Browsing by Author "Bellino, Alessio"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    A Real-world Approach to Motivate Students on the First Class of a Computer Science Course
    (ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY, 2021) Bellino, Alessio; Herskovic, Valeria; Hund, Michael; Muñoz Gama, Jorge
    A common belief among students is that computing is a boring subject that lacks a connection to the real world. The first class (one 80-minute session) in an introductory computer science course may be an appropriate instance to combat such a belief. Previous studies have used coursewide interventions, e.g., games and physical/tangible devices to improve students' motivation. However, although other approaches help motivate students, they may lack real-world context or have a high cost of deployment. This article proposes a novel real-world based approach to introduce programming concepts in the first class of the introductory computer science course. This approach, called Protobject based, is applicable to courses with over 100 students, has a low deployment entry barrier, requires low investment, and may be used creatively to implement different experiences. Furthermore, the Protobject-based approach has an equivalent motivational effect-at least in the short-term-to a Game-based approach even if it is entirely focused on the real world. The low requirements of the approach make it especially suitable for an 80-minute first class in an introductory computer science course. The Protobject-based approach has been preliminarily validated and compared to a pure game-based approach with a study with 376 participants, and we present the analysis of motivation questionnaires, a pre-test and post-test, and a homework assignment given to the students. We posit that more research into initiatives such as this one-that can show students how computer science can impact the real world around them-is warranted.
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    Controlling Trajectories with OneButton and Rhythm
    (Association for Computing Machinery, 2024) Bellino, Alessio; Rocchesso, Davide
    We demonstrate two-dimensional navigation with velocity control on a single button. Users can vary the speed of the controlled object by rhythm tapping, and can control direction by pressing and tilting, releasing the button once the desired rotation is achieved. Feedback is multisensory. Tactile pulses are being delivered at 30-degree intervals during rotation, simulating the detents of a rotary encoder. Simultaneously, a sonic glissando accompanies rotation, raising or lowering pitch according to the change of direction. Absolute positional feedback is provided visually as well as auditorilly, with an intermittent auditory tone whose pitch conveys vertical position, panned to the left or to the right depending on horizontal position. The rhythmic pace corresponds directly to the on-screen element speed, defined by the tapping interval. Participants will be engaged in a target-following task, thus being able to appreciate the precise speed and direction control of the multisensory navigation experience.
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    Multisensory Trajectory Control at One Interaction Point, with Rhythm
    (2024) Bellino, Alessio; Rocchesso, Davide; Mule, Rosario; Reitano, Luca DArrigo
    We investigate navigation in two dimensions with velocity control, using a single-button interface. Users adjust the controlled-object speed through rhythmic tapping and its direction by pressing and tilting, releasing the button to finalize the rotation. Feedback to control action and object motion is provided by integration of multiple sensory modalities. Tactile pulses are delivered at 30-degree intervals during rotation, emulating the detents of a rotary encoder. Simultaneously, a sonic glissando accompanies rotation, thus rendering upward or downward rotation. Both visual and auditory cues are used to provide absolute positional feedback. Discrete notes are rhythmically played, whose pitch indicates vertical position, while stereo audio panning follows horizontal position. The rhythmic pace aligns with on-screen object speed, as dictated by tapping time intervals. Two studies were designed around a target-following task, under different sensory conditions. Study 1 has shown that target tracking can be effectively performed with multisensory rhythmic interaction. This is true also when the controlled object is intermittently hidden to view, although it was not possible to measure the advantage provided by auditory-tactile feedback. In study 2, no significant performance differences were observed between auditory and tactile conditions in situations of intermittent visual feedback, indicating that, if the two kinds of non-visual feedback are effective, they are essentially equivalent.
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    Protobject as a tool for teaching computational thinking to designers: Student perceptions on usability
    (Association for Computing Machinery, 2023) Bellino, Alessio; Herskovic, Maida Valeria Paz
    Due to the proliferation of technology in daily life and the growing number of ways in which humans and machines interact, the process of designing interactive elements has become critical. Nevertheless, design students are seldom able to design and implement interactive elements because of their limited programming skills. Although there have been some approaches to teach computational thinking using physical computing and focusing on solving real-world problems (e.g., electronic devices such as Arduino, using sensors and actuators), they often entail monetary expenses and require knowledgeable instructors, and are not catered to students without prior programming or electronics knowledge. Hence, we propose the use of Protobject, a low-cost tool that focuses on real-world applications that could be used to teach programming to design students. This study aims to evaluate students' perceptions regarding the usability of Protobject as a tool for learning computational thinking, as well as the clarity of the learning activities designed to teach computational thinking concepts by using Protobject.
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    SoundOrbit: motion-correlation interaction with auditory orbital trajectories
    (2024) Bellino, Alessio; Rocchesso, Davide
    SoundOrbit is a novel input technique that uses motion correlation to control smart devices. The technique associates controls with specific orbital sounds, made of cyclically increasing/decreasing musical scales, and the user can activate a control by mimicking the corresponding sound by body motion. Unlike previous movement-correlation techniques based on visual displays, SoundOrbit operates independent of visual perception, enabling the development of cost-effective smart devices that do not require visual displays. We investigated SoundOrbit by conducting two user studies. The first study evaluated the effectiveness of binaural sound spatialization to create a distinct orbiting sound. In comparison to a cyclic musical scale that is fixed in the apparent auditory space, we found that spatial effects did not improve users’ ability to follow the sound orbit. In the second study, we aimed at determining the optimal system parameters, and discovered that users synchronize better with slower speeds. The technique was found to be feasible and reliable for one and two orbits simultaneously, each orbit using a distinct sound timbre, but not for three orbits due to a high error rate.
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    Spacetime trajectories as overlapping rhythms
    (2024) Rocchesso, Davide; Bellino, Alessio; Ferrara, Gabriele; Perez, Antonino
    The navigation of two-dimensional spaces by rhythmic patterns on two buttons is investigated. It is shown how direction and speed of a moving object can be controlled with discrete commands consisting of duplets or triplets of taps, whose rate is proportional to one of two orthogonal velocity components. The imparted commands generate polyrhythms and polytempi that can be used to monitor the object movement by perceptual streaming. Tacking back and forth must be used to make progress along certain directions, similarly to sailing a boat upwind. The proposed rhythmic velocity-control technique is tested with a target-following task. Users effectively learn the tapping control actions, and they can keep a relatively small distance from a moving target. They can potentially rely on overlapping auditory rhythmic streams to compensate for temporary deprivation of visual position of the controlled object. The interface is minimal and symmetric, and can be adapted to different sensing and display devices, exploiting the symmetry of the human body and the ability to follow two concurrent rhythmic streams.