Physiological Needs

Physiological needs are those required to sustain life, such as:

• Air
• Water
• Food
• Sleep

According to this theory, if these fundamental needs are not satisfied then one will surely be motivated to satisfy them. Higher needs such as social needs and esteem are not recognized until one satisfies the needs basic to existence.

Safety Needs

Once physiological needs are met, one’s attention turns to safety and security in order to be free from the threat of physical and emotional harm. Such needs might be fulfilled by:

• Living in a safe area
• Medical insurance
• Job security
• Financial reserves

According to the Maslow hierarchy, if a person feels threatened, needs further up the pyramid will not receive attention until that need has been resolved.

Social Needs

Once a person has met the lower level physiological and safety needs, higher level motivators awaken. The first level of higher level needs are social needs. Social needs are those related to interaction with others and may include:

• Friendship
• Belonging to a group
• Giving and receiving love

Esteem Needs

After a person feels that they “belong”, the urge to attain a degree of importance emerges. Esteem needs can be categorized as external motivators and internal motivators. Internally motivating esteem needs are those such as self-esteem, accomplishment, and self respect. External esteem needs are those such as reputation and recognition. Some examples of esteem needs are:

• Recognition (external motivator)
• Attention (external motivator)
• Social Status (external motivator)
• Accomplishment (internal motivator)
• Self-respect (internal motivator)

Maslow later improved his model to add a layer in between self-actualization and esteem needs: the need for aesthetics and knowledge.

Self-actualization

Self-actualization is the summit of Maslow’s motivation theory. It is about the quest of reaching one’s full potential as a person. Unlike lower level needs, this need is never fully satisfied; as one grows psychologically there are always new opportunities to continue to grow. Self-actualized people tend to have motivators such as:

• Truth
• Justice
• Wisdom
• Meaning

Self-actualized persons have frequent occurrences of peak experiences, which are energized moments of profound happiness and harmony. According to Maslow, only a small percentage of the population reaches the level of self-actualization.

Source : http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/

An important distinction must be made between a Likert scale and a Likert item. The Likert scale is the sum of responses on several Likert items. Because Likert items are often accompanied by a visual analog scale (e.g., a horizontal line, on which a subject indicates his or her response by circling or checking tick-marks), the items are sometimes called scales themselves. This is the source of much confusion; it is better, therefore, to reserve the term Likert scale to apply to the summated scale, and Likert item to refer to an individual item.

A Likert item is simply a statement which the respondent is asked to evaluate according to any kind of subjective or objective criteria; generally the level of agreement or disagreement is measured. Often five ordered response levels are used, although many psychometricians advocate using seven or nine levels; a recent empirical study found that a 5- or 7- point scale may produce slightly higher mean scores relative to the highest possible attainable score, compared to those produced from a 10-point scale, and this difference was statistically significant. In terms of the other data characteristics, there was very little difference among the scale formats in terms of variation about the mean, skewness or kurtosis.

The format of a typical five-level Likert item is:

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Agree
• Strongly agree

Likert scaling is a bipolar scaling method, measuring either positive or negative response to a statement. Sometimes a four-point scale is used; this is a forced choice method since the middle option of “Neither agree nor disagree” is not available.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likert_scale

This is a “tour” starting from the zeroth dimension, and moving all the way up to the sixth, and then back down to zero. It starts out with a point, which turns into a line, then a square, a cube, a tesseract (4D cube), a pentaract (5D cube), and then a hexaract (6D cube). It adds more and more complex multidimensional rotations as it gets to higher dimensions, while retaining the rotations from the lower dimensions. Then, finally, the process is reversed and it gradually morphs back down to a single point again.

5D

4D

Level 1. Passive

The lowest level of interactivity where the learner is simply a receiver of information. Navigation is linear and is generally forward, back and possibly a menu which is either text or image based. This level is characterised by very limited user control with regard to sequence of materials. Communication flow is asynchronous learner to content.

Use: Presenting underpinning information, introducing a concept and supporting static materials.

Examples: Web pages with components including one or more of: text, images, automatic video and animation players. The majority of online learning used today. This site is a classic, passive example.

Development tools: Predominantly XHTML which may be supported by CSS.

Level 2. Limited participation

Involves level 1 plus enabling the learner to make simple responses to stimuli. This may be achieve through use of components developed using Flash to enable drag and drop type interactivity elements providing constructive learner feedback which may or may not be contextual. May support additional interfaces including light pens and touch screens, and so forth. Communication flow is learner to content and learner to interface.

Use: Non complex interactions where the pathway is singular and does not require the user to enter data or make independent decisions.

Examples: Web pages with components including one or more of: text, images, video, simple step through animations including frames and carousels, click and reveal interactions, multiple choice questions, open ended response checkers.

Development tools: XHTML, XML, CSS, Flash, etc.

Level 3. Complex participation

Involves all of levels 1 and 2 plus increased ability for the learner to control the interaction. Techniques might include complex simulations where data may be entered and consequence dealt with the learner. Communication flow is learner to content and learner to interface, while also supporting asynchronous learner to learner and learner to facilitator.

Use: Enables simulations with lower fidelity however allows the learner to practice and investigate a simulated environment. Feedback is highly responsive and contextual.

Examples: Complex simulations such as a simulated database system with field masking to enable simulated and contextual responses, simple branching scenarios, etc.

Development tools: 2D rendering and animation applications, java, Flash, .NET, XML, etc.

Level 4. Real-time participation

Involves all of levels 1, 2 & 3 plus real time engagement through a real life set of responses and cues. More often than not, this interaction is a simulation that mirrors the actual situation. Decisions, layouts, activities, consequences, feedback, etc all relate to the environment commonly associated with this activity. Collaboration with the online facilitator and other learners enable learning and assessment to take place in real-time. Supports all communication relationships synchronously.

Use: Allow transfer of complex or dangerous concepts and skills in a safe environment. Emerging technologies could include Haptic and bio- feedback devices.

Examples: F111 flight simulator, Second Life, Moodle (or similar collaborative environments) LMS, etc.

Development tools: 3D rendering and animation applications, java, Flash, .NET, XML, etc.

Jonassen (cited in Sims, 1995) suggested that the level of interactivity of a learning product, does have an influence on whether surface or deep learning can occur. While Schulmeister (2001, p16) argued that ‘relatively lower levels of interactivity tend to assume a behaviourist character, while higher levels rather presuppose and transport cognitive concepts of learning such as discovery (Bruner) or constructivist paradigms of learning (Schulmeister 1997).” Anderson (cited in Paton, 2008) also connects mode of interactivity with depth of learning suggesting a link between each of these theorise that may be visualised below.

Reference : http://universalusability.visumation.com/html/interactivity.html

Collaborative learning is an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves groups of learners working together to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a product. Collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is a naturally social act in which the participants talk among themselves. It is through the talk that learning occurs.

Source : http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/c-learn/index.html

The 2009 Schematic/Cannes Lions Touchwall measured 12’ wide by 5’ tall. This multi-user touch based interface edge-blended high-res graphics from 6 projectors, used infrared lasers to detect touch inputs from multiple users at the same time and synchronized a huge amount of event, location, and people data from multiple databases. RFID tags were attached to festival attendee badges and enabled the wall to recognize people as they approached the screen. Cannes attendees could use the wall to get directions around town, browse festival program information, trade contact info, and schedule meetings.

Behind the scenes of the Schematic multi-touch wall from Serge Jespers on Vimeo.

R.U.S.E

Developed by Eugen Systems, R.U.S.E is set to refresh the strategy genre, introducing deception techniques that will let you bluff your enemy to lead your nation’s army to victory. Camouflage your troops, lure your opponent with decoy units, sabotage his logistics: strategy has never been so intuitive and deep.

R.U.S.E features cutting edge graphics and effects, the incredible IRISZOOM Engine, immersive combat and a simplified interface that allows you to determine your nation’s strategy to defeat your enemies.