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

Development of Risk Prediction Equations for Incident Chronic Kidney Disease

IMPORTANCE ‐ Early identification of individuals at elevated risk of developing chronic kidney disease  could improve clinical care through enhanced surveillance and better management of underlying health  conditions.  OBJECTIVE – To develop assessment tools to identify individuals at increased risk of chronic kidney  disease, defined by reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).  DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS – Individual level data analysis of 34 multinational cohorts from  the CKD Prognosis Consortium including 5,222,711 individuals from 28 countries. Data were collected  from April, 1970 through January, 2017. A two‐stage analysis was performed, with each study first  analyzed individually and summarized overall using a weighted average. Since clinical variables were  often differentially available by diabetes status, models were developed separately within participants  with diabetes and without diabetes. Discrimination and calibration were also tested in 9 external  cohorts (N=2,253,540). EXPOSURE Demographic and clinical factors.  MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES – Incident eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73 m2.  RESULTS – In 4,441,084 participants without diabetes (mean age, 54 years, 38% female), there were  660,856 incident cases of reduced eGFR during a mean follow‐up of 4.2 years. In 781,627 participants  with diabetes (mean age, 62 years, 13% female), there were 313,646 incident cases during a mean follow‐up of 3.9 years. Equations for the 5‐year risk of reduced eGFR included age, sex, ethnicity, eGFR, history of cardiovascular disease, ever smoker, hypertension, BMI, and albuminuria. For participants  with diabetes, the models also included diabetes medications, hemoglobin A1c, and the interaction  between the two. The risk equations had a median C statistic for the 5‐year predicted probability of  0.845 (25th – 75th percentile, 0.789‐0.890) in the cohorts without diabetes and 0.801 (25th – 75th percentile, 0.750‐0.819) in the cohorts with diabetes. Calibration analysis showed that 9 out of 13 (69%) study populations had a slope of observed to predicted risk between 0.80 and 1.25. Discrimination was  similar in 18 study populations in 9 external validation cohorts; calibration showed that 16 out of 18 (89%) had a slope of observed to predicted risk between 0.80 and 1.25. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE – Equations for predicting risk of incident chronic kidney disease developed in over 5 million people from 34 multinational cohorts demonstrated high discrimination and  variable calibration in diverse populations

Investigating the effect of nudges for improving comment quality in active video watching

Developing and maintaining constructive engagement is a crucial challenge in learning by watching videos. AVW-Space is an online video-based learning platform which enhances student engagement via note-taking and personalised support. Previous studies with AVW-Space show that students who write comments, especially high-quality comments, learn more. The goal of the study reported in this paper is to encourage students to write better-quality comments. After automating the assessment of comment quality using machine learning approaches, we developed Quality nudges which encourage students to write better comments. We conducted a study in a first-year engineering course to analyse the learning effects of the Quality nudges. The results show that Quality nudges enhanced constructive engagement and learning. The contribution of this research is in proposing methodology for increasing the quality of student comments in video-based learning

Automatic quality assessment of comments in active video watching using machine learning techniques

Active Video Watching (AVW-Space) is an online platform for video-based learning which supports engagement via note-taking and personalized nudges. In this paper, we focus on the quality of the comments students write. We propose two schemes for assessing the quality of comments. Then, we evaluate these schemes by computing the inter-coder agreement. We also evaluate various machine learning classifiers to automate the assessment of comments. The selected cost-sensitive classifier shows that the quality of comments can be assessed with high weighted-F1 scores. This study contributes to the automation of comment quality assessment and the development of personalized educational support for engagement in video-based learning through commenting

Prognostic value of coronary artery calcium score, area, and density among individuals on statin therapy vs. non-users: The coronary artery calcium consortium

Background and aimsStatins do not decrease coronary artery calcium (CAC) and may increase existing calcification or its density. Therefore, we examined the prognostic significance of CAC among statin users at the time of CAC scanning.MethodsWe included 28,025 patients (6151 statin-users) aged 40-75 years from the CAC Consortium. Cox regression models were used to assess the association of CAC with coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Models were adjusted for traditional CVD risk factors. Additionally, we examined the predictive performance of CAC components including CAC area, volume, and density using an age- and sex-adjusted Cox regression model.ResultsParticipants (mean age 53.9&nbsp;±&nbsp;10.3 years, 65.0% male) were followed for median 11.2 years. There were 395 CVD and 182 CHD deaths. One unit increase in log CAC score was associated with increased risk of CVD mortality (hazard ratio (HR), 1.2; 95% CI&nbsp;=&nbsp;1.1-1.3) and CHD mortality (HR, 1.2; 95% CI&nbsp;=&nbsp;1.1-1.4)) among statin users. There was a small but significant negative interaction between CAC score and statin use for the prediction of CHD (p-value&nbsp;=&nbsp;0.036) and CVD mortality (p-value&nbsp;=&nbsp;0.025). The volume score and CAC area were similarly associated with outcomes in statin users and non-users. Density was associated with CVD and CHD mortality in statin naïve patients, but with neither in statin users.ConclusionCAC scoring retains robust risk prediction in statin users, and the changing relationship of CAC density with outcomes may explain the slightly weaker relationship of CAC with outcomes in statin users

Adiposity and risk of decline in glomerular filtration rate: meta-analysis of individual participant data in a global consortium

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the associations between adiposity measures (body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio) with decline in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and with all cause mortality. DESIGN:Individual participant data meta-analysis. SETTING:Cohorts from 40 countries with data collected between 1970 and 2017. PARTICIPANTS:Adults in 39 general population cohorts (n=5 459 014), of which 21 (n=594 496) had data on waist circumference; six cohorts with high cardiovascular risk (n=84 417); and 18 cohorts with chronic kidney disease (n=91 607). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:GFR decline (estimated GFR decline ≥40%, initiation of kidney replacement therapy or estimated GFR <10 mL/min/1.73 m2) and all cause mortality. RESULTS:Over a mean follow-up of eight years, 246 607 (5.6%) individuals in the general population cohorts had GFR decline (18 118 (0.4%) end stage kidney disease events) and 782 329 (14.7%) died. Adjusting for age, sex, race, and current smoking, the hazard ratios for GFR decline comparing body mass indices 30, 35, and 40 with body mass index 25 were 1.18 (95% confidence interval 1.09 to 1.27), 1.69 (1.51 to 1.89), and 2.02 (1.80 to 2.27), respectively. Results were similar in all subgroups of estimated GFR. Associations weakened after adjustment for additional comorbidities, with respective hazard ratios of 1.03 (0.95 to 1.11), 1.28 (1.14 to 1.44), and 1.46 (1.28 to 1.67). The association between body mass index and death was J shaped, with the lowest risk at body mass index of 25. In the cohorts with high cardiovascular risk and chronic kidney disease (mean follow-up of six and four years, respectively), risk associations between higher body mass index and GFR decline were weaker than in the general population, and the association between body mass index and death was also J shaped, with the lowest risk between body mass index 25 and 30. In all cohort types, associations between higher waist circumference and higher waist-to-height ratio with GFR decline were similar to that of body mass index; however, increased risk of death was not associated with lower waist circumference or waist-to-height ratio, as was seen with body mass index. CONCLUSIONS:Elevated body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio are independent risk factors for GFR decline and death in individuals who have normal or reduced levels of estimated GFR