Research Papers - Dept of Software Engineering
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Publication Embargo EDUZONE – A Educational Video Summarizer and Digital Human Assistant for Effective Learning(IEEE, 2022-12-26) Wangchen, T; Tharindi, P.N; De Silva, K. C. C. C; Sandeepa, W. D. T; Kodagoda, N; Suriyawansa, KThe availability of technology and the expansive nature of the internet have created a surge in the demand for online learning. Despite so many advantages, there are some existing drawbacks related to online learning. The lengthy recorded video lectures of different subjects and modules in a static manner, are extremely tedious for the learner to understand the contents available. And lack of assistance for academic-related problems of students is also stated as a major issue that comes with online education. EDUZONE provides a reliable solution to mitigate and overcome these challenges. This tool is educational assistance that generates a summarized version of the video lectures which depicts the overall idea of the whole video with the capability of a lecture notes generator along with a digital human which helps to clarify students’ problems and build an efficient conversational flow. The summarized video content can be used by the learners for revisions and as a quick reference before any examinations. In addition to generating short and precise content, EDUZONE also indexes any specific topics to make it easier to find content and generate class notes, highlighting all the important content. Overall EDUZONE can be considered a time-efficient educational assistant which helps students with their studies.Publication Embargo Automatic Question Extractor and Answer Detector in a Recorded Webinar(IEEE, 2022-08-18) Dissanayake, C; Kodagoda, N; Suriyawansa, KOnline learning becomes the primary method of education due to the novel coronavirus (COVID 19). This research paper describes the automatic extraction of domain-related questions in a lecture video, identifies the answers given by the lecturer for both voice-based questions and chat questions. The paper also presents a method to identify whether a lecturer gave a valid answer for the chat-based questions in the later section of the video. Additionally, this paper describes the approach to identify the most accurate solutions from the custom search engine-based responses.Publication Embargo A Gamified Virtual Learning Environment to Enhance Online Teaching and Learning Experience(IEEE, 2022-07-18) Tharaka, W.C.M. K; Dilanka, R. M. T; Perera, H.D.D. S; Rathnayake, R.H.C. S; Kodagoda, N; Suriyawansa, KIn-class teaching not only concentrates on lecture content delivery but also on maintaining strong mutuality between lecturer-students and student-student. Online lectures are gaining popularity due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the learning-teaching process has become ineffective because existing video conferencing solutions are not intended for academic purposes. This research was conducted to identify the pain points of online education and develop an enhanced software solution. A user survey confirmed that an isolated environment tends to diminish attentiveness during online lectures. Also, it is difficult for teachers to observe the attentiveness of all the students. As a solution, student attentiveness was measured using their facial expressions and collected data shown to lecturers through a virtual student behavioural environment. The physical separation causes students to feel isolated during lectures, which can negatively affect their academic development and social and psychological development. The developed application also provides a virtual group study environment as a feature. According to the results gathered in the user acceptance testing phase, it was found that the attention detection feature helps students keep their attention at a significant level. Further, 9 out of 10 teachers who participated in the testing acknowledged that the simulated student behavioural view could provide a more immersive experience. 71% of students preferred the new collaborative virtual environment, and students further elaborated that the virtual environment was more likely the physical group studies. 72% of students mentioned that the collaborative group study tool helped eliminate isolation during group studies.Publication Open Access LEARNING STYLES BASED CHECKLIST FOR INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL FEATURES IN E-LEARNING(researchgate.net, 2020-03) Suriyawansa, K; Kodagoda, NE-learning is a rapidly growing industry with a large number of users around the globe. The learning process of e-learning mainly depends on different learning techniques of instructional materials provided in the learning environment. Learning materials are the key component of comprehending information in an e-learning environment. Thus, it is vital to develop e-learning learning materials that are beneficial for the target learners. Different learners have different preferences in learning. Several learning style models have proposed over the years to define the different characteristics of different types of learners. This paper describes seven such learning style models and define learner characteristics focused on each of these models. Then the defined characteristics of each learner style in all seven learning style models are tabularized to emphasize the overlaps of learner characteristics focused in different learning style models. As the next step, a list of unique learner characteristics with reference to learning styles was defined using the information in the table with all learner characteristics. This paper also defines features available in e-learning materials. At present, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) can be defined as the key pillar of e-learning. Thus, several MOOCs provided by Coursera platform were analyzed to derive features of e-learning materials or elearning environments. The identified unique learner characteristics of learning styles are then mapped with the list of features in learning materials in an e-learning environment. The final result of this research is a checklist which can be used by e-learning content developers to classify how the instructional materials are effective for the target learners. This checklist defines the satisfied learning styles of all seven learning style models by each identified feature of e-learning instructional materials. It can be used as a guideline for e-learning content developers to determine the features that has to be included in the learning materials to provide an effective learning environment for the target learnersPublication Embargo Digital Platform to Empower the Self-Employment in Sri Lanka(IEEE, 2021-12-01) Wickramasinghe, H. C. P; Thebuwana, T. D; Wijesinghe, G. K. H. S; Dissanayake, U. N; Kodagoda, N; Suriyawansa, KUnemployment is a huge problem around the world because a lack of job opportunities. People are unable to find the job opportunities according to their preferences and qualifications. As a solution for this, many countries are attempting to empower self-employment. Most of current world problems have been solved using modern technologies. Therefore, the development of self-employment also can be achieved through modern technology. The objective of our proposed platform, HIRELANCER, is empowering self-employment using modern technologies. HIRELANCER is bringing the consumers, service providers, and suppliers into the same platform. HIRELANCER will consist of innovative features that go beyond comparatively to other platforms such as an advanced mechanism to find best suitable service providers/suppliers for the service, handling the virtual front-desk, cost estimation for the services prior to contacting a service provider, and advanced facility to find a suitable career path for the people who are seeking career guidance. This research paper discusses how the innovative features of HIRELANCER will be beneficial for consumers, service providers, and suppliers and ultimately achieve our main objective, which is empowering self-employment in Sri Lanka.Publication Embargo A Bilingual Audio Based Online Shopping Mobile Application for Visually Impaired and the Elderly People(IEEE, 2021-12-07) Kangeswaran, V; Vasandarai, D; Eliyas, C; Munsil, M. M. M; Kodagoda, N; Suriyawansa, KDespite the widespread success of online shopping, it is not available to all consumer types. In this sense, visually impaired and elderly users, in particular, frequently face daunting barriers. Due to the inaccessibility and difficulty of current online shopping mobile applications, millions of visually impaired and elderly people are unable to benefit from the convenience provided by online shopping. Developing ideas that inspire people is really essential for visually impaired and elderly people to engage in social life. Generic product explanations, unhelpful images, and visually appealing user experiences are provided to average eyes in online shopping, and they are incompatible with visually impaired people, even with visually impaired assistive devices. Due to visual barriers and inaccessible user experiences, the visually impaired are struggling to do online shopping independently. During this COVID-19 pandemic situation, online shopping is one of the better ways to meet everyone's needs and wants. Ordinary individuals can meet their needs and desires, but the visually impaired and elderly people who live alone find it difficult to manage their daily life. Therefore, we have come up with a solution for this by having an online shopping mobile application. Our objective with this application is to assist visually impaired and elderly individuals in meeting their underlying needs and to help them in this pandemic situation. This paper presents an online shopping mobile application for visually impaired and elderly people that allows them to shop online in a variety of convenient ways.Publication Embargo Exploiting Multivariate LSTM Models with Multistep Price Forecasting for Agricultural Produce in Sri Lankan Context(IEEE, 2020-12-10) Navaratnalingam, S; Kodagoda, N; Suriyawansa, KIn Sri Lanka agricultural produces possess a large supply which involves various stakeholders and thus, fluctuation of the agricultural produce prices has a direct impact on the purchasing decisions of the consumer. So, the main purpose of this study is to address the problem faced by the consumer due to poor awareness of price fluctuation which consequently astonish the consumers and hinder them from making better purchasing decisions. The research study is being specially developed in a way to adapt the Sri Lankan agricultural consumer market that is mainly based on Pettah and Dambulla trade centers. As the study we exploited different types of LSTM model with multivariate inputs along with the different combination of multistep models. The result of the study reveals that better performance was obtained for the multivariate CNN LSTM model with encoder decoder multistep model which provided an average RMSE of 19.46 Sri Lankan rupees per kilogram with an average RMSPE of 14.9%. Also, study reveals a correlation between price fluctuation and standard days of the week, where a better prediction was obtained for Monday and Tuesday with an average RMSE of 17.2 and 17.7 Sri Lankan rupees per kilogram respectively with an average RMSPE of 12.2%. Based on the input timestep considered for model, though 14 days and 21 days provided a similar result with minor variation result reveals that 14 days provided a lesser standard deviation of 0.17 than 21 days standard deviation which is 0.98.Publication Embargo MOOCs Recommender based on User Preference and Video Quality(IEEE, 2020-12-10) Sankalpa, R; Sankalpani, T; Sandeepani, T; Ransika, N; Kodagoda, N; Suriyawansa, KMOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are a new revolution in the field of e-learning. MOOCs are capable of providing several thousands of learners with access to courses over the internet. MOOCs are produced in many different video production styles and these styles play an important role in helping the consumer stay engaged and interested in the courses. MOOCs provide a large number of courses in different domains to a wide range of learners. It has become difficult and a time-consuming task for a user to find the most suitable courses that suit a learner's personal preferences. This paper describes how to recommend a course based on the preferred video style of the learner and the basic learning style of the learner which determines the learner's preferences on other materials in a course. In the course recommendation process, this paper also describes how to classify the course in order to recommend the most appropriate massive open online courses for users according to their most preferred video production style.