[Ltg] HAIL Seminar *Reminder* (12th December): Professor Sharon Oviatt, Oregon Health and Science University, USA

[Andrew Lampert]

                      H.A.I.L. Seminar series
                          CSIRO ICT Centre
                   http://www.ict.csiro.au/HAIL/

         *** Join us for the final HAIL Seminar for 2006 ***


Title:          Quiet Interfaces that Help People Think

Speaker:        Professor Sharon Oviatt
                Co-Director, Centre for Human-Computer Communication
                Department of Computer Science and Engineering
                Oregon Health & Science University
                USA

Date:           Tuesday 12th December 2006 at 11am

Location:       CSIRO ICT Centre,
                Building E6B, Macquarie University.

                See <http://www.ict.csiro.au/HAIL/location.htm> for details.


Video:          We should be able to broadcast a live video stream of
		Sharon Oviatt's seminar.

		At the time of the seminar, point your browser at:
                <http://webcast.nsw.csiro.au/httpfs/ICT/HailSeminar/live.asx>

Abstract

As technical as we have become, modern computing has not permeated many important areas of our lives, including mathematics education which still involves pencil and paper. In the present study, twenty high school geometry students varying in ability from low to high participated in a comparative assessment of math problem solving using existing pencil and paper work practice (PP), and three different interfaces: an Anoto-based digital stylus and paper interface (DP), pen tablet interface (PT), and graphical tablet interface (GT).

Cognitive Load Theory correctly predicted that as interfaces departed more from familiar work practice (GT > PT > DP), students would experience greater cognitive load such that performance would deteriorate in speed, attentional focus, meta-cognitive control, correctness of problem solutions, and memory. In addition, low-performing students experienced elevated cognitive load, with the more challenging interfaces (GT, PT) disrupting their performance disproportionately more than higher performers.

The present results indicate that Cognitive Load Theory provides a coherent and powerful basis for predicting the rank ordering of users' performance by type of interface. In the future, new interfaces for areas like education and mobile computing could benefit from designs that minimize users' load so performance is more adequately supported.


Short resume

Sharon Oviatt is a Distinguished Scientist at Natural Interaction Systems in Seattle, and has been a Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Human- Computer Communication in the Dept. of Computer Science at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) for the past decade. Her research focuses on lifespan human-centered interface design (children through the elderly), especially modeling of users' natural behavior and communication patterns, and designing systems that process spoken language, pen-based, and multimodal input. As such, her work also has focused on communication models and technologies, and mobile/ ubiquitous interfaces.

Examples of recent work involve the development of novel design concepts for math and science education, adaptive conversational interfaces with animated software characters, adaptive audio-visual interfaces for collaborative teamwork, and robust interfaces for real-world mobile and field environments.

She has published over 110 scientific articles in a wide range of venues, including work featured in recent special issues of Communications of the ACM, Human Computer Interaction, Transactions on Human Computer Interaction, IEEE Multimedia, Proceedings of IEEE, and IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks. She was General Chair of the International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces (ICMI) in 2003, and is Founding Chair of ICMI's Advisory Board. She has been the recipient of an NSF Special Extension for Creativity Award.


----------------------------------------
The HAIL Seminars' URL:
http://www.ict.csiro.au/HAIL/

Contacts:       Andrew Lampert
Address:        CSIRO HAIL Seminars,
                c/o Andrew Lampert,
                Locked Bag 17,
                North Ryde NSW 1670

Phone:  (02) 9325 3100
Email:  Andrew.Lampert at csiro.au


*Administration*
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* To leave the list, send the message "unsubscribe HailSeminars" to
the list server address <majordomo at nsw.cmis.csiro.au>.
The subject line of your e-mail message will be ignored.
==================================================================