A Terapia ABA é a forma de tratar indivíduos autistas que tem apresentado melhores resultados. O arranjo de ensino mais utilizado é a tentativa discreta, que tem sido ensinada a profissionais por meio do Behavioral Skills Training, um pacote de ensino presencial. O ensino computadorizado tem sido estudado como uma alternativa por ser mais econômico. O objetivo do presente estudo foi investigar o efeito de diferentes componentes de um tutorial computadorizado, ECoTed, sobre o desempenho dos participantes na realização de tentativas discretas de emparelhamento de identidade e imitação motora. Foram realizados três experimentos. No Experimento I, seis estudantes de Psicologia foram submetidos a um tutorial com quatro condições experimentais, ou tipos de ensino: ensino teórico, vídeo-modelação, observação de correção, identificação de erros. Após a Linha de Base, os participantes passaram por ensino teórico. Depois, foram divididos em três Grupos; cada Grupo passou pelas condições experimentais restantes em ordens diferentes. Se no teste realizado após cada condição o participante atingisse o critério de 100% de acertos, ia para o follow up; caso não cumprisse o critério após o tutorial, era ensinado presencialmente. Os dados foram coletados com o participante realizando tentativas discretas com um ator. Foi realizado um delineamento de linha de base múltipla em cada Grupo. A imitação motora não era ensinada; no entanto, antes de cada teste os participantes estudavam folhas-resumo que listavam os passos de realização dos dois tipos de tentativas discretas. Cinco participantes obtiveram mais de 90% de acertos após ensino teórico e 100% de acertos nos dois tipos de tentativa discreta após as outras condições. Os resultados foram mantidos no follow up. Na literatura, os participantes atingiam 90% de acertos após vídeo-modelação; no presente experimento alcançaram esses resultados apenas com ensino teórico. Para verificar se a escolaridade foi relevante nos resultados, o Experimento II foi realizado. Um participante não universitário e não formado passou pelas condições experimentais na mesma ordem do Grupo 1 do Experimento I. Seus resultados foram semelhantes aos dos participantes do primeiro experimento. O Experimento III foi realizado para investigar a efetividade das animações do ensino teórico. Dois participantes foram submetidos às seguintes condições: ensino teórico sem animações, ensino teórico e vídeo-modelação. Ambos os participantes obtiveram 80% de acertos em emparelhamento de identidade após o ensino sem animações, indicando que esta variável não foi relevante. Oito dos nove participantes dos três experimentos aprenderam a realizar os dois tipos de tentativas discretas após o ECoTed, sugerindo sua efetividade. Sendo que esses participantes obtiveram mais de 80% de acertos após ensino teórico, não foi possível avaliar a efetividade dos outros tipos de ensino. Os resultados após ensino teórico podem estar ligados a uma possível menor exigência ao comportamento dos participantes neste experimento em relação aos demais. A organização do ensino teórico, em que os conceitos eram definidos simultaneamente à demonstração de sua aplicação, pode ter produzido os resultados obtidos. Novos estudos podem investigar a efetividade do ECoTed com pais de crianças autistas e o desempenho dos participantes ao ensinarem diretamente crianças autistas / ABA Therapy is the treatment for autistic people that has been presenting the best results. The most commonly used teaching arrangement is the discrete trial, which has been taught to professionals through the Behavioral Skills Training, a teacher-dependent package. Computer-based teaching has been studied as an alternative because it is more affordable. The goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of different components of a computer-based tutorial, ECoTed, on the performance of participants in the implementation of discrete trials of identity matching and motor imitation. Three experiments were conducted. In Experiment I, six Psychology students were exposed to a tutorial with four experimental conditions, or kinds of teaching: theoretical teaching, video-modeling, observation of corrections and error identification. After the baseline, the participants went through theoretical teaching. Then, they were divided in three groups; each of them went through the remaining conditions in different orders. If the participant fulfilled the 100% correct responses criterion in any of the tests that took place after each condition, s/he was conducted to the follow up phase; if the criterion was not reached after the tutorial, the participant was directly taught by the experimenter. All the data were collected in a setting in which the participant implemented discrete trials with an actor. A multiple baseline design was used in each group. Motor imitation was not taught; however, before each test the participants were allowed to study a summary sheet, which listed all the steps for the implementation of both kinds of the discrete trials. Five participants had more than 90% correct responses after theoretical teaching and 100% correct responses after the other experimental conditions. Results were similar in the follow up. In other studies, participants reached 90% of correct responses after having been through video-modeling; in the present study, participants reached that result after theoretical teaching only. In order to verify if the education level was relevant, Experiment II was conducted. A non-university and non-graduate participant went through the same conditions as the participants from Group 1 of Experiment I. His results were similar to the performance of the participants of the first experiment. Experiment III was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of of theoretical teaching animations. Two participants were exposed to the following conditions: theoretical teaching without animation, theoretical teaching and video-modeling. Both participants had more than 80% correct responses in the identity matching task after theoretical teaching without animation; which suggests that such variable was not relevant. Eight of nine participants of the three experiments learned how to implement both kinds of discrete trials after the ECoTed, which suggests its effectiveness. Given that these participants had more than 80% correct responses after the theoretical teaching, it was not possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the other kinds of teaching. The results after theoretical teaching can be linked to a lower demand on the behavior of participants in comparison to other studies. Theoretical teaching organization, in which the concepts were defined while its application was shown, might have produced the results. New studies might investigate the effectiveness of ECoTed with parents of autistic children and the performance of participants when teaching autistic children

Este trabalho é um estudo de viabilidade e desenvolvimento de interface baseada em mundo virtual tridimensional para ambientes de aprendizagem. As principais características desta interface são: a) construída em plataforma aberta (OpenSim) compatível com a plataforma proprietária do Second LifeTM (SL); b) mapeamento automático e interoperabilidade entre o LMS (Learning Management System) convencional bidimensional com o mundo virtual tridimensional, permitindo aos usuários acessarem os recursos indistintamente da interface 2D ou 3D. Este estudo teve como preceitos que educadores e designers instrucionais não precisem se preocupar em aprender um novo ambiente, podendo continuar a utilizar o LMS convencional, enquanto que os estudantes interessados podem entrar e participar das atividades on-line, usando essa nova interface. O trabalho deu continuidade ao projeto Ae-3D desenvolvido pelo Interlab-USP, dentro do Programa Tecnologia da Informação no Desenvolvimento da Internet Avançada - Aprendizado Eletrônico (Tidia-Ae) da FAPESP, substituindo-se o SL pela plataforma OpenSim. Como prova de conceito foram implementadas as seguintes funcionalidades/recursos no ambiente OpenSim: login, controle de disciplinas, avisos e chat 3D. / This work is an study of viability and development analysis to apply 3D virtual worlds as alternative access interface for virtual learning environments. The main features of this interface are: a) built on opensource platform (OpenSim) compatible with the proprietary platform of Second LifeTM (SL); b) automatic mapping and interoperability between the conventional Learning Management System (LMS) with bidimensional interface and the 3D virtual world, allowing users access to resources on either ways, through 2D or 3D interface. This study has as precepts that instructional designers and educators would not need to learn to manipulate a new environment and can continue using the conventional LMS, while interested students can enter into the online classes through the 3D Interface. The research described here presents itself as a continuation of Ae-3D project, developed into the program from FAPESP called \"Tecnologia da Informação no Desenvolvimento da Internet Avançada - Aprendizado Eletrônico (Tidia-Ae)\", replacing the SL with the OpenSim platform. A software module was implemented as proof of concept, making available the following functionalities/resources within the OpenSim environment: login, disciplines control, announcements and 3D Chat.

Some disciplines are inherently complex and challenging to learn. This research attempts to design an instructional strategy for CBL systems to simplify learning certain complex domains. Firstly, problem transformation, a constructionist instructional technique, is used to promote active learning by encouraging students to construct more complex artefacts based on less complex ones. Scaffolding is used at the initial learning stages to alleviate the difficulty associated with complex transformation processes. The proposed instructional strategy brings various techniques together to enhance the learning experience. A functional prototype is implemented with Object-Z as the exemplar subject. Both objective and subjective evaluations using the prototype indicate that the proposed CBL system has a statistically significant impact on learning a complex domain. CBL systems include Learner models to provide adaptable support tailored to individual learners. Bayesian theory is used in general to manage uncertainty in Learner models. In this research, a fuzzy logic based locally intelligent Learner model is utilized. The fuzzy model is simple to design and implement, and easy to understand and explain, as well as efficient. Bayesian theory is used to complement the fuzzy model. Evaluation shows that the accuracy of the proposed Learner model is statistically significant. Further, opening Learner model reduces uncertainty, and the fuzzy rules are simple and resemble human reasoning processes. Therefore, it is argued that opening a fuzzy Learner model is both easy and effective. Scaffolding requires formative assessments. In this research, a confidence based multiple test marking scheme is proposed as traditional schemes are not suitable for measuring partial knowledge. Subjective evaluation confirms that the proposed schema is effective. Finally, a step-by-step methodology to transform simple UML class diagrams to Object-Z schemas is designed in order to implement problem transformation. This methodology could be extended to implement a semi-automated translation system for UML to Object Models.

Constructivism is a learning theory that states that people learn by actively constructing their own knowledge, based on prior knowledge. Many different perspectives exist on constructivist pedagogical principles and on how to apply them to instructional design. It is thus not only difficult to evaluate the conformity of existing learning systems with constructivist principles, it is also quite hard to ensure that a new learning system being designed will ultimately facilitate and stimulate constructivist learning. A critical characteristic often mentioned in learning systems is adaptability. That is, the ability to provide a learning experience that is continuously tailored to the needs of the individual learner. The present research aims to help designing truly constructivist and adaptive learning systems. For that purpose, it is necessary to clarify what constructivism entails in an operational manner: I propose a set of criteria for certain aspects of constructivism and use it both as guidelines for designing learning systems and for evaluating the conformity of learning systems with these constructivist principles. One facet often mentioned as being strongly relevant to constructivism is cognitive flexibility, meaning the ability to spontaneously restructure one's knowledge, in many ways, in adaptive response to radically changing situational demands. The claim I make in the present thesis is that the operational approach I proposed makes the design and use of adaptive learning environments supporting cognitive flexibility straightforward and effective. More specifically, the dissertation makes four main contributions to the interdisciplinary field of learning and e-Learning technology. Firstly, the thesis proposes operational criteria for cognitive flexibility and presents both justifications and examples of their use. The set of criteria may be used in different instructional situations for designing and evaluating conditions of learning. Secondly, on the basis of the criteria for cognitive flexibility, the thesis proposes an operational instructional design process and shows an example of its use. The process may also be applied in a variety of instructional situations for the design and use of learning systems fostering cognitive flexibility. Thirdly, the thesis introduces a new, open-source, domain-independent, Web-based adaptive e-Learning platform, named COFALE, and illustrates an example of its use. The platform may be used for designing adaptive learning systems supporting cognitive flexibility in various domains. And fourthly, the thesis reports on a preliminary evaluation of the example handled by COFALE with actual learners. The study provides a certain number of encouraging results for fostering cognitive flexibility by means of ICT-based learning conditions.

This thesis presents work in the area of computer-based speech therapy using different types of visual feedback to replace the auditory feedback channel. The study includes diagnostic assessment methods prior to therapy, type of therapy design, and type of visual feedback for different users during different stages of therapy for increasing the efficiency. The thesis focuses on individual computer-based speech therapy (CBST) for profoundly hearing-impaired children as well as for computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) for teaching and training the prosody of a second language. Children who are born with a profound hearing loss have no acoustic speech target to imi¬tate and compare their own production with. Therefore, they develop no spontaneous speech but have to learn speech through vision, tactile sensation and, if possible, residual hear¬ing. They have to rely on the limited visibility of phonetic features in learning oral speech and on orosensory-motor control in maintaining speech movements. These children constitute a heterogeneous group needing an individualized speech therapy. This is because their possibilities to communicate with speech depend not only on the amount of hearing, as measured by pure-tone audiometry, but also on the quality of the hearing sensa¬tion and the use the children through training are able to make of their functional hearing for speech. Adult second language learners, on the other hand, have difficulties in perceiving the phonetics and prosody of a second language through audition, not because of a hearing loss but because they are not able to hear new sound contrasts because of interference with their native language. The thesis presents an overview of reports made concerning speech communication and profound hearing impairment such as studies about residual hearing for speech processing, effects of speech input limitations on speech production, interaction between individual deviations and speech intelligibility, and speech assessment methods of phonetic realizations of phonological systems. Finally, through several clinical evaluation studies of three Swedish computer-based therapy systems, concerning functionality, efficiency, types of visual feedback, therapy design, and practical usability for different users, important recommendations are specified for future developments.

During the last decade new attention has been paid to reading fluency. One reason might be that training studies often have failed to provide growth in reading rate in spite of the fact that the accuracy problem was remediated. Recent research has also indicated that, in languages with a consistent mapping between graphemes and phonemes, automatization of decoding processes are more difficult to reach than aquiring accurate decoding skills. Several studies have found that computer-based flashcard training seems to be a productive way to develop reading fluency. The aims of this thesis are partly to replicate some of the previous studies with time pressured exposure and partly to examine whether the condition with time pressure is more effective than the flashcard condition with fixed exposure duration. In the time pressure condition, the exposure duration was varied as a function of accuracy. This thesis reports one main study and two case studies. The participants in the main study were 17 males and 11 females between the ages of 11 and 17. All of them were poor readers, scoring below the 11th percentile on standardized reading test for their age group. The two participants of the first case study were the poorest readers of all. Their decoding strategies differed greatly. The younger of them, a slow reader in the fourth grade, can be seen as “a speller” with most impairment in the orthographic processing and the older, a quick reader in the fifth grade, can be seen as “a guesser” with most impairment in the phonological processing. The four participants in the second case study were moderately poor readers between the ages of 12 and 14. Each participant practiced the two different conditions of the computer-based flashcard training with spelling response in sessions about twenty minutes long twice to three times a week during three to four months. Teacher-controlled tuition was only given in some pre-sessions. According to the online results, all participants in both of the exposure conditions were capable of keeping the accuracy at a high level, i.e. fluent reading was expected to be developed. A battery of silent and oral reading tests and spelling-to-dictation tests was used in pre-, middle- and posttest. Both accuracy and rate were measured in reading. Except for “the speller” in the first case study, significant improvements were found on all tests for both conditions. The best progress was during the first training period independent of condition. Positive effects were found for both trained and untrained material and for words and pseudo-words. The reading progress has in general been better than the average student usually develops during the same time. The students reported the time pressured condition as being more effective and motivating but no significant difference was found between the two conditions in the pre- to posttests.

The report begins with a general inventory of possible technical faults in a hydropower plant and of possible fault indicating measurements. Then an investigation is made concerning a few different faults. Based on this investigation a choice on seal box condition and water leakage is made as problem for a more thorough examination, in which it is concluded that the turbine water leakage is larger when the turbine is put into operation. The examination ultimately results in a computer alarm for faults related to the seal box. Finally a few things are mentioned about flow measurement and pressure measurement in relation to the project as a whole. / Rapporten inleds med en övergripande sammanställning av möjliga tekniska fel i en vattenkraftstation och av möjliga felindikerande mätningar. Därefter görs en probleminventering av ett antal olika fel. Baserat på denna inventering väljes sedan tätningsboxkondition och läckvatten som problem för en mer ingående undersökning, vid vilken det konstateras att turbinvattenläckaget är större när turbinen är i drift. Undersökningen utmynnar sedan i ett datalarm för fel relaterade till tätningsboxar. Slutligen nämns något om flödesmätning och tryckmätning i relation till projektet i sin helhet.

This study investigated the examinees&rsquo / perceptions about an online assessment tool and an online assessment center. In this study, a computer literacy exam (Bilisim Seviye Tespit Sinavi, BSTS) was delivered in purposively designed environment, an online assessment center, at CEC, METU (Continuing Education Center, Middle East Technical University). The data were collected from 117 participants through the &ldquo / User evaluation questionnaire&rdquo / , in depth interviews with 43 examinees and 7 experts. 7 participants and the experts were interviewed individually while the rest 36 participants were interviewed in 6 focus groups (composed of 6 examinees). Descriptive statistics, frequency distributions and comments of participants and experts were used to express the results of the study. The results showed that the examinees perceived the online assessment tool and the online assessment center suitable for delivering online assessments. However, both participants and experts reported that a few changes could be done to the interface of online assessment tool. They also suggested that the computer literacy assessments be more authentic.

The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of two different methods of dynamic geometry based computer instruction on seventh grade students&rsquo / attitudes towards geometry, attitudes toward mathematic and technology and spatial abilities compared to traditional textbook based instruction and to get the students&rsquo / views related to the effects of computer based instruction on their learning. The sample consisted of 57 seventh grade students from a private elementary school in Kayseri. The study was conducted in the 2006-2007 academic year, lasting 14 lesson hours (two weeks). The data were collected through spatial ability test, mathematics and technology attitude scale, geometry attitude scale, and interviews. The quantitative analyses were carried out by using multivariate covariance analyses. The results revealed that two different methods of dynamic geometry based computer instruction didn&rsquo / t have a significangt effect on students&rsquo / spatial abilities compared to traditional textbook based instruction. The results also indicated that two different methods of dynamic geometry based instruction had a significant effect on students&rsquo / attitudes toward geometry, mathematics and technology compared to traditional textbook based instruction. The results of the interviews indicated that computers created a dynamic learning environment which supported students&rsquo / development and computers also helped students to explore mathematic in a far more meaningful way.

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