Engaging with virtual characters using a pictorial interaction language

Endraß, Birgit; Hall, Lynne; Hume, Colette; Tazzyman, Sarah; André, Elisabeth; Aylett, Ruth

doi:10.1145/2559206.2574804

“…To interact with MIXER, we were developing the Pictorial Interaction Language (PIL) an iPad application with the user dragging and dropping icons to create a dialogue with Tom [8,9]. At an early stage of PIL's development, we implemented two versions of MIXER for a comparative study between the PIL and a more traditional menu based approach.…”

Section: Initial Doubts About Sflsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Five Degrees of Happiness

Hall

¹

,

Hume

²

,

Tazzyman

³

2016

Proceedings of the the 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children

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This paper focuses on achieving optimal responses through supporting children's judgements, using Smiley Face Likert scales as a rating scale for quantitative questions in evaluations. It highlights the need to provide appropriate methods for children to communicate judgements, highlighting that the traditional Smiley Face Likert scale does not provide an appropriate method. The paper outlines a range of studies, identifying that to achieve differentiated data and full use of rating scales by children that faces with positive emotions should be used within Smiley Face Likert scales. The proposed rating method, the Five Degrees of Happiness Smiley Face Likert scale, was used in a largescale summative evaluation of a Serious Game resulting in variance within and between children, with all points of the scale used.

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“…MIXER (see figures 2, 3 and 4), is a Virtual Learning Environment populated by intelligent, affective and interactive characters targeted at 9-11 year old children, highlighting strategies and supporting the development of intercultural skills and competences. The Summative Evaluation of MIXER aimed to provide demonstrable evidence that experiential intercultural learning could be provided to children through the innovative technology, further detailed in (Aylett et al, 2014;Endrass, Hall, Hume, Tazzyman, & Andre, 2014), developed in the eCute project (www.ecute.eu).…”

Section: The Evaluand: Mixermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead their role is to interact with Tom, as an invisible friend and to support his play by responding to Tom's requests for advice on how to react and what to do at different stages of the game. The child interacts with Tom through a tablet using a Pictorial Interaction Language (Endrass, Hall, Hume, Tazzyman, Andre, et al, 2014), (see figure 4), providing children with access to over 70 graphics structured for use in sentences, enabling them to interact with Tom.…”

Section: The Evaluand: Mixermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The 3 workbooks and the CDF had been extensively piloted with users, with an initial workbook design piloted in the first year of the project. The Summative Evaluation had a large-scale pilot as the final rehearsal with results highlighting a significant flaw in our experience design through placing the discursive and qualitative activities at the end of the experience, rather than at the end of the interaction (Aylett et al, 2014). R&D input and discussions with teachers highlighted the need to change the experience design to reinforce intercultural learning soon after the MIXER interaction, rather than after the entire experience.…”

Section: Rehearsal and Refinementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Engaging Children in Interactive Application Evaluation

Hall¹,

Hume²,

Tazzyman³

2015

Enfance

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0

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Interactive applications designed specifically for children offer great potential for education and play. However, to ascertain that the aims of applications are achieved, child-centred evaluations must be conducted. The design of any evaluation with children requires significant consideration of potential problems with comprehension, cognitive ability, response biases and study attrition. Multidisciplinary R&D project evaluation requirements are often extensive, requiring an all-encompassing and prolonged evaluation design. Discontinuity between the highly engaging interaction experience and the multitude of measures that form the evaluation poses a major issue for the evaluation of interactive applications. In response, we have developed Transmedia Evaluation, a method that aims to maintain engagement throughout the evaluation process. In this paper, the Transmedia Evaluation process is explained and applied to evaluate a learning application for children, MIXER (Moderating Interactions for Cross Cultural Empathic Relationships). Children aged 9-11 (N = 117) used the MIXER application and completed an evaluation battery including pre-and posttest questionnaires, immediate learning assessment and qualitative evaluation. Using Transmedia Evaluation to develop the MIXER evaluation resulted in complete data-sets (100%) for quantitative data (by self-regulated completion) along with rich, high quality qualitative responses. Transmedia Evaluation transformed the evaluation, with children fully engaging in and enjoying their experience.

show abstract

Engaging Children in Interactive Application Evaluation

Hall¹,

Hume²,

Tazzyman³

2015

Enfance

Self Cite

4

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Interactive applications designed specifically for children offer great potential for education and play. However, to ascertain that the aims of applications are achieved, child-centred evaluations must be conducted. The design of any evaluation with children requires significant consideration of potential problems with comprehension, cognitive ability, response biases and study attrition. Multidisciplinary R&D project evaluation requirements are often extensive, requiring an all-encompassing and prolonged evaluation design. Discontinuity between the highly engaging interaction experience and the multitude of measures that form the evaluation poses a major issue for the evaluation of interactive applications. In response, we have developed Transmedia Evaluation, a method that aims to maintain engagement throughout the evaluation process. In this paper, the Transmedia Evaluation process is explained and applied to evaluate a learning application for children, MIXER (Moderating Interactions for Cross Cultural Empathic Relationships). Children aged 9-11 (N = 117) used the MIXER application and completed an evaluation battery including pre-and posttest questionnaires, immediate learning assessment and qualitative evaluation. Using Transmedia Evaluation to develop the MIXER evaluation resulted in complete data-sets (100%) for quantitative data (by self-regulated completion) along with rich, high quality qualitative responses. Transmedia Evaluation transformed the evaluation, with children fully engaging in and enjoying their experience.

show abstract

Engaging with virtual characters using a pictorial interaction language

Cited by 3 publications

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Five Degrees of Happiness

Five Degrees of Happiness

Engaging Children in Interactive Application Evaluation

Engaging Children in Interactive Application Evaluation

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