Mastery of Assistive Technology in K-12 Education

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-08) Satterfield, Richard (Ben) ; Walker, Bruce N. ; Milchus, Karen ; LaForce, Salimah ; Griffiths, Patricia ; DeStefano, Lizanne ; Blake, Matthew

This article describes the evaluation of a prototype of the Continuum of AT Mastery (CATM), an instrument developed for measuring individual progress toward mastery of assistive technology (AT).  In this second of two one-year studies, we examined the applicability of the CATM in K-12 educational settings.   This manuscript includes results of field testing of the CATM in K-12 schools and presents results of inter-rater and test-retest reliability.  item_description: This is the compilation of data collected from focus groups, field testing, interviews, and analysis from a study of the instrument known as the Continuum of AT Mastery (CATM) in K-12 settings.
"Benevolent Anarchy": Siting Marcel Janco, 1916-1966

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-07-27) Pavel, Carrie H.

Figuring in the indexes of an international, multidisciplinary array of anthologies, Marcel Janco (1895-1984) is known as a founding member of the Dada movement in Zurich, a pioneer of modern architecture in Romania, and a central member of the New Horizons group that conceived a national style of painting in Israel. Over the course of his remarkably prolific career, he produced hundreds of paintings, woodblock prints, plaster reliefs, sculptures, works of scenography, and designed over forty residential and institutional buildings. Yet his peripatetic career and diverse output complicate an integrated understanding of his oeuvre, which, crucially, comprised many experimental works that sought to occupy the often porous boundary between visual art and architecture. In scholarship, international borders suggest firm disciplinary distinctions—to Romanians, Janco is an architect; to Israelis, a painter—that belie the variety of forms and methods that characterized his interdisciplinary practice. This study seeks to integrate these multiple interpretations through a framework that allows comparative study between his art and architectural work, as well as between the disparate sites that hosted or promoted it. The biographical structure of this study is divided into three parts defined by an initial immigration—to Zurich in 1916, to Bucharest in 1921, and to Mandatory Palestine in 1941—that situate his work within national borders having distinct cultural implications and expectations. A central question raised concerns the separate, often unarticulated ways that distinct art forms are permitted to interpret or lay claim to cultural material. If the methods of the historical avant-garde were predicated on strategies that aimed to render material culture meaningless, what is the result when these strategies are deployed at an architectural scale? By eschewing disciplinary distinctions to locate Janco’s creative work along a continuum of scales, methods, and functions, this study ultimately seeks to clarify and confront the complex dynamics involved in the reception of his work.
Contours Unveiled: Music Composition for Generative Rhythm Application and Chamber Ensemble

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-07-27) McCall, Lauren Cagney

Contours Unveiled is a dissertation project involving the development of a generative rhythm application and music composition for the Georgia Institute of Technology's Laptop Orchestra and Yarn/Wire. The generative application for Contours Unveiled uses the Euclidean rhythm algorithm. This project does not seek to emulate rhythms from around the world or provide an understanding of the cultural significance of historical rhythms but to use the Euclidean rhythm algorithm as a way to generate music. This dissertation covers the literature and previous music compositions and music technology projects created by the author that have prepared her for undertaking this project. Additionally, this dissertation shares the methodology she used to develop and deploy the project's application and the artistic design she used for the compositional aspect of this project. The author also conducted a user study during the development of the application, which helped inform the continual application and music composition design. Also, feedback from students who performed in the Georgia Institute of Technology's Laptop Orchestra provided further insight into editing the application and score. This dissertation concludes with the author's plans for future work on this project.
A Design Case Study to Support the Inclusion of Temporal Factors in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF)

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-07-27) Liu, Yilin

Despite being the most comprehensive model so far for capturing the factors contributing to disability, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) developed by the World Health Organization does not recognize a set of time concepts that are relevant to activity engagement as contextual factors. The unrecognized time concepts (i.e., available time and required time) interact with one’s body functions and other ICF components (e.g., environmental factors) to affect one’s engagement in activities and participation. As a result, the ICF model failed to identify the challenges related to time that limit one’s activity engagement and could not facilitate the design of technologies that address those challenges for individuals with disabilities. This dissertation project presents a design case study about the design and evaluation of a travel planning mobile application named ALIGN 2.0. The design case study aims to provide primary research evidence to support the inclusion of temporal factors in the ICF model (i.e., the modified ICF model). The ALIGN 2.0 app was designed and evaluated according to the proposed modified ICF model to facilitate the management of time-related challenges faced by travelers with mobility impairments. Specifically, different types of travel information provided in ALIGN 2.0 were designed to reflect the various interactions/pathways between temporal factors and other ICF components and were evaluated for their effects on travel time allocations by travelers with mobility impairments. The evaluation outcome supported the existence of the pathways in the modified ICF model thus serves as evidence for supporting the inclusion of temporal factors in the ICF model. The direct outputs of this project are the designed ALIGN 2.0 app and the modified ICF model that includes temporal factors as additional contextual factors. The outcome of this project is the recognized role of time in activity engagement and its interactions with other components within the existing ICF model.
EMONNECT: A Case Study on Designing a Culturally Sensitive SEL Tool for Chinese Families

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-07-25) Li, Yaoqi

This thesis explores integrating Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into Chinese family settings, addressing gaps in emotional education in China according to Game-Based Learning (GBL) theory. Structured SEL resources for Chinese children are scarce, presenting an opportunity to develop culturally sensitive tools. This thesis examines how GBL and cultural elements can improve SEL engagement. Using a mixed-methods approach, the thesis collects data through an online survey and focus groups to understand SEL implementation within Chinese families. Findings show the parents’ awareness of SEL and their main methods to teach SEL, highlighting the potential of games in family educational practices. Focus group discussions provided insights into the scenarios, challenges, and strategies Chinese parents use in SEL with their children. These insights informed the development of EmoNnect, a SEL educational tool, integrating traditional Chinese cultural resources. This blend of family gaming and SEL principles enriches discussions, strengthens bonds, and enhances emotional understanding. The thesis demonstrates that incorporating traditional cultural resources into modern tools can enhance SEL teaching in Chinese families. EmoNnect serves as a model for culturally sensitive SEL education, showing how traditional influences can enrich contemporary practices and support child development.
Exploratory Analysis of Construction Job Opening Advertisements for Investigating Actual Labor Needs Using Web scraping and Text Analytics

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-07-09) Oh, Heung Jin

A comprehensive analysis of construction job opening advertisements was conducted to extract detailed information on wages, locations, and job requirements. This study utilized web scraping and text mining techniques to collect a dataset comprising over 1.4 million job openings across the United States. The research employed a combination of natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML), statistical methods, application programming interfaces (APIs), and chatbots across three main chapters. Chapter 1 focused on identifying skill sets required for multiskilled laborers in the construction industry. Chapter 2 examined wage disparities to address issues of workforce equity. In Chapter 3, chatbots were employed to explore additional dynamics within the construction job market. This dissertation introduces an innovative approach to capturing and analyzing large-scale data from construction job advertisements using web scraping and text analytics. The findings aim to revolutionize the understanding and management of the construction job market, providing valuable insights for industry stakeholders. The anticipated long-term benefits include improved strategic decision-making, enhanced workforce management strategies, and greater adaptability to dynamic market changes.
Emerging Perspectives and Policy Considerations for Advancing Disaster Resilience

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-07) Cabrera, Leah

This paper explores the potential economic impacts of weather-related disasters on low-to-moderate-income communities in the Southeast, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. These communities have been grappling withsignificant economic disruptions due to severe and recurring weather events like hurricanes, floods, and extreme heat. The study involvesasurveyand interviews conducted with professionals in the Southeast who engage with these communities across nonprofit, public, and private organizations.These experts provided insights into how weather-related risks impact the communities they serve.The findings underscore the urgency of addressing housing insecurity as a major obstacle to resilience efforts, particularly for lower-to-moderate-income (LMI) communities. The shortage of affordable, resilient housing creates ongoing vulnerability. Addressing these systemic barriers is not just important butessential for building equitable and resilient communities capable of withstanding climate change. Efforts to support LMI communities and communities of color in preparing for and recovering from weather-related economic setbacks are crucial.Real estate, policy, and development leaders should integrate community-based solutions, promoting shared resources and collective ownership. Reducing dependency on traditional property norms is vital for fostering environments where housing is both an asset and a fundamental right.
Interpretable Quantitative Evaluation Metrics Of Generative Models In Symbolic Music

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-06-05) Sun, Qianyi

Despite the emergence of innovative architectures claiming improved capabilities in modeling human-level creativity, state-of-the-art generative music systems still struggle with creating musical content that follows technical rules and expectations. The conventional subjective evaluation method for generative models can introduce bias and also lacks transparency, rigor, and reproducibility, emphasizing the need for more quantitative metrics. However, existing approaches to quantitative evaluation have either relied on overly- broad criteria that do not capture higher-level music theoretic properties nor perceptual properties, or are narrowly tailored to the design of a specific model, limiting their generalizability. To address this, this thesis proposes a reproducible and interpretable framework for evaluating the output of symbolic music generation models using musicologically and perceptually informed quantitative metrics. Specifically, I assessed the performance of two prominent models, FolkRNN and Jazz Transformer, by comparing the models’ training data against their generated results through systematic computational music analysis. Benchmark testing revealed this approach to surpass the discriminative capabilities of the widely cited, seminal quantitative metrics proposed by Yang and Lerch, offering a more ecologically-valid assessment of model behavior and highlighting areas for targeted improvement. To further substantiate the perceptual validity of my metrics, I then reported results from a listening study employing a Turing Test disguised as a style-classification task. This experiment tested for the salient musical features that influences individuals’ decision-making in identifying stylistic provenance and provided insights into the perceptual dimensions of style imitation challenges in AI music generation. Together, my findings hold the potential to advance the reliability and validity of AI-generated music by incorporating human perceptual attributes.
TIMEFLEX: Exploring Time Perception without Numbers through Tangible Interaction Method

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-05-17) Cheng, Ernuo

Modern people perceive time through precise but abstract and mechanical number time. However, the subjective nature of time perception and the need of flexible time management inspires us to explore the possibility of alternative time managing approach. This study introduces a concept of time that guide our lives based on the sequence and duration of events and explores the context where this concept can be more beneficial. Through a Concept-Driven interaction design approach and Research through Design method, this study designed an operable functional interaction prototype and conducted an exploratory user study to generate insights of the relationship between us with time.
Woven Speaker: Exploring the Potential of Technology and Craft Juxtaposition through Speaker Weaving

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2024-05-17) Romero, Lissette A.

Curiosity is an essential quality that is integral to the human experience and plays a crucial role in fostering creativity and promoting engagement. By understanding how to evoke curiosity through design, designers can leverage curiosity as a means to cultivate exploration and strengthen engagement with their creations. One approach to evoking curiosity through design is bringing conflicting elements together to prompt individuals to seek deeper understanding of the underlying relationships and explore creative possibilities between them. With this in mind, there is potential in uniting craft and technology, two seemingly polarizing domains, to foster these behaviors. This work explores the juxtaposition of craft and technology through weaving to create speakers and investigates how this juxtaposition can be utilized to ignite curiosity and lead a deeper engagement with technology. Following a research-through-design approach, a material recipe and weaving-based technique for speaker construction was developed. Utilizing the material recipe we conducted a hands-on speaker weaving workshop with ten experienced makers to gather insights on the implications and limitations of using craft and craft materials to build electronics. By integrating weaving methods and craft materials into the process of building electronics, an acceptance of imperfection was fostered and curiosity was sparked, which facilitated further exploration of technology. This thesis demonstrates the potential of juxtaposing craft and technology in product design, offering new pathways for designers to enhance user experiences with curiosity and engagement.