Leveraging video annotations in video-based e-learning

The e-learning community has been producing and using video content for a long time, and in the last years, the advent of MOOCs greatly relied on video recordings of teacher courses. Video annotations are information pieces that can be anchored in the temporality of the video so as to sustain various processes ranging from active reading to rich media editing. In this position paper we study how video annotations can be used in an e-learning context - especially MOOCs - from the triple point of view of pedagogical processes, current technical platforms functionalities, and current challenges. Our analysis is that there is still plenty of room for leveraging video annotations in MOOCs beyond simple active reading, namely live annotation, performance annotation and annotation for assignment; and that new developments are needed to accompany this evolution.Comment: 7th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU), Barcelone : Spain (2014

GeoNotes: A Location-based Information System for Public Spaces

The basic idea behind location-based information systems is to connect information pieces to positions in outdoor or indoor space. Through position technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS), GSM positioning, Wireless LAN positioning o

Finding your way into an open online learning community

Making educational materials freely available on the web is not only a noble enterprise, but also fits the call of helping people to become lifelong learners; a call which gets louder and louder every day. The world is rapidly changing, requiring us to continuously update our knowledge and skills. A problem with this approach to lifelong learning is that the materials that are made available are often both incomplete and unsuitable for independent learning in an online setting. The OpenER (Open Educational Resources) project at the Open Universiteit Nederland makes more than 20 short courses, originally developed for independent-study, freely available from the website www.opener.ou.nl. For our research we start from an envisioned online learning environment now under development. We use backcasting to select research topics that form steps from the current to the ultimate situation. The two experiments we report on here are an extension to standard forum software and the use of student notes to annotate learning materials: two small steps towards our ultimate open learning environment

INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF ONLINE HUMAN COLLABORATION IN EXPLANATION OF AI SYSTEMS

An important subdomain in research on Human-Artificial Intelligence interaction is Explainable AI (XAI). XAI aims to improve human understanding and trust in machine intelligence and automation by providing users with visualizations and other information explaining the AI’s decisions, actions, or plans and thereby to establish justified trust and reliance. XAI systems have primarily used algorithmic approaches designed to generate explanations automatically that help understanding underlying information about decisions and establish justified trust and reliance, but an alternate that may augment these systems is to take advantage of the fact that user understanding of AI systems often develops through self-explanation (Mueller et al., 2021). Users attempt to piece together different sources of information and develop a clearer understanding, but these self-explanations are often lost if not shared with others. This thesis research demonstrated how this ‘Self-Explanation’ could be shared collaboratively via a system that is called collaborative XAI (CXAI). It is akin to a Social Q&A platform (Oh, 2018) such as StackExchange. A web-based system was built and evaluated formatively and via user studies. Formative evaluation will show how explanations in an XAI system, especially collaborative explanations, can be assessed based on ‘goodness criteria’ (Mueller et al., 2019). This thesis also investigated how the users performed with the explanations from this type of XAI system. Lastly, the research investigated whether the users of CXAI system are satisfied with the human-generated explanations generated in the system and check if the users can trust this type of explanation

The effects of a peer-tutoring strategy on children’s e-book reading comprehension

Reading competence is one of the most critical skills for children’s academic success. In the study reported on here we proposed an integrated peer-tutoring strategy for reading comprehension that employs e-books for elementary school students. The effects of this strategy on children’s reading comprehension were investigated using a quasi-experimental design. Three classes of 11–12-year-old students (n = 73) participated in the study for 12 weeks. Compared to the control group, students in the experimental group, who engaged in peer tutoring with e-book reading, showed significant gains in reading comprehension. Students’ perceptions of the benefits of the peer-tutoring resources to their reading are discussed. The findings demonstrate that the integration of peer tutoring in e-book reading results in an effective instructional model for the enhancement of elementary school students’ reading. Keywords: e-book; elementary school children; mobile learning; peer tutoring; reading comprehensio

Investigating Linguistic, Literary, and Social Affordances of L2 Collaborative Reading

This exploratory study analyzes learner–learner interactions within a virtual environment when collaboratively reading Spanish poetry in a Hispanic literature course at the college level via an ecological theoretical perspective (van Lier, 2004). The goals of the study are (a) to present empirical data that illustrate the theoretical construct of affordance in a virtual, collaborative reading environment, and (b) to investigate the pedagogical ramifications of using a digital annotation tool to involve learners in collaborative reading. Three distinct types of affordances emerged in the data: linguistic, literary, and social affordances. Our findings indicate that the number of literary and social affordances outnumbered the linguistic affordances that emerged in students’ threaded discussions while collaboratively reading and annotating poems. In addition, the primary challenges for learners when engaging in collaborative reading included others’ comments impeding some students’ understanding of the text, and having to make one’s comments distinct from others’ comments to avoid being socially viewed as an inactive reader or student. From a pedagogical perspective, the primary benefits of incorporating collaborative reading in a second language poetry course involve the ability to establish a more open learning community and allowing students to carry out a closer reading of literary texts

Improving Hybrid Brainstorming Outcomes with Scripting and Group Awareness Support

Previous research has shown that hybrid brainstorming, which combines individual and group methods, generates more ideas than either approach alone. However, the quality of these ideas remains similar across different methods. This study, guided by the dual-pathway to creativity model, tested two computer-supported scaffolds – scripting and group awareness support – for enhancing idea quality in hybrid brainstorming. 94 higher education students,grouped into triads, were tasked with generating ideas in three conditions. The Control condition used standard hybrid brainstorming without extra support. In the Experimental 1 condition, students received scripting support during individual brainstorming, and students in the Experimental 2 condition were provided with group awareness support during the group phase in addition. While the quantity of ideas was similar across all conditions, the Experimental 2 condition produced ideas of higher quality, and the Experimental 1 condition also showed improved idea quality in the individual phase compared to the Control condition

Mark-up: Design and evaluation of an on-line annotation tool to support metacognitive development of reading comprehension

The mutability of contemporary work practice requires graduates who can continue to develop in self-regulated ways. This paper describes research into design and evaluation of a product to assist learners in engaging in the metacognitive processes inherent in the domain of reading comprehension. Findings identified strengths of the product and a number of features that could be improved, as well as contextual factors that may impact on the implementation of such learning environments

The implementation of collaborative study groups for promoting pronunciation learning

Este estudio de investigación informa sobre un proyecto cuyo objetivo principal fue implementar grupos de estudio colaborativo en cursos de pronunciación, en un programa de enseñanza de idiomas. Teniendo en cuenta que el aprendizaje colaborativo se ha considerado como una estrategia efectiva para la construcción del conocimiento dentro y fuera del aula; los grupos de estudios colaborativos (CSGs) fueron conformados como un mecanismo para mejorar la competencia fonológica del estudiante. Este proyecto se llevó a cabo en un programa de enseñanza del inglés y los participantes fueron 40 estudiantes que conformaron 10 grupos de estudio colaborativo (CSGs). Estos estudiantes pertenecían a los grupos de pronunciación II. Los métodos implementados para recolectar información fueron entrevistas, diarios del investigador y registros reflexivos. Los resultados confirman que la inclusión de tareas para el aprendizaje colaborativo dentro del salón de clase alientan a los estudiantes a expresar sus opiniones además de discutir y negociar ideas con sus compañeros (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Además, los datos confirman la efectividad de los grupos de estudio para que los alumnos menos competentes se beneficien de compañeros con un nivel de conocimiento superior (Vygostky, 1978). De igual manera las habilidades pedagógicas fueron promovidas y fortalecidas a través de la experiencia del curso.This research study reports on a project which main purpose was to implement collaborative study groups in pronunciation courses at a languaje teaching program. Considering that collaborative learning has been deemed as an effective strategy for the construction of knowledge in and outside the classroom, collaborative study groups (CSGs) were conformed as a mechanism to upgrade students' phonological competence. The present research was carried out at a language teaching program and the participants involved were 40 students that were part of 10 CSGs, they belonged to the courses of pronunciation II. The methods implemented for collecting data were interviews, researchers' journals, and reflective logs. Results confirm that the inclusion of collaborative learning tasks encourage students to express their opinions, discuss and negotiate ideas with others (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Data also confirmed the effectiveness of CSGs inasmuch as less competent learners benefit from more skillful peers (Vygostky, 1978). On the other hand, pedagogical abilities were strengthened in the process and, finally, other language skills were promoted through the experience