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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2019, Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 95-101)., Committee of N is a collaborative card game where players deepen their learning about educational policy and the history of education in the U.S. by creating new kinds of schools based on design constraints implemented through random card draws. In the core game play, players are randomly assigned educational values (e.g. belief in multiple intelligences or achievement on high-stakes tests) from a deck along with a specific school element (bell schedule, graduation requirements, etc.), and they then creatively design the element to reflect their assigned values. By using cards as context for discussion, research, and design, undergraduate education students become animated about the possibilities of designing and imagining the school they would most like to teach in, grounded in theory and practice. By examining student work created in the normal course of class, by interviewing students and teaching staff, and by examining student artifacts, I make the case that students are learning and reflecting as educational professionals. I argue that both game affordances and construction kit affordances help students create a constructive lens, marking a professional capacity to decompose existing learning environments as well as to modify and design their own., by Jason Haas., Ph. D., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2019, Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 95-101)., Committee of N is a collaborative card game where players deepen their learning about educational policy and the history of education in the U.S. by creating new kinds of schools based on design constraints implemented through random card draws. In the core game play, players are randomly assigned educational values (e.g. belief in multiple intelligences or achievement on high-stakes tests) from a deck along with a specific school element (bell schedule, graduation requirements, etc.), and they then creatively design the element to reflect their assigned values. By using cards as context for discussion, research, and design, undergraduate education students become animated about the possibilities of designing and imagining the school they would most like to teach in, grounded in theory and practice. By examining student work created in the normal course of class, by interviewing students and teaching staff, and by examining student artifacts, I make the case that students are learning and reflecting as educational professionals. I argue that both game affordances and construction kit affordances help students create a constructive lens, marking a professional capacity to decompose existing learning environments as well as to modify and design their own., by Jason Haas., Ph. D., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2018., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Vita., Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-201)., Today's educational systems are complex, political, sociotechnical ecosystems that struggle to meet the needs of most learners and societal demands-and most critically, struggle to change. Yet, learners globally need access to high quality learning environments and coherent learning pathways that support them to thrive in our complex world. Fundamental to every learning technology, environment, and system, is a learning data model and architecture that helps to organize the learner's experience. To date, in traditional educational systems, this has largely been dominated by public policy curriculum standards, which have tremendous limitations and shortcomings on classroom practice and their ability to support complex learning technologies. At the same time, over the past several decades significant advances have been made in the learning sciences, learning analytics, and learning technologies that have greatly expanded our ability to model learning and provide immersive and adaptive learning environments. Yet each of these communities rarely coordinates and aligns these data models. The disjointedness of these structures leaves their architecture in a messy, challenging state, unable to successfully carry us into an advanced future of learning technologies and effective learning ecosystems. This dissertation explores the use of Systems Engineering as a means to reengineering this critical infrastructure of the system, through the LearningGraph-a research initiative that used this methodology to create a unified data structure for modeling learning constructs in a coherent learning data architecture. The aim of the project is to ultimately inform a new infrastructure to support learning development across learning technologies and environments. In doing so, we create the foundation for closing significant gaps in the current system: between learning sciences research and practice; curriculum and assessment design; the design of learning technologies and all the afore, by Jennifer Sterling Groff., Ph. D.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-138)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing educational location-based augmented reality games. These games are made by both adults and children game designers using the online TaleBlazer Editor. Oftentimes, building a TaleBlazer game is a group effort, but the previous Editor made collaboration inefficient, difficult, error-prone, and frustrating. This thesis describes a suite of features designed to improve version control for a game and assist designers in sharing their work with others. Together, these features encourage and facilitate collaboration between multiple TaleBlazer designers., by Linda Wang., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 105-106)., In this thesis, I designed and implemented an analytics tool for StarLogo Nova, a block-based programming platform for creating 3D simulations and games. This tool collects block data from the platform and visualizes the data into 15 different charts, showcasing both high-level and the more detailed aspects about the data. As a way to investigate how to improve StarLogo such that it is more accessible to beginner users and more extensible to experienced users, the tool includes charts that focus on the following four elements: tutorials, breed tabs, scrolling, and block size and placement. Suggestions for how to improve StarLogo's user interface, driven by a few runs of this tool on the data, are documented in this thesis as well., by Phoebe Hiuchin Tse., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 61)., TaleBlazer is educational mobile game platform designed to build location based learning games for children. One aspect of learning games that TaleBlazer has been unable to fully take advantage so far is the integration of player-to-player collaboration into gameplay. Although TaleBlazer has attempted to make its multiplayer mode work, it has not succeeded despite several years of production. Instead of attempting to make headway in multiplayer mode again, this thesis focuses on building a new feature in TaleBlazer to allow players to interact with each other without requiring major changes to the current TaleBlazer design. This describes the creation of a new Bluetooth communication feature that will allow game designers to add player-to-player exchanges of agents or messages to their games. Although these interactions are simple, they provide game designers with a new mechanic to work with and provide a basis for future work on Bluetooth communications to improve on., by William Spitzer., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 90)., StarLogo Nova is a block-based programming environment that allows users to create 3D simulations and games. Typical user tasks include creating new projects and galleries, organizing projects into galleries, updating gallery settings, viewing and editing projects, and updating user account settings. This thesis uses usability heuristics to analyzes the ability of StarLogo Nova Users to save and organize their work. The usability problems of various pages of StarLogo Nova are identified, and the implemented solutions are explained. A new system design for project saving is introduced. The new system uses Edits and enables users to undo and redo project changes. The design decisions, implementation challenges and future work for Edits are discussed., by Ami Suzuki., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 117)., StarLogo Nova is an online blocks-based programming environment designed for pre-college students to explore the collective behavior of decentralized agents. Users can drag and drop blocks to construct graphical scripts that control how individual agents respond to stimuli. These scripts are run by the Execution Engine and rendered in real-time. By investigating hypotheses about how small tweaks to individual behavior impact the entire system, students learn to think beyond the centralized mindset where all actions are dictated by a singular leader. This thesis migrates the Execution Engine from the aging Adobe ActionScript 3 language to TypeScript, a weakly typed language that transpiles to JavaScript. To promote code health, this thesis introduces code formatters, linters, test cases, and a build process. Finally, this thesis optimizes the StarLogo Nova Execution Engine for performance, consistently beating the previous engine and bringing the execution time per cycle for key benchmarks under 10 milliseconds., by Jin Pan., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 61)., TaleBlazer is educational mobile game platform designed to build location based learning games for children. One aspect of learning games that TaleBlazer has been unable to fully take advantage so far is the integration of player-to-player collaboration into gameplay. Although TaleBlazer has attempted to make its multiplayer mode work, it has not succeeded despite several years of production. Instead of attempting to make headway in multiplayer mode again, this thesis focuses on building a new feature in TaleBlazer to allow players to interact with each other without requiring major changes to the current TaleBlazer design. This describes the creation of a new Bluetooth communication feature that will allow game designers to add player-to-player exchanges of agents or messages to their games. Although these interactions are simple, they provide game designers with a new mechanic to work with and provide a basis for future work on Bluetooth communications to improve on., by William Spitzer., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-124)., StarLogo Nova is an online education platform for programming and visualizing 3D simulations and games. It has a custom programming language, a compiler, and graphical user interface for shows systems implemented with the programming language. Unlike most programming languages, however, StarLogo Nova uses a block-based programming front-end. This unique front-end leads to interesting challenges when adding new features to StarLogo Nova's programming editor. For this thesis, I designed and implemented a proof of concept real-time collaboration system that supports multi-user undo/redo. The related works, design, implementation, and future work are discussed in this thesis., by Denis Li., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 61)., TaleBlazer is educational mobile game platform designed to build location based learning games for children. One aspect of learning games that TaleBlazer has been unable to fully take advantage so far is the integration of player-to-player collaboration into gameplay. Although TaleBlazer has attempted to make its multiplayer mode work, it has not succeeded despite several years of production. Instead of attempting to make headway in multiplayer mode again, this thesis focuses on building a new feature in TaleBlazer to allow players to interact with each other without requiring major changes to the current TaleBlazer design. This describes the creation of a new Bluetooth communication feature that will allow game designers to add player-to-player exchanges of agents or messages to their games. Although these interactions are simple, they provide game designers with a new mechanic to work with and provide a basis for future work on Bluetooth communications to improve on., by William Spitzer., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-138)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing educational location-based augmented reality games. These games are made by both adults and children game designers using the online TaleBlazer Editor. Oftentimes, building a TaleBlazer game is a group effort, but the previous Editor made collaboration inefficient, difficult, error-prone, and frustrating. This thesis describes a suite of features designed to improve version control for a game and assist designers in sharing their work with others. Together, these features encourage and facilitate collaboration between multiple TaleBlazer designers., by Linda Wang., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 105-106)., In this thesis, I designed and implemented an analytics tool for StarLogo Nova, a block-based programming platform for creating 3D simulations and games. This tool collects block data from the platform and visualizes the data into 15 different charts, showcasing both high-level and the more detailed aspects about the data. As a way to investigate how to improve StarLogo such that it is more accessible to beginner users and more extensible to experienced users, the tool includes charts that focus on the following four elements: tutorials, breed tabs, scrolling, and block size and placement. Suggestions for how to improve StarLogo's user interface, driven by a few runs of this tool on the data, are documented in this thesis as well., by Phoebe Hiuchin Tse., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 97)., In this thesis, I designed and implemented a framework for adding customizable icons to an existing location-based augmented reality software platform. This platform is comprised of a browser-based editor and a mobile application. In the editor, my work included increasing the size and variety of the existing icon palette, as well as, including a new option for uploading custom images for icons. This framework allows for greater understanding during gameplay, which in turn, improves the user experience while using the mobile application. Additionally, I redesigned the user interface used for interacting with these icons in the editor. This UI redesign increases learnability and usability by creating parallels between the editor and the mobile application. A series of user testing sessions were conducted to determine the effectiveness of these new features., by Victoria Christine Jones., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 117)., StarLogo Nova is an online blocks-based programming environment designed for pre-college students to explore the collective behavior of decentralized agents. Users can drag and drop blocks to construct graphical scripts that control how individual agents respond to stimuli. These scripts are run by the Execution Engine and rendered in real-time. By investigating hypotheses about how small tweaks to individual behavior impact the entire system, students learn to think beyond the centralized mindset where all actions are dictated by a singular leader. This thesis migrates the Execution Engine from the aging Adobe ActionScript 3 language to TypeScript, a weakly typed language that transpiles to JavaScript. To promote code health, this thesis introduces code formatters, linters, test cases, and a build process. Finally, this thesis optimizes the StarLogo Nova Execution Engine for performance, consistently beating the previous engine and bringing the execution time per cycle for key benchmarks under 10 milliseconds., by Jin Pan., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-138)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing educational location-based augmented reality games. These games are made by both adults and children game designers using the online TaleBlazer Editor. Oftentimes, building a TaleBlazer game is a group effort, but the previous Editor made collaboration inefficient, difficult, error-prone, and frustrating. This thesis describes a suite of features designed to improve version control for a game and assist designers in sharing their work with others. Together, these features encourage and facilitate collaboration between multiple TaleBlazer designers., by Linda Wang., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 61)., TaleBlazer is educational mobile game platform designed to build location based learning games for children. One aspect of learning games that TaleBlazer has been unable to fully take advantage so far is the integration of player-to-player collaboration into gameplay. Although TaleBlazer has attempted to make its multiplayer mode work, it has not succeeded despite several years of production. Instead of attempting to make headway in multiplayer mode again, this thesis focuses on building a new feature in TaleBlazer to allow players to interact with each other without requiring major changes to the current TaleBlazer design. This describes the creation of a new Bluetooth communication feature that will allow game designers to add player-to-player exchanges of agents or messages to their games. Although these interactions are simple, they provide game designers with a new mechanic to work with and provide a basis for future work on Bluetooth communications to improve on., by William Spitzer., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 90)., StarLogo Nova is a block-based programming environment that allows users to create 3D simulations and games. Typical user tasks include creating new projects and galleries, organizing projects into galleries, updating gallery settings, viewing and editing projects, and updating user account settings. This thesis uses usability heuristics to analyzes the ability of StarLogo Nova Users to save and organize their work. The usability problems of various pages of StarLogo Nova are identified, and the implemented solutions are explained. A new system design for project saving is introduced. The new system uses Edits and enables users to undo and redo project changes. The design decisions, implementation challenges and future work for Edits are discussed., by Ami Suzuki., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 97)., In this thesis, I designed and implemented a framework for adding customizable icons to an existing location-based augmented reality software platform. This platform is comprised of a browser-based editor and a mobile application. In the editor, my work included increasing the size and variety of the existing icon palette, as well as, including a new option for uploading custom images for icons. This framework allows for greater understanding during gameplay, which in turn, improves the user experience while using the mobile application. Additionally, I redesigned the user interface used for interacting with these icons in the editor. This UI redesign increases learnability and usability by creating parallels between the editor and the mobile application. A series of user testing sessions were conducted to determine the effectiveness of these new features., by Victoria Christine Jones., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-124)., StarLogo Nova is an online education platform for programming and visualizing 3D simulations and games. It has a custom programming language, a compiler, and graphical user interface for shows systems implemented with the programming language. Unlike most programming languages, however, StarLogo Nova uses a block-based programming front-end. This unique front-end leads to interesting challenges when adding new features to StarLogo Nova's programming editor. For this thesis, I designed and implemented a proof of concept real-time collaboration system that supports multi-user undo/redo. The related works, design, implementation, and future work are discussed in this thesis., by Denis Li., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 117)., StarLogo Nova is an online blocks-based programming environment designed for pre-college students to explore the collective behavior of decentralized agents. Users can drag and drop blocks to construct graphical scripts that control how individual agents respond to stimuli. These scripts are run by the Execution Engine and rendered in real-time. By investigating hypotheses about how small tweaks to individual behavior impact the entire system, students learn to think beyond the centralized mindset where all actions are dictated by a singular leader. This thesis migrates the Execution Engine from the aging Adobe ActionScript 3 language to TypeScript, a weakly typed language that transpiles to JavaScript. To promote code health, this thesis introduces code formatters, linters, test cases, and a build process. Finally, this thesis optimizes the StarLogo Nova Execution Engine for performance, consistently beating the previous engine and bringing the execution time per cycle for key benchmarks under 10 milliseconds., by Jin Pan., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 90)., StarLogo Nova is a block-based programming environment that allows users to create 3D simulations and games. Typical user tasks include creating new projects and galleries, organizing projects into galleries, updating gallery settings, viewing and editing projects, and updating user account settings. This thesis uses usability heuristics to analyzes the ability of StarLogo Nova Users to save and organize their work. The usability problems of various pages of StarLogo Nova are identified, and the implemented solutions are explained. A new system design for project saving is introduced. The new system uses Edits and enables users to undo and redo project changes. The design decisions, implementation challenges and future work for Edits are discussed., by Ami Suzuki., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 129-130)., In grade school, students learn that human beings possess five main senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Of these, we currently can experience only the first two through a computer, and by extension, the Internet. Although web technologies have supported visual feedback since the earliest of times, only recently have browser provided web developers with audio technologies capable of recording, editing, and playing audio without resorting to external-to-browser plug-ins, such as ActionScript and Java. This presents a ripe opportunity for web applications to leverage the power of the web and deliver immersive auditory experience that appeal to users' ears. This thesis presents AuO, an online audio recording and editing application. Inspired by the needs of StarLogo Nova, AuO uses only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to allow web developers to provide their users with the ability to record audio from their browsers, load audio from the Internet or users' machines, make edits to the audio, play back the audio as a preview, and save the audio to either the Internet or users' local filesystems. Designed with both web developers and users in mind, and implemented with the aim of delivering speedy and smooth experiences, AuO's development process, from conception to future work, documents the creation of the first integrable native-to-browser web audio recorder and editor., by Luo Qian., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 75)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing location-based educational augmented reality games. This thesis describes the design and implementation of new indoor location-based functionality in TaleBlazer, based on the use of iBeacon technology. It describes how the new functionality can be used in indoor location-based games, and presents results from a pilot indoor game conducted with the Harvard Museum of Natural History., by Ellen Yongin Finch., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 82)., TaleBlazer is a platform for building and playing augmented reality, location-based, mobile games. Users design games in a web-based editor and then play the games on their mobile device with the TaleBlazer mobile app. The classical version of TaleBlazer is single-player, where each player plays in his or her own individual game world. A newer version of TaleBlazer is multiplayer, which involves multiple players sharing the same game world. This thesis describes new features added to the TaleBlazer multiplayer platform. The new features vary in size and scope. Some are large-scale new game mechanics, while others are on a smaller-scale. Overall, the added functionality allows game designers to design more complex games and gives players a better gameplay experience., by Arjun V. Narayanan., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Title as it appears in MIT Commencement Exercises program, June 5, 2015: An intuitive and functional design for the TaleBlazer game editor. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 77)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing location-based augmented-reality games. The TaleBlazer web-based editor allows users to build customized games using a blocks-based programming language. In order to allow more user groups to utilize various features offered by TaleBlazer, building an intuitive editor user interface is especially essential to maximizing usability and learnability. This thesis presents a new version of the editor with improved front-end design and a new tutorials system. The updated implementation is intuitive, powerful, and user-friendly for both novice and experienced TaleBlazer users., by Jacqueline Hung., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 117)., SimBio, an education-technology company, has created two new online question formats which are constrained enough to give students automatic feedback, but open enough to give students ample room for expression. The LabLib, modeled after a MadLib, consists of multiple fill-in-the-blank answer choices, which students select from a drop-down. The WordBytes question format, modeled after refrigerator poetry, consists of pre-determined tiles that students can drag and drop to form their answer. Automatic feedback is provided on-demand in the form of a popup window. This thesis presents the design and implementation of the first-ever split-classroom study to compare the LabLib and WordBytes format to each other. An experimental platform was created to support the study's requirements, and a 319-participant study was conducted with high school students from the Greater Boston area. We evaluated the LabLibs and WordBytes on learning gains, completion rates, and student engagement. Preliminary data reveals no significant difference in learning gains between the two formats. However, completion rates of questions in the LabLib and WordBytes format were higher than that of questions in a Free Response format. The data also suggests students were engaged with the LabLib and WordBytes questions, measured by the number of times students checked their answers., by Deborah L. Chen., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, February 2016., Cataloged PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 63-66)., TaleBlazer is a platform that allows for the design and play of iOS and Android location-based augmented reality games. Until recently, TaleBlazer games could only be played outdoors. Indoor positioning is an active area of research. This thesis will explore and evaluate a variety of more sophisticated alternatives to an existing, simple indoor positioning scheme for TaleBlazer. None of the explored indoor positioning techniques were satisfactory as a replacement scheme. In lieu of completely replacing the existing scheme, a number of improvements were made to TaleBlazer's indoor positioning., by Eugenio Robert Fortanely., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Title as it appears in MIT Commencement Exercises program, June 5, 2015: An intuitive and functional design for the TaleBlazer game editor. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 77)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing location-based augmented-reality games. The TaleBlazer web-based editor allows users to build customized games using a blocks-based programming language. In order to allow more user groups to utilize various features offered by TaleBlazer, building an intuitive editor user interface is especially essential to maximizing usability and learnability. This thesis presents a new version of the editor with improved front-end design and a new tutorials system. The updated implementation is intuitive, powerful, and user-friendly for both novice and experienced TaleBlazer users., by Jacqueline Hung., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, February 2016., Cataloged PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 63-66)., TaleBlazer is a platform that allows for the design and play of iOS and Android location-based augmented reality games. Until recently, TaleBlazer games could only be played outdoors. Indoor positioning is an active area of research. This thesis will explore and evaluate a variety of more sophisticated alternatives to an existing, simple indoor positioning scheme for TaleBlazer. None of the explored indoor positioning techniques were satisfactory as a replacement scheme. In lieu of completely replacing the existing scheme, a number of improvements were made to TaleBlazer's indoor positioning., by Eugenio Robert Fortanely., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 61)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing augmented reality location-based mobile games. TaleBlazer Analytics is an automated system for collecting and analyzing anonymized player data from these games. This thesis presents additions and improvements made to TaleBlazer Analytics to allow for a more in-depth view of data from individual games, as well as aggregated across games. The updated system will ultimately help researchers, game designers, partner organizations, and the TaleBlazer development team in better understanding how users play TaleBlazer games., by Sarah R. Edris., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 107-108)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing mobile location-based augmented reality games. This thesis describes the design and implementation of audio clips functionality in the platform. Audio clips are recordings that can be attached to text in TaleBlazer games. This report presents results from conducting user testing of the new feature and specifies the subsequent improvements that were made. It also details the infrastructure enhancements made to improve all media support on the platform, including audio clips., by Manali A. Naik., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 82)., TaleBlazer is a platform for building and playing augmented reality, location-based, mobile games. Users design games in a web-based editor and then play the games on their mobile device with the TaleBlazer mobile app. The classical version of TaleBlazer is single-player, where each player plays in his or her own individual game world. A newer version of TaleBlazer is multiplayer, which involves multiple players sharing the same game world. This thesis describes new features added to the TaleBlazer multiplayer platform. The new features vary in size and scope. Some are large-scale new game mechanics, while others are on a smaller-scale. Overall, the added functionality allows game designers to design more complex games and gives players a better gameplay experience., by Arjun V. Narayanan., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, February 2016., Cataloged PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 63-66)., TaleBlazer is a platform that allows for the design and play of iOS and Android location-based augmented reality games. Until recently, TaleBlazer games could only be played outdoors. Indoor positioning is an active area of research. This thesis will explore and evaluate a variety of more sophisticated alternatives to an existing, simple indoor positioning scheme for TaleBlazer. None of the explored indoor positioning techniques were satisfactory as a replacement scheme. In lieu of completely replacing the existing scheme, a number of improvements were made to TaleBlazer's indoor positioning., by Eugenio Robert Fortanely., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 107-108)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing mobile location-based augmented reality games. This thesis describes the design and implementation of audio clips functionality in the platform. Audio clips are recordings that can be attached to text in TaleBlazer games. This report presents results from conducting user testing of the new feature and specifies the subsequent improvements that were made. It also details the infrastructure enhancements made to improve all media support on the platform, including audio clips., by Manali A. Naik., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 117)., SimBio, an education-technology company, has created two new online question formats which are constrained enough to give students automatic feedback, but open enough to give students ample room for expression. The LabLib, modeled after a MadLib, consists of multiple fill-in-the-blank answer choices, which students select from a drop-down. The WordBytes question format, modeled after refrigerator poetry, consists of pre-determined tiles that students can drag and drop to form their answer. Automatic feedback is provided on-demand in the form of a popup window. This thesis presents the design and implementation of the first-ever split-classroom study to compare the LabLib and WordBytes format to each other. An experimental platform was created to support the study's requirements, and a 319-participant study was conducted with high school students from the Greater Boston area. We evaluated the LabLibs and WordBytes on learning gains, completion rates, and student engagement. Preliminary data reveals no significant difference in learning gains between the two formats. However, completion rates of questions in the LabLib and WordBytes format were higher than that of questions in a Free Response format. The data also suggests students were engaged with the LabLib and WordBytes questions, measured by the number of times students checked their answers., by Deborah L. Chen., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Title as it appears in MIT Commencement Exercises program, June 5, 2015: An intuitive and functional design for the TaleBlazer game editor. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 77)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing location-based augmented-reality games. The TaleBlazer web-based editor allows users to build customized games using a blocks-based programming language. In order to allow more user groups to utilize various features offered by TaleBlazer, building an intuitive editor user interface is especially essential to maximizing usability and learnability. This thesis presents a new version of the editor with improved front-end design and a new tutorials system. The updated implementation is intuitive, powerful, and user-friendly for both novice and experienced TaleBlazer users., by Jacqueline Hung., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 75)., TaleBlazer is a platform for creating and playing location-based educational augmented reality games. This thesis describes the design and implementation of new indoor location-based functionality in TaleBlazer, based on the use of iBeacon technology. It describes how the new functionality can be used in indoor location-based games, and presents results from a pilot indoor game conducted with the Harvard Museum of Natural History., by Ellen Yongin Finch., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 65)., StarLogo Nova is blocks-based educational software that allows students to write and play their own 3D games online. It is the online version of StarLogo TNG. This thesis explores the problem of needing more accurate collision detection in StarLogo Nova while maintaining reasonable performance. Three new collision detection systems for StarLogo Nova are developed and evaluated. Compared to the spheres used to perform collision checks in the current system, the first new system, called the TightestFitCollider, introduces a variety of bounding spheres, bounding boxes, and bounding capsules as bounding structures that may fit the models in StarLogo Nova more closely. The second system, called the HierarchicalCollider, uses hierarchies of bounding boxes to perform even more precise collision detection than the TightestFitCollider. Finally, the third system combines the first two systems, so that the advantages of each can be used as appropriate. The three systems are evaluated for their accuracy and performance within the StarLogo Nova framework., by Divya Bajekal., M. Eng.

Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-105)., Technology use in education is rapidly expanding with varying results. The success of education technologies in schools depends on both the quality of the material presented through technology in terms of content and pedagogy and also the quality of the implementation of the program. With the acknowledgement that high quality materials are essential to the success of any technology, this thesis is concerned with the implementation of technology programs in schools, as it is impossible to utilize the technology for learning gains when students or teachers cannot access the materials. Prior research in education technology has not addressed readiness or planning practices for such large-scale programs as they exist today, specifically for 1:1 initiatives ("1:1" describes a system in which all students have personal learning devices, such as tablets or laptops). The main objective of this thesis is to determine the best practices in preparedness and planning for large-scale technology initiatives in US high schools. The research is designed to aid school system administrators and policy makers in their technology decision-making processes through the creation of a rubric of metrics and a model for sustainable implementation. The rubric and model were informed by data gathered through a case study approach, focusing on schools that are currently implementing 1:1 initiatives. The rubric outlines a spectrum of potential readiness levels across a number of critical metrics and allows school leaders to self-assess their readiness for a 1:1 program. In addition to the rubric and sustainable implementation model, this thesis aims to determine best practices in planning for a 1:1 program. Through a second round of case studies and interviews with school leaders, past planning practices and gaps in knowledge and planning were examined. From the school leaders' reflections on best practices, conclusions for improvement of current planning tools were drawn. These improvements inc, by Stacey A. Allen., S.M. in Technology and Policy

Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-105)., Technology use in education is rapidly expanding with varying results. The success of education technologies in schools depends on both the quality of the material presented through technology in terms of content and pedagogy and also the quality of the implementation of the program. With the acknowledgement that high quality materials are essential to the success of any technology, this thesis is concerned with the implementation of technology programs in schools, as it is impossible to utilize the technology for learning gains when students or teachers cannot access the materials. Prior research in education technology has not addressed readiness or planning practices for such large-scale programs as they exist today, specifically for 1:1 initiatives ("1:1" describes a system in which all students have personal learning devices, such as tablets or laptops). The main objective of this thesis is to determine the best practices in preparedness and planning for large-scale technology initiatives in US high schools. The research is designed to aid school system administrators and policy makers in their technology decision-making processes through the creation of a rubric of metrics and a model for sustainable implementation. The rubric and model were informed by data gathered through a case study approach, focusing on schools that are currently implementing 1:1 initiatives. The rubric outlines a spectrum of potential readiness levels across a number of critical metrics and allows school leaders to self-assess their readiness for a 1:1 program. In addition to the rubric and sustainable implementation model, this thesis aims to determine best practices in planning for a 1:1 program. Through a second round of case studies and interviews with school leaders, past planning practices and gaps in knowledge and planning were examined. From the school leaders' reflections on best practices, conclusions for improvement of current planning tools were drawn. These improvements inc, by Stacey A. Allen., S.M. in Technology and Policy

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 65)., StarLogo Nova is blocks-based educational software that allows students to write and play their own 3D games online. It is the online version of StarLogo TNG. This thesis explores the problem of needing more accurate collision detection in StarLogo Nova while maintaining reasonable performance. Three new collision detection systems for StarLogo Nova are developed and evaluated. Compared to the spheres used to perform collision checks in the current system, the first new system, called the TightestFitCollider, introduces a variety of bounding spheres, bounding boxes, and bounding capsules as bounding structures that may fit the models in StarLogo Nova more closely. The second system, called the HierarchicalCollider, uses hierarchies of bounding boxes to perform even more precise collision detection than the TightestFitCollider. Finally, the third system combines the first two systems, so that the advantages of each can be used as appropriate. The three systems are evaluated for their accuracy and performance within the StarLogo Nova framework., by Divya Bajekal., M. Eng.

Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-105)., Technology use in education is rapidly expanding with varying results. The success of education technologies in schools depends on both the quality of the material presented through technology in terms of content and pedagogy and also the quality of the implementation of the program. With the acknowledgement that high quality materials are essential to the success of any technology, this thesis is concerned with the implementation of technology programs in schools, as it is impossible to utilize the technology for learning gains when students or teachers cannot access the materials. Prior research in education technology has not addressed readiness or planning practices for such large-scale programs as they exist today, specifically for 1:1 initiatives ("1:1" describes a system in which all students have personal learning devices, such as tablets or laptops). The main objective of this thesis is to determine the best practices in preparedness and planning for large-scale technology initiatives in US high schools. The research is designed to aid school system administrators and policy makers in their technology decision-making processes through the creation of a rubric of metrics and a model for sustainable implementation. The rubric and model were informed by data gathered through a case study approach, focusing on schools that are currently implementing 1:1 initiatives. The rubric outlines a spectrum of potential readiness levels across a number of critical metrics and allows school leaders to self-assess their readiness for a 1:1 program. In addition to the rubric and sustainable implementation model, this thesis aims to determine best practices in planning for a 1:1 program. Through a second round of case studies and interviews with school leaders, past planning practices and gaps in knowledge and planning were examined. From the school leaders' reflections on best practices, conclusions for improvement of current planning tools were drawn. These improvements inc, by Stacey A. Allen., S.M. in Technology and Policy

Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-105)., Technology use in education is rapidly expanding with varying results. The success of education technologies in schools depends on both the quality of the material presented through technology in terms of content and pedagogy and also the quality of the implementation of the program. With the acknowledgement that high quality materials are essential to the success of any technology, this thesis is concerned with the implementation of technology programs in schools, as it is impossible to utilize the technology for learning gains when students or teachers cannot access the materials. Prior research in education technology has not addressed readiness or planning practices for such large-scale programs as they exist today, specifically for 1:1 initiatives ("1:1" describes a system in which all students have personal learning devices, such as tablets or laptops). The main objective of this thesis is to determine the best practices in preparedness and planning for large-scale technology initiatives in US high schools. The research is designed to aid school system administrators and policy makers in their technology decision-making processes through the creation of a rubric of metrics and a model for sustainable implementation. The rubric and model were informed by data gathered through a case study approach, focusing on schools that are currently implementing 1:1 initiatives. The rubric outlines a spectrum of potential readiness levels across a number of critical metrics and allows school leaders to self-assess their readiness for a 1:1 program. In addition to the rubric and sustainable implementation model, this thesis aims to determine best practices in planning for a 1:1 program. Through a second round of case studies and interviews with school leaders, past planning practices and gaps in knowledge and planning were examined. From the school leaders' reflections on best practices, conclusions for improvement of current planning tools were drawn. These improvements inc, by Stacey A. Allen., S.M. in Technology and Policy

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015., This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections., Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 65)., StarLogo Nova is blocks-based educational software that allows students to write and play their own 3D games online. It is the online version of StarLogo TNG. This thesis explores the problem of needing more accurate collision detection in StarLogo Nova while maintaining reasonable performance. Three new collision detection systems for StarLogo Nova are developed and evaluated. Compared to the spheres used to perform collision checks in the current system, the first new system, called the TightestFitCollider, introduces a variety of bounding spheres, bounding boxes, and bounding capsules as bounding structures that may fit the models in StarLogo Nova more closely. The second system, called the HierarchicalCollider, uses hierarchies of bounding boxes to perform even more precise collision detection than the TightestFitCollider. Finally, the third system combines the first two systems, so that the advantages of each can be used as appropriate. The three systems are evaluated for their accuracy and performance within the StarLogo Nova framework., by Divya Bajekal., M. Eng.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2013., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 109-119)., This thesis describes the production of Sanctuary, a multiplayer learning game to be played on two tablet computers. Sanctuary's principle innovation is the splitting of the user interface onto two tablets, separating player tools in separate roles and thus providing players with obtainable epistemologies. The designed intention of this interaction is to force communication and interaction and thus metacognition in players. By requiring players to express their beliefs about the game world to one another in language in order to be successful, the design of the game encourages players to formalize their intuitions and experiences. If this approach is successful, then it may be applied further to an increasing range of epistemological frames and better science education. This has the potential to build cooperative, thriving learning communities with shared experiences. The game was tested with a non-random stratified sample of high school students, suggesting new directions for the intervention, and demonstrating the value of co-design., by Jason M. Haas., S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2013., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (pages 109-119)., This thesis describes the production of Sanctuary, a multiplayer learning game to be played on two tablet computers. Sanctuary's principle innovation is the splitting of the user interface onto two tablets, separating player tools in separate roles and thus providing players with obtainable epistemologies. The designed intention of this interaction is to force communication and interaction and thus metacognition in players. By requiring players to express their beliefs about the game world to one another in language in order to be successful, the design of the game encourages players to formalize their intuitions and experiences. If this approach is successful, then it may be applied further to an increasing range of epistemological frames and better science education. This has the potential to build cooperative, thriving learning communities with shared experiences. The game was tested with a non-random stratified sample of high school students, suggesting new directions for the intervention, and demonstrating the value of co-design., by Jason M. Haas., S.M.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2014., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 75)., TaleBlazer is an augmented-reality platform that lets users create location-based games for their mobile devices. In order to determine the efficacy and use cases for TaleBlazer games, it is necessary to capture data about user behavior. This thesis presents TaleBlazer Analytics, an automated system which collects and analyzes mobile users' behavior in TaleBlazer games. It details the development of the TaleBlazer Analytics system, comprised of the backend data collection service and the front-end data analysis user interface., by Fidel Sosa., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 59)., This thesis analyzes Herbo Hunt, an educational game that aims to teach variables to students. By assigning unknown point values to creatures that must be caught in groups, we subtly encourage students to solve mental equations to achieve their goals. In addition to the formal study, the creation of the game itself utilized intelligent and flexible design techniques. Two main focuses were modularity of design and opportunity for procedural generation of content. Two versions of the game were used to explore the difference in learning between them; we created both a single-player experience and a cooperative version. We expected that players of the cooperative game would learn more quickly through discussion and coordination. Students played both versions, and then answered short questions regarding their experience. Contrary to our expectations students did not appear to show a difference in learning between the two versions; understanding seemed to take place at the same point regardless of game type., by Bradley R. Gaffney., M. Eng.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2014., Cataloged from PDF version of thesis., Includes bibliographical references (page 75)., TaleBlazer is an augmented-reality platform that lets users create location-based games for their mobile devices. In order to determine the efficacy and use cases for TaleBlazer games, it is necessary to capture data about user behavior. This thesis presents TaleBlazer Analytics, an automated system which collects and analyzes mobile users' behavior in TaleBlazer games. It details the development of the TaleBlazer Analytics system, comprised of the backend data collection service and the front-end data analysis user interface., by Fidel Sosa., M. Eng.