148,016 research outputs found
Supporting Answerers with Feedback in Social Q&A
Prior research has examined the use of Social Question and Answer (Q&A)
websites for answer and help seeking. However, the potential for these websites
to support domain learning has not yet been realized. Helping users write
effective answers can be beneficial for subject area learning for both
answerers and the recipients of answers. In this study, we examine the utility
of crowdsourced, criteria-based feedback for answerers on a student-centered
Q&A website, Brainly.com. In an experiment with 55 users, we compared
perceptions of the current rating system against two feedback designs with
explicit criteria (Appropriate, Understandable, and Generalizable). Contrary to
our hypotheses, answerers disagreed with and rejected the criteria-based
feedback. Although the criteria aligned with answerers' goals, and crowdsourced
ratings were found to be objectively accurate, the norms and expectations for
answers on Brainly conflicted with our design. We conclude with implications
for the design of feedback in social Q&A.Comment: Published in Proceedings of the Fifth Annual ACM Conference on
Learning at Scale, Article No. 10, London, United Kingdom. June 26 - 28, 201
Using PeerWise to support the transition to higher education
Ā© 2019 Contributing Author
RiPLE: Recommendation in Peer-Learning Environments Based on Knowledge Gaps and Interests
Various forms of Peer-Learning Environments are increasingly being used in
post-secondary education, often to help build repositories of student generated
learning objects. However, large classes can result in an extensive repository,
which can make it more challenging for students to search for suitable objects
that both reflect their interests and address their knowledge gaps. Recommender
Systems for Technology Enhanced Learning (RecSysTEL) offer a potential solution
to this problem by providing sophisticated filtering techniques to help
students to find the resources that they need in a timely manner. Here, a new
RecSysTEL for Recommendation in Peer-Learning Environments (RiPLE) is
presented. The approach uses a collaborative filtering algorithm based upon
matrix factorization to create personalized recommendations for individual
students that address their interests and their current knowledge gaps. The
approach is validated using both synthetic and real data sets. The results are
promising, indicating RiPLE is able to provide sensible personalized
recommendations for both regular and cold-start users under reasonable
assumptions about parameters and user behavior.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures. The paper is accepted for publication in the
Journal of Educational Data Minin
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
Collaborative Epistemic Discourse in Classroom Information Seeking Tasks
We discuss the relationship between information seeking, and epistemic beliefs ā beliefs about the source, structure, complexity, and stability of knowledge ā in the context of collaborative information seeking discourses. We further suggest that both information seeking, and epistemic cognition research agendas have suffered from a lack of attention to how information seeking as a collaborative activity is mediated by talk between partners ā an area we seek to address in this paper. A small-scale observational study using sociocultural discourse analysis was conducted with eight eleven year old pupils who carried out search engine tasks in small groups. Qualitative and quantitative analysis were performed on their discussions using sociocultural discourse analytic techniques. Extracts of the dialogue are reported, informed by concordance analysis and quantitative coding of dialogue duration. We find that 1) discourse which could be characterised as āepistemicā is identifiable in student talk, 2) that it is possible to identify talk which is more or less productive, and 3) that epistemic talk is associated with positive learning outcomes
Digital reference services : a snapshot of the current practices in scottish libraries
Discusses the current practices followed by some major libraries in Scotland for providing digital reference services(DRS). Refers to the DRSs provided by three academic libraries, namely Glasgow University Library, the University of Strathclyde Library, and Glasgow Caledonian University Library, and two other premier libraries in Scotland, the Mitchell Library in Glasgow and the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. Concludes that digital reference services are effective forms of service delivery in Scotland's academic, national and public libraries, but that their full potential has not yet been exploited. E-mail is the major technology used in providing digital reference, although plans are under way to use more sophisticated Internet technologies. Notes that the majority of enquiries handled by the libraries are relatively low-level rather than concerning specific knowledge domains, and training the users to extract information from the best digital resources still remains a challenge
Meta-evaluation of the impacts and legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games : Developing methods paper
This report brings together the interim findings from the Developing Meta-Evaluation Methods study, which is being undertaken in conjunction with the Meta-Evaluation of the Impacts and Legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.
The work on methods is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The aim of this paper is to review the existing evidence on conducting meta-evaluation, and provide guidance appropriate to the Meta Evaluation of the Games as well as other meta-evaluation studies
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