This project was created to provide teachers with a model multimedia project that demonstrates the use of multimedia as both a presentation tool and an archival instrument. It provides teachers with a simple guide to help them teach students how to use multimedia as a productivity tool in the classroom. This outline gives a step by step format that guides teachers and students through the development and presentation process. In addition, an evaluation rubric is provided that offers teachers a concise means to monitor student learning.

Accompanied by a 3.5-inch floppy disk, kept in Pfau Library Thesis Storage.

This project describes the outline for an effective procedure for a backwards design approach as it relates to a technology integrated unit of study.

This project will address the issues concerning the benefits of distance learning, a growing area in our education system today. Distance learning takes place when the teacher and students are separated, and technology is used to bridge the instructional gap.

The availability and sophistication of visual display images, such as simulations, for use in science classrooms has increased exponentially however, it can be difficult for teachers to use these images to encourage and engage active student thinking. There is a need to describe flexible discussion strategies that use visual media to engage active thinking. This mixed methods study analyzes teacher behavior in lessons using visual media about the particulate model of matter that were taught by three experienced middle school teachers. Each teacher taught one half of their students with lessons using static overheads and taught the other half with lessons using a projected dynamic simulation. The quantitative analysis of pre-post data found significant gain differences between the two image mode conditions, suggesting that the students who were assigned to the simulation condition learned more than students who were assigned to the overhead condition. Open coding was used to identify a set of eight image-based teaching strategies that teachers were using with visual displays. Fixed codes for this set of image-based discussion strategies were then developed and used to analyze video and transcripts of whole class discussions from 12 lessons. The image-based discussion strategies were refined over time in a set of three in-depth 2x2 comparative case studies of two teachers teaching one lesson topic with two image display modes. The comparative case study data suggest that the simulation mode may have offered greater affordances than the overhead mode for planning and enacting discussions. The 12 discussions were also coded for overall teacher student interaction patterns, such as presentation, IRE, and IRF. When teachers moved during a lesson from using no image to using either image mode, some teachers were observed asking more questions when the image was displayed while others asked many fewer questions. The changes in teacher student interaction patterns suggest that teachers vary on whether they consider the displayed image as a "tool-for-telling" and a "tool-for-asking." The study attempts to provide new descriptions of strategies teachers use to orchestrate image-based discussions designed to promote student engagement and reasoning in lessons with conceptual goals.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This thesis proposes that it is possible to create an adjunct to traditional instructor-led training that will reduce training time and costs and at the same time improve performance using commercial off-theshelf (COTS) software. Motivated by the lessons learned following the attack on the USS Cole on October 12, 2000 in which 17 sailors were killed and 42 were wounded, we created a simulator using readily available software in minimal time with zero funding and tested it against small sample sizes of eventual recipients of the training. The simulator, as part of a blended learning solution, was shown to be as effective as traditional instructor-based learning but was conceived at a fraction of the cost and with a significant reduction in total training time. Both of these factors are increasingly being valued in today's reality of increased operational tempo and reduced resources. / Lieutenant, United States Naval Reserve

O Sistema Brasileiro de TV Digital (SBTVD), adotado como padrão de TV Digital no Brasil, traz consigo a alta resolução de imagens, mais canais, a transmissão para receptores móveis e a promessa de interatividade. Concomitantemente à sua implantação, vemos o crescimento da base de usuários do serviço móvel pessoal, assim como um aumento substancial dos usuários de redes sociais e da internet acessando mídias como TV, música, publicações e conteúdo gerado por usuários. As mídias digitais interativas criaram uma demanda pelo design de interfaces facilitadoras da interação entre máquinas, usuários e o acesso, busca e distribuição de conteúdo midiático. Designers gráficos antes dedicados a mídias específicas como a TV, cinema e publicações impressas têm migrado para plataformas digitais, contribuindo para o design de mundos virtuais e a interação homem-computador. Com a convergência da TV Digital com outras mídias, designers de interfaces devem considerar a ubiquidade de dispositivos móveis inteligentes presentes no mesmo ambiente da TV, criando assim uma experiência em que os usuários podem interagir com múltiplas telas e plataformas. É cada vez mais comum celulares e outros aparelhos portáteis estarem conectados à internet, e que podem servir como canal de retorno e tela secundária, expandindo a interface do usuário e facilitando a interação com a TV. Diversos motivos como a ausência de um canal de retorno e a disponibilidade limitada do middleware Ginga em conversores e receptores de TV Digital têm atrasado o lançamento de serviços interativos para o SBTVD. Ao transferir o paradigma da interatividade de um modelo de distribuição vertical para um ambiente conectado, no qual usuários e telespectadores podem compartilhar sua experiência em múltiplas telas e dispositivos, é possível conceber uma nova forma de interação com a TV Digital. Esta tese pesquisa avanços no design de interfaces, tecnologia da TV Digital e novas mídias de modo a subsidiar o design de experiência do usuário da TV Digital. Partindo do conteúdo audiovisual e digital da Copa do Mundo de 2010, propõe-se o design de uma interface que integra um smartphone com um receptor de TV Digital como síntese de um modelo de interação com a TV para a Copa de 2014. / While Brazil has adopted SBTVD as its Digital Television standard, providing higher resolution, multiple channel feeds, mobile television and the promise of interactivity, there has been an explosive growth of the cell phone user base, as well as a dramatic increase in the usage of social networks and services on the internet that provide access to digital media such as TV, music, publishing and user generated content. The emergence of digital media has created a demand for the design of humancomputer interfaces allowing the interaction between users, searching, publishing and retrieving media content. Graphic designers once working on specific medias such as print, film and television have migrated to digital platforms becoming more and more involved in the design of virtual worlds and human computer interaction. As Digital TV converges with other media, user interface designers should consider the ubiquity of digital devices in the same room as an HDTV receiver, creating an experience where users can fluidly interact with multiple platforms and screens. Increasingly smartphones and other devices are connected to the internet, thus providing both a data return path and a secondary display that can extend the user interface enhancing the interaction with the TV. For several reasons, such as the lack of a return path and limited availability of Ginga middleware in converter boxes and digital sets, the launch of Interactive TV services has had a slow start in Brazil. By shifting the paradigm of interactivity from a vertical distribution model to a connected environment where users and viewers can share their experiences using multiple screens and devices, it is possible to design a new way to experience and interact with Digital TV. This thesis researches developments in interface design, digital TV technology and new media in order to subsidize the design of an interactive TV user experience. Drawing on audiovisual media and interactive content of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the design of a user interface that integrates a smartphone with a DTV Receiver proposes a DTV interaction model for the 2014 World Cup.

Nos últimos anos observa-se um intenso debate acerca da transição da TV analógica para a TV digital, acompanhada pela incorporação de inúmeras inovações, dentre as quais destacamos a interatividade, que abre uma nova modalidade para este meio de comunicação, a TV interativa. Os desafios de pesquisa e desenvolvimento em TV interativa são amplos e ainda não totalmente investigados. Em particular, a questão da consistência de interfaces com usuário se apresenta como um tópico relevante e pouco explorado na literatura. Esta dissertação investiga a questão da consistência da interface com o usuário para a TV interativa, considerando seus aspectos teóricos e de implementação. Para tanto investigamos na literatura de Interfaces Humano-Computador a questão da consistência e suas abordagens. Considerando que a consistência é uma característica relativa a um modelo, buscamos identificar modelos de interfaces de TV interativa que sejam exemplos de boas práticas a serem seguidas. A metodologia proposta e utilizada é composta por cinco etapas, a saber: modelagem do usuário, análise de tarefas, diretrizes gerais de interface, análise comparativa de plataformas e coordenação da interface. As três primeiras etapas geram recomendações enquanto que a etapa de análise comparativa gera referências. Utilizando estes dois subsídios a etapa de coordenação da interface objetiva elencar exemplos de interfaces que possam se tornar modelos, esta etapa também verifica a consistência interna do modelo proposto e elabora alternativas no caso das soluções encontradas não serem satisfatórias. No âmbito desta metodologia realizamos extensas avaliações experimentais, dentre as quais destacamos a proposta de quatro modelos de usuário (Torcedor Antenado, Mãe Ocupada, Meia Idade com Ajuda e Torcedor com Baixa Alfabetização), uma análise contextual de tarefas envolvendo dois dos quatro modelos de usuário propostos, bem como uma extensa análise comparativa entre sete plataformas de TV. Este trabalho resultou numa proposta integrada de interface que abrange três aspectos: um mapa de navegação, um conjunto mínimo de teclas para o controle remoto e um modelo de navegação. O mapa de navegação apresenta a taxonomia do sistema. O conjunto mínimo de teclas compreende os recursos mínimos que devem estar universalmente disponíveis ao usuário. O modelo de navegação apresenta uma forma consistente e extensível de navegação para ser utilizada em aplicativos de TV interativa. / In the past few years there has been an intense debate about the transition from analog to digital Television, with the acquisition of many innovations. Of particular interest to this study is the interactivity, which opens a new modality for this medium, the interactive TV. The challenges posed by research and development in interactive TV are ample and not fully investigated. In particular, the question of user interface consistency presents itself as a relevant topic, which is little explored in the literature. This work investigates the question of user interface consistency for interactive TV, taking into account it\'s theoretical and implementation implications. The question of consistency and its approaches was reviewed in the literature of Human-Computer Interfaces. Considering that consistency is a characteristic relative to a model, we tried to identify models of interactive TV interfaces, which are examples of best practices to be followed. The methodology proposed and utilized has five steps: user modeling, task analysis, interface guidelines, platform comparative analysis and interface coordination. The first three steps generate recommendations while the comparative analysis generates references. Using these two products the interface coordination tries to determine examples of interfaces, which can become models, this step also verifies the internal consistency of the proposed model and elaborates alternatives if the found solutions are not satisfactory. Using this methodology a large experimental evaluation was performed. Of special interest is the proposition of four user models, a contextual task analysis of two of the user models as well as an extensive comparative analysis between seven TV platforms. The result of this work is the proposition of an integrated interface, which focuses on three aspects: the navigation map, the minimum remote and a navigation model. The navigation map is the taxonomy of the system. The minimum remote is a group of keys that should be universally available to the user. The navigation model presents a consistent and extensible mechanism for navigation in interactive TV applications.

With the exponential increase of Internet usage and the embedding of multimedia content on the Web, some of the Internet resources remain inaccessible for people with disabilities. Particularly, people who are deaf or Hard of Hearing (HOH) experience inaccessible Web sites due to a lack of Closed Captioning (CC) for multimedia content on the Web, no sign language equivalents for the content on the Web, and an insufficient evaluation framework for determining if a Web page is accessible to the Hearing Impaired community. Several opportunities for accessing content needed to be rectified in order for the Hearing Impaired community to access the full benefits of the information repository on the Internet. The research contributions of this thesis are to resolve some of the Web accessibility problems being faced by the Hearing Impaired community. These objectives are to create an automated CC for the Web for multimedia content, to embed sign language equivalent for content available on the Web, to create a framework to evaluate Web accessibility for the Hearing Impaired community, and to create a social network for the Deaf community. To demonstrate the feasibility of fulfilling the above listed objectives several prototypes were implemented. These prototypes have been used in real life scenarios in order to have an objective evaluation of the proposed framework. Further, the implemented prototypes have had an impact to both the academic community and to the industry. / by Simone Pasmore. / Signature page unsigned. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Notre propos est la conception assistée par ordinateur des scénarios comprenant des contenus multimédia qui interagissent avec les actions extérieures, notamment celles de l’interprète (e.g., spectacles vivants, installations muséales interactives et jeux vidéo). Le contenu multimédia est structuré dans un ordre spatial et temporel selon les exigences de l’auteur. Par conséquent, la complexité potentiellement élevée de ces scénarios nécessite des langages de spécification adéquats pour leur complète description et vérification.Partitions Interactives est un formalisme qui a été proposé comme un modèle pour la composition et l’exécution des scénarios multimédias interactifs. En outre, un séquenceur inter-médias, appelé ISCORE,a été élaboré à partir de la sémantique Petri net proposée par ce formalisme. Au cours des dernières années, I-SCORE a été utilisé avec succès pour la composition et l’exécution des spectacles et des expositions interactives. Néanmoins, ces applications et les applications émergentes telles queles jeux vidéo et les installations muséales interactives, de plus en plus exigent deux caractéristiques que la version stable actuelle de I-SCORE ainsi que son modèle sous-jacent ne supportent pas : (1)des structures de contrôle flexibles comme des conditionnelles et des boucles ; et (2) des mécanismes pour la vérification automatique de scénarios.Dans cette thèse, nous présentons deux modèles formels pour la composition et la vérification automatique de scénarios interactifs multimédia avec des choix interactifs, i.e., des scénarios où l’interprète ou le système peut prendre des décisions au sujet de leur état d’exécution avec un certain degré de liberté définie par le compositeur.Dans notre première approche, nous définissons un nouveau langage de programmation appelé REACTIVEIS dont les programmes sont définis comme des arbres représentant l’aspect hiérarchique des scénarios interactifs et dont les noeuds contiennent les conditions nécessaires pour démarrer et arrêter les objets temporels (TOS). En outre, nous définissons une sémantique opérationnelle basé sur des arbres marqués, contenant dans leurs noeuds, les informations sur le début et la fin de chaque TO. Nous définissons également une interprétation déclarative de REACTIVEIS comme formules de la logique linéaire intuitionniste avec sous exponentiels (SELL). Nous montrons que cette interprétation est adéquate : les dérivations dans la logique correspondent à des traces du programme et vice-versa.Dans notre deuxième approche, nous présentons un système basé sur des Automates Temporisés.Dans le système proposé, nous modélisons des scénarios interactifs comme un réseau d’automates temporisés et les étendons avec des points interactifs gardés par des conditions, permettant ainsi la spécification de comportements avec branchements. Par ailleurs, nous profitons des outils matures et efficaces pour simuler et vérifier automatiquement des scénarios modélisés comme des automates temporisés. Dans notre système, les scénarios peuvent être synthétisés dans un matériel reconfigurable afin de fournir une faible latence et l’exécution en temps réel.Dans cette thèse, nous explorons également une nouvelle façon de définir et mettre en oeuvre des scénarios interactifs, visant à un modèle plus dynamique en utilisant le langage réactif REACTIVEML.Enfin, nous présentons une extension des scénarios interactifs utilisant des réseaux de Petri colorés(CPN) qui vise à traiter des données complexes, en particulier, les données statiques et dynamiques de flux audio. / Interactive multimedia deals with the computer-based design of scenarios consisting of multimediacontent that interacts with external actions and those of the performer (e.g., multimedialive-performance arts, interactive museum installations, and video games). The multimedia content is structured in a spatial and temporal order according to the author’s requirements. Therefore, thepotentially high complexity of these scenarios requires adequate specification languages for theircomplete description and verification.Interactive scores is a formalism which has been proposed as a model for composing and performing interactive multimedia scenarios. In addition, an inter-media sequencer, called I-SCORE, hasbeen developed following the Petri Net semantics proposed by this formalism. During the last years,I-SCORE has been used successfully for the composition and performance of live performances and interactive exhibitions. Nevertheless, these applications and emergent applications such as videogames and interactive museum installations, increasingly demand two features that the current stable version of I-SCORE as well as its underlying model do not support: (1) flexible control structures such as conditionals and loops; and (2) mechanisms for the automatic verification of scenarios.In this dissertation we present two formal models for composition and automatic verification of multimedia interactive scenarios with interactive choices, i.e., scenarios where the performer or thesystem can take decisions about their execution state with a certain degree of freedom defined bythe composer.In our first approach, we define a novel programming language called REACTIVEIS. This language extends the full capacity of temporal organization of interactive scenarios by allowing the composerto use a defined logical system for the specification of the starting and stopping conditions of temporal objects (TOs). REACTIVEIS programs are formally defined as tree-like structures representing the hierarchical aspect of interactive scenarios and whose nodes contain the conditions needed to startand stop the TOs. Moreover, we define an operational semantics based on labeled trees, containing in their nodes, the information about the start and stop times of each TO.We show that this operational semantics offers an intuitive yet precise description of the behavior of interactive scenarios.We also endowed REACTIVEIS with a declarative interpretation as formulas in Intuitionistic LinearLogic with Subexponentials (SELL). We shall show that such interpretation is adequate: derivations in the logic correspond to traces of the program and vice-versa. Hence, we can use all the meta-theory of Intuitionistic Linear Logic (ILL) to reason about interactive scenarios and develop tools for theverification and analysis of interactive scenarios.In our second approach, we present a Timed Automata (TA) based framework. In the proposed framework, we model interactive scenarios as a network of timed automata and extend them with interactive points (IPs) guarded by conditions, thus allowing for the specification of branching behaviors.Moreover, we take advantage of the mature and efficient tools for TA to simulate and automatically verify scenarios. In our framework, scenarios can be synthesized into a reconfigurable hardware in order to provide a low-latency and real-time execution by taking advantage of the physical parallelism,low-latency, and high-reliability of these devices. Furthermore, we implemented a tool to systematically construct bottom-up TA models from the composition environment of I-SCORE. Doing that, we provide a friendly and specialized environment for composing and automatic verification of interactive scenarios. Finally, we present an extension of interactive scenarios using Colored Petri Nets (CPNs) thataims to handle complex data, in particular, dynamic and static data audio streams. [...]