Learning Playground Research Articles

Quantum Machine Learning Playground.

This article introduces an innovative interactive visualization tool designed to demystify quantum machine learning (QML) algorithms. Our work is inspired by the success of classical machine learning visualization tools, such as TensorFlow Playground, and aims to bridge the gap in visualization resources specifically for the field of QML. The article includes a comprehensive overview of relevant visualization metaphors from both quantum computing and classical machine learning, the development of an algorithm visualization concept, and the design of a concrete implementation as an interactive web application. By combining common visualization metaphors for the so-called data reuploading universal quantum classifier as a representative QML model, this article aims to lower the entry barrier to quantum computing and encourage further innovation in the field. The accompanying interactive application is a proposal for the first version of a QML playground for learning and exploring QML models.

Front-end deep learning web apps development and deployment: a review.

Machine learning and deep learning models are commonly developed using programming languages such as Python, C++, or R and deployed as web apps delivered from a back-end server or as mobile apps installed from an app store. However, recently front-end technologies and JavaScript libraries, such as TensorFlow.js, have been introduced to make machine learning more accessible to researchers and end-users. Using JavaScript, TensorFlow.js can define, train, and run new or existing, pre-trained machine learning models entirely in the browser from the client-side, which improves the user experience through interaction while preserving privacy. Deep learning models deployed on front-end browsers must be small, have fast inference, and ideally be interactive in real-time. Therefore, the emphasis on development and deployment is different. This paper aims to review the development and deployment of these deep-learning web apps to raise awareness of the recent advancements and encourage more researchers to take advantage of this technology for their own work. First, the rationale behind the deployment stack (front-end, JavaScript, and TensorFlow.js) is discussed. Then, the development approach for obtaining deep learning models that are optimized and suitable for front-end deployment is then described. The article also provides current web applications divided into seven categories to show deep learning potential on the front end. These include web apps for deep learning playground, pose detection and gesture tracking, music and art creation, expression detection and facial recognition, video segmentation, image and signal analysis, healthcare diagnosis, recognition, and identification.

Task engagement, learner motivation and avatar identities of struggling English language learners in the 3D virtual world

Abstract This study investigated at-risk ESL learners' task performance and attitudes towards a 3D approach of improving their English spoken and written communication skills in Second Life (SL). It documented how these SL “newbies,” who had not previously experienced 3D virtual learning, carried out SL-enabled, real-life oriented and interactive tasks. Qualitative data were triangulated from students’ weekly blog entries, reflective essay writing and a focus group interview, followed by a thematic analysis approach. Despite the technical glitches impeding the flow of virtual class management and causing communication breakdown, students overall held positive perceptions of the task-based design implemented in SL. Unique SL affordances were found to maximise task execution and engagement, thus fostering more authentic and crosscultural communication, building confidence, boosting motivation, and empowering learners via avatar anonymity. The game factor also transformed a conventional English class into a fun virtual learning playground. Such findings not only highlight pedagogical suggestions for curriculum design and language program improvement, but also implicate both challenges and possibilities of conducting research and teaching at-risk language learners in a 3D sphere.

Civic learning in conversation: The common ground of difference

Abstract Situated in the context of a conversation between the authors, this paper is both a reflection on past community based practice and a statement of intention for the criticality of dialogic space in the development of civic engaged learning. Through addressing a series of questions held in common, we explore lessons learned through our own educational praxis, explore the conceptual underpinnings of our collaboration and conclude with our early conceptualisation of a dialogic civic learning playground called ‘Urban Dialogues’. The intention of this new relational space is to bring staff and students from various faculties within a higher education institution together with community stakeholders to co-create both the practice of and research on community-based learning and learning-based community development. Pedagogic discourse has posited how participatory civic education can enable an emancipatory agency, serving to advance the socio-cultural, economic, ecological and political livelihoods of a community. It also articulates how that development can be integrated with an enriching of the student learning experience. At the same time, the bringing together of community, educator and student poses challenges, notably in negotiating otherness; i.e., the differences in perspectives, aims, and expectations that each participant brings. Concurrently, discourse on the urban argues that the city is a site of multiplicity, and that we need to recognise that this multivalence can not only enrich but also include dissonance and conflict. The challenge within civic engaged learning is to not only acknowledge but also embrace the opportunity that this difference affords for the mutual illumination of each other through a dialogical encounter. Our conversation, as outlined in this paper, critically considers the potential for such dialogue, and how creative forms of educational practice across disparate fields can enhance student development, meet curricular objectives within higher education and contribute to the common good within a community context.

A 3D learning playground for potential attention training in ADHD: A brain computer interface approach.

This paper presents a novel brain-computer-interface (BCI) system that could potentially be used for enhancing the attention ability of subjects with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It employs the steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) paradigm. The developed system consists of a 3D classroom environment with active 3D distractions and 2D games executed on the blackboard. The system is concealed as a game (with stages of varying difficulty) with an underlying story to motivate the subjects. It was tested on eleven healthy subjects and the results undeniably establish that by moving to a higher stage in the game where the 2D environment is changed to 3D along with the added 3D distractions, the difficulty level in keeping attention on the main task increases for the subjects. Results also show a mean accuracy of 92.26 ± 7.97% and a mean average selection time of 3.07 ± 1.09 seconds.

Using digital board games for genuine communication in EFL classrooms

EFL learners in Taiwan have a low-level communication ability because many learners are still not provided opportunities to use language for genuine communication in classrooms and receive insufficient language input due to the environment. This study examines the use of digital board game language learning set in a task-collaborative platform, digital learning playground, designed for classroom learning. This study investigates whether communicative skills and intrinsic motivation could be improved by seeing relevant context and receiving adequate practice through gaming. Ninety-six high school Taiwanese students (n = 96), who were randomly assigned to an ordinary instruction group, a board game language-learning group, or a digital board game language-learning group, engaged in a 50-min English class. Analysis of covariance was used for comparing learning performance through a speaking test between the three groups. A modified intrinsic motivation inventory was conducted to assess learners’ perceptions of learning experience and an interview was held for details. The quantitative data presents a higher learning performance for the instruction set at digital learning playground. The qualitative data confirms computerized simulation adapted from board game entails context-relevant immersion, encouraging communication and efficient game instruction management for EFL language learning.

The Development of a Learning Model Using Augmented Reality in a Digital Learning Playground

The Development of a Learning Model Using Augmented Reality in a Digital Learning Playground

Digital Learning Playground: supporting authentic learning experiences in the classroom

This study proposes a platform to provide a near-authentic environment, context, and situation for task-based learning. The platform includes two projection screens (a vertical and a horizontal screen) combined for situated or authentic learning. The horizontal screen extends the vertical screen scene to form a space for learning activities and performance. The platform creates learning situations using robots as surrogates of students to accomplish real-life tasks. Kolb's four-stage experiential learning cyclical model was adopted in the learning design. A simple practice was developed to examine the effect on teaching children English as a foreign language. The results reveal that children could engage deeply and feel more enjoyment using the system. Moreover, as surrogates for students to imagine that they are accomplishing real-life missions, robots could be a vital element of authentic learning in future classrooms.

Analysis on the feasibility of introducing digital board game into classroom teaching – from teachers’ perspective

An educational board game module integrating with textbook materials was introduced to current teachers. This module served as a teaching aid that was equipped with as set of educational equipment-Digital Learning Playground. The aim of the study was to investigate the feasibility of adding situated interaction with a board game structure into ordinary school settings.

Constructing a Digital Authentic Learning Playground by a Mixed Reality Platform and a Robot

In this paper, we introduce a learning playground in classroom implementation. Learning Playground is an interactive stage that learning content can be developed into an authentic, task-oriented scenario. Students can acquire knowledge by experiential learning in Learning Playground. Within current technical supports, we apply mixed reality to create a contextual learning platform and place a physical character, a robot, to connect learners and the virtual world. Referring to the experiment, we see learners’ motivations, involvement, pleasure and learning effectiveness increase, and they show their strong preference interacting with a robot with social emotions in the learning process.

The acquisition process of children's game songs during peer teaching: A semi-structured experiment with pre-school children

A semi-structured experiment was conducted to identify children's acquisition processes when learning playground game songs. Participants in the study were 20 pairs of children aged 4, 5, and 6 years, with each pair consisting of a younger child-learner and a senior child-teacher. The pairs were divided into two groups; Group 1 was observed by a researcher and a video-recorder, while Group 2 was observed using only a video-recorder. All child-teachers were well-acquainted with how to play the games, however the games were unfamiliar to the child-learners. Results suggest that child-teachers change their strategy of teaching depending on the conditions of instruction. Child-teachers in Group 1 used a variety of strategies including: demonstrating; playing and singing with the learner; slowing down; and, instructing. In contrast, child-teachers in Group 2: demonstrated; frequently played with the learner; sang alone; and, increased the tempo and rate of repetition even though the child-learners did not understand. In Group 1 over 50% of the time was devoted to demonstration by child-teachers, 40% to children playing together, and 5% to dialogue. In Group 2, over 90% of the time was devoted to the children playing together, and approximately 10% to demonstration by child-teachers. The article suggests that this latter instruction mode is not only a common feature of child-teachers' teaching in Group 2, it is also reflective of the teaching strategies of the masters of Japanese traditional music.