SCHOOL Researcher

Parents play an influential role in the lives of children studying in elementary school, and their attitudes toward education have a considerable influence on children’s attitudes. In the context of computer programming education, parents’ ignorance could affect their children’s education and attitudes towards education adversely. A promising way to support parents is through informal workshop s with their children, in which the former are exposed to the subjects and skills that the children will be learning. This study examined the impact of different types of workshop activities on parents’ concerns regarding various aspects of their children’s programming education. Three types of worksho ps were organized, each characterized by a particular activity; including a wooden robot with coding blocks, a robotics toy with visual programming language, and visual language. Data were collected from parents before and after their participation in these workshops. The results from the analysis of the data revealed that the impact of the three activities on the parents varied, with all three activities and workshops having a positive impact on the attitudes and confidence levels of parents in supporting their children at home with technology-related education in addition to enhancing their understanding of programming education.

Yue Hu, Yu-Hang Li., Chien-Yuan Su

In recent years, game -based programming tools (GBPTs) such as Lightbot , Cargo-Bot, and Run Marco have been developed to help children worldwide better understand programming concepts through an interesting, enjoyable and visualizable programming learning experience. However, in-service teachers’ perceptions regarding the use of these game-based programming tools in K-12 instruction have received little attention. To understand the perceptions of teachers, this study integrated perceived enjoyment into the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explor e the factors that influence the intentions of K -12 in-service teachers to use game -based programming tools in their instructional tasks. Thirty Chinese teachers in elementary and secondary schools were invited to finish at least one hour of code tutorial at the code.org site, and then undertake a paper -and-pencil questionnaire. We applied the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique to analyze the extended TAM model. Results demonstrated that teachers’ behavioral intention was determined by their attitudes toward using GBPTs. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use had a significant and positive influence on teachers’ attitudes. In addition, the results also indicated that perceived enjoyment has a significant influence on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, but no significant effect on the attitude of teachers regarding the use of GBPTs. Based on these findings, enjoyment can be considered as a determinant that influences teachers ’ perceptions toward using GBPTs in K -12 programming education . Some pedagogical and research implications are also presented.

Adriano Baratè, Goffredo Haus, Luca A. Ludovico, Elena Pagani, Nello Scarabottolo

The goal of this paper is to analyze and show, also through practical examples, how the emerging 5G technology can improve music education. First, the key characteristics of 5G networks, i.e. improved bandwidth, reliability, and density of devices in an area, will be presented. From such a discussion, it will emerge the possibility to design and implement innovative educational services that are rich in multimedia content, suppo rt two -way multimodal interaction, and are highly customizable to respond to users’ requirements and special needs. A number of case studies in the domain of music education will be presented and commented.

Joseph Bills, Yiu-Kai Ng

Video games could have potential therapeutic value for individuals on the autism spectrum, but little research has been done on targeting games to the diverse individual needs of adults with autism, and the problem is complicated by the inaccessibility of patient profiles. It is also important to incorporate fun as well as therapeutic value into recommendations. Fun can be estimated by comparing a user’s profile of preferred games to the proposed therapeutic games using information from online resources like VideoGameGeek and Wikipedia, even though sorting by therapeutic value is still non-trivial. This can be done by labeling therapeutic games with discrete categories according to their therapeutic value, and sorting games primarily by therapeutic category, and secondarily by estimated fun value. In this paper, we present an approach of using the patient’s profile of preferred games as a proxy for their clinical profile, and making game recommendation based on a hypothetical model and updates in response to feedback. This feedback is measured using an ad-hoc questionnaire, which is evaluated on a set of adults with autism spectrum disorder. This model both enables personalized game recommendation from a cold start and allows the learned information to be generalized to other patients.

Bernardo Alves Villarinho Lima, Leonelo Dell Anhol Almeida2 1Postgraduate Program in Technology, Society (PPGTE) - Universidade Tecnológica Federal do

Over the last four decades, Participatory Design (PD) gained traction in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) communities around the world. The approach presents alternatives in attempts to design with persons, and not only for them, in the form of techniques and d esign practices. Many contemporary PD researchers seek to turn the approach towards designing for democracy and empowerment of partner groups, contrary to PD practices which simply focus on the production of artifacts. Countering technocratic trends, resea rchers around the world seek to revitalize the discipline by proposing and promoting alternative research agendas, towards a critical and politically engaged discipline. Designers present themselves as actors and actresses in these processes, and understan ding how they operate can inform future work on how design practices can promote empowerment despite the power gap between partners and designers. Perspectives from Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies informs critical theories to approach thinking of the designer’s role, agency, and responsibilities that go beyond the production of artifacts, including ethical, political, and technological concerns, the last one being comprehended in a non-deterministic way and encompass activities beyond the design of artifacts. This paper explores works from the 2018 Participatory Design Conference (PDC), seeking state -of-the-art on how researchers perceive themselves in their practices, using STS studies and Cr, and proposes a set of suggestions on how to plan situated participation.

Alexander Streicher, Julien Hoffmann, Wolfgang Roller

This paper presents the concept and technical details for a “Virtual reality Image Exploitation Workspace” (VIEW) for use in e.g. aerial image interpretation. Virtual Reality (VR) and serious gaming can increase the learning motivation and outcome in image interpretation. We use our VIEW con cept for a VR game-like assistance system to evaluate the learning -supporting immersion or presence level of image interpreters while solving typical interpretation tasks in VR . The problem statement centers on the realization aspects of a VR assistance system for image interpretation providing a high level of immersion. This work combines the setting of a real serious game for formal image interpretation training with virtual reality to increase the immersion level. We also examined the special requirements for image quality and formal workflows that arise from professional image interpretation. The presented VIEW concept deals with multiple aspects in respect to e-learning, professional training and virtual reality for image interpretation. Preliminary eva luation results from a realized prototype show the feasibility and user acceptance of the VIEW concept.

Joshua Doe, Rogier Van de Wetering, Ben Honyenuga, Johan Versendaal

This paper seeks to test the Firm Technology Adoption Model (F -TAM) using data from a developing country context. The data for this current study were purposively collected from four hundred (400) SMEs in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. We used p artial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for our data analysis. Data revealed that, whereas employee factors can lead to firm adoption, firm factors of adoption do not lead to firm adoption if societal factors, characteristics of the innovation, and employee factors do not moderate the relationship between firm factors and firm adoption. Data also reveals that s ocietal factors do not lead to firm adoption if employe e factors do not mediate it. The theoretical contribution of this study is that it challenges the dominant idea in most of the earlier models that firm adoption of innovation will be realized, without reference to factors at other levels of adoption. This positioning of the F -TAM model is a significant departure from earlier models. For industry practitioners, these findings illustrate the essence of putting a premium on recruiting technologically savvy employees if the firm intends to adopt digital technologies.

Pedro Isaías

Editorial preface for Volume 14, Issue 1 of the IADIS International Journal on Computer Science and Information Systems (IJCSIS). This issue brings together peer-reviewed original research contributions covering the wide spectrum of Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, and Digital Transformation.