Realism for synthetic characters, both in computer games and conversational agent mediated applic... more Realism for synthetic characters, both in computer games and conversational agent mediated applications, requires both visual and behavioural fidelity. One significant area of synthetic character behaviour, that has to date received little attention, is non-verbal communication. In identifying the scope and participants of non-verbal communication in computer games we first review the range of spatial and task scenarios that are
This paper reports on the French Digital Kitchen, a design-based project which drew on digital se... more This paper reports on the French Digital Kitchen, a design-based project which drew on digital sensor technology to take the principles of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) out of the classroom and into the real-world environment of a kitchen. The project aimed to produce a situated language learning environment where learners could learn aspects of French language and cuisine whilst performing a real-world task. The article describes the blend of TBLT, human-computer interaction (HCI) and user-centred design (UCD) principles the authors adopted in constructing and trialling the kitchen, using multiple data sources. An example of a task cycle is then presented to illustrate (by using CA analysis of transcripts) how learners have used the resources of the kitchen to accomplish the task. The authors' findings show how the integration of the pedagogical and technological design enabled learners to notice and manipulate new vocabulary items.
This article reports on the French Digital Kitchen, a French language learning project developed ... more This article reports on the French Digital Kitchen, a French language learning project developed by Human-computer interaction technologists and applied linguistic researchers at Newcastle University. Our project involved taking a normal kitchen and specifically adapting it for French language learning using the next generation of digital technology, namely activity recognition and sensor technology. We constructed a purpose-built kitchen that communicates with learners in French and gives them step-by-step instructions on how to prepare French cuisine and teaches aspects of French language.
This article reports on the European Digital Kitchen, an EU-funded language learning project whic... more This article reports on the European Digital Kitchen, an EU-funded language learning project which promotes learning of languages, cultures and cuisines in digital interactive kitchens. The project involves taking a normal kitchen and specifically adapting it for language learning using the next generation of digital technology, namely activity recognition and sensor technology. We intend that learners will be able to learn aspects of the language whilst performing a meaningful real-world task and will simultaneously experience the cultural aspect of learning to cook a foreign dish. The article starts by outlining the project background, including rationale, motivation and aims. We then explain in detail how the technology works (using photographs) and outline our design methodology, which blends Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). We then present 3 extracts of Digital Kitchen interaction to illustrate the type of learning which takes place. Project Background This article reports on the European Digital Kitchen, an EU-funded language learning project developed initially by human-computer interaction technologists and applied linguists at Newcastle University. Our project is called LanCook, which is short for 'Learning languages, cultures and cuisines in digital interactive kitchens'. This project develops language learning materials for European languages and cuisines: English, German, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and Finnish. The project involves partners throughout Europe: Newcastle University (UK), Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy), Helsingin yliopisto (Finland), Universität Paderborn (Germany) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). The five different partners involved are developing and trialling the new materials with a range of users linked to CEFR levels A to C; adult, higher education and vocational students as well as migrants and overseas students. This will provide us with valuable feedback which will widen the range of groups for whom the materials will be relevant. Furthermore, working as a trans-European consortium will lead to cross-fertilisation of ideas concerning the relationships between language, cuisines and cultures, as well as different working practices. LanCook also engages with many European agendas by promoting language learning, as well as linguistic and cultural diversity, in that our project
Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children - IDC '13, 2013
ABSTRACT We describe the learner-centered design of an application for collocated collaborative w... more ABSTRACT We describe the learner-centered design of an application for collocated collaborative writing on digital tabletops. Learning writing is an activity that is traditionally undertaken as a non-collaborative, non-visuospatial activity. We demonstrate how framing writing as a visuospatial manipulation of elements of writing sub-tasks can promote collaboration. While collaborative visuospatial activities lend themselves to digital tabletops in particular, not all activities naturally translate into such tasks. Our application allows for (or supports) writing as a collaborative task, as well as providing a platform for students to learn extended writing. We describe the mapping between the design principles used, and the pedagogical and thinking theories that are incorporated into the design. The design is described at each iteration, including the associated user studies, and we conclude with a discussion of more widely applicable design implications. This research shows how traditional non-collaborative learning activities can, using visuospatial representations, be reconfigured as collocated collaborative learning activities.
... Sincerely, M. Kathleen Holmes, BS, Peter Gallagher, BSc (Hons), MPhil Lucy J. Robinson, BA (H... more ... Sincerely, M. Kathleen Holmes, BS, Peter Gallagher, BSc (Hons), MPhil Lucy J. Robinson, BA (Hons), BSc (Hons), John M. Gray, MA (Hons), PhD, MPhil(CPsychol), Patrick Olivier, MA, Dip, MSc, PhD, Philip Heslop, MSc, and I. Nicol Ferrier, BSc (Hons), MD, FRCP, FRCPsych ...
Realism for synthetic characters, both in computer games and conversational agent mediated applic... more Realism for synthetic characters, both in computer games and conversational agent mediated applications, requires both visual and behavioural fidelity. One significant area of synthetic character behaviour, that has to date received little attention, is non-verbal communication. In identifying the scope and participants of non-verbal communication in computer games we first review the range of spatial and task scenarios that are
This paper reports on the French Digital Kitchen, a design-based project which drew on digital se... more This paper reports on the French Digital Kitchen, a design-based project which drew on digital sensor technology to take the principles of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) out of the classroom and into the real-world environment of a kitchen. The project aimed to produce a situated language learning environment where learners could learn aspects of French language and cuisine whilst performing a real-world task. The article describes the blend of TBLT, human-computer interaction (HCI) and user-centred design (UCD) principles the authors adopted in constructing and trialling the kitchen, using multiple data sources. An example of a task cycle is then presented to illustrate (by using CA analysis of transcripts) how learners have used the resources of the kitchen to accomplish the task. The authors' findings show how the integration of the pedagogical and technological design enabled learners to notice and manipulate new vocabulary items.
This article reports on the French Digital Kitchen, a French language learning project developed ... more This article reports on the French Digital Kitchen, a French language learning project developed by Human-computer interaction technologists and applied linguistic researchers at Newcastle University. Our project involved taking a normal kitchen and specifically adapting it for French language learning using the next generation of digital technology, namely activity recognition and sensor technology. We constructed a purpose-built kitchen that communicates with learners in French and gives them step-by-step instructions on how to prepare French cuisine and teaches aspects of French language.
This article reports on the European Digital Kitchen, an EU-funded language learning project whic... more This article reports on the European Digital Kitchen, an EU-funded language learning project which promotes learning of languages, cultures and cuisines in digital interactive kitchens. The project involves taking a normal kitchen and specifically adapting it for language learning using the next generation of digital technology, namely activity recognition and sensor technology. We intend that learners will be able to learn aspects of the language whilst performing a meaningful real-world task and will simultaneously experience the cultural aspect of learning to cook a foreign dish. The article starts by outlining the project background, including rationale, motivation and aims. We then explain in detail how the technology works (using photographs) and outline our design methodology, which blends Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). We then present 3 extracts of Digital Kitchen interaction to illustrate the type of learning which takes place. Project Background This article reports on the European Digital Kitchen, an EU-funded language learning project developed initially by human-computer interaction technologists and applied linguists at Newcastle University. Our project is called LanCook, which is short for 'Learning languages, cultures and cuisines in digital interactive kitchens'. This project develops language learning materials for European languages and cuisines: English, German, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and Finnish. The project involves partners throughout Europe: Newcastle University (UK), Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy), Helsingin yliopisto (Finland), Universität Paderborn (Germany) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). The five different partners involved are developing and trialling the new materials with a range of users linked to CEFR levels A to C; adult, higher education and vocational students as well as migrants and overseas students. This will provide us with valuable feedback which will widen the range of groups for whom the materials will be relevant. Furthermore, working as a trans-European consortium will lead to cross-fertilisation of ideas concerning the relationships between language, cuisines and cultures, as well as different working practices. LanCook also engages with many European agendas by promoting language learning, as well as linguistic and cultural diversity, in that our project
Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children - IDC '13, 2013
ABSTRACT We describe the learner-centered design of an application for collocated collaborative w... more ABSTRACT We describe the learner-centered design of an application for collocated collaborative writing on digital tabletops. Learning writing is an activity that is traditionally undertaken as a non-collaborative, non-visuospatial activity. We demonstrate how framing writing as a visuospatial manipulation of elements of writing sub-tasks can promote collaboration. While collaborative visuospatial activities lend themselves to digital tabletops in particular, not all activities naturally translate into such tasks. Our application allows for (or supports) writing as a collaborative task, as well as providing a platform for students to learn extended writing. We describe the mapping between the design principles used, and the pedagogical and thinking theories that are incorporated into the design. The design is described at each iteration, including the associated user studies, and we conclude with a discussion of more widely applicable design implications. This research shows how traditional non-collaborative learning activities can, using visuospatial representations, be reconfigured as collocated collaborative learning activities.
... Sincerely, M. Kathleen Holmes, BS, Peter Gallagher, BSc (Hons), MPhil Lucy J. Robinson, BA (H... more ... Sincerely, M. Kathleen Holmes, BS, Peter Gallagher, BSc (Hons), MPhil Lucy J. Robinson, BA (Hons), BSc (Hons), John M. Gray, MA (Hons), PhD, MPhil(CPsychol), Patrick Olivier, MA, Dip, MSc, PhD, Philip Heslop, MSc, and I. Nicol Ferrier, BSc (Hons), MD, FRCP, FRCPsych ...
We conducted a small-scale study in order to explore students' perceptions of the learning proces... more We conducted a small-scale study in order to explore students' perceptions of the learning processes when engaged as co-authors of content for collaborative higher order thinking skills learning tasks. We specifically designed the process to allow for self-critique – where authors can observe their creations being solved and therefore understand where they may improve their design. We collected data over a three-day period from a sample of twelve thirteen year olds, working in teams, authoring content for Digital Mysteries (a higher order thinking skills collaborative learning application based on the digital tabletop). The study was structured to follow Bloom's taxonomy, a continuum of cognitive skills that develop during a learning process. During the study, students' collated information on a topic, transformed it into " data slips " and designed the meta-data of how the information should be organized in the Digital Mysteries task. They also observed their peers completing the tasks they had designed. We found that 1) rather than follow this continuum, skills developed in a non-linear manner due to the abstract nature of the authoring activity, and 2) the students' demonstrated good metacognitive insights into the authoring task, technology and collaborative learning as a whole.
Uploads
Papers by Philip Heslop