On-line handwriting and drawing recognition and interpretation for active Learning in e-education – ScriptAndLabs

Our goal is to design digital learning environments on tablet highlighting any potential of pen and touch interactions: writing, drawing, sketch...The pedagogical line is to make students 'active' in their learning, by bringing them to, on one hand, interact with the instructor, and on the other hand, to produce by themselves independently. The learning activities will be enhanced by automated and real-time production of personalised feedback called "e-feedback".

These e-feedback will be produced with analyse and interpretation engines of manuscript drawings in relation to teacher's instructions: this is one the major scientific and technological problems that is not addressed in existing software.

The LabCom "ScriptAndLabs" is an ideal structure to implement a common roadmap between IntuiDoc team of the Research Unit UMR6074 - IRISA and the society Script&Go to imagine, design and develop innovative products and services in the field of "Digital learning" for academic teaching and extracurricular.

For the design of these digital learning environments, we will focus on the use of tablet and tactile digital devices (with finger touch and stylus) which can be combined with interactive whiteboard (IWB) or other interactive displays. This is a very rich learning environment different from existing solutions anchored on interactions "Keyboard & button"

During the 36-month financing, the LabCom will focus on extending KALIGO, the current range of products, from elementary to middle school.
Searching where and how digital could help appropriately learning in school, three innovative axes raised. Each is linked to open scientific problems:
- Innovation 1: Design of support modules for learning of writing in the sentence context.
- Innovation 2: Design of support modules for learning numbers and first arithmetic calculations.
- Innovation 3: Design of support modules for learning geometry by "generative drawing".

To do so, ScriptAndLabs will be based on resources, technologies and knowledge sharing between IntuiDoc and Script&GO. IntuiDoc is a leading research team in the field of recognition and analysis of handwriting and document. The Human-Computer Interaction but also the problems of interpretation, learning and evolve engines are the main research topics of the team.
Script&Go is a company founded at Rennes in 2011. Its business is the development of application on digital devices, dedicated to professionals and e-education since 2014.

The outputs of the LabCom consist of innovative educational modules based on active learning at school, and using advantages of digital devices (tablet). In addition to the scientific production and the exploitation of results through patents and licenses, ScriptAndLabs will offer to Script&Go a pioneering position in the field of "active" learning in school with interactive devices.
Beyond these works, other issues have been identified about the use of active and collaborative learning in high school, university and also professional training. These problems could be addressed later to extend the range of products KALIGO: interactive amphitheater, creativity workshop, collaborative mind mapping, ...