Investigating the Effect of Adding Nudges to Increase Engagement in Active Video Watching

In order for videos to be a powerful medium for learning, it is crucial that learners engage in constructive learning. Historic interactions of previous learners can provide a rich resource to enhance interaction and promote engagement fostering constructive learning. This paper proposes such a novel approach of adding nudges to AVW-Space, a platform for video-based learning. We present the enhancements implemented in AVW-Space in the form of interactive visualizations and personalized prompts. A study focusing on presentation skills was conducted in a large first-year engineering course, in which AVW-Space provided an online resource for the students to use as they wish. The students were randomly divided into the control and experimental groups, which had access to the original and enhanced version of AVW-Space respectively. Our findings show that nudging is effective in fostering constructive learning: there was a significant difference in the percentage of constructive students in the two groups. The experimental group students wrote more comments, found AVW-Space easier to use, reported less frustration when commenting, and had higher confidence in their performance on commenting

Investigating Engagement and Learning Differences between Native and EFL students in Active Video Watching

Video-based learning (VBL) requires good listening and reading comprehension skills, which could be challenging for English as a foreign language (EFL) students. In this paper, we investigate the differences between EFL and Native English speakers in a VBL platform called AVW-Space, in order to identify potential interventions that would be helpful for EFL students. AVW-Space provides note-taking, peer-reviewing, visualisations and personalised nudges to support engagement in VBL. Although previous studies on AVW-Space showed these supports were effective for increasing engagement, we discovered significant differences in learning outcomes and engagement between EFL/Native students, which stem from different learning strategies, background knowledge and language barriers. This research contributes to using learning analytics to understand better the differences between EFL and Native students, and providing more specialised support for EFL students in VBL

Supporting engagement in active video watching using quality nudges and visualisations

Learning by watching videos has been a popular method in e-learning. However, developing and maintaining constructive engagement is a crucial challenge in video-based learning (VBL). AVW-Space is an online VBL platform that enhances student engagement by providing note- taking and peer-reviewing. Previous studies with AVW-Space showed higher learning outcomes for students who write high-quality comments. Furthermore, an earlier study on AVW-Space suggested that visualising the student progress could help learners monitor and regulate their learning. Thus, this research aimed to increase engagement in AVW-Space by offering 1) personalised prompts, named Quality nudges, to encourage writing better comments and 2) visualisations of the student model to facilitate monitoring and controlling learning. I conducted a series of studies to investigate the effectiveness of Quality nudges and visualisations on the students’ engagement and learning. Firstly, I automated the assessment of comments quality using machine learning approaches. Then, I developed Quality nudges which encourage students to write better comments by triggering critical thinking and self-reflection. Next, I conducted a study in the context of presentation skills to analyse the effectiveness of the Quality nudges. The results showed that Quality nudges improved the quality of comments and increased learning consequently. After adding new visual learning analytics to AVW- Space, I investigated the effectiveness of the visualisations by conducting another study in the context of presentation skills. The results showed that the visualisations enhanced constructive engagement and learning even further. I also investigated the generalisability of nudges and visualisation for another transferable skill by making Quality nudges and visualisations customisable and conducting a study in the context of communication skills. Although the results showed that students used visualisations and nudges for communication skills differently from the participants in the study on presentation skills, findings indicated these interventions were still effective in increasing the quality of comments and enhancing constructive behaviour and learning. This research contributes to the development of intelligent learning environments which provide personalised interventions to encourage constructive commenting behaviours during video-based learning. The interventions proposed in this research can be applied to other domains which involve critical thinking and self-reflection. Another contribution of this research is providing visual learning analytics for students in VBL platforms to increase learning awareness and engagement. The nudges and visualisations proposed in this research could be applied to any other video-based learning platform that allows commenting

Characterizing Comment Types and Levels of Engagement in Video-Based Learning as a Basis for Adaptive Nudging

Video is frequently used as a learning medium in a variety of educational settings, including large online courses as well as informal learning scenarios. To foster learner engagement around instructional videos, our learning scenario facilitates interactive note taking and commenting similar to popular social video-sharing platforms. This approach has recently been enriched by introducing nudging mechanisms, which raises questions about ensuing learning effects. To better understand the nature of these effects, we take a closer look at the content of the comments. Our study is based on an ex post analysis of a larger data set from a recent study. As a first step of analysis, video comments are clustered based on a feature set that captures the temporal and semantic alignment of comments with the videos. Based on the ensuing typology of comments, learners are characterized through the types of comments that they have contributed. The results will allow for a better targeting of nudges to improve video-based learning

Enhancing cybersecurity awareness through educational games : design of an adaptive visual novel game

Dans un monde qui est en numérisation constante, la dépendance aux outils technologiques est devenue inévitable. La pandémie de COVID-19 a encore accéléré la tendance vers le travail et l'éducation à distance, entraînant une augmentation de l'activité en ligne et de l'échange de données. Cependant, malgré cette augmentation de l'activité en ligne, le niveau de sensibilisation à la cybersécurité chez un nombre important d'utilisateurs reste insuffisant. De nombreux utilisateurs manquent d'une éducation appropriée en matière de cybersécurité et de confidentialité en ligne et démontrent une compréhension insuffisante de la sensibilité de leurs données. Nous avons mené une enquête auprès de plus de 300 utilisateurs qui a confirmé que le besoin de contenu de meilleure qualité était évident. Les jeux éducatifs ont démontré leur efficacité en tant qu'outils d'enseignement et d'apprentissage, en particulier pour vulgariser des sujets qui nécessitent généralement une connaissance approfondie pour être maîtrisés. Cependant, des défis sont associés quant à la qualité et à l'évaluation des jeux sérieux, car plusieurs aspects de l’amusement sont subjectifs et intangibles. Motivée par le besoin de jeux éducatifs "de haute qualité" améliorés, cette thèse construit une échelle pour affiner les critères mentionnés par l'évaluation des jeux sérieux de Caserman et l'applique à 45 jeux de cybersécurité. L'évaluation a révélé une insuffisance dans les critères de l’amusement, en particulier le manque d'adaptation dynamique. En conséquence, cette étude propose le cadre de jeu de cybersécurité EVNAG (Educational Visual Novel Adaptive Game), qui s'articule autour de l'adaptation dynamique de la difficulté comme solution à ce problème. Inspiré par cette architecture, le roman visuel de cybersécurité "Grown-Up Blues" a été implémenté. La thèse contribue au corpus croissant de recherches sur les jeux éducatifs en cybersécurité et fournit des idées pour concevoir des jeux éducatifs efficaces qui améliorent l'éducation en matière de cybersécurité.In a world that continues to be increasingly digitalized, the dependency on technological tools has become unavoidable. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the trend towards remote work and education, leading to an increase in online activity and data exchange. However, despite this surge in online activity, the level of cybersecurity awareness among a significant number of users remains inadequate. Many users lack proper education on cybersecurity and online privacy and demonstrate a lack of understanding of the sensitivity of their data. A survey we conducted on more than 300 users confirmed that the need for more quality content was blatant. Educational games have demonstrated their effectiveness as teaching and learning tools, particularly in vulgarizing topics generally requiring in-depth knowledge to master. However, challenges are associated with the quality and assessment of serious games, as multiple aspects of game enjoyment are subjective and intangible. Motivated by the need for improved “high quality” educational games, this thesis builds a scale to refine the criteria mentioned by Caserman’s assessment of serious games and applies that to 45 cybersecurity games. The assessment indicated a deficiency in the enjoyment criteria, specifically the lack of dynamic adaptation. As a result, this study proposes the EVNAG (Educational Visual Novel Adaptive Game) cybersecurity game framework, which centers on Dynamic Difficulty Adaptation as a solution to this issue. Inspired by this architecture, the cybersecurity visual novel “Grown-Up Blues” was implemented. The thesis contributes to the growing body of research on educational games in cybersecurity and provides insights for designing effective educational games that enhance cybersecurity education

Reflective experiential learning : towards improving the communication skills of software engineering students using Active Video Watching

Communication skills are a key competency for software engineers, as they spend a significant amount of time communicating with various stakeholders. Teaching communication skills in a conventional educational context is resource intensive. The university institutions and instructors may lack the capability and resources to provide adequate guidance, feedback and engagement to each student. Today, video-based learning is widely utilised in both formal education and informal learning in a range of settings, and it is regarded as one of the most important tools for creating engaging learning environments. Numerous studies indicate, however, that for students to learn effectively while watching videos, they must engage actively with video content. Therefore, this study employs Active Video Watching (AVW) via AVWSpace to facilitate engagement and teach software engineering students face-to-face meeting communication skills. With reference to the online training, I assess the students' experiences with AVW-Space and the effectiveness of AVW as a reflective strategy for teaching the communication skills. The findings of this study show that only students who commented on videos and rated other students' comments (constructive learners) increased their conceptual knowledge of meeting communication skills, whereas those who were less engaged with the learning materials (passive and active learners) did not. Students noted some difficulties with commenting on videos and rating comments in AVW-Space, which led to recommendations on further improvements to the platform. Overall, the students were enthusiastic about the opportunity to engage in the online training, which allowed them to reflect on prior experiences and learn from their peers, confirming the effectiveness of AVW for learning of soft skills