Collaborative trails in e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas – experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future

A model for providing emotion awareness and feedback using fuzzy logic in online learning

Monitoring users’ emotive states and using that information for providing feedback and scaffolding is crucial. In the learning context, emotions can be used to increase students’ attention as well as to improve memory and reasoning. In this context, tutors should be prepared to create affective learning situations and encourage collaborative knowledge construction as well as identify those students’ feelings which hinder learning process. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to label affective behavior in educational discourse based on fuzzy logic, which enables a human or virtual tutor to capture students’ emotions, make students aware of their own emotions, assess these emotions and provide appropriate affective feedback. To that end, we propose a fuzzy classifier that provides a priori qualitative assessment and fuzzy qualifiers bound to the amounts such as few, regular and many assigned by an affective dictionary to every word. The advantage of the statistical approach is to reduce the classical pollution problem of training and analyzing the scenario using the same dataset. Our approach has been tested in a real online learning environment and proved to have a very positive influence on students’ learning performance.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Artificial intelligent based teaching and learning approaches: A comprehensive review

The goal of this study is to investigate the potential effects that Artificial intelligence (AI) could have on education. The narrative and framework for investigating AI that emerged from the preliminary research served as the basis for the study’s emphasis, which was narrowed down to the use of AI and its effects on administration, instruction, and student learning. According to the findings, artificial intelligence has seen widespread adoption and use in education, particularly by educational institutions and in various contexts and applications. The development of AI began with computers and technologies related to computers; it then progressed to web-based and online intelligent education systems; and finally, it applied embedded computer systems in conjunction with other technologies, humanoid robots, and web-based chatbots to execute instructor tasks and functions either independently or in partnership with instructors. By utilizing these platforms, educators have been able to accomplish a variety of administrative tasks. In addition, because the systems rely on machine learning and flexibility, the curriculum and content have been modified to match the needs of students. This has led to improved learning outcomes in the form of higher uptake and retention rates

The Art & Science of Creating Effective Youth Programs

"The Art & Science of Creating Effective Youth Programs" utilizes findings from a national collective impact study conducted by Algorhythm through their Youth Development Impact Learning System (YDiLS), which surveyed 27 organizations, 80 programs and more than 3,000 youth. The YDiLS is an online evaluation tool through which youth complete pre and post surveys that measure the growth in six, research-based "Social and Emotional Learning" (SEL) capacities proven to be foundational to long-term success in life:1. Academic Self-Efficacy 2. Contribution 3. Positive Identity 4. Self-Management 5. Social Capital 6. Social Skill

Preparing teachers for the application of AI-powered technologies in foreign language education

As any other area of human lives, current state of foreign language education has been greatly influenced by the latest developments in the modern information communication technologies. The paper focuses specifically on the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI), which includes a wide range of technologies and methods, such as machine learning, adaptive learning, natural language processing, data mining, crowdsourcing, neural networks or an algorithm, into foreign language learning and teaching. First, the paper is concerned with changes brought to foreign language education specifically through the application of AI-powered tools and discusses ICALL (intelligent computer assisted language learning) as a subset of CALL. Second, it summarizes eight types of AI-powered tools for foreign language education and related results of the existing research, however scarce it is. Third, it discusses the frame for effective preparation of foreign language teachers in order to integrate AI-powered tools into their teaching to make it easier, less time-consuming and more effective. The author argues for reconsideration of the existing frames of requirements for CALL teachers.[KEGA 001TTU-4/2019

ConferenceXP-Powered I-MINDS: A Multiagent System for Intelligently Supporting Online Collaboration

In this paper, we describe a multiagent system designed for intelligently supporting online human collaboration, built on top of the ConferenceXP platform developed by Microsoft Research. Many current collaborative systems are passive in nature and do not provide active, intelligent support to users. A multiagent system can be used to track user behavior, perform automated tasks for humans, find optimal collaborative groups, and create and present helpful processed information based on data mining without detracting from the rest of the collaborative experience. Our ConferenceXP-powered I-MINDS application currently offers five different components for enhancing collaboration and sup-porting moderator decision making by giving each user a personal agent that works with other agents to further sup-port the entire system. These capabilities include two modes for group-based discussions, one for question/answer pairs between users and moderators, a search engine for retrieving tracked data, and a centralized classroom/team management system for quickly accessing user performance. CXP+I-MINDS has been successfully deployed to support an interactive business course where its intelligent activities assisted the professor in teaching, and we are working on delivering it to support a wireless classroom

Supportive technologies for group discussion in MOOCs

A key hurdle that prevents MOOCs from reaching their transformative potential in terms of making valuable learning experiences available to the masses is providing support for students to make use of the resources they can provide for each other. This paper lays the foundation for meeting this challenge by beginning with a case study and computational modeling of social interaction data. The analysis yields new knowledge that informs design and development of novel, real-time support for building healthy learning communities that foster a high level of engagement and learning. We conclude by suggesting specific areas for potential impact of new technology

Potentials of Chatbot Technologies for Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Chatbots are used in different areas such as customer service, healthcare and education. The potential for improving outcomes and processes in education is high but differs for different types of chatbots. As universities want to provide excellent teaching, it is important to find the chatbot technologies with the greatest possible benefit. This paper presents a systematic review of chatbot technologies in five application areas. For each application area, the ten most cited publications are analysed and a possible categorisation scheme for chatbot technologies is derived. Furthermore, it is investigated which chatbot technology types are used and their suitability for higher education is analysed. The results show that chatbots can be categorised using five categories derived from the 50 publications. A total of 14 different types of chatbot technologies are found in the five areas. Nine of them are suitable for use in higher education

The application of chatbot as an L2 writing practice tool

This study investigates the effect of chatbot-based writing practices on second language learners’ writing performance and perceptions of using the chatbot in L2 writing practices. A total of 75 Korean elementary school students were randomly allocated to two groups. While the control group received traditional teacher-led writing instruction, the experimental group used a chatbot for individual writing practices for 15 weeks. The chatbot was developed using Google’s Dialogflow machine-learning AI platform by encoding expressions from an elementary school English textbook. A pretest was carried out prior to the experiment to examine the initial writing performance, and a posttest was carried out 15 weeks later with a different writing topic. The participants in the experimental group also responded to a short survey to report their perceptions and opinions about the chatbot. The results showed that the two groups generally showed a similar writing proficiency in the pretest scores, but the experimental group performed significantly better in the posttest than the control group, suggesting that the chatbot-based writing practice had a facilitating effect on their test performance. The participants of the experimental group also found the chatbot useful in improving their language skills and made them feel comfortable when learning a foreign language