Interaction analysis in online maths human tutoring: The case of third space learning

This 'industry' paper reports on the combined effort of researchers and industrial designers and developers to ground the automatic quality assurance of online maths human-to-human tutoring on best practices. We focus on the first step towards this goal. Our aim is to understand the largely under-researched field of online tutoring, to identify success factors in this context and to model best practice in online teaching. We report our research into best practice in online maths teaching and describe and discuss our design and evaluation iterations towards annotation software that can mark up human-to-human online teaching interactions with successful teaching interaction signifiers

Web Annotation in English Language Arts: Online Dialogue as a Platform to Support Student Comprehension of Texts

This study explores how web annotation—through a process of online reading, writing in the margins, and replying to others’ comments—influences student dialogue in ways that research suggests are associated with improved comprehension. Viewing data through a dialogic lens, and using a qualitative, multiple case study design to observe two high school English Language Arts teachers and their students, this inquiry was guided by the following research questions: (a) How do English Language Arts teachers use web annotation to support student comprehension of texts? (b) To what extent, if any, does web annotation appear to support student comprehension of texts? and (c) How do English Language Arts teachers and students perceive the usefulness of web annotation in supporting student comprehension of texts? Both teachers in this study implemented web annotation practices with hopes of getting their students to engage in meaningful dialogue about texts, and that goal was evident in how they structured web annotation activities so students could drive the discussion and how they both tried to build upon students’ online discussions during subsequent face-to-face (F2F) class discussions. Despite such dialogic intentions, analysis of web annotations based on indices associated with high-level thinking and textual understanding revealed that, generally speaking, web annotation discussions did not exhibit rich dialogue. Additionally, there was a widespread lack of textual connections—annotations that connected a text to other texts, to the reader’s emotions or personal experiences, or to experiences the students shared as a class—evident in students’ annotations. However, discussions in which the teacher gave specific requirements for the number of annotations and replies and provided specific writing prompts tended to result in a higher prevalence of the indicators related to increased textual understanding. Although web annotation did not generally result in a substantial increase in these measures, findings revealed that students found great value in seeing and being able to interact with their peers’ thoughts about texts and that teachers saw enough benefits for student learning that they planned to continue its use going forward. Recommendations invite teachers to explore ways to establish a dialogic culture in their classroom and to make intentional decisions for inclusion of web annotation—or any other digital tool—based on sound pedagogy and on the learning goals they set with their students; approaching technology implementation in this way places teachers and pedagogy at the center of the process, helping them to leverage the affordances digital technologies provide. Recommendations for future research include focused examinations of (a) the thinking and composing processes students undergo as they annotate on the web; (b) the impact web annotations have on specific learning outcomes, potentially using comprehensive reading comprehension assessments; and (c) methods for web annotation use in elementary, higher education, or adult learning settings

From open content to open thinking

So far Open Educational Resources (OER) research has focused on the objective to 'open' education by making accessible free educational resources to the world. In the latest years the movement has matured, and a growing amount of OER have been made available by universities, researchers and scholars through several portals. Nonetheless, the level of adoption of OERs into common teaching practices remains quite low. In this paper we suggest that one of the main barriers to OER's adoption is the lack of 'opening up' to people's thinking around OERs and we propose Cohere, a tool which aims at making this thinking visible and exportable in ways that support the emergence of 'collective intelligence' around OERs research. Accessing Collective Intelligence (CI) around OERs is presented as a medium to know and understand what people think, how people design and use OERs thus increasing the easy of re-use of OER in learning and research practices

A participatory action research study on handwritten annotation feedback and its impact on staff and students

Annotation was introduced to a United Kingdom (UK) School of Nursing following an institutional audit within a UK University. Handwritten annotation (writing in the margins of student assignments) was introduced to the grading procedure to enhance the quality of student feedback and learning. Once in practice, annotation could be examined and an action research study facilitated the process. Post-qualifying essay scripts were examined for styles of annotation to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Five staff participated in action research to examine staff perceptions of annotation. Findings showed that words or telegraphic signs that stand alone in the margins of a student essay can be seen as abstract signs to the novitiate reader and need contextualising. If there is a negative tone in the markers’ annotation it can be detected by the student and interpreted as unhelpful or disparaging. There are a number of ways of improving annotation, and good practice guidelines are offered in the conclusion to this paper

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

Study of Video Annotations In External Practices Of University Learning

The digital video as code and learning technology has extensive scientific literature (Bartolome, 1997; Aguaded and Sánchez, 2008). However, the increase of digital video services on the Internet has facilitated and increased the use of video for education. With a recent important increase of videos as contained in the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). This context has also created the expansion of educational practices based on models for collaborative learning and mediated by technology (Computer Supported Learning collaborative -CSCL-). The study of these practices is proving to be effective for teachers in service and initial training practices if it is analyzed collectively (Hosack, Br tools, 2010;. Picci, Calvani, & Bonaiuti, 2012; Etscheidt & Curran, 2012; Ingram , 2014). There is interest in literature reviews on the reflective capabilities with the use of video for initial teacher training (Orland-Barak & Rachamim, 2009; Rich and Hannafin 2009; Rich & Trip, 2011) to which we expand in (Wallet, Cebrian & Desenne, 2015). This work is part of a research project in progress [1] which aims to implement a federated portfolio model of multimedia evidences. This model uses a digital portfolio (from now on we will call ePortfolios) with three different federated tools (1. Digital rubric or eRubric, 2. Webquest and 3. Open Video Annotations -Ova-) created by our research and development group Gtea [2 ]. The OVA tool was created within the MOOC of edX in collaboration with Harvard University in 2013 [3]. So it, we need to create another standalone tool to design their own interface to use this tool in this project. This design was evaluated through user usability and satisfaction (Monedero, Cebrian & Desenne, 2015). This study focuses on the ease and functionality of the OVA tool so that students to collect evidence on their digital multimedia portfolios. Especially, analyzes the competences that students show when annotate video in order to explain their learning experiences and respond to the skills that are required in the eRubrics in different teaching contexts (external and laboratory practices).Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. R+D+i project: Study of the Impact of federated eRubrics on the evaluation of external practices competences Plan Nacional de I + D + i de Excelencia (2014-2017) Ministerio de Economía y competitividad, nº EDU2013-41974-P web: http://goo.gl/CN6ID

Annotation evolution: how Web 2.0 technologies are enabling a change in annotation practice

Are Web 2.0 tools and technologies changing how and why scholars annotate their research sources? We begin to answer this question by assessing current technology and tools that support new functions for one of the most common scholarly research activity: taking notes. The results suggest a new approach to personalized information retrieval.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe