Workshop on Language Play and Computers

Workshop Home

Programme <

Location

Registration

Contact us

STANDUP Project





Programme Outline

Schedule

Day 1 (Friday)

Chair: Graeme Ritchie, University of Aberdeen

9.00-9.30: Registration (Coffee)
9.30-9.45: Welcome and introduction to workshop
9.45-10.45: Judy Robertson (Glasgow Caledonian University)
StoryStation: intelligent feedback on story writing
10.45-11.15: Refreshment break
11.15-12.15: Nicola Yuill (University of Sussex)
The Laughing PC: Using Jokes in Software to Improve Children's Reading Comprehension
12.15-1.15: Lunch
1.15-2.15: Annalu Waller (University of Dundee)
"I want to tell you a joke. Are you ready?":an introduction to the STANDUP Project
2.15-2.45: Refreshment break
2.45- 4.00: Hands-on practice with software
4.00-4.30: Feedback and discussion session

Day 2 (Saturday)

Chair: Annalu Waller, University of Dundee

9.00-9.30: Registration (Coffee)
9.30-9.45:Welcome and introduction to 2nd day
9.45-10.45:Judy Robertson (Glasgow Caledonian University)
Developing young people's storytelling skills through computer game design
10.45-11.15:Refreshment break
11.15-12.15:Helen Pain (University of Edinburgh)
Joke generation by children with complex communication needs: approaches to evaluation and findings in the STANDUP project
12.15-1.15:Lunch
1.15-2.15:Lisa Gjedde (Danish University of Education)
Storytelling, play and learning in an augmented interactive environment
2.15-2.45:Refreshment break
2.45- 4.00:Hands-on practice with software
4.00-4.30:Feedback and discussion session

Content of talks

StoryStation: intelligent feedback on story writing

(Judy Robertson)
Download presentation slides here (560kb).

StoryStation is an intelligent tutoring system which gives children feedback as they write stories. The software is intended for children aged ten years and above who have a basic competency in writing, but would benefit from further help. The system provides assistance with spelling, vocabulary usage and characterization techniques, as well as tools such as word banks, a dictionary and a thesaurus. The main pedagogical philosophy behind StoryStation is to identify and praise the pupils' skills as a strategy to help them evaluate and appreciate their own work. Feedback is generated by comparing the skills a pupil has used in his current story with skills he demonstrated in previous stories. If the pupil has not used the system before, his mastery of individual skills is compared to the norms derived from stories previously written by other pupils of the same ability level. The feedback is presented via animated characters. This talk will describe the learner centred development process of StoryStation, which involved extensive consultation with teachers and pupils and present some initial findings from a field study in an Edinburgh school.

The Laughing PC: Using Jokes in Software to Improve Children's Reading Comprehension

(Nicola Yuill)
Download presentation slides here (218kb).

In this presentation I will show two pieces of technology to support language play and reading comprehension. First I describe 'Joke City', a piece of software that supports children's discussion of ambiguous language in jokes, which has been shown to improve their comprehension. Associated with this software is a suite of literacy assessment tools developed with Brighton & Hove local authority, some of which can be self-administered by children and automatically scored, using a school ICT suite. Second, I present WordCat, a piece of software we have developed that helps children classify words simultaneously by their spelling patterns and meanings. This makes use of SCOSS, a generally-applicable software interface that helps children work collaboratively.

"I want to tell you a joke. Are you ready?":an introduction to the STANDUP Project

(Annalu Waller)
Download presentation slides here (1.37mb).

The STANDUP project has developed interactive software which allows children with complex communication needs (CCN) to generate novel punning riddles. Typically developing children enjoy jokes and riddles, offering an opportunity to practise language, conversation and social interaction skills during childhood. CCN restricts the opportunities to play with language, and this in turn restricts the development of linguistic, communicative and social skills. Children with CCN do access pre-stored humour using existing AAC devices. However, independent access to novel language is difficult. The STANDUP project has addressed this problem by designing interactive software which allows a child to generate and tell novel puns. This is done using information about concepts, words, their relationships to each other, and additional details such as rhyme. The user-interface is appropriate for users with physical and language impairments, and allows different levels of complexity (of vocabulary, joke structure, etc.). For example, at the simplest level, requesting 'any joke' might result in a joke such as: "What do you call a spicy missile? -- A hot shot." At a more complex level, the user may start by choosing a topic word. This talk discusses the role of humour in the development of language skills, and introduces the audience to the techniques employed to involve therapists, teachers and adults who use aided communication in the design of a software language playground for children with CCN.

Developing young people's storytelling skills through computer game design

(Judy Robertson)
Download presentation slides here (72kb).

In this talk I will discuss the development of young people's interactive storytelling skills within a game creation environment. I will describe the Gamemaker workshop series, in which young people learn to use a computer game authoring tool called Neverwinter Nights to develop interactive, branching stories. Given this new medium for narrative expression, there is need to better understand the ways in which the young people choose to express their story ideas, in order to provide further support and scaffolding for their developing narrative skills. In particular, I will discuss the plot themes they chose to explore, and the ways in which they included interactivity in the story, particularly through dialogue.

Joke generation by children with complex communication needs: approaches to evaluation and findings in the STANDUP project

(Helen Pain)
Download presentation slides here (2.21mb).

The STANDUP project has developed interactive software which allows children with complex communication needs (CCN) to generate novel punning riddles. The project takes a user-centred design approach, with formative evaluation throughout the design process with targeted feedback provided by both Speech and Language Therapists familiar with the children in the target population, and by adults who were previously in this group. We discuss how this feedback influenced the design process. We also consider methodological issues of this approach for this group of users. We will describe the evaluation study carried out in an independent special school, using a multiple single-participant case study methodology with 9 children with CCN. Initial piloting was carried out with 10 typically developing children (TDC) to identify any problems with the study design. Further evaluation is planned with TDC. Outcomes of the evaluation study will be discussed.

Storytelling, play and learning in an augmented interactive environment

(Lisa Gjedde) Download presentation slides here (1.3mb).

Story-based learning in an augmented interactive environment may offer learners with multiple functional deficits a new way of learning and communicating. By using storytelling and games it is possible to create an interactive learning environment that enables non-speaking learners to communicate their sense of identity in more complex ways than is usually possible. This talk will present some of the findings of a research and development project that resulted in the design of a story-based multimedia program about life in medieval times, "A Medieval Tale". The program is augmented for severely challenged learners. Based on cases and examples of use by this target group, there will be a discussion of the potential of this type of program for learning and communication.

Software Sessions

Each afternoon there will be a chance to interact with some of the following programs.

StoryStation

(See Judy Robertson's talk on Friday.)

STANDUP

(See Annalu Waller's talk on Friday.)

Joke City

(See Nicola Yuill's talk on Friday.)

WordCat

(See Nicola Yuill's talk on Friday.)

A Medieval Tale

This is a multimedia narrative learning resource about medieval life, with augmentative functions for learners with multiple functional deficits. The program uses a narrative framework to address learners of different abilities, making it an inclusive tool for learning and experiencing the world of medieval fiction and culture. The program is the first inclusive resource to span a wide target group through the use of storytelling and interactive games in an augmented computer environment.
(See also Lisa Gjedde's talk on Saturday.)