Conversational agents for academically productive talk: a comparison of directed and undirected agent interventions

Conversational agents that draw on the framework of academically productive talk (APT) have been lately shown to be effective in helping learners sustain productive forms of peer dialogue in diverse learning settings. Yet, literature suggests that more research is required on how learners respond to and benefit from such flexible agents in order to fine-tune the design of automated APT intervention modes and, thus, enhance agent pedagogical efficacy. Building on this line of research, this work explores the impact of a configurable APT agent that prompts peers to build on prior knowledge and logically connect their contributions to important domain concepts discussed in class. A total of 96 computer science students engaged in a dialogue-based activity in the context of a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) university course. During the activity, students worked online in dyads to accomplish a learning task. The study compares three conditions: students who collaborated without any agent interference (control), students who received undirected agent interventions that addressed both peers in the dyad (U treatment), and students who received directed agent interventions addressing a particular learner instead of the dyad (D treatment). The results suggest that although both agent intervention methods can improve students’ learning outcomes and dyad in-task performance, the directed one is more effective than the undirected one in enhancing individual domain knowledge acquisition and explicit reasoning. Furthermore, findings show that the positive effect of the agent on dyad performance is mediated by the frequency of students’ contributions displaying explicit reasoning, while most students perceive agent involvement favorably.     

An exploration of students' strategy use in inquiry-based computer-supported collaborative learning

Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate students' use of cognitive learning strategies in inquiry-based computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). A process-oriented interview framework on cognitive activity, self-regulation and motivation, and a coding category for analysing cognitive learning strategies and cognitive self-regulation was developed. The students of an intervention group (n=18) participating in inquiry-based CSCL and a comparison group (n=8) were interviewed six to eight times during the 3 years of the study. The results derived from the mixed-method analysis of altogether 161 interviews were compared between the two groups. The results indicate that the students who participated in the inquiry-based CSCL activities reported deeper-level cognitive strategies such as monitoring, creating representations and sharing information collaboratively. The students of the comparison group reported more surface-level strategies such as memorization. However, the findings concerning the utility of CSCL inquiry on cognitive learning strategies were not uniformly positive. It was found that the students of the comparison group reported significantly more strategies under the category of content evaluation. Nevertheless, the results suggest that computer-supported inquiry-based learning can enhance the use of cognitive strategies that support learning.     

Using Dialogue Features to Predict Trouble During Collaborative Learning

A web-based, collaborative distance-learning system that will allow groups of students to interact with each other remotely and with an intelligent electronic agent that will aid them in their learning has the potential for improving on-line learning. The agent would follow the discussion and interact with the participants when it detects learning trouble of some sort, such as confusion about the problem they are working on or a participant who is dominating the discussion or not interacting with the other participants. In order to recognize problems in the dialogue, we investigated conversational elements that can be utilized as predictors for effective and ineffective interaction between human students. These elements can serve as the basis for student and group models. In this paper, we discuss group interaction during collaborative learning, our representation of participant dialogue, and the statistical models we are using to determine the role being played by a participant at any point in the dialogue and the effectiveness of the group. We also describe student and group models that can be built using conversational elements and discuss one set that we built to illustrate their potential value in collaborative learning. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Efficiency of learning environment using GeoGebra when calculus contents are learned in collaborative groups

In this paper we present a modern approach of teaching mathematics based on the computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) of calculus contents. The collaborative learning was used in calculus course at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, for examining functions and drawing their graphs. In 2012 the authors decided to improve the collaborative learning introducing GeoGebra application. Small four member groups were formed by using Kagan's (1994) principles. Two groups of students, the experimental, and the control one were observed. The students in the experimental group learned with the help of GeoGebra, and the students in the control group learned without using GeoGebra.Comparison between those two groups of the first year calculus students, regarding their way of learning and the results achieved, is described below. Before the students' collaborative learning, they were tested with a pre-test and their knowledge necessary for examining functions was verified. The pre-test showed that there was no significant statistical difference between the experimental and the control group. The experimental group worked with the help of the computer and the control one without it. After the collaborative learning, the students were tested with a test (colloquium) and the results of the experimental group were significantly better than the results of students in the control group. At the end of the course the students did their exams (post-test), and the results of the experimental group were significantly better than the results of students in the control group.Some students from the experimental group had to answer questions in an interview related to the use of GeoGebra during their collaborative learning. In order to see the students' difficulties in solving problems, students in the experimental group were asked to cross out incorrect parts of solutions, not to erase them. The teachers reviewed the students' tasks done during the collaborative learning and after that the students who had corrected their mistakes were invited for an interview about using GeoGebra for overcoming their difficulties. Based on the students' results in the tests, answers in the questionnaire and in the interview, it can be concluded that GeoGebra has enabled an easier learning of this material. The GeoGebra package enables the students to check whether each step in the process of solving a task was correctly done or not. The results of our research show that GeoGebra can help those students having insufficient knowledge (necessary for solving those tasks) to improve it.We can say that our research shows that the students' learning achievement in examining functions and drawing their graphs is better when they use GeoGebra, working in collaborative groups than without using it. Also, GeoGebra enables creation of effective learning environment for examining functions and drawing their graphs.     

A cross‐cultural study of the effect of a graph‐oriented computer‐assisted project‐based learning environment on middle school students' science knowledge and argumentation skills

The purpose of this mixed‐methods study was to explore how seventh graders in a suburban school in the United States and sixth graders in an urban school in Taiwan developed argumentation skills and science knowledge in a project‐based learning environment that incorporated a graph‐oriented, computer‐assisted application (GOCAA). A total of 42 students comprised the treatment condition and were engaged in a project‐based learning environment that incorporated a GOCAA. Of these 42 students, 21 were located in the United States and 21 were located in Taiwan. A total of 26 students comprised the control condition and were engaged in a project‐based learning environment without the GOCAA. Of these 26 students, 15 were in the United States and 11 were in Taiwan. In each country, verbal collaborative argumentation was recorded and the students' post‐essays were collected. A one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted for each measure of science knowledge about alternative energies. The results showed a significant treatment effect for the outcome of scientific explanation among U.S. students, while among Taiwanese students, a significant treatment effect on scientific facts was observed. A one‐way ANOVA was additionally conducted for each measure of argumentation skills and a significant treatment effect on counterarguments and rebuttals was observed among the U.S. students, while in Taiwan, a significant treatment effect on reasoning and rebuttals was observed. A qualitative analysis was conducted to examine how the GOCAA supported students' development of argumentation skills in different countries. This study found distinct argumentation patterns between the U.S. and Taiwanese intervention teams. Additionally, a distinct gender difference in the use of evidence and division of labour was noted when the Taiwanese teams were compared with the U.S. teams, which may be explained by cultural differences. This study concluded that, in both the United States and Taiwan, a project‐based learning environment incorporating a GOCAA was effective in improving students' science knowledge and developing their scientific argumentation skills.     

Improving diagrammatic reasoning in middle school science using conventions of diagrams instruction

Visual representations are essential for science understanding, but many students have poor diagrammatic reasoning skills. Previous research showed that teaching high school and college students about the conventions of diagrams (COD) can improve diagrammatic reasoning. In this study, middle school science students received COD instruction delivered as a classroom warm‐up using laptop computers, while control students received publisher‐developed warm‐up questions. Students receiving COD warm‐ups for 10 weeks (but not 4 weeks) improved their diagrammatic reasoning more than control students. Treatment students' answers were more accurate than control students' answers, especially on easy questions. The discourse of pairs of students during the warm‐ups showed that treatment students talked about the diagrams more and made more inferences and that this difference was greatest for easy questions. Results suggest that COD instruction can be initiated in middle school along with more formal science instruction, can be integrated into classroom routine using computer‐delivered warm‐ups, is helpful (if sustained) both for improving diagrammatic reasoning and for supporting learning science content and works at least in part by increasing students' engagement during routine work.     

Exploring students' learning effectiveness and attitude in Group Scribbles‐supported collaborative reading activities: a study in the primary classroom

Improving students' reading comprehension is of significance. In this study, collaborative learning supported by Group Scribbles (GS), a networked technology, was integrated into a primary reading class. Forty‐seven 10‐year‐old students from two 4th grade classes participated in the study. Experimental and control groups were established to investigate the effectiveness of GS‐supported collaborative learning in enhancing students' reading comprehension. The results affirmed the effectiveness of the intervention designed. In the experiment group, students' learning attitudes, motivation and interest were enhanced as well. Further analyses were done to probe students' interaction processes in the networked collaborative classroom and different collaboration patterns and behaviours were identified. Based on the findings obtained, implications for future learning design to empower L1 learning were elaborated.     

When coding-and-counting is not enough: using epistemic network analysis (ENA) to analyze verbal data in CSCL research

Research on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is often concerned with the question of how scaffolds or other characteristics of learning may affect learners’ social and cognitive engagement. Such engagement in socio-cognitive activities frequently materializes in discourse. In quantitative analyses of discourse, utterances are typically coded, and differences in the frequency of codes are compared between conditions. However, such traditional coding-and-counting-based strategies neglect the temporal nature of verbal data, and therefore provide limited and potentially misleading information about CSCL activities. Instead, we argue that analyses of the temporal proximity, specifically temporal co-occurrences of codes, provide a more appropriate way to characterize socio-cognitive activities of learning in CSCL settings. We investigate this claim by comparing and contrasting a traditional coding-and-counting analysis with epistemic network analysis (ENA), a discourse analysis technique that models temporal co-occurrences of codes in discourse. We apply both methods to data from a study that compared the effects of individual vs. collaborative problem solving. The results suggest that compared to a traditional coding-and-counting approach, ENA provides more insight into the socio-cognitive learning activities of students.     

Application of the Socratic dialogue on corrective learning of subtraction

The purpose of this research is to construct a corrective learning system using the Socratic dialogue as a guide to correct mistakes in students' knowledge on the domain of subtraction. Since the cause of students' mistaken concepts relates to the formation and evolution of mental models, the correction of mistakes cannot be effective if a teacher relies on simply telling the student the standard solution. Instead, they should make the student consider the mistakes and contradictions they themselves discover in the correction process. The Socratic dialogue applies a dialectic method to present questions to the student and lets the student reconsider his or her own thinking. In this research, we shall make an inquiry into the fundamental reasoning principles of the Socratic dialogue and use the production rules to express the principles that will be used for the learning of subtraction. The effect of Socratic dialogue on the learning of subtraction has been evaluated by an educational experiment. The experimental results show that the approach of the Socratic dialogue on learning is indeed of great help for students.     

Patterns of students' collaborations by variations in their learning orientations in blended course designs: How is it associated with academic achievement?

Background

While a number of learner factors have been identified to impact students' collaborative learning, there has been little systematic research into how patterns of students' collaborative learning may differ by their learning orientations.

Objectives

This study aimed to investigate: (1) variations in students' learning orientations by their conceptions, approaches, and perceptions; (2) the patterns of students' collaborations by variations in their learning orientations and (3) the contribution of patterns of collaborations to academic achievement.

Methods

A cohort of 174 Chinese undergraduates in a blended engineering course were surveyed for their conceptions of learning, approaches to learning and to using online learning technologies, and perceptions of e-learning, to identify variations in their learning orientations. Students' collaborations and mode of collaborations were collected through an open-ended social network analysis (SNA) questionnaire.

Results and Conclusions

A hierarchical cluster analysis identified an ‘understanding’ and ‘reproducing’ learning orientations. Based on students' learning orientations and their choices to collaborate, students were categorized into three mutually exclusive collaborative group, namely Understanding Collaborative group, Reproducing Collaborative group and Mixed Collaborative group. SNA centrality measures demonstrated that students in the Understanding Collaborative group had more collaborations and stayed in a better position in terms of capacity to gather information. Both students' approaches to learning and students' average collaborations significantly contributed to their academic achievement, explaining 3% and 4% of variance in their academic achievement respectively. The results suggest that fostering a desirable learning orientation may help improve students' collaborative learning.     

Differences in learning processes between successful and less successful students in computer-supported collaborative learning in the field of human nutrition and health

This study aimed to investigate the differences in learning processes between successful and less successful pairs of students in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) in the field of human nutrition and health. As part of their regular MSc (and optional BSc) course “Exposure assessment in nutrition and health research” at Wageningen University, 44 students were asked (as an individual pretest) to design and analyze a study which evaluates a certain dietary assessment method. Subsequently, they were asked to discuss their evaluation studies in randomized pairs using a CSCL platform. As an individual posttest, students had to re-design and re-analyze the same evaluation study. The quality of students’ knowledge construction in both tests and characteristics of their learning processes in the CSCL environment were assessed through two coding schemes. Based on their learning outcomes (quality of knowledge construction), pairs of students were divided into two subgroups: successful and less successful students. Next, the learning processes of these subgroups were compared. This study revealed that the learning processes of successful and less successful students in the CSCL environment differed in terms of relevance, width and depth of discussion and justification and reasoning. Based on these findings, recommendations for further research and educational practice are formulated.     

The relationships among group size,participation, and performance of programming language learning supported with online forums

This study examined the relationships among group size, participation, and learning performance factors when learning a programming language in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) context. An online forum was used as the CSCL environment for learning the Microsoft ASP.NET programming language. The collaborative-learning experiment was performed with one large group and 15 small groups.A total of 120 students participated in this experiment as part of a half-semester ASP.NET programming language course. The course contained an online forum for supporting the students' social activities and participation. This study used a participation-weighted rate for different participation types. A ‘learning score’ and a ‘learning satisfaction’ score were used to measure learning performance.The results of this study were as follows: (1) the online forum support aided collaborative learning, regardless of group size; (2) group sizes did not significantly influence learning scores directly but significantly influenced participation, and small groups had higher participation rates, which positively influenced learning scores; and (3) learning satisfaction using the online forum was higher than the average score. Small groups had higher learning satisfaction rates, and participation did not significantly influence learning satisfaction.Due to this study's results, we recommend that programs design instruction with small groups for teaching programming languages in online forums, support student-centered discussions, and encourage high levels of student participation to increase learning performance.     

Teacher interventions in a synchronous,co-located CSCL setting: Analyzing focus,means, and temporality

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments facilitate collaboration between students. There is a growing interest in studying the role of the teacher during CSCL. This study aims to contribute to the conceptualization of teacher interventions during CSCL. A teacher and his class worked in a CSCL environment for 8 lessons. Focus and means of teacher interventions were analyzed across these 8 time points. The results show that the teacher’s behavior varied greatly between lessons and also between groups, which contradicts research that has aggregated teacher behavior to types or teaching styles. Findings consistent across time points include the predominance of the teacher’s focus on students’ cognitive rather than social activities, and a higher number of interventions in groups where student activity was higher. Suggestions are made for future research, which include studying the effectiveness of supporting tools for teachers.     

Supporting teachers' intervention in collaborative knowledge building

In the context of distributed collaborative learning, the teacher's role is different from traditional teacher-centered environments, they are coordinators/facilitators, guides, and co-learners. They monitor the collaboration activities within a group, detect problems and intervene in the collaboration to give advice and learn alongside students at the same time. We have designed an Assistant to support teachers' intervention in collaborative knowledge building. The Assistant monitors the collaboration, visualizes it and provides advice to the teacher on the subject domain and the collaboration process. The goal of the research present in this paper is to explore the possibilities of enriching Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) environments with tools to support collaborative interaction.     

Teacher regulation of multiple computer-supported collaborating groups

Teachers regulating groups of students during computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) face the challenge of orchestrating their guidance at student, group, and class level. During CSCL, teachers can monitor all student activity and interact with multiple groups at the same time. Not much is known about the way teachers diagnose student progress and decide upon appropriate interventions when they regulate multiple groups synchronously. This explorative study describes the strategies and experiences related to regulating the activities of seven groups of students, as reported by two teachers, and aimed to widen the framework for describing teacher regulation of CSCL settings that are characterized by synchronicity. Recurring themes included the high amount of information load teachers experienced while diagnosing students’ needs, the focus and level of regulation, and the way the teachers used prior knowledge of students to decide on an intervention after diagnosis. Both teachers valued the ability to monitor student progress online, and mentioned the necessity of students being able to follow the teacher’s activity as well. Theoretical implications are described in terms of understanding teacher regulation, synchronicity, and information load. Practical implications are described for lowering information load.     

Gender-related differences in computer-mediated communication and computer-supported collaborative learning

Abstract   A question associated with the introduction of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is whether all participants profit equally from working in CSCL environments. This article reports on a review study into gender-related differences in participation in CSCL. As many of the processes in CSCL are similar to those in computer-mediated communication (CMC), studies into CMC are also included in the review. Male dominance is found to play a role in many CMC settings. A learning culture with an explicit focus on participation by all students seems to be related to a more gender-balanced participation in CMC, however. A tendency for boys to be more active participants than girls is also present in CSCL environments, but it is less pronounced than in CMC. This may be explained by the fact that participation is explicitly promoted in most CSCL environments. Gender differences in the character of students' contributions are found in both CMC and CSCL. It is concluded that in order to avoid gender-stereotyped participation and communication patterns, it is necessary to explicitly address inclusiveness as an aspect of a collaborative classroom culture. A plea is made for further research into differential participation by students in CSCL, and the effects thereof on cognitive and affective learning outcomes. Research should also focus on the question how classroom cultures can be promoted that support active participation of all students aimed at collaborative knowledge construction.     

How competition and heterogeneous collaboration interact in prevocational game-based mathematics education

The present study addresses the effectiveness of an educational mathematics game for improving proportional reasoning in students from prevocational education. Though in theory game-based learning is promising, research shows that results are ambiguous and that we should look into ways to support game-based learning. The current study explored two factors (i.e., collaboration and competition) that have been associated with motivational and cognitive effects, and have potential to optimize game-based learning. In a fully crossed design, four conditions were examined: collaboration and competition, collaboration control, competition control, and control. It was found that, over all, gameplay did improve students' proportional reasoning skills but that learning effects did not differ between conditions. However, when students’ ability levels were taken into account, an interaction between collaboration and competition was found. For below-average students, the effect of collaboration was modified by competition, showing a negative effect of competition on domain knowledge gains in a collaborative learning situation. In contrast, for above-average students, the data demonstrated a trend that suggests a positive effect of competition on domain knowledge gain in a collaborative learning situation.