language displays compelling possibilities for computer assisted language learning (CALL). Applications may be designed to examine second language students’ free text production in order to suggest improvements, draw attention to selected linguistic elements, provide examples from native language use, etc. However, language technology is not free from issues. Output from the tools is occasionally inaccurate, and the tools’ emphasis on language structure stands in possible contrast with pedagogies that foreground the social nature of language. These difficulties cannot be resolved by improving technology alone. It is equally important to find out in empirical detail how students handle possibly problematic directions from particular tools, and how tasks and teacher guidance may affect students’ tool usage. This thesis provides detailed analyses of applied CALL activities with a language tool, in order to discern how usage of that particular tool occurs, and how complex interrelationships of tool and context of use direct students. The thesis makes six interrelated contributions, ranging from particular empirical results to implications for general theory and methodology in CALL. On the level of theory, the thesis 1) provides an argument to reintroduce language technology in CALL, and 2) suggests grounding in sociocultural theory for investigating second language classroom CALL as it unfolds. From these standpoints, it 3) develops methodology and empirical studies on the use of a particular tool in the hands of students in class. The studies result in 4) illuminations of problems in use and means to avoid these problems by attending to classroom setting. Returning to general theory, the results provide 5) evidence that the introduction of novel tools demands more than merely providing technology for students and teachers, suggesting 6) a need for more detailed considerations of how CALL tools are introduced to students.
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| 10. |
- Olsson, Marie
(författare)
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Digital learning resources for programming in higher education – a multimodal perspective
- 2018
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Digital technology is developing rapidly, and educators are currently in the process of exploring what opportunities new technology can have for learning and teaching. This applies not least to the field of education in programming, as learning to program is a great challenge for many students. Therefore, educators and researchers have sought to find educationally effective digital learning resources to facilitate the programming learning process. In this thesis, multimodal online learning environments, providing accessible and learner-focused learning activities, and multimodal software visualizations, striving at concretizing the abstract building blocks in programming languages, were exploratory investigated. The aim was to expand the understanding of how digital learning resources can be used to support students’ understanding of basic programming concepts and dynamics.Empirical studies were conducted at the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV) at Stockholm University, Sweden. The data were collected during introductory programming courses in which the author had an active role as designer of the software visualizations, teacher and researcher. In these courses, the digital learning resources were explored as additional course resources. The research was conducted both through field experiments and case studies and data was collected using questionnaires, interviews and group discussions.Results strengthened the claims that abstract phenomena like programming can be made visible and understandable through visualization, in particular program dynamics. When visualizations illustrated more conceptual elements, further guidance was required, to facilitate students’ interpretation and understanding. Regarding the online learning environments, guiding to the right learning pathways was the most critical factor found from the results. When adequate instructions and feedback were lacking in the learning environments, users became cognitively overloaded and disoriented. Finally, findings in all compiled studies indicate that teacher planning and orchestration of the learning situations should be conducted with more reflection.
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