=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-280/paper-9
|storemode=property
|title=T-learning Approach: Enhancing Video with Active Elements
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-280/p04.pdf
|volume=Vol-280
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/ectel/OlsevicovaRM07
}}
==T-learning Approach: Enhancing Video with Active Elements==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-280/p04.pdf
T-learning Approach:
Enhancing Video with Active Elements
Kamila Olševičová1, Hana Rohrová1 and Jaroslava Mikulecká1
1
Department of Information Technologies, Faculty of Informatics and Management,
University of Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic
{ Kamila.Olsevicova ; Hana.Rohrova ; Jaroslava.Mikulecka } @ uhk.cz
Abstract. T-learning courses are an effective way of education, but their
creation is a time-consuming and expensive activity. We explain the process of
t-learning courses development as it was proposed in the scope of the ELU
Project. We suggest applying the combination of hyper-text on the basis of an
electronic programme guide for navigation in the t-course structure and a video
with active elements inside the particular lessons. The active elements of
different types can also accompany classic TV broadcasting, without the
ambition to achieve any predefined educational goals, but with the aim to make
TV viewers more active and provide them with additional context-relevant
information.
Keywords: t-learning, t-course, interactive digital television, user interaction
1 Introduction
Television (TV) is a familiar and accessible device for around 95% European
households. Most TV broadcasters have long experience with educational
programmes and numerous papers and analyses of effectiveness of TV based
instruction were published [5], [6]. Throughout TV history, there have been attempts
to add interactivity to educational television, but most experiments were short-lived,
because the technology was too costly for average consumers. According to Jensen
[4], after the big ambitious experiments with interactive TV systems in the mid-90s
which aimed at the full spectrum of interactive services and very advanced kinds of
interactivity, the tendency around the turn of and in the beginning of this millennium
has moved towards downscaling and low technologically-based experiments with
interactive TV. A new more realistic strategy develops simple services based on
existing technologies and only concentrates on more advanced solutions in connection
with the innovations of infrastructure, which will take place anyway.
The upcoming switchover, within which digital terrestrial broadcasting is planned
to replace analogue broadcasting in EU, implying the introduction of MHP-enabled
set-top-boxes will substantially increase the potential to bring interactive educational
public services into most of EU homes. Nevertheless, the majority of set-top boxes
nowadays available on the market is not equipped with the return channel or is
equipped with standard modem. If the return channel is not available, local
interactivity is supported by the set-top-box (with data transferred via broadcast
channel) and the proper pedagogical approach can help to minimize the technological
limitations. The pedagogical approach will thus be influenced not only by the target
group and by the topic to be learnt but also by the level of available interactivity,
which should optimally provide the viewers with the opportunity to interact with the
content, typically by answering quizzes, participating in opinion polls, voting for the
best song etc.
As mentioned above, the range of possibilities is limited by the technology, mainly
the unavailability of:
a) A broad return channel that is essential for the sending of user’s response,
b) The hard drives in set-top-boxes for enabling optional storage of the digital
content for later re-viewing.
The important advantage of the digital TV is that hundreds or thousands of
programmes can be offered in parallel, which means that personalized applications
can be offered to precisely defined user groups. With respect to education, this means
that it is possible to customize the delivered educational content according to the
needs of the learners of different age, learning styles, level of formal education or
personal interests. The most promising educational service delivered via current iDTV
seems to be non-formal or informal lifelong learning.
The project ELU [2] is focused on the development of t-learning methodologies,
the development of a technological framework, together with demonstrators and
prototype versions of t-learning courses. In this contribution, we propose two ways of
enhancing video stream with elements of interactivity – one is suggested as a pure t-
learning course building approach, the other one can increase the attractiveness of
current TV programs without focusing on any particular educational objectives.
2 T-course in the cube
A t-course is understood as a set of learning units delivered by digital television
broadcasting. For each learning unit certain educational objectives are defined and to
achieve them suitable educational methods are used. Each learning unit is composed
of sequences of learning events (elements). With respect to the level of the student’s
involvement in the learning process, these elements are either passive or active.
Active elements make the user interact, usually by answering questions or playing
games, and can be operated by using buttons on the remote control. Optionally, the
user’s success in activities can be compared with the results of other TV viewers.
During watching the instruction, the active elements work as a source of feedback or
motivation for the viewer: the correct answers assure the viewer that he/she has
understood the explanations well, while the open questions or humorous statements
simply attract the viewer’s attention. At the end of instruction, the multi-player
competitive game is supposed to be used. The game is derived from the well-known
models of TV shows such as Want to be a millionaire. The game statistics can be
gathered and maintained. The aggregated data can be presented to all viewers – e.g.
the hall of fame of the most successful players.
2
Technically, for navigation in the t-course structure, the hypertext document is
applicable. The document can be available from the Electronic Programme Guide
(EPG). At the introductory page of the t-course, the learner chooses the lesson.
3 Transforming the available videos into t-courses
In comparison with other educational media, the development of t-courses is certainly
an extremely time- and cost-consuming process where numerous specialists are
needed. Therefore, to minimize the costs, it is meaningful to reuse as much as
possible of the television content that is already available. Here it means to reuse
documentary films and video sequences from TV archives. For the given educational
objectives of the current course, the relevant videos can be identified and the t-course
can be built on them. (Digital libraries of multimedia objects equipped with metadata
records are great help.)
Typically, the documents about the nature or geography can be transformed in t-
courses simply by introducing active elements. It is necessary to extract short
instructional sequences, define active elements that correspond to these sequences and
then merge the active elements with the videos. The main advantage of this approach
is that it allows creating different customized t-courses based on the same video - for
example shorter, easier t-courses for elementary school children and advanced t-
courses for university students, or different language versions of the same t-course.
The limitation of the proposed approach is in the accessibility of suitable videos. In
this context, the BBC initiative called Creative Archive is interesting. The aim of this
initiative is to provide access to public service audio and video archives in such a way
as to allow the British public to find, share, watch, listen and re-use the archives for
their own creative endeavors [1].
Numerous good video programmes and movies have already been created for
general domains such as wild animals’ habits, gardening, sightseeing in world cities
etc. But the more specific themes such as higher mathematics or minor languages and
dialects have still not been covered by educational films and documents. Moreover,
certain problem domains (medicine, social affairs or computer technology) evolve so
quickly that one- or two-years old films are totally out-of-date.
4 Structure of active elements
As we explained, there are two reasons why to involve active elements in t-courses:
providing feedback to the learner and increasing the motivation of learners. The usage
of remote control instead of keyboard or position devices such as the mouse asks for
deeper analysis of the users’ typical behavior. It is necessary to learn about the
existing constraints that limit the design of the interface of t-learning application
(such as the size of fonts, layout of elements on the screen, the preferably used
buttons on remote control etc.). Here the experiences with user interfaces design are
important. The t-learning methodology of ELU project will cover these issues, too.
The general structure of an active element is as follows. The total timing of the
element is composed of:
c) Time limit for asking the question,
d) Time limit for answering,
e) Time limit for evaluation of the user’s response.
Three different situations have to be managed – either the user answered correctly, or
he/she was wrong, or he/she missed the limit because of different reasons. For all
these situations, suitable explanations have to be predefined (either to comment the
correct answer, or to explain the wrong choice, or to stimulate a non-active learner).
There are several suitable formats of questions:
a) Hits – the question is displayed together with three or four possible answers,
where only one answer is correct,
b) Statements – the user has to make a decision about the true value of a given
sentence,
c) Pairs – the user is asked to complete pairs of items in two lists (e.g. related
terms, questions and answers, etc.),
d) Step-by-step – the objective is to organize the given steps into the applicable
scenario that solves a given task.
All four types of questions can be answered using arrow keys and OK button, or using
numbers 1-4 on the remote control. Naturally, the manipulation with items in “Pairs”
and “Step-by-step” tasks is difficult. Here the users will need some training, because
they should not be stressed by troubles with managing answers by the remote control.
We suggest defining standard ways of manipulating the frequently used types of
questions and reusing the same patterns in all t-courses. ELU project methodology
will provide such recommendations.
The final game (at the end of the lesson or the whole t-course) can operate with
the same types of questions, but its visual design should be more attractive. The game
session can be organized by a virtual animated speaker (guidebot) who converses with
the viewer, gives him the questions and reacts to the answers.
5 Accompanying non-educational TV stream with active elements
In addition to special t-courses, we consider accompanying the traditional TV formats
with active elements that can make viewers more active. Using the digital
broadcasting technology, it is possible to provide the stream of active elements in
parallel with the video stream. If the video stream content was tagged (equipped with
metadata), it is possible to automate the extraction and delivery of the relevant active
elements (not only the questions, but also the text-based or image-based extra
information sheets). Users can access these elements in the same way as they access
teletext, it means they can switch to the active element and work with it while
listening to the sound of the video stream on the background. This technique can be
applied e.g. on TV news where viewers can access the additional context information,
such as maps, tables, statistics, definitions of terms, Guinness book’s facts etc.). The
same principle is applicable in commercials, too.
4
6 The pedagogy for independent adult t-learner
From the variety of information about iDTV deployment presented in [6] we can
conclude that iDTV can be seen as a perspective tool for non-formal and informal
lifelong learning. We can also conclude that independent learners are the most
successful learning-type of learners in TV courses. For independent adult learners
who do not expect competitive environment, the Gagné’s nine steps of instruction can
be successfully modified for the use in the iDTV environment. Gagné [3] identified
the mental conditions for learning which are based on the information processing
model of the mental events that occur when adults are presented with various stimuli.
The detailed guidelines how to use this approach in t-learning are given in [7]. In the
the next stage of project, this approach will be tested and evaluated for the target
group „adults”, as analysed and described in [7].
The content creators will use the instructional elements developed within the ELU
project to support the development process. The most important instructional
elements comprise the game templates and the virtual teacher. Games are the proper
elements to enhance the learners’ activities and especially the game-based assessment
can contribute to the intrinsic reinforcement and to the enhancement of the knowledge
retention. If the return channel is available, games can be used to support the extrinsic
rewards to the learner’s successes. Game templates created within ELU are e.g. the
couple game, the put-it-in-the right-place game, the puzzle game and the visual quiz.
Games can be used in situations when local interactivity only is available. As
reported, for instance in [8], set-top-box based interactivity appears to promote
competition and involvement with the video content to a greater extent than mobile
phone based interactivity does.
The virtual teacher guides the learner throughout the course and can have
many visual representations. Its main purpose is to provide a communication bridge
between the learners and the t-Learning applications and therefore must be able to
reflect similarly as a real teacher.
7 Conclusion
In the paper we have described the process of t-learning course development. The
proposed approach is explored in the scope of ELU project. An intensive research is
focused on defining the precise guidelines for the development of t-courses. The
guidelines give recommendations for the lengths of instructional sequences, the
possible formats of interactive elements, the way of communications with tutors and
with other learners, the involving elements of edutainment etc.
For the prototype t-courses implemented in the scope of the ELU project, several
target user groups have been defined (from elementary-school children through adults
to the elderly) and according to their educational needs, relevant themes of six t-
courses were selected. The content of the t-courses is under construction and in
parallel, technical solution is being developed that will enable to merge video
sequences with MHP applications and run the t-courses on TV with remote control.
Acknowledgments. This contribution was supported by the Enhanced Learning
Unlimited (ELU) project funded by the European Union under the 6th Framework
Programme (Contract No. IST-4-027866).
References
1. Creative Archive Licence Group http://creativearchive.bbc.co.uk
2. ELU project website. http://www.elu-project.com
3. Gagné, R. M., Wager, W. W., Golas, K. C., & Keller, J. M. : Principles of Instructional
Design: Thomson Wadsworth (2005)
4. Jensen, J. F. Interactive Television: New Genres, New Format, New Content. Proceedings
of the Second Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment, Sydney (2005)
5. Moeller, B. (1996). Learning from Television: A Research Review.
http://www.media.mit.edu/explain/papers/10_1996b.pdf
6. ORT France (eds.) Project ELU Deliverable D 2.3. - State of the Art on Learning Using
iDTV (2007) http://www.elu-project.com
7. ORT France (eds.) Project ELU Deliverable D 2.2. – Instructional
methodologies(pedagogy) for t-learning (2007) http://www.elu-project.com
8. Strandwall T., Sperring S.: “Different”and “Exciting” – the Impact of Set-top-box and
Mobile Phone Interactivity on the TV viewing Experiences, Interactive TV: A Shared
Experience, TICSP Adjunct Proceedings of EuroITV, Amsterdam (2007)
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