Grant: Alliance Grants

In partnership with UNLTD Inc., the proposed research project will create a framework to remotely deliver interactive educational content to children through gamification. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for intelligent platforms for automated delivery of learning elements. In this project, the aim is to gamify some of the core learning elements through interactive 3D (regular and augmented/virtual reality) games. Recent evidence has shown that gamification (i.e., serious games) has the potential to achieve and sustain a higher level of motivation and engagement in learning compared to traditional means. An important aspect in such game-based evaluation is the assessment of learning outcomes, which is often tied to assessing learning emotions accurately. In this project, a major aspect of the research will be on how to assess such learning emotions in a robust and efficient manner through physiological (e.g. ECG, EEG) and behavioral (e.g. facial expression, voice) data. We will focus on three key aspects: 1) Robust AI-based multimodal assessment of learning emotions: we will ensure that the developed algorithms can work under resource-constrained environments where one or more modalities of data could be missing. 2) Objective annotation for data-driven assessment of emotions: Since AI algorithms are data-driven, we will create evidence-based task-driven gaming applications which can help us in bridging the gap between subjective and objective annotations. 3) Cloud-based framework for rapid prototyping: we will create an easily scalable module that can help UNLTD in scaling up the project quickly and efficiently to multiple gaming titles. The potential outcome of the proposed project is a robust and universal framework for delivering interactive educational games efficiently. The project will train two PhD, two MSc., and multiple research assistants and software developers. The project can create an engaging channel for supplemental learning for children in Canada in addition to traditional learning in the classroom. The technical innovations will also enhance Ontario and Canada's position as a technical hub, creating new job opportunities for the HQPs involved in the project.