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TandemTable

Contributors:

Erik Paluka and Christopher Collins

We present TandemTable, a multi-touch tabletop system designed to break down communication barriers between partners, with a special focus on supporting those who are learning languages. The design was guided by a grounding study of a real-world tandem language learning (TLL) environment and refined with an exploratory study of an early prototype. TandemTable facilitates and supports conversations by suggesting topics of discussion and presenting partners with a variety of conversation-focused collaborative activities, which consist of shared digital topical content that is dynamically downloaded from the web. Through a formal study comparing TandemTable to the baseline TLL condition of no support, our system was shown to increase communication between learning partners, reduce social discomfort, and was the preferred way of engaging in TLL.

Check out our GitHub Repository for source code related to this project.

Publications

  • Paluka, E., & Collins, C. (2015). TandemTable: Supporting conversations and language learning using a multi-touch digital table. In Proceedings of Graphics Interface (GI) (pp. 139–146). Canadian Human-Computer Communications Society.

    PDF 
    @InProceedings{pal2015a,
author = {Erik Paluka and Christopher Collins},
title = {TandemTable: Supporting Conversations and Language Learning Using a Multi-Touch Digital Table},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2015 Graphics Interface Conference (GI '15)},
series = {GI '15},
year = {2015},
publisher = {ACM},
pages = {139--146}
}

  • Paluka, E., & Collins, C. (2013). Augmenting tandem language learning with the TandemTable [Poster]. In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (ITS) (pp. 437–440). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2512349.2514922

    PDF 
    @poster{pal2013a,
author = {Erik Paluka and Christopher Collins},
title = {Augmenting tandem language learning with the TandemTable},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2013 ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (Poster Session)},
series = {ITS '13},
year = 2013,
isbn = {978-1-4503-2271-3},
location = {St. Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom},
pages = {437 --- 440},
numpages = {4},
doi = {10.1145/2512349.2514922},
acmid = {2514922},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
keywords = {collaboration, digital tabletop, education, interactive, multi-touch, tandem language learning},
venue = {in Proc. of ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (Poster Session)},
}

  • Paluka, E. (2012). Enhancing Tandem Language Learning Using an Interactive Tabletop [Bachelor’s thesis, University of Ontario Institute of Technology].

    PDF 
    @BachelorsThesis{pal2012aa,
author = {Erik Paluka},
title = {Enhancing Tandem Language Learning Using an Interactive Tabletop},
school = {University of Ontario Institute of Technology},
year = 2012
}

  • Paluka, E. (2012). Learning in tandem: Augmenting tandem language learning with technology [Poster]. UOIT Student Research Showcase.

    PDF 
    @poster{pal2012b,
author = {Erik Paluka},
title = {Learning In Tandem: Augmenting Tandem Language Learning With Technology},
booktitle = {UOIT Student Research Showcase},
year = 2012
}

Acknowledgements