Thread-based analysis of patterns of collaborative interaction in chat

Artificial Intelligence in Education: Supporting Learning through Intelligent and Socially Informed Technology, 125, pp. 120-127.In this work we present a thread-based approach for analyzing synchronous collaborative math problem solving activities. Thread information is shown to be an important resource for analyzing collaborative activities, especially for conducting sequential analysis of interaction among participants of a small group. We propose a computational model based on thread information which allows us to identify patterns of interaction and their sequential organization in computer-supported collaborative environments. This approach enables us to understand important features of collaborative math problem solving in a chat environment and to envisage several useful implications for educational and design purposes

Virtual math teams (VMT): Continuity and sustainability of collaborative knowledge building

How can we support online groups to better sustain their collaborative learning activity over time? In this poster, we present a qualitative case study of group creativity online in the domain of mathematics. We define collaborative learning work broadly, ranging from the micro-level co-construction of novel resources for collective problem solving to the innovative reuse and expansion of ideas across multiple virtual teams. Based on our analysis of the collaborative interactions of five virtual math teams we characterize the relationship between "synchronic" aspects of collaborative knowledge building (i.e. single episode interactions) and their "diachronic" evolution across time and across collectivities. Our analysis indicates that the synergy between these two types of interactions and the resulting creative engagement of the teams relies on three fundamental processes: (1) referencing and the “configuration of indexicals”, (2) collective remembering, and (3) bridging across discontinuities. In addition we also reflect on the aspects of the online environment used by these virtual teams which promote, support or hinder diachronic and synchronic interactions leading to successful knowledge building

Methods of negotiation in online collaborative mathematics problem-solving

The Virtual Math Teams (VMT) project is an NSF-funded research program through which researchers at the College of Information Science and Technology (IST) and the Math Forum investigate the innovative use of online collaborative environments to support effective K-12 mathematics learning. Negotiation is an indispensable element in collaboration, especially in the resolution of situations whose complexity is such that understanding them is enhanced by multiple perspectives made possible through collaboration. Some mathematics problems which are described as ‘ill-structured’ because they admit of several possible interpretations and multiple solutions, are candidates for collaborative problem-solving. Negotiation is necessary to make this collaborative approach possible, inasmuch as sense- and meaning-making associated with this particular approach to problem-solving has for its distinctive characteristic, the dynamics of a group rather than the jig-saw style of cooperating individuals. A research methodology based on conversation analysis is used to identify how negotiation is conducted in online mathematics problem-solving by locating its methods as negotiation is initiated, processed and concluded. Initial findings show: - how changes in the tempo of turn-taking indicate shifts in the conduct of problem-solving, - how repetition and ‘forced conclusions’ are used to negotiate a choice among several problems at hand, - how intervals and transitions are used by participants to indicate preferred responses and responders, - how referencing tools impact negotiation. Findings from this research can assist in the design of CSCL environments, especially in the transformation of generic communication applications to collaborative technology

Decision-Making Behaviour and Minimal Social Conditions: Economic versus Moral Choices

Although decision-making processes are typically studied with isolated individuals in the laboratory to control external factors, we mostly make decisions in a social environment in the presence of other individuals. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of social conditions on individuals’ decision-making performance in economic and moral contexts. Forty-four pairs of participants of the same gender (42 females and 46 males) constituted the sample for this study. Each pair was required to complete both economic and moral tasks under three types of social conditions, namely, “individual,” “joint,” and “joint with gaze-cueing.” Furthermore, eye- and mouse-tracking technologies were utilized to record the participants’ responses to the decision tasks. We hypothesized that even a minimal social context would influence people’s decisions, as manifested in their gaze and mouse responses. The results revealed that the minimalist social condition in which participants do not communicate or interact with each other affected their decision-making performance. The interplay among social conditions, diverse task types, and stimuli type were identified as some of the factors that impact the decision-making process in this setting

Neural Correlates of Purchasing Behavior in the Prefrontal Cortex: An Optical Brain Imaging Study

Existing neuroimaging studies in decision making predominantly employ the fMRI method. Despite its superior spatial resolution, fMRI is an expensive and impractical neuroimaging technology for purchasing behavior studies in the field. This study aims to explore the role of prefrontal cortex during purchasing behavior by utilizing functional nearinfrared (fNIR) spectroscopy; a low-cost, non-invasive and portable optical brain imaging methodology. The findings suggest that fNIRS can be effectively used for developing a neuro-physiologically informed, predictive model of purchasing behavior based on multivariate effects of activations in frontopolar, dorso-medial and dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex

Shared deictic referencing in online mathematics discourse

Paper presented at the 27th Ethnography in Education Research Forum 2006, Philadelphia, PA.Recent research on the impact of new communication and information technologies stress the transformation that new forms of mediated interactions are having on the ways that teenagers, especially, participate and make sense of different aspects of their lives, including education. The Virtual Math Teams (VMT) project is an NSF-funded research program that investigates the innovative use of online collaborative environments to support effective K-12 mathematics learning. The ethnographic case study presented here explores the sustained interactions of five virtual teams of teenagers distributed across the U.S. as they engaged in mathematical problem solving throughout a series of four successive sessions online. In particular, our ethnomethodological analysis highlights the “member methods” displayed and developed by these teams in their collective sense-making. More specifically, we concentrate our analysis on the deictic referencing methods used by the participants as they collaboratively construct and evolve a space of mathematical objects, reason about them, and constitute their own sense of collectivity. We explore implications for understanding learning and interaction of virtual teams and online communities, as well as for designing effective activities and supports for them