HCII Projects

ACT-R

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:42:16 -0500

The ACT-R project is focused on the development of a robust and general cognitive architecture and its application to the modeling of human interaction with complex dynamic simulated environments a

ADEPT: Assessing Design Engineering Project Classes with Multi-Disciplinary Teams

Carolyn Rose — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:51 -0500

This project brings together an interdisciplinary team with expertise in computer supported collaborative learning, language and information technologies, engineering education, and a variety of sp

ALPS: Active Learning and Problem Solving tutor

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:27:56 -0500

The Active Learning and Problem Solving (ALPS) project involves constructing and evaluating educational technology that emulates human tutors by integrating a state-of-the art educational technology called Cognitive Tutors with a innovative interactive questioning environment called Synthetic Interviews to produce an active learning environment that rivals the effectiveness of human tutors.

Assistment Project

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:52 -0500

The ASSISTMENT project provides students with individualized instructional ASSISTance while performing assessMENT. The research goal is to investigate whether we can provide students, teachers, parents and school administrators statistically reliable and actionable data on student progress without wasting student and teacher time on practice tests that distract from learning.

Automatically Adapting Interfaces to User Needs

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:52 -0500

We are working to create graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that automatically detect a user’s needs in order to automatically adjust the interface to accommodate them. We are focusing our efforts on understanding and detecting what types of errors people with motor impairments make when interacting with a mouse. Our approach is application and operating system independent.

Automating the Workplace via Mixed-initiative Computing

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:53 -0500

This project investigates how the power of machine learning technology can be put in the hands of end-users, allowing them to selectively automate the mundane tasks they face day after day at work.

Basilica: Reconfigurable Multi-Party Dialogue Environment

Carolyn Rose — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:26:41 -0500

Based on our experiences with designing and engineering multi-party conversational environments such as collaborative learning systems that involve integrating the state of the art in text classificat

Bridging the Bridge to Algebra: Measuring and Optimizing the Influence of Prerequisite Skills on a Pre-Algebra Curriculum

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:00:47 -0500

The purpose of this project is to develop an automated tutorial intervention that is intended to improve learning in a pre-algebra curriculum.

Chronic Web

jmankoff — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:50:40 -0500

The Chronic Web project explores how online resources affect the online and offline experience of managing and coping with chronic illness.

Cognitive Factors: A thrust within the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:42:51 -0500

Cognitive Factors is one of four thrusts of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. It is aimed at understanding cognitive learning—changes in knowledge—that result from instru

Complex Collaboration

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:51 -0500

This project uses social science methods to better understand the requirements for successful multidisciplinary collaborations, the fundamental processes associated with geographic and functional d

Computational Modeling and Data Mining: A thrust within the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:49:23 -0500

Computational Modeling and Data Mining is one of four thrusts within the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. This thrust is pursuing the scientific goal of using large-scale data to advanc

Context Aware Computing

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:51 -0500

Context is any information that can be used to characterize the situation of an entity (person, place, or physical or computational object). A computing system shold be aware of the person's context so that it can respond appropriately to user's cognitive and social state and anticipate their needs. Context Aware Computing will enable mobile computers to anticipate user needs, exploiting context information to significantly reduce demands on human attention.

Conversation with the Immaterial Material of Software

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:54 -0500

Designers creatively investigate many possible solution by engaging in reflective conversations with materials.

Coordinating Attention and Communication

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:51 -0500

A call during dinner? While one party may value the conversation, the receiver thinks it is an interruption.

Coordination in Open Source Software Development

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:51 -0500

Open-source software runs the Internet and challenges commercial software in many areas. Despite this success, it is not clear how the open-source paradigm solves problems of coordinating technical work over distance. This research is examining the processes of coordination in open-source software development to build a more general theory of coordination.

Creating Peripheral Displays

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:52 -0500

People who engage regularly with technology interact with hundreds of visual, auditory, and multimodal displays each day. These displays, which have been described as calm technology or peripheral or ambient displays, move information from the periphery to the center of human attention and back. Our team is working to determine the best sets of design variable to use to reduce the time it takes to extract information from a display.

CycleTalk: Dialogue Technology for Supporting Simulation Based Learning

Carolyn Rose — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:25:47 -0500

In the CycleTalk project, we are developing a new collaborative learning support approach that makes use of tutorial dialogue technology in the context of a collaborative simulation based learning env

Designing for the Self

johnz — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:53:45 -0400

This project investiages the value of product attachment theory, which describes how people develop relationships with and learn to love their possessions.

Digital Bridges: On-Line Education fostering Partnerships for Research and Teaching

Carolyn Rose — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:20:39 -0500

The key idea of the Digital Bridges project is to extend existing resources for technology-based education to create a vibrant environment for globalized instructional support and collaborative profes

DigitalSelf

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:54 -0500

This project explores product opportunities for scaffolding the social role transition experienced by teens as they shed their high school identities and begin to discover and invent who they desir

Dynamic Support for Computer-Mediated Intercultural Communication

Carolyn Rose — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:18:56 -0500

This project seeks to provide a new integration of theories and methods from the fields of CSCW and CSCL that will advance both areas individually and, together, human-computer interaction as a whole,

End-User Programming of Context-Aware Systems

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:53 -0500

Context-aware systems adapt to users' context of use. We are investigating novel interaction techniques to support end-users in building their own context-aware applications. In particular, we are supporting end-users in specifying complex Boolean context logic and demonstrating context-aware behaviors.

IMPACT: Improving and Motivation Physical Activity through ContexT

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:52 -0500

A large percentage of the US population is overweight or obese, and a leading cause of this is lack of physical activity. Early fieldwork has shown that users have difficulty finding opportunities for physical activity and understanding how much exercise they get. To address these issues, we are exploring the use of mobile phone and web technology to monitor and inform users about their physical activity and the context in which the activities occur.

Improving Driving Routes through Learning Driver Preferences

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:52 -0500

Most route recommendation systems ignore the context of the driver (e.g. time of day) and the preferences of the driver (e.g. like to avoid highways). Not surprisingly, if a system can take this information into account, it can produce more appropriate routing directions. We apply novel machine learning techniques to learn driver preferences from actual driving data and use these to produce driving routes and predict driving destinations.

Intelligiblity of Context-Aware Applications

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:53 -0500

Applications that behave proactively on a user's behalf, particularly those that react to implicit user context, need to be intelligible to end users, explaining what they are doing and why. This project aims to improve the usability of and trust in context-aware applications, by gaining an understanding of how mental models are formed about context-aware systems, and designing interaction techniques and programming tools that will help application designers make their systems intelligible.

inTouch: Awareness and Messaging for Mobile Groups

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:52 -0500

inTouch is a mobile messaging platform that provides group-based communities (such as families, research work groups, carpools, etc) a better way to coordinate tasks, maintain a sense of shared awareness, and to generally keep in touch with fellow group members. inTouch aims to better address communication breakdowns that typically occur in short-term planning and coordination.

Learning-Oriented Dialogue in Cognitive Tutors: Towards a Scalable Solution to Performance Orientation

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:30:18 -0500

This project seeks to increase kids’ engagement with math learning in connection with Cognitive Tutors using support for help seeking and collaborative problem solving.

Leveraging Human Knowledge to Improve Learning

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:53 -0500

We are interested in understanding what a machine learning system could ask a user to improve its performance and when it is appropriate to ask the user. Our goal is to improve learning while minimizing user costs. We are exploring representations of a system's internal state and determining when a system could use input to improve performance

Manipulation in a Virtual Haptic Environment Based on Magnetic Levitation

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:53 -0500

Magnetic levitation is a substantially new approach which promises a qualitative leap in improvement of haptic (sense of touch) computer interactions. A user interacts with the computer by using a rigid tool to interact with computed environments. We are testing the capabilities of this system to guide manipulation.