6 research outputs found
L.I.M.E. A recommendation model for informal and formal learning, engaged
In current eLearning models and implementations (e.g. Learning Management Systems-LMS) there is a lack of engagement between formal and informal activities. Furthermore, the online methodology focuses on a standard set of units of learning and learning objects, along with pre-defined tests, and collateral resources like, i.e. discussion fora and message wall. They miss the huge potential of learning via the interlacement of social networks, LMS and external sources. Thanks to user behaviour, user interaction, and personalised counselling by a tutor, learning performance can be improved. We design and develop an adaptation eLearning model for restricted social networks, which supports this approach. In addition, we build an eLearning module that implements this conceptual model in a real application case, and present the preliminary analysis and positive results
Review of Current Student-Monitoring Techniques used in eLearning-Focused recommender Systems and Learning analytics. The Experience API & LIME model Case Study
Recommender systems require input information in
order to properly operate and deliver content or behaviour
suggestions to end users. eLearning scenarios are no exception.
Users are current students and recommendations can be built
upon paths (both formal and informal), relationships, behaviours,
friends, followers, actions, grades, tutor interaction, etc. A
recommender system must somehow retrieve, categorize and
work with all these details. There are several ways to do so: from
raw and inelegant database access to more curated web APIs or
even via HTML scrapping. New server-centric user-action
logging and monitoring standard technologies have been
presented in past years by several groups, organizations and
standard bodies. The Experience API (xAPI), detailed in this
article, is one of these. In the first part of this paper we analyse
current learner-monitoring techniques as an initialization phase
for eLearning recommender systems. We next review
standardization efforts in this area; finally, we focus on xAPI and
the potential interaction with the LIME model, which will be also
summarized below
Digital anthropology and educational eGames: learning through behavioural patterns in digital, game-based contexts
The selected publications are focused on the relations between users, eGames and the educational context, and how they interact together, so that both learning and user performance are improved through feedback provision. A key part of this analysis is the identification of behavioural, anthropological patterns,
so that users can be clustered based on their actions, and the steps taken in the system (e.g. social network, online community, or virtual campus). In doing so, we can analyse large data sets of information made by a broad user sample,which will provide more accurate statistical reports and readings.
Furthermore, this research is focused on how users can be clustered based on individual and group behaviour, so that a personalized support through feedback is provided, and the personal learning process is improved as well as the group interaction. We take inputs from every person and from the group they belong to, cluster the contributions, find behavioural patterns and provide personalized feedback to the individual and the group, based on personal and group findings. And we do all this in the context of educational games integrated in learning communities and learning management systems.
To carry out this research we design a set of research questions along the 10-year published work presented in this thesis. We ask if the users can be clustered together based on the inputs provided by them and their groups; if and how these data are useful to improve the learner performance and the group interaction; if and how feedback becomes a useful tool for such pedagogical goal; if and how eGames become a powerful context to deploy the pedagogical methodology and the various research methods and activities that make use of
that feedback to encourage learning and interaction; if and how a game design and a learning design must be defined and implemented to achieve these objectives, and to facilitate the productive authoring and integration of eGames in pedagogical contexts and frameworks.
We conclude that educational games are a resourceful tool to provide a user experience towards a better personalized learning performance and an enhance group interaction along the way. To do so, eGames, while integrated in an educational context, must follow a specific set of user and technical requirements, so that the playful context supports the pedagogical model underneath. We also conclude that, while playing, users can be clustered based on their personal behaviour and interaction with others, thanks to the pattern identification. Based on this information, a set of recommendations are provided Digital Anthropology and educational eGames 6 /216 to the user and the group in the form of personalized feedback, timely managed for an optimum impact on learning performance and group interaction level.
In this research, Digital Anthropology is introduced as a concept at a late stage to provide a backbone across various academic fields including: Social Science, Cognitive Science, Behavioural Science, Educational games and, of course, Technology-enhance learning. Although just recently described as an evolution of traditional anthropology, this approach to digital behaviour and social structure facilitates the understanding amongst fields and a comprehensive view towards a combined approach.
This research takes forward the already existing work and published research onusers and eGames for learning, and turns the focus onto the next step — the clustering of users based on their behaviour and offering proper, personalized feedback to the user based on that clustering, rather than just on isolated inputs from every user. Indeed, this pattern recognition in the described context of eGames in educational contexts, and towards the presented aim of personalized
counselling to the user and the group through feedback, is something that has not been accomplished before
Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere Toward a Theory of Critical Creative Technology
Digital media cultural practices continue to address the social, cultural and aesthetic
contexts of the global information economy, perhaps better called ecology, by inventing
new methods and genres that encourage interactive engagement, collaboration, exploration
and learning. The theoretical framework for creative critical technology evolved from the
confluence of the arts, human computer interaction, and critical theories of technology.
Molding this nascent theoretical framework from these seemingly disparate disciplines was
a reflexive process where the influence of each component on each other spiraled into the
theory and practice as illustrated through the Constructed Narratives project. Research
that evolves from an arts perspective encourages experimental processes of making as a
method for defining research principles. The traditional reductionist approach to research
requires that all confounding variables are eliminated or silenced using methods of
statistics. However, that noise in the data, those confounding variables provide the rich
context, media, and processes by which creative practices thrive. As research in the arts
gains recognition for its contributions of new knowledge, the traditional reductive practice
in search of general principles will be respectfully joined by methodologies for defining
living principles that celebrate and build from the confounding variables, the data noise.
The movement to develop research methodologies from the noisy edges of human
interaction have been explored in the research and practices of ludic design and ambiguity
(Gaver, 2003); affective gap (Sengers et al., 2005b; 2006); embodied interaction (Dourish,
2001); the felt life (McCarthy & Wright, 2004); and reflective HCI (Dourish, et al., 2004).
The theory of critical creative technology examines the relationships between critical
theories of technology, society and aesthetics, information technologies and contemporary
practices in interaction design and creative digital media. The theory of critical creative
technology is aligned with theories and practices in social navigation (Dourish, 1999) and
community-based interactive systems (Stathis, 1999) in the development of smart
appliances and network systems that support people in engaging in social activities,
promoting communication and enhancing the potential for learning in a community-based
environment. The theory of critical creative technology amends these community-based
and collaborative design theories by emphasizing methods to facilitate face-to-face
dialogical interaction when the exchange of ideas, observations, dreams, concerns, and
celebrations may be silenced by societal norms about how to engage others in public
spaces.
The Constructed Narratives project is an experiment in the design of a critical creative
technology that emphasizes the collaborative construction of new knowledge about one's
lived world through computer-supported collaborative play (CSCP). To construct is to
creatively invent one's world by engaging in creative decision-making, problem solving
and acts of negotiation. The metaphor of construction is used to demonstrate how a simple
artefact - a building block - can provide an interactive platform to support discourse
between collaborating participants. The technical goal for this project was the development
of a software and hardware platform for the design of critical creative technology
applications that can process a dynamic flow of logistical and profile data from multiple
users to be used in applications that facilitate dialogue between people in a real-time
playful interactive experience
L.I.M.E. A recommendation model for informal and formal learning, engaged
In current eLearning models and implementations (e.g. Learning Management Systems-LMS) there is a lack of engagement between formal and informal activities. Furthermore, the online methodology focuses on a standard set of units of learning and learning objects, along with pre-defined tests, and collateral resources like, i.e. discussion fora and message wall. They miss the huge potential of learning via the interlacement of social networks, LMS and external sources. Thanks to user behaviour, user interaction, and personalised counselling by a tutor, learning performance can be improved. We design and develop an adaptation eLearning model for restricted social networks, which supports this approach. In addition, we build an eLearning module that implements this conceptual model in a real application case, and present the preliminary analysis and positive results