PRESENTATION
Learners with various cultural profiles and backgrounds are benefiting
from diverse applications and initiatives of the ITS community. That said, research in education has shown that teaching methodologies and
instructional design cannot always be universally applied as their impact
can greatly vary from one culture to another. In other words, pedagogical
strategies that are effective for one cultural group may not be effective
with another. As a result, researchers are increasingly focusing on
cultural factors in the conception of ITS systems, be it from the point of
view of learners? varying cultural backgrounds or the influence that these
backgrounds have on the choice of underlying teaching methodologies.
Developing ITS systems with cultural discernment capabilities can
therefore -- among other possibilities -- contribute to lessening the
potential for misunderstanding learner behaviour as well as allow for
customized learning according to cultural needs. A greater cultural focus
can also increase the flexibility of the systems we build and promote
their acceptance and wider spread use.
Furthermore, in a world in which interactions between culturally diverse
people and groups are becoming usual, developing models of cultural
representation is a valuable undertaking. Not only is there an increasing
need in the teaching process for the ability to address individuals and
groups with respect to culture, there is a need to learn about culture
itself in view of its rich and multi-faceted variability. ITS systems,
enhanced with a capacity for simulating complex cultural situations, could
have a profound impact on the format, design and quality of teaching they
wish to impart.
A first edition of the proposed workshop took place for a full-day in 2008
in conjunction with ITS 2008. A second edition took place in 2009 in
conjunction with AIED for a half-day. Proceedings of CATS 2008 and 2009
workshops can be accessed at http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~blanchae/CATS .
The current workshop consequently aims to continue this trend on the way
culture can be represented within the overarching goal of imparting
knowledge via ITS. It also aims to stimulate discussion on the impact of
culture on ITS systems and reflect on those emerging technologies that
need to be developed to more fully integrate cultural considerations.
Finally, it aims at sharing and expanding the very knowledge we have about
culture, all the while raising new research questions and opening research
opportunities for the ITS community.
Papers concerned with issues of representing culture as well as its impact
and influence in the domains of ITS and educational technologies in
general will be encouraged. Many sub-fields related to ITS (user modeling,
cognitive management, adaptation processes, knowledge representation, use
of pedagogical strategies, serious games, etc.) can be called upon,
whether from the perspective of computer science, psychology,
intercultural studies or other related fields. Research at varying levels
of development as well as position papers will be considered.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Computational modeling of individual cultural traits
- Computational modeling of cultural contexts and environments
- Computational modeling and definition of cultural groups
- Computational modeling of dynamics between varying socio-cultural groups
- Cultural perception of ITS
- Computer-assisted learning of culture
- Collaborative learning and cultural diversity
- Identification of cultural variations in computer-assisted education
- Impact of culture on teaching strategies and methodologies in ITS
- Impact of culture on emotional and motivational management in ITS
- Relationship between culture and cognition and its impact within ITS
- Cultural adaptation methodologies and their application in ITS
- Interface variations according to users? cultural background
- ITS for teaching cultural heritage
Solutions related to these topics can be framed in terms of:
- System architecture
- Machine learning techniques
- Case-based reasoning
- Data mining
- Speech and dialogue systems
- Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
- Computer-supported collaborative learning
- Intelligent agents
- Learning companions
- Planning
- Serious games
- Virtual learning environments
- Simulations
- Ontological engineering
- Learning objects
- Adaptive hypermedia
- Pervasive computing
- Authoring tools for ITS
- Cross-cultural evaluation of ITS
- Etc.
IMPORTANT DATES:
April 16, 2010 - Paper submission deadline
(please consult the website for updated submission instructions).
May 9, 2010 - Notification of acceptance.
May 21, 2010 - Camera-ready copy due.
June 14 or 18, 2010 - Workshop at Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, USA.
(ITS conference will be held from June 15 to 17)
COMMITTEE
WORKSHOP CO-CHAIRS
- Emmanuel G. Blanchard, McGill University, Canada
- W. Lewis Johnson, Alelo, USA
- Amy Ogan, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
- Danièle Allard, Dalhousie University, Canada
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
- Jacqueline Bourdeau, TELUQ, Canada
- Elisabeth Delozanne, Paris VI University, France
- Benedict Du Boulay, University of Sussex, UK
- Birgit Endrass, Augsburg University, Germany
- Paul Fishwick, University of Florida, USA
- Isabela Gasparini, UFRGS / UDESC, Brazil
- Monique Grandbastien, University of Nancy, France
- H. Chad Lane, ICT-University of Southern California, USA
- Christopher Miller, SIFT, USA
- Riichiro Mizoguchi, Osaka University, Japan
- Yukiko Nakano, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan
- Elaine Raybourn, University of New Mexico, USA
- Matthias Rehm, Aalborg University, Denmark
- Katharina Reinecke, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Isabelle Savard, Laval University, Canada
- Julie Sykes, University of New Mexico, USA
- Heike Winschiers-Theophilus, Polytechnic of Namibia, Namibia
- Robert Wray, SOAR Technology, USA
- Shumin Wu, IBM Silicon Valley Lab, USA
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