The rapid growth of edge computing, 5G, and IoT technologies has led to a significant increase in distributed data, creating both opportunities and challenges for machine learning. Federated learning has emerged as a promising approach to enable collaborative model training across decentralized devices while not sharing user data. However,…

In this thesis, we incorporate information theory into statistical signal processing and machine learning in order to achieve robust learning in presence of outliers (or generally in environments with non-Gaussian structure). In other words, by incorporating information theory especially when structure of environment is non-Gaussian, the…

This dissertation consists of two separate studies exploring current and emerging technologies for education. The current technology is presented in the first study as an open educational resource (OER) for language learning. This study explored the affordances of OERs for language by comparing a traditional textbook and an OER web-book in terms…

Most Taiwanese English language learners have been exposed to traditional approaches to acquiring English as a second or foreign language. Studies demonstrate current/traditional teaching practices are not the most effective for struggling English language learners, and the rate of improvement has been limited. Therefore, this study explores…

Simulation based training (SBT) has allowed for improvement of clinical skills by providing practical experience of performing surgical procedures without the risk of harming patients. Performance assessment of learners during SBT has proved to be effective in improving psycho-motor skills, encouraging active learning and in-turn increasing…

Three studies were conducted to explore machine learning support of novel learning problems. The first was a study of a computer-supported online learning website, which was designed to support teachers improving their pedagogy and this work created a data-first approach for Linguistic pedagogy, and to support improved pedagogy delivery and…

This dissertation conducted a science classroom intervention using two instructional approaches, computational modeling and paper-based pictorial modeling, in the context of food webs. A series of research papers were written on the impact of the intervention on students' attitudes and learning, and on teachers via professional development and…