| NSF Org: |
IIS Division of Information & Intelligent Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 27, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 27, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1550730 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Maria Zemankova
IIS Division of Information & Intelligent Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2017 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $58,145.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $58,145.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1523 UNION RD RM 207 GAINESVILLE FL US 32611-1941 (352)392-3516 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
FL US 32611-7048 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Cyberlearn & Future Learn Tech |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
The Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies Program funds efforts that will help envision the next generation of learning technologies and advance what we know about how people learn in technology-rich environments. This project explores the possibility of using Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) technology to support learning in construction engineering and management courses. Today, construction projects are becoming increasingly more complex. Students can learn about how projects unfold through field trips to build sites, but expense, timing, and safety precautions make it hard for students to see how a variety of construction projects unfold in time and space. This project will help students learn about construction projects by using unmanned aerial vehicles to record video of build sites over time; students and their teachers will be able to select important project aspects to view, and recorded video will help establish a case library for future students to see how the realities of job sites differ from contstruction documents.
This project focuses on facilitating the integration of procedural and configurational knowledge in construction and engineering management by supporting teaching of spatio-temporal constraints through case-based reasoning. The CyberEye system will be built and refined through iterative design of two components: first, the remote video and image generation component, which will integrate the aerial vehicle, a ground control station, and a communications and control platform to allow the cameras to capture desired aspects of the construction site; and second, a system to support learner access to the video, which will support creation of instructive cases, allow instructor and student planning and input of aerial missions (both synchronously and asynchronously), and archiving and reflective viewing for learners. The system will study both the learning outcomes and propose design principles using a four-iteration design-based research methodology implemented in college-level construction engineering courses. Semi-structured interviews and participant observation will be used to support formative evaluation, while pre-post experimental comparison will gauge the impact of the CyberEye intervention on student learning and especially spatial reasoning within the CEM domain for each iteration.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Our vision for the Cyber-Eye project is to advance our understanding of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) technology uses in Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) education. To enhance CEM learning, field trips to construction sites and internships are provided in CEM courses to expose learners to the complexities of real-world CEM problems and contexts. However, jobsite visits are costly and non-efficient due to time requirements, lack of instructional resources, and safety risks during student visits. UAS-powered Cyber-Eye technology brings remote job-site environments into the classroom to enhance student learning and problem solving. Cyber-Eye uses UAS videos and learning activities that facilitate learners' reasoning for solving new CEM problems based on analogy-making between what is observed in the video and similar instances in the actual CEM problems students are tackling in the classroom and later – at work.
Our team has produced a number of videos with the help of UASs, learning activities, and an online system that stores and organizes these videos for students and teachers (see the attached image). We have also conducted research on the uses of Cyber-Eye in the classroom. Students in our studies have shared that a) Cyber-Eye helps them visualize CEM content better than 2D drawings, which are commonly used in CEM education, b) it’s interactive and simple, and c) it’s useful to see CEM projects from a bird’s eye view, which cannot be achieved during a jobsite visit.
To understand whether and how Cyber-Eye influences learning, we conducted a study to explore the cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes of using Cyber-Eye in the CEM classroom. Our data showed that students who used Cyber-Eye to solve CEM problems provided significantly higher ratings of their motivation to study CEM. This is an encouraging result because motivation is an essential prerequisite for meaningful learning. Our next steps include improving the Cyber-Eye learning environment and implementing it in more CEM classrooms to determine the most appropriate uses of this technology and to ultimately enhance student interest in CEM and student learning.
Last Modified: 10/04/2017
Modified by: Pasha Antonenko
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