Large language models (LLMs), through their exposure to massive collections of online text, learn to reproduce the perspectives and linguistic styles of diverse social and cultural groups. This capability suggests a powerful social scientific application--the simulation of empirically realistic, culturally situated human subjects. Synthesizing…

Wildfires pose significant environmental threats in Australia, impacting ecosystems, human lives, and property. This review article provides a comprehensive analysis of various empirical and dynamic wildfire simulators alongside machine learning (ML) techniques employed for wildfire prediction in Australia. The study examines the effectiveness of…

Virtual Reality (VR) has been found useful to improve engagement and retention level of students, for some topics, compared to traditional learning tools such as books, and videos. However, a student could still get distracted and disengaged due to a variety of factors including stress, mind-wandering, unwanted noise, external alerts, and internal…

At present, the use of eye-tracking data in immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) learning environments is set to become a powerful tool for maximizing learning outcomes, due to the low-intrusiveness of eye-tracking technology and its integration in commercial iVR Head Mounted Displays. However, the most suitable technologies for data processing should…

Teamwork skills are commonly evaluated by human assessors, which can be logistically challenging and resource intensive. Technological advancements provide an opportunity for a new assessment method -- virtual behavioural simulations with self-scoring algorithms. This study explores whether a rule-based algorithm can match human assessors at…

This article presents a 3-D medical simulation that employs reinforcement learning (RL) and interactive RL (IRL) to teach and assess the procedure of donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE). The simulation is motivated by the need for effective, safe, and remote training techniques in medicine, particularly in light of the COVID-19…

Background/purpose: The incorporation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) into higher education is transforming competency-based learning by enabling adaptive, interactive, and immersive environments. This study aimed to design and evaluate an innovation mechanism that integrates AI agents with 3D interfaces, focusing not only on technical…

This paper presents a new method for accurately measuring the vocabulary size of second language (L2) learners. Traditional vocabulary size tests (VSTs) are limited in capturing a tester's vocabulary and are often population-specific. To overcome these issues, we propose an intelligent vocabulary size measurement method that utilizes massive robot…

This study investigated the efficacy of two distinct virtual training platforms, TeachLivE™ and Zoom with actors, in preparing preservice practitioners for behavior management in real-world settings. This exploratory study aimed to investigate individual participant skill acquisition and assess which platform better equipped participants with the…

Existing literature regarding social communication outcomes of interventions in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) depends upon human raters, with limited generalizability to real world settings. Technological innovation, particularly virtual reality (VR) and collaborative virtual environments (CVE), could offer a replicable, low cost measurement…

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…

SimStudent is a machine-learning agent initially developed to help novice authors to create cognitive tutors without heavy programming. Integrated into an existing suite of software tools called Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools (CTAT), SimStudent helps authors to create an expert model for a cognitive tutor by tutoring SimStudent on how to solve…

The 11th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2018) is held under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society at the Templeton Landing in Buffalo, New York. This year's EDM conference was highly competitive, with 145 long and short paper submissions. Of these, 23 were accepted as full papers and 37…