Exploring feedback and student characteristics relevant for personalizing feedback strategies

Personalized tutoring feedback is a powerful method that expert human tutors apply when helping students to optimize their learning. Thus, research on tutoring feedback strategies tailoring feedback according to important factors of the learning process has been recognized as a promising issue in the field of computer-based adaptive educational technologies. Our paper seeks to contribute to this area of research by addressing the following aspects: First, to investigate how students' gender, prior knowledge, and motivational characteristics relate to learning outcomes (knowledge gain and changes in motivation). Second, to investigate the impact of these student characteristics on how tutoring feedback strategies varying in content (procedural vs. conceptual) and specificity (concise hints vs. elaborated explanations) of tutoring feedback messages affect students' learning and motivation. Third, to explore the influence of the feedback parameters and student characteristics on students' immediate post-feedback behaviour (skipping vs. trying to accomplish a task, and failing vs. succeeding in providing a correct answer). To address these issues, detailed log-file analyses of an experimental study have been conducted. In this study, 124 sixth and seventh graders have been exposed to various tutoring feedback strategies while working on multi-trial error correction tasks in the domain of fraction arithmetic. The web-based intelligent learning environment ActiveMath was used to present the fraction tasks and trace students' progress and activities. The results reveal that gender is an important factor for feedback efficiency: Male students achieve significantly lower knowledge gains than female students under all tutoring feedback conditions (particularly, under feedback strategies starting with a conceptual hint). Moreover, perceived competence declines from pre- to post-test significantly more for boys than for girls. Yet, the decline in perceived competence is not accompanied by a decline in intrinsic motivation, which, instead, increases significantly from pre- to post-test. With regard to the post-feedback behaviour, the results indicate that students skip further attempts more frequently after conceptual than after procedural feedback messages.     

“I think you just got mixed up”: confident peer tutors hedge to support partners’ face needs

During collaborative learning, computer-supported or otherwise, students balance task-oriented goals with the interpersonal goals of relationship-building. This means that in peer tutoring, some pedagogically beneficial behaviors may be avoided by peer tutors due to their likelihood to get in the way of relationship-building. In this paper, we explore how the interpersonal closeness between students in a peer tutoring dyad and the peer tutors’ instructional self-efficacy impacts those tutors’ delivery style of various tutoring moves, and explore the impact those tutoring move delivery styles have on their partners’ learning. We found that tutors with lower social closeness with their tutees provide more positive feedback to their tutee and use more indirect instructions and comprehension-monitoring, but this is only the case for tutors with greater tutoring self-efficacy. And in fact, those tutees solved more problems and learned more when their tutors hedged instructions and comprehension-monitoring, respectively. We found no effect of hedging for dyads with greater social closeness, on the other hand, suggesting that interpersonal closeness may reduce the face-threat of direct instructions and comprehension-monitoring, and hence reduce the need for indirectness, while tutors’ instructional self-efficacy allows tutors to use those moves without feeling threatened themselves. These results emphasize that designers of CSCL systems should understand the nature of how the interpersonal closeness between collaborating students intersects with those students’ self-efficacy to impact the use and delivery of their learning behaviors, in order to best support them in collaborating effectively.     

Boosting learning-by-teaching in virtual tutoring

Research has shown that students tend to engage in quality learning when they are asked to teach (i.e., learning-by-teaching). In this study, a web-based tutoring environment has been developed to enhance the learning of college students by their teaching others: the Virtual Tutee System (VTS). In the VTS, students take the role of tutor and teach a virtual character about what they learn from readings. The design of the VTS has been refined through several iterations of formative evaluation. The current study explored whether the recent improvements made in the VTS augmented the learning-by-teaching effects. The VTS was evaluated with regard to its' effects on students' reading engagement and reading performance. Results indicated that students were behaviorally and cognitively engaged in reading with use of the VTS. Also, the study found a significant improvement in students' emotional engagement in reading after using the VTS. Limited support was found for enhancement of reading performance with repeated use of the VTS. Implications of the study findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Understanding emotional bond between the creator and the avatar: Change in behavioral intentions to engage in alcohol-related traffic risk behaviors

This study examines the joint impact of an individual's relationship with his or her avatar and negative consequences to the avatar on changing the individual's behavioral intentions (BI) in terms of alcohol-impaired driving. One hundred eleven participants volunteered to participate in several experimental conditions where the degree of choice of avatar features and the degree of control of the avatar's actions were manipulated in Second Life, an immersive 3D virtual environment. Participants who were allowed to customize their avatars viewed their avatars not only more similar but also emotionally closer to themselves, and perceived their avatars to be physically more attractive than those who were assigned basic avatars. After observing a car crash caused by drunk driving, participants in the choice and control condition were more likely to change BI positively when they identified their avatars to be similar to themselves, and regarded their avatars more attractive. Furthermore, participants who were allowed to control their avatars were more likely to attribute the responsibility of the car accident to themselves than those who observed someone else's avatar playing. Implications for the use of virtual reality games in promoting healthy behaviors are discussed in detail.     

Fostering collaborative learning in Second Life: Metaphors and affordances

In this paper we examine the transferability of the Jigsaw and Fishbowl collaborative learning techniques to the Second Life platform. Our aim is to assess the applicability of Second Life for collaborative learning by developing virtual tools and metaphors and exploiting the representational richness of this novel medium. In order to enhance the existing metaphors and affordances of SL, our research team implemented educational spaces, avatar clothing, and tools for non-verbal communication and visualisation. By implementing a blended learning evaluation approach we attempted to answer three research questions focusing on student collaboration, avatar representation and learning space awareness. We can conclude that SL can supplement and/or augment face to face interactions, improving upon previous approaches in distance collaboration and communication. Furthermore, although our team augmented SL’s ability to support collaborative learning, avatar representation does not seem to scale well. Finally, the majority of the implemented affordances and metaphors seem to have enhanced collaboration and learning space awareness.     

An approach to developing computational supports for reciprocal tutoring

This study presents a novel approach to developing computational supports for reciprocal tutoring. Reciprocal tutoring is a collaborative learning activity, where two participants take turns to play the role of a tutor and a tutee. The computational supports include scaffolding tools for the tutor, and a computer-simulated virtual participant. The approach, including system architecture, implementations of scaffolding tools for the tutor and of a virtual participant is presented herein. Furthermore, a system for reciprocal tutoring is implemented as an example of the approach.     

A virtual “Room” with a cue: Detecting personality through spatial customization in a city simulation game

Online simulation games provide an opportunity for people to express their personality through the design of their in-game virtual environment in a manner visible to third-party observers. We found that zero-acquaintance observers of these games can identify personality traits by simply looking at screenshots of the created virtual environment, and that the observed personality is closer to the self-reported “real” personality than “ideal” personality of the creator. These results contradict studies on avatar customization and personality, suggesting that spatial customization is more reflective of unintentional behavioral residue than conscious selective self-presentation.     

Impact of similarity between avatar and their users on their perceived identifiability: Evidence from virtual teams in Second Life platform

Research on the application of avatars in the virtual teams is growing. In this study, we examined the effect of perceived similarity of an avatar user with his/her avatar on the perceptions of his/her identifiability within a virtual team. The study utilized a sample of 124 users actively involved in Second Life, a virtual world platform. Results of structural equation modeling utilizing the partial least squares method corroborate the hypothesis. An important contribution of this research is to inform practitioners about the critical role that users’ similarity with the avatar plays in enhancing their identifiability. We draw conclusions based on the result and identify some important avenues for future research.     

The effect of questioning on concept learning within a hypertext system

Abstract Two studies report upon the effect of asking learners to answer questions when learning in a hypertext environment, even when no immediate feedback is given to learners about the appropriateness of their responses. Such questions may be useful as a means to induce responses that can be used to monitor learning, but here the hypothesis was investigated that their inclusion would also improve learning directly. In the first study, 80 student teachers answered embedded multiple-choice questions that encouraged analysis of examples. Concept learning achieved using this environment was significantly reduced when compared with an environment requiring no such responses. In the second study, a cohort of 68 students were asked to summarise the information illustrated by the examples. Here, learning was significantly improved as compared with the no-response condition.     

An experimental study of cyber face-to-face vs. cyber text-based English tutorial programs for low-achieving university students

This study examines the effects of two types of e-tutoring interventions (text-based vs. face-to-face videoconferencing, TB vs. F2F) on the grammar performance and motivation of low-achieving students. The study investigates the patterns of interaction between tutors and students in both platforms, including the manner in which tutors and students engage during the tutoring sessions. The students' experiences and perceptions of e-tutoring interventions are also explored. The findings reveal that although the two modes of tutoring were equally effective (both groups showed improvement in their grammar performance, with no discernible difference between the two groups), the F2F group members overcame their negative feelings toward English to a greater extent than the TB group members. Interestingly, although the findings reveal that the TB tutors engaged in more tutoring strategies than the F2F tutors, the F2F students perceived more self-improvement in their English performance and were more likely to evaluate the tutors and the e-tutoring program positively than the TB group. The paper concludes by offering some recommendations for future studies on different tutoring modes using computer conferencing.     

基于情感学习本体的教学反馈策略生成算法的研究

研究如何采用本体建模的方法解决智能教学系统中的情感理解与情感反馈的问题。构建了一个情感学习本体用于描述在学习过程中出现的与情感相关的概念及概念之间的关系,设计了基于该本体的教学反馈策略的生成算法,可以在不需要和学生进行问答交互的情况下获得学生学习过程的感知和理解状态,可以更好地理解学生的学习状态以提供更好的基于"情感触发"的认知和情感支持。并将情感学习本体和一个C语言程序设计领域知识本体以及反馈策略生成算法应用到一个以教学视频为主体学习资料的智能教学系统中。应用实例表明,该教学反馈策略生成算法能对学习者提供有效的认知反馈和情感反馈。     

Guiding the use of collective feedback displayed on heatmaps to reduce group conformity and improve learning in Peer Instruction

Peer Instruction is an active learning method widely used in higher education, whereby students answer a series of questions twice, once before and once after peer discussion. There is an ongoing debate as to whether a collective feedback should be given after the students' initial answer, and if so, how the frequently observed group conformity can be avoided. This study examined whether guiding on the use of this feedback can reduce group conformity and improve learning using an interactive learning environment to administer a new type of quiz using graphics, and delivering collective feedback to the whole class in a novel heatmap format. In the experimental group, the teacher told the students that the answer indicated by the heatmap was not necessarily the correct one; this information was not given to students in the control group. Results revealed that guided students were less likely to adopt the (incorrect) majority answer than the non-guided students, and consequently, they were more likely to improve their learning by reaching an agreement about the correct answer through discussion with their peers. These findings suggest that guiding students in their use of collective feedback may have a crucial role in Peer Instruction.     

Tutoring executives online: what drives perceived quality?

Studies of learning and student satisfaction in the context of online university programmes have largely neglected programmes catering specifically to business executives. Such executives have typically been away from higher education for a number of years, and have collected substantial practical experience in the subject matters they are taught. Their expectations in terms of both content and delivery may therefore be different from non-executive students. We explore perceptions of the quality of tutoring in the context of an online executive MBA programme through participant interviews. We find that in addition to some of the tutor behaviours already discussed in the literature, executive students look specifically for practical industry knowledge and experience in tutors, when judging how effective a tutor is. This has implications for both the recruitment and training of online executive MBA tutors.     

AutoTutor: Incorporating Back-Channel Feedback and Other Human-Like Conversational Behaviors into an Intelligent Tutoring System

This paper describes our recent attempts to incorporate human-like conversational behaviors into the dialog moves delivered by an animated pedagogical agent that simulates human tutors. We first present a brief overview of the modules comprising AutoTutor, an intelligent tutoring system. The second section describes a set of conversational behaviors that are being incorporated into AutoTutor. The behaviors of interest involve variations in intonation, head movements, arm and hand movements, facial expressions, eye blinking, gaze direction, and back-channel feedback. The final section presents a recent empirical study concerned with back-channel feedback events during human-to-human tutoring sessions. The back-channel feedback events emitted by tutors are mostly positive (63%), mostly verbal (77%), and immediately follow speech-act boundaries or noun-phrase boundaries (83%). Tutors also deliver back-channelevents at a very high rate when students are emitting dialog, about 13 events per minute. Conversely, 88% of students' back-channel feedback events are head nods, and they occur at unbounded locations (63%).     

The development of an ESL OWL, or learning how to tutor writing online

This essay describes the development of an ESL OWL by grounding practices in language and literacy pedagogy theory. An initial discussion explores OWLs emulating physical writing center spaces. Two areas of concern are then addressed in meeting the needs of second language writers as they relate to practices and training for online tutoring: error correction—an area of frequent concern to second language writers—and increased interactivity—meeting second language writer expectations and creating autonomous learners. Issues of plagiarism by second language writers are discussed as related to the type of feedback OWL tutors can provide. Highlighted throughout are samples of interactions between tutors and writers that show a process of learning how to create dialogue rather than dictations from the tutor to clean up a single essay.     

A sense of self: The role of presence in virtual environments

Several factors contribute to an individual’s experiences in computer-based environments. Previous research shows one such factor, the degree to which users feel connected to a virtual environment, influences the actions of individuals within the environment ( and ). Additional factors, such as people’s personality and the personality of their avatar, influence behaviors in virtual environments (McCreery, Krach, Schrader, & Boone, 2012). The current study focused on the role of presence as it affects behavior within the virtual environment. Presence has been defined as the psychological state where virtual experiences feel authentic. However, the degree to which presence acts as a mediating variable in virtual environments is not well understood. The current study employed a combination of survey instruments and direct observation to explore the relationships among personality of self and avatar, presence, and behaviors within a virtual environment. Findings indicated that participant scores in the domain of agreeableness were a significant predictor of agreeable behavior in the virtual environment. However, with the exception of negative effects (e.g., dizziness), presence does not appear to influence behavior. Overall implications for these findings are discussed.     

Mediating the expression of emotion in educational collaborative virtual environments: an experimental study

The use of avatars with emotionally expressive faces is potentially highly beneficial to communication in collaborative virtual environments (CVEs), especially when used in a distance learning context. However, little is known about how, or indeed whether, emotions can effectively be transmitted through the medium of a CVE. Given this, an avatar head model with limited but human-like expressive abilities was built, designed to enrich CVE communication. Based on the facial action coding system (FACS), the head was designed to express, in a readily recognisable manner, the six universal emotions. An experiment was conducted to investigate the efficacy of the model. Results indicate that the approach of applying the FACS model to virtual face representations is not guaranteed to work for all expressions of a particular emotion category. However, given appropriate use of the model, emotions can effectively be visualised with a limited number of facial features. A set of exemplar facial expressions is presented.     

A learner support model based on peer tutor selection

Abstract   The introduction of elearning often leads to an increase in the time staff spends on tutoring. To alleviate the workload of staff tutors, we developed a model for organizing and supporting learner-related interactions in elearning systems. It makes use of the knowledge and experience of peers and builds on the assumption that (lifelong) learners, when instructed and assisted carefully, should be able to assist each other. The model operates at two levels. At level 1, prospective peer tutors are identified, based on a combination of workload and competency indicators. At level 2, the thus identified prospective peer tutors become the actual tutors; this is performed by empowering them with tools and guidelines for the task at hand. The article will situate the model in networks for lifelong learning. For one kind of interactions, answering content-related questions, we will review a set of existing approaches and emerging technologies and describe our model. Finally, we will describe and discuss the results of a simulation of a prototype of the model and discuss to what extent it matches our requirements.     

The psychological functions of avatars and alt(s): A qualitative study

Prior research has shown that approximately 50% of active participants in the 3D virtual world of Second Life have one or more secondary avatars or “alts” in addition to their primary avatar. Thus, these individuals are operating a “multiple or poly-identity system” composed of a physical self, a primary avatar, and one or more alts. However, little is known about the functions these virtual identities serve for the virtual-world user. The current study involved qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with Second Life participants (N = 24) who had a primary avatar and at least one alt. Interviews were coded to examine the functions that primary avatars and alts served. Eight functions—seven suggested by previous research on virtual world identity and one that emerged from analyses—were reflected in a large majority of the transcribed interviews and are described in the article. The current findings add to our understanding of how multifaceted identity systems operate, as more individuals augment their physical self with a set of virtual identities.     

Exploring the social competence of students with autism spectrum conditions in a collaborative virtual learning environment – The pilot study

Social reciprocity deficits are a core feature of the autism spectrum conditions (ASCs). Many individual with ASCs have difficulty with social interaction due to a frequent lack of social competence. This study focuses on using a virtual learning environment to help the deficiencies of social competence for people with ASCs, and to increase their social interaction. Specifically, it primitively explores social competence in collaborative virtual learning environment (CVLE) systems, and behavioral performance in social and cognitive interactions. Thus, this CVLE-social interaction system involves a 3D expressive avatar, an animated social situation, and verbal as well as text-communication. A preliminary empirical study involved CVLE-social interaction systems. Three participants who had been diagnosed with ASCs were conducted using a multiple baseline research for evidence of improved social competence through usage of the system. The experimental study consisted of 17 days; and the results showed that using the CVLE-social interaction system had significant positive effects on participants’ performance, both within the CVLE-social interaction system and in terms of reciprocal social interaction learning.