Nayeth Idalid Solorzano Alcivar
@espol.edu.ec
Facultad de Arte, Diseño y Comunicación Audiovisual
Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral
Professional with outstanding experience in Higher Research Studies and Teaching related to the areas of Education, Technologies (ICTs), Information Systems (SI), Project Management and Entrepreneurship. Also, work experience in management positions held in private and public organizations. Passionate academic, in all my duties as a professor and researcher at the university level. In research studies, my areas of interest are focused on multidisciplinary research methodology; use of technologies in children's learning and special education (research project nominated by UNESCO for the King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khali award 2019); organizational management and business administration of technological innovation; specialized studies in high research related to usability and adoption of technologies (IS and ICTs). As an academic, I am personally passionate about guiding and motivating young generations by encouraging them as innovative entrepreneurs, supporting the development of their critic
EDUCATION
Doctor of Philosophy, Technology, and Information System. Griffith University, Australia
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Professional with outstanding experience in Higher Research Studies and Teaching related to the areas of Education, Technologies (ICTs), Information Systems (SI), Project Management and Entrepreneurship. My areas of interest are focused on multidisciplinary research methodology; use of technologies.
FUTURE PROJECTS
MIDI-AM 2.0
Evaluation and Production of educational games linked to control platforms for analysis of usability and preference of content and graphic lines that impact the creation and use of the MIDI-AM series as support for regular or inclusive education.
Applications Invited
LOLY-MIDI Inclusivo-Quevedo
Project designed by the Faculty of Art, Design and Audiovisual Communication of ESPOL (FADCOM) in conjunction with the Center for Research and Development of Innovation in Computer Systems (CIDIS). Its objective is to improve the development of social and cognitive skills in children with special educational needs through a Human-Robot-Game (HRG) platform, focusing mainly on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is currently on evaluation to test its usefulness in children with other disabilities who attend inclusive primary schools or educational support centers.
Applications Invited
MIDI-Musical
Usability evaluation and production of mobile platforms and applications using gamification for teaching musical initiation in children from 2 to 3 and 4 to 7 years old.
Applications Invited
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Nayeth Solorzano, Lissenia Sornoza, Michael Arce, Wilmer Macias, and Joel Torres
Springer Nature Switzerland
Isaac León, Camila Reyes, Iesus Davila, Bryan Puruncajas, Dennys Paillacho, Nayeth Solorzano, Marcelo Fajardo-Pruna, Hyungpil Moon, and Francisco Yumbla
MDPI AG
The absence of parental presence has a direct impact on the emotional stability and social routines of children, especially during extended periods of separation from their family environment, as in the case of daycare centers, hospitals, or when they remain alone at home. At the same time, the technology currently available to provide emotional support in these contexts remains limited. In response to the growing need for emotional support and companionship in child care, this project proposes the development of a multi-platform software architecture based on artificial intelligence (AI), designed to be integrated into humanoid robots that assist children between the ages of 6 and 14. The system enables daily verbal and non-verbal interactions intended to foster a sense of presence and personalized connection through conversations, games, and empathetic gestures. Built on the Robot Operating System (ROS), the software incorporates modular components for voice command processing, real-time facial expression generation, and joint movement control. These modules allow the robot to hold natural conversations, display dynamic facial expressions on its LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen, and synchronize gestures with spoken responses. Additionally, a graphical interface enhances the coherence between dialogue and movement, thereby improving the quality of human–robot interaction. Initial evaluations conducted in controlled environments assessed the system’s fluency, responsiveness, and expressive behavior. Subsequently, it was implemented in a pediatric hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where it accompanied children during their recovery. It was observed that this type of artificial intelligence-based software, can significantly enhance the experience of children, opening promising opportunities for its application in clinical, educational, recreational, and other child-centered settings.
Nayeth Solorzano Alcivar, Da Hee Park Kim, Andrea Rubio Zurita, and Elizabeth Elizalde Ríos
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
El diseño de personajes como embajadores de mensaje y la creación de escenografías atractivas en los videojuegos educativos, son esenciales para garantizar su efectividad de uso. Este estudio se enfoca en la educación musical infantil apoyada en la implementación de una serie de videojuegos llamada MIDI-Musical. Metodologías cualitativas como Design Thinking, consideradas como aspectos claves en investigación aplicada al diseño, respaldan la creación de sus personajes, arquetipos y escenarios, garantizando producciones bien informadas. Con base en los resultados, se busca fortalecer la conexión entre aprendizaje y diversión dentro del contexto educativo musical, potenciando nuevas investigaciones relacionadas con videojuegos serios infantiles.
Nayeth Idalid Solorzano Alcivar, Da Hee Park Kim, Jimmy Ernesto Canizares Pozo, Michael Xavier Arce Sierra, and Andrea Paola Rubio Zurita
Springer Nature Switzerland
Nayeth Idalid Solórzano Alcívar, Dennys Fabián Paillacho Chiluiza, Michael Xavier Arce Sierra, Anthony Jair Pincay Lino, and Edwin Andrew Eras Zamora
Informa UK Limited
Elizabeth Stefanía Elizalde Ríos, Michael Xavier Arce Sierra, and Nayeth Idalid Solórzano Alcívar
Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions
Nayeth Solorzano, Lissenia Sornoza, Michael Arce, Josue Tomala, and Mercedez Mawyin
IEEE
It has been supported that music is crucial for humans, even considering its influence on infants in the womb and its efficacy in aiding children, including those with learning difficulties. In Ecuador, music education's quality varies across institutions, demanding technological support, mainly if the teaching is established under the learning-by-playing strategy, catering to digital-native generations. This research aims to develop a musical initiation platform for ages 3–7, comprising the construction of a web tool for teachers and a playful learning app for students, assessing effectiveness through serious games. Tools such as Node.js, Angular, Unity, RESTful API, and PostgreSQL were used for development. Then, proofs of concept were conducted using data from the MIDIam dashboard. The outcomes present innovative advances showing that the development of controlled digital platforms using gamification is ideal for children's teaching-learning process of music.
Dennys Paillacho Chiluiza, Nayeth Solórzano Alcívar, Michael Arce Sierra, Edwin Eras, and María Fernanda Plúas
Springer Nature Switzerland
Nayeth Solórzano Alcívar, Lissenia Isabel Sornoza Quijije, Gloria Morocho Yunga, Gabriela Pita Quito, and Roberto Poveda Páez
Springer Nature Switzerland
Nayeth Idalid Solorzano Alcivar, Anthony Jair Pincay Lino, Gema Nicole Toapanta Cedeno, Elizabeth Stefania Elizalde Rios, and Diego Alejandro Carrera Gallego
ACM
In 2020 COVID-19 imposed forced academic virtuality. This phenomenon offered Education 4.0 an application opportunity for its existing technological tools and their main trends of innovation and change, increasing continuity in vital teaching-learning processes. This matter introduced the need to establish a model to evaluate the usability of supporting technological tools with active learning strategies, including children's educational digital games (EDG). The article presents a methodological model in a case study evaluating EDG's academic experiences in virtual teaching. It also justifies a pilot plan supporting Education 4.0 with gamification and how it strengthens early childhood education in public schools targeting marginal sectors in a densely populated Ecuadorian city. This context evaluates the Utility and Usability factors of a selected EDG series (MIDI-AM) as complementary tools used in the teaching-learning processes of children ages 4 to 7. A mixed qualitative-quantitative method was applied, including exhaustive literature reviews, data collection strategies, and analysis through focus groups and online surveys. The resulting evaluation identified possible improvements in gamification and the production of additional EDG. The study initiated six hypotheses and validated the proposed research model as a tool for evaluating EDG in future academic periods as reinforcement of curricular content fostering more dynamic and active learning.
Nayeth Idalid Solorzano Alcivar, Erika Fernanda Mesias Cabezas, and Elizabeth Stefania Elizalde Rios
IGI Global
This article analyzes educational video games' usability as a pedagogical support tool in primary early childhood education, particularly in virtual environments of emerging economies. The MIDI-AM series of educational digital games is used as a case study that focuses on learning by playing using technology. The study examines the degree of usability, applicability, and relevance of these serious games as pedagogical tools in educational virtuality, identifying opportunities for improvements and designing a practical methodology to evaluate them as part of the teaching-learning process. A triangulated analysis is carried out with mixed methods, evaluating data generated in a control panel of MIDI-AM applications, focus groups with teachers and parents of local schools, and user satisfaction questionnaires. The results regarding usability and relevance of the applications were primarily positive. However, certain shortcomings in these applications' structure and possible opportunities for improvement within the educational context applicability were also identified.
Nayeth Solorzano Alcivar, Dennys Paillacho Chiluiza, Michael Arce Sierra, and Josue Tomala Pozo
IEEE
Robots' assistance has become much more common for human interaction. Particularly, Social robots are used to support everyday activities, including education. It has been evidenced that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) express interest in using digital games, especially if they are linked to robots. However, there is little evidence regarding the existence of evaluation tools that can monitor the interaction between Human-Robot-Game (HRG), helping to evaluate a child's social and learning skills using this technology. This study aims to develop a dashboard system that allows recording and graphically representing the results obtained from usability metrics, attention, and emotional behavior analysis of an HRG platform. This research can assist psychologists, therapists, and tutors in evaluating the grade of attention and level of emotions children have during an HRG session. The outcomes also help to give more insights for a better design of innovative EDG and metric parameters for the measurements of a robot's behavior routines used in children with ASD and neurotypicals.
Nayeth Solorzano Alcivar, Kenya Quinto Veloz, Samuel Valarezo Risso, and Elizabeth Elizalde Ríos
Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions
Nayeth I. Solorzano Alcivar, Luis C. Herrera Paltan, Leslie R. Lima Palacios, Dennys F. Paillacho Chiluiza, and Jonathan S. Paillacho Corredores
Springer Singapore
Nayeth Idalid Solorzano Alcivar, Elizabeth Stefania Elizalde Rios, Diego Alejandro Carrera Gallego, Da Hee Park Kim, and Lissenia Isabel Sornoza Quijije
IGI Global
Educational game applications' production considers technical, pedagogical, and aesthetic resources guided by the type of device used, interfaces, and themes. In addition, it considers users' tastes and preferences, trends in society, and the environment. However, no evidence in the recent literature allows developers to identify entire patterns or structures in serious games production. This chapter analyzes university experiences and research related to the design, development, and use of ludic games application for mobile devices' MIDI-AM model series games as tested in local environments. These games are aimed at children in their first years of primary school education. The MIDI-AM model is proposed as a methodology that considers a technical and aesthetic platform to guide serious game applications' production and monitoring. These are suggested as supporting tools for the traditional teaching-learning process.
Nayeth Solorzano Alcivar, Anibal Gamboa Carrillo, and Diego Carrera Gallego
IEEE
With digital gaming's increasing popularity, Educational Digital Games (EDG) are being more commonly used to complement children's early education. Controlled EDG provides educators a way to observe progress. Many existing applications fail to generate automatic data collection to provide reliable information for feedback on academic aspects needed. This paper describes the usefulness of MIDI-AM, a series of EDG, to link a dashboard, including informative outcomes about use and Playability. It explains how rules of fuzzy logic and Natural Language (NL) can provide consumable feedback. The research objective provides a new component in a longitudinal study to identify a more efficient process for developing and implementing a module to refine the dashboard metrics and outcomes of MIDI-AM EDG. The initial platform was redundant and created inconsistent results. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) generates valuable information to refine the process of generating feedback reports using detailed data interpretations in NL.
Dennys F. Paillacho Chiluiza, Nayeth I. Solorzano Alcivar, and Jonathan S. Paillacho Corredores
Springer International Publishing
Nayeth Solórzano Alcívar, Robert Zambrano Loor, and Diego Carrera Gallego
Springer International Publishing
Nayeth I. Solorzano Alcivar, Lissenia I. Sornoza Quijije, and Diego A. Carrera Gallego
Insight Society
Children's use of educational videogames is a growing at-home trend and has become a relevant classroom supporting tool in the teaching-learning process. The increased attachment to video games has hastened the creation of "learning through play" applications. The development of these applications requires the creative production of content using characters (avatars) playing distinct roles to engage people with the game. Evaluation tools need to be designed to understand and improve this engagement. This study aims to explain the design and development structure of research tools such as online personalized questionnaires and dashboard platforms used to populate data in a cloud for evaluating games' usability and avatars' preferences. The paper revises the applicability of three research tools tested to analyze five different graphic lines games series and the archetype of their designed avatars. The MIDI-AM educational videogames series for mobile applications is the case study examined. The need to evaluate the avatar preferences before or after playing the games to find correlations with the usability trends is present. Comparative results between the three designed research tools will help solve issues about different viewpoints between designers and producers concerning graphic lines used in educational games production and the correlation with game use preferences. The research is relevant for graphic designers, producers, and creative experts to develop well-informed styles and avatars for children's digital games. Also, the practicality of using the proposed research tools to analyze videogame and characters' preferences is confirmed.
Nayeth I. Solorzano Alcivar, Luis C. Herrera Paltan, Leslie R. Lima Palacios, Jonathan S. Paillacho Corredores, and Dennys F. Paillacho Chiluiza
Springer International Publishing
Nayeth Idalid Solorzano Alcivar, Elizabeth Stefania Elizalde Rios, Diego Alejandro Carrera Gallego, Da Hee Park Kim, and Lissenia Isabel Sornoza Quijije
IGI Global
Educational game applications' production considers technical, pedagogical, and aesthetic resources guided by the type of device used, interfaces, and themes. In addition, it considers users' tastes and preferences, trends in society, and the environment. However, no evidence in the recent literature allows developers to identify entire patterns or structures in serious games production. This chapter analyzes university experiences and research related to the design, development, and use of ludic games application for mobile devices' MIDI-AM model series games as tested in local environments. These games are aimed at children in their first years of primary school education. The MIDI-AM model is proposed as a methodology that considers a technical and aesthetic platform to guide serious game applications' production and monitoring. These are suggested as supporting tools for the traditional teaching-learning process.
Nayeth I. Solorzano Alcivar, Diego Carrera Gallego, Lissenia Sornoza Quijije, and Marco Mendoza Quelal
ACM Press
Nowadays digital game applications or interactive children's educational games implemented in mobile devices (to be identified as Apps), are beginning to be widely used to complement children's education, particularly during early childhood education. However, digital game Apps do not generate a timely collection of data that could be obtained, so that with a proper interpretation they can serve as a guide in making decisions about the content, types, and level of games that should be created as digital tools to support children's education. In this article, is indicated how through the development of a dashboard, linked to a database in the cloud, it is possible to obtain and present information that allows measuring the use and playability and usability factors for these types of Apps, in an orderly and precise manner. For the development of the dashboard and its link in real time with the Apps to monitor, JavaScript was used through the framework Sails.js and the database implemented in PostgreSQL. In parallel, for the data transmission tests, two mobile applications were implemented in Android, one programmed in Unity and the second using Adobe Animate. Both Apps were designed by recording internal data in JSON file format. To analyze and obtain results, we used PQM metrics 2014 (Playability Quality Model), and we applied an adapted theory which helps to facilitate the identification of factors affecting the use and adoption of information systems and technologies in Latin American local contexts. The Pilot tests were carried out with children from 4 to 8 years attending schools of marginal areas in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. These children with little knowledge of technology use, facilitate better evaluation of different scenarios to measure the behavioral use of the Apps and their contents without significant influence of previous knowledge about digital educational games. This article presents the first results of an extensive and longitudinal multidisciplinary research, relevant to organizations and people involved in early childhood education.