Manuel B. Garcia
129 Publications
Scopus ID: 85104936823
2020 IEEE 12th International Conference on Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology, Communication and Control, Environment, and Management (HNICEM), (2020), pp. 1-5
Conference Paper | Published: December 3, 2020
Abstract
Design Thinking is commonly used by businesses as a mindset and approach for problem-solving, learning, and collaboration. Such methodology is a beneficial addition to the pedagogy selections used in the education landscape especially to fields that build products (e.g., computer systems) requiring significant considerations to its functional designs. In this study, the use of Design Thinking Curriculum was explored in Higher Education Institutions particularly on Information Technology and Computer Science programs to determine its impact to the skills and abilities of future computing professionals. To do this, a self-assessment scale that comprises of 31 measurement items divided into seven dimensions was given to computing students. Findings establish that computing students enrolled in a Design Thinking Curriculum have significantly improved in all scales compared to those who are not. Therefore, this study validates the application of Design Thinking Curriculum in education as an approach to encourage innovation in the computing field.
Scopus ID: 85098214765
Cybernetics and Information Technologies, (2020), Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 141-155
Journal Article | Published: November 1, 2020
Abstract
From the outbreak of a novel COronaVIrus Disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan to the first COVID-19 case in the Philippines, Filipinos have been enthusiastically engaging on Twitter to convey their sentiments. As such, this paper aims to identify the public opinion of Filipino twitter users concerning COVID-19 in three different timelines. Toward this goal, a total of 65,396 tweets related to COVID-19 were sent to data analysis using R Statistical Software. Results show that “mask”, “health”, “lockdown”, “outbreak”, “test”, “kit”, “university”, “alcohol”, and “suspension” were some of the most frequently occurring words in the tweets. The study further investigates Filipinos’ emotions regarding COVID-19 by calculating text polarity of the dataset. To date, this is the first paper to perform sentiment analysis on tweets pertaining to COVID-19 not only in the Filipino context but worldwide as well.
Scopus ID: 85083836423
International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, (2020), Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 2068-2075
Journal Article | Published: January 1, 2020
Abstract
Albeit the potent association between nutrition and health has been repeatedly corroborated in the field of nutrition science through evidence-based approaches, the prevalence of inadequate nutrition among Filipino households is still too high. Therefore, the goal of this study was to pinpoint nutrition challenges faced by Filipino young adults and evaluate whether a personalized nutrition knowledge-based system is a potential nutrition intervention tool. A mixed-methods needs analysis approach was operated to arrive at a panoramic profile of a nutrition knowledge-based system through the participation of respondents in an online survey (n = 85) and focus groups (n = 4). The assessment was grounded from the influencing factors of health and nutritional status such as food selection, nutrition barriers, poor eating habits, nutrition knowledge, and with the inclusion of nutrition application for technical feedback. The findings exploited the fact that people do not track what they eat, let alone the nutrients it contained, which eventually leads to undereating or overeating. There was also a commonness in lack of nutrition knowledge to make healthier food choices. Fortunately, the willingness of participants to point their directions towards a healthier lifestyle through the use of a nutrition knowledge-based system was evident. The paper then concluded with recommendations for future studies and how its findings might be utilized for the development of a personalized nutrition system.
Scopus ID: 85099186631
International Journal of Learning Technology, (2020), Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 234
Journal Article | Published: January 1, 2020
Abstract
History education ordinarily faces a relativist slant, if not by the monotonous nature of the course. Hence, educators are continuously in pursuit for a better teaching strategy to keep the class interesting. The main goal of this study was to 'bring history to life' through a mobile application powered by augmented reality that can provide an immersive storytelling experience on the American colonisation period in the Philippines. Outlined as a second quarter lesson in K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum for Social Studies by the Department of Education, the historic augmented reality application (HARA) depicts the: 1) Battle of Manila Bay; 2) Mock Battle of Manila; 3) First Shot in Philippine-American War. Through a participatory approach, co-designers evaluated HARA in terms of pedagogical value (knowledge acquisition, acceptability, motivation, and attitude), and quality standards (effectiveness, satisfaction, and efficiency) through a usability inspection method. The iterative nature of the project development via a co-design approach with end users revealed early bugs, shortcomings, and possible improvements on the app. The rest is history!
Scopus ID: 85117957836
The International Journal of Technologies in Learning, (2020), Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 13-34
Journal Article | Published: January 1, 2020
Abstract
Because of its potent force within the educational settings, digital game-based learning is considered as a methodological means to keep up with the changing pedagogical landscape precipitated by technological developments. While educational technology has already established its presence in most parts of the education sector, it is still under-used in kindergarten level. The purpose of this study is to develop a digital educational game called “Kinder Learns” by using visual novels as the game design and K to 12 Kindergarten Curriculum Guide of the Department of Education as the game content, and to investigate its impact as an educational tool for preschoolers and educators. A digital educational game development methodology was employed to sensibly plan, design, develop, and implement Kinder Learns. The game impact was then evaluated by 243 preschoolers and 29 preschool teachers from the Pasay Schools Division of the Department of Education using the Serious Game framework, which is composed of learning and pedagogy theory in combination with gaming requirements. The result supports the acceptance of the game as an educational tool for knowledge enhancement in preschool. Kinder Learns shaped a novel realization that technology has a place in the early education landscape. Consequently, the game has successfully reinforced the positive influence of employing a digital educational game into the classroom curricula of preschool education and the unequivocal stakeholders’ perceptions towards technology use in early education years.
Scopus ID: 85080932573
2019 International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Knowledge Economy (ICCIKE), (2019), pp. 718-723
Conference Paper | Published: December 1, 2019
Abstract
Medicine intake, as prescribed by physicians and health care providers, is important not only for minimizing the risk of relapse but also to treating conditions and improving one’s overall well-being. However, adherence to a medication routine seems to be a problem for some people which is usually affected by a variety of factors such as hectic day-to-day activity schedules, poor prescription instruction, concurrent intake of multiple medications, and forgetfulness. Medication adherence has been then considered as one of the major medical problems globally. In such cases, a medical device that could alert and remind patients in taking their medicines on time will come in handy. Consequently, this study aimed to design and develop a pocket-sized electronic pillbox device using TFT LCD display, Arduino microcontroller, Piezo Buzzer (for sound notification), Eccentric Rotating Mass (for vibration notification), Lithium Ion battery as power source, and plastic organizer as the main body. The said pillbox device will act as a countermeasure for medication non-adherence particularly by patients under the case of polypharmacy. Thus, this study focused on the design and development of the prototype, hardware testing and system qualification only. Furthermore, this paper is part of a future study where the assessment and measure of device behavior and adherence will be conducted to compare whether the utilization of pillbox device has an impact to the people who are using it.
Scopus ID: 85084730289
2019 IEEE 11th International Conference on Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology, Communication and Control, Environment, and Management ( HNICEM ), (2019), pp. 1-6
Conference Paper | Published: November 1, 2019
Abstract
An ideal library makes every last patron feels what it is like to have their own library where one can traverse a world of knowledge, and then build their personal learning environment. Parallel to this conception is the intensification of fine-tuning the conventional librarianship to transform it into a center for new digital learning. As a contribution to this digital revolution, this paper presents an innovative way of renovating the house of dusty books into the center of creativity, research, and partnership through the fusion of traditional librarianship, self-service solutions, and human-computer interaction. The self-service system employs technologies and modalities such as touch screen-assistive technology for the kiosk terminal with the inclusion of a built-in camera, speaker, microphone, and lights, Automatic Speech Recognition, Radio-Frequency Identification and Content-Based Image Retrieval for holdings circulation and monitoring. In conformance with the ISO 9241-210 (Human-centred design for interactive systems), a series of user-centered evaluations were accomplished to obtain early feedback, and to validate that the user requirements have been satisfied at a later stage of the project cycle. To integrate a humanistic approach, the HCSDLC, or Human-Centered Systems Development Life Cycle Methodology, was utilized to complement the four main user-centered design activities specified in the ISO 9241-210 standard. The prototype designs and final self-service library system were assessed in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction using metrics defined in the ISO/IEC 25022.
Scopus ID: 85064127351
2018 IEEE 10th International Conference on Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology,Communication and Control, Environment and Management (HNICEM), (2018), pp. 1-5
Conference Paper | Published: July 2, 2018
Abstract
The combination of multimedia technology and Internet provides an amiss channel for pornographic contents accessible by certain sensitive groups of people. Furthermore, the same channel provides the easiest medium to distribute illicit images and videos without an autonomous content supervision process. In this study, an application was developed grounded from a pixel-based approach and a skin tone detection filter to identify images and videos with a large skin color count and considered as pornographic in nature. With nudity detection algorithm as the foundation of the system, all multimedia files were preprocessed, segmented, and filtered to analyze skin-colored pixels by processing in YCbCr space and then classifying it as skin or non-skin pixels. Afterwards, the percentage of skin pixels relative to the size of the frames is calculated to be part of the mean baseline for nudity and non-nudity materials. Lastly, the application classifies the files as nude or not, and then filter it. The application was evaluated by supplying a dataset of 1,239 multimedia files (Images = 986; Videos = 253) collected from the Web. On the final testing set, the application obtained a precision of 90.33% and accuracy of 80.23% using the supplied dataset.
Scopus ID: 85064106284
2018 IEEE 10th International Conference on Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology,Communication and Control, Environment and Management (HNICEM), (2018), pp. 1-4
Conference Paper | Published: July 2, 2018