Date 07/24/2010

Felipe BacimNicholas Polys

Department of Computer Science

Virginia Tech

Cognitive Scaffolding in Web3D Learning Systems: A Case Study for Form and Structure

Jian Chen

Department of Computer Science

USM

Mehdi SetarehJi LiLee Ma

School of Architecture+Design

Virginia Tech

Learning systems

Virtual Environments and Web3D

Structural engineering

Communicate concepts such as load and stress distribution, connections between members and nodal/member displacement

Provide information about how structure units are formed

2

Introduction

Cognitive processing

Structural and Location knowledge

Nodes and members

Behavioral knowledge

System response to users actions

Procedural knowledge

Assembly sequence

3

Introduction

Usability Engineering

Methods are meant to be generic (e.g.: Scenario-Based Design)

Main challenge

Stakeholders that provide the requirements are experts (professors)

The end users of our system are novices (students) and do not really know the requirements of the system

4

Introduction

Perception and Cognition

The challenge for eLearning designers is applying research psychology into design

Integral and separable dimensions

Gestalt principles

Crucial when considering the design of multimedia environments, and the possibility of 'chunking' visual items and features

Subject's working memory can store three to four objects

5

Background

Issues with existing methods

Cognitive concerns are hard to apply

There is little guidance on how to apply psychology research results in practice

The students do not know what they need to know

6

Method

The developed method

First step: determine the requirements in terms of instructional content that the students need to learn about

Second step: map the content to perception and cognition concepts

Third step: apply these concepts to generate a visual representation

7

Method

8

Case Study

Structure and Form Analysis System (SAFAS)

An integrated set of computer-aided, web-based learning modules to teach fundamental concepts in structural systems

Two modules

Explanatory Resources

Interactive Resources

9

Case Study

10

Case Study

11

Case Study

12

Case Study

13

System Design

Qualitative evaluation

Easy to distinguish different configurations

Color-coded nodes and members help users better comprehend the complexity of the structural forms

Morphing using a geometry of influence concept is simple enough to be understood by the novices

14

Initial Evaluation

15

Future Work

Improvements for SAFAS

Addition of architectural elements

Improve integration with existing tools

AEC standards support

Integrate modules

Model checker and recommender system

16

Future Work

Extend the evaluation of our method with a formal user studyEvaluate different visualization techniques

Design and evaluate domain-specific interaction techniques

Derive actionable guidelines and checklists for the usability engineering of learning software and web3d

Date 07/24/2010

Questions?

Come to the Scientific Visualization with Web3D workshop to see a live demo of SAFAS!