融入学习者模型在线学习资源协同过滤推荐方法

在线教育存在“信息迷航”问题,而传统的信息推荐方法往往忽视教育的主体—学习者的特征。本文依据教育教学理论,根据在线教育平台中的学习者相关数据,研究构建了适用于在线学习资源个性化推荐的学习者模型。以协同过滤推荐方法为切入点,融合学习者模型中的静态特征和动态特征对协同过滤方法进行改进,建立融入学习者模型的在线学习资源协同过滤推荐方法。以2020年3~7月时间段的东北石油大学“C程序设计”课程学生的真实学习数据和行为数据为数据集,对本文提出的方法进行验证和对比,最后证明本文提出的方法在性能上均优于对比方法。     

Community-organizing agent: An artificial intelligent system for building learning communities among large numbers of learners

Web-based (or online) learning provides an unprecedented flexibility and convenience to both learners and instructors. However, large online classes relying on instructor-centered presentations could tend to isolate many learners. The size of these classes and the wide dispersion of the learners make it challenging for instructors to interact with individual learners or to facilitate learner collaborations. Since extensive literature has confirmed that the substantial impact of learner interaction on learning outcomes, it is pedagogically critical to help distributed learners engage in community-based collaborative learning and to help individual learners improve their self-regulation. The E-learning lab of Shanghai Jiaotong University created an artificial intelligence system to help guide learners with similar interests into reasonably sized learning communities. The system uses a multi-agent mechanism to organize and reorganize supportive communities based on learners’ learning interests, experiences, and behaviors. Through effective award and exchange algorithms, learners with similar interests and experiences will form a community to support each others’ learning. Simulated experimental results indicate that these algorithms can improve the speed and efficiency in identifying and grouping homogeneous learners. Here, we will describe this system in detail and present its mechanism for organizing learning communities. We will conduct human experimentations in the near future to further perfect the system.     

ICT in higher education: evaluating outcomes for health education

Abstract This paper presents an investigation that examined and compared the effectiveness of collaborative tutorial activities carried out in both web-based and face-to-face learning environments within an undergraduate health education subject. Effectiveness of the different learning environments was measured in terms of observed learning outcomes, analysis of learner interactions and reported perceptions of the learners regarding their experience. Results demonstrated that web-based environments, with embedded collaborative activities, can effectively foster rich learning experiences that result in attaining positive learning outcomes.     

Co-reflection in online learning: Collaborative critical thinking as narrative

This article presents findings from a comparative case study of the learning experiences of two graduate students in an online action research course. The key roles played by reflection and co-reflection, an emerging concept, are identified through the use of narrative analysis. Co-reflection is a collaborative critical thinking process mediated by language, broadly construed to include all meaningful signs. Two types of co-reflection are proposed: tacit and active. Regardless of type, the evidence shows that co-reflection involves cognitive and affective interactions in synergy with relationship building. To the study of group cognition, this study contributes evidence of the potential of co-reflection as a core process. The simple, flexible software tools used in the course (wiki-style collaborative software and simple email and chat programs) effectively supported inquiry learning and co-reflection by allowing learners to freely and easily create their own web pages and to adapt the tools for their different communication and learning styles.     

Students’ experiences with collaborative learning in asynchronous Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning environments

This paper describes an explorative study carried out to gain response from distance students on their experiences with collaborative learning in asynchronous computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments. In addition, this study also attempts to have a good grip of crucial aspects concerning collaborative learning. The study was undertaken among distance learners from the Open University of the Netherlands who were working in groups of 4–11 persons. During and after the course students’ experiences with collaborative learning were measured and after the course also students’ satisfaction with collaborative learning was assessed. The finding revealed that distance learners appreciate the opportunities to work collaboratively. They show positive experiences and are quite satisfied with collaborative learning. This study also sought to explore individuals as well as course characteristics that influenced aspects of collaborative learning, and to search aspects of collaborative learning that influenced students’ satisfaction. The findings suggested that a group product influences group process regulation and group cohesion influences students’ satisfaction with collaborative learning.     

Fostering self‐regulated learning in a blended environment using group awareness and peer assistance as external scaffolds

Most systems for training self‐regulated learning (SRL) behaviour focus on the provision of a learner‐centred environment. Such systems repeat the training process and place learners alone to experience that process iteratively. According to the relevant literature, external scaffolds are more promising for effective SRL training. In this work, group awareness and peer assistance are used as external scaffolds in the process of training SRL behaviour, enhancing opportunities for self‐reflection and stimulating and encouraging learners. This work further develops a system, called self‐regulated learning with group awareness and peer assistance (SRL‐GAPA). Experimental results reveal that SRL‐GAPA provides significantly more participation in online training tasks and learning activities, better SRL behaviour and better learning achievement than the traditional SRL system (i.e,, a learner‐centred environment). The SRL‐GAPA benefited poorly self‐regulated learners more than highly self‐regulated students. Some implications of this finding are discussed.     

Online formative assessment in higher education: A review of the literature

As online and blended learning has become common place educational strategy in higher education, educators need to reconceptualise fundamental issues of teaching, learning and assessment in non traditional spaces. These issues include concepts such as validity and reliability of assessment in online environments in relation to serving the intended purposes, as well as understanding how formative assessment functions within online and blended learning. This article provides a systematic qualitative review of the research literature on online formative assessment in higher education. As an integrative narrative review, the method applied in this review entailed systematic searching, reviewing, and writing this review of the literature to bring together key themes and findings of research in this field. The authors applied qualitative thematic criteria in selecting and reviewing the available literature from which they focused on identifying and analyzing the core themes that are central to the concept of formative assessment with a key focus on application of formative assessment within blended and online contexts. Various techniques were identified for formative assessment by the individual, peers and the teacher, many of which were linked with online tools such as self-test quiz tools, discussion forums and e-portfolios. The benefits identified include improvement of learner engagement and centrality in the process as key actors, including the development of a learning community. The key findings are that effective online formative assessment can foster a learner and assessment centered focus through formative feedback and enhanced learner engagement with valuable learning experiences. Ongoing authentic assessment activities and interactive formative feedback were identified as important characteristics that can address threats to validity and reliability within the context of online formative assessment.     

Understanding online knowledge sharing: An interpersonal relationship perspective

The unique features and capabilities of online learning are built on the ability to connect to a wider range of learning resources and peer learners that benefit individual learners, such as through discussion forums, collaborative learning, and community building. The success of online learning thus depends on the participation, engagement, and social interaction of peer learners, which leads to knowledge sharing. Thus, without frequent and persistent interaction, it is doubtful whether knowledge sharing can take place in online learning. This study argues that theories about the development and maintenance of social relationships provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the motivation to engage in online knowledge sharing behavior. An Online Knowledge Sharing Model (OKSM) is proposed and empirically tested among undergraduate students using an online learning environment. The model introduces two new constructs – Perceived Online Attachment Motivation (POAM) and Perceived Online Relationship Commitment (PORC), which together explained 71 percent of the variance observed in self-reported online knowledge sharing behavior. The findings provide some explanations for the motivation to share knowledge, and have several implications for the design of the features and capabilities of online learning environments.     

A community of practice approach to the development of non-traditional learners through networked learning

Abstract This paper analyses a sample of online discussions to evaluate the development of adult learners as reflective practitioners within a networked learning community. The context for our study is a blended learning course offering post-experience professional training to non-traditional university students. These students are parents and carers of people with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). We use Lave and Wenger's 'communities of practice' as a theoretical framework for establishing how students develop a learning community based upon mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoires. Those three aspects are analysed according to two measures. The first focuses on learner appropriation of the professional discourse, values and goals of the ASD carer through the network. The second relates to changes in the quality of collaborative activity over time. Our analysis demonstrates that students belong to an overarching community of practice, with different subsets who work at sharing and co-constructing common understandings. This shared discourse and common notions of what constitutes good practice help create a safe interaction space for the students. Once group identity is consolidated, more challenging questions emerge and the group are able to define further common values, understandings and goals through processes of resolution.     

Mining students activities from a computer supported collaborative learning system based on peer to peer network

As Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is rapidly evolved, educational paradigms have been changing. The ultimate goal of education with the aid of ICT is to provide customized training for learners to improve the effectiveness of their learning at anytime and anywhere. In the online learning environment where the Internet, mobile devices, peer-to-peer (P2P) and the cloud technology are leveraged, all the information in learning activities is converted into digital data and stored in the Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) system. The data in the CSCL system contains various learners’ information including the learning objectives, learning preferences, competences and achievements. Thus, by analyzing the activity information of learners in an online CSCL system, meaningful and useful information can be extracted and provided for learners, teachers and administrators as feedback. In this paper, we propose a learner activity model that represents the learner’s activity information stored in a CSCL system. As for the proposed learner activity model, we classified the learning activities in a CSCL system into three categories: vivacity, learning and relationship; then we created quotients to represent them accordingly. In addition, we developed a CSCL System, which we termed as COLLA, applied the proposed learner activity model and analyzed the results.     

Social networks,communication styles,and learning performance in a CSCL community

The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationships between communication styles, social networks, and learning performance in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) community. Using social network analysis (SNA) and longitudinal survey data, we analyzed how 31 distributed learners developed collaborative learning social networks, when they had work together on the design of aerospace systems using online collaboration tools. The results showed that both individual and structural factors (i.e., communication styles and a pre-existing friendship network) significantly affected the way the learners developed collaborative learning social networks. More specifically, learners who possessed high willingness to communicate (WTC) or occupied initially peripheral network positions were more likely to explore new network linkages. We also found that the resultant social network properties significantly influenced learners’ performance to the extent that central actors in the emergent collaborative social network tended to get higher final grades. The study suggests that communication and social networks should be central elements in a distributed learning environment. We also propose that the addition of personality theory (operationalized here as communication styles) to structural analysis (SNA) contributes to an enhanced picture of how distributed learners build their social and intellectual capital in the context of CSCL.     

Self-organising navigational support in lifelong learning: How predecessors can lead the way

Increased flexibility and modularisation in higher education complicates the process of learners finding their way through the offerings of higher education institutions. In lifelong learning, where learning opportunities are diverse and reach beyond institutional boundaries, it becomes even more complex to decide on a learning path. However, efficient and effective lifelong learning requires that learners can make well informed decisions. Drawing on principles of self-organisation and indirect social interaction, this article suggests solving the problem by analysing the paths followed by learners and feeding this information back as advice to learners facing navigational decisions. This article starts by introducing the principles of self-organisation and indirect social interaction. It describes how we expect the use of indirect social interaction using collaborative filtering to enhance effectiveness (completion rates and amount of progress) and efficiency (time taken to complete) in lifelong learning. The effects were tested in a controlled experiment, with the results showing effects on effectiveness though not on efficiency. The study shows that indirect feedback is a promising line of enquiry for navigational support in lifelong learning.     

基于表示学习的在线学习交互质量评价方法

当今的教育模式发生着非常重大的变革,教育正在向泛在化、智能化、个性化的方向发展。以Massive Open Online Courses(MOOCs)为代表的在线教育逐渐进入大众视野,在线教育中的交互性成为了决定在线学习质量的关键。研究表明,学习过程中的交互为学习者提供了有效且高效的帮助和支持,对学习过程的评价反馈可以有效地提高学习效果。在教育领域,对学习者和学习资源之间的交互进行建模至关重要,表示学习技术为学习者和学习资源之间的顺序交互建模提供了具体方案。文中首先建立在线学习的交互网络模型,然后使用两个循环神经网络将网络中的学习者和学习资源节点嵌入到一个欧氏空间中,并提出交互质量评价指标,以判断学习者的学习效果是否达到预期。在实际数据集上的实验证明了所提方法的有效性。     

A recommender agent based on learning styles for better virtual collaborative learning experiences

Almost unlimited access to educational information plethora came with a drawback: finding meaningful material is not a straightforward task anymore. Based on a survey related to how students find additional bibliographical resources for university courses, we concluded there is a strong need for recommended learning materials, for specialized online search and for personalized learning tools. As a result, we developed an educational collaborative filtering recommender agent, with an integrated learning style finder. The agent produces two types of recommendations: suggestions and shortcuts for learning materials and learning tools, helping the learner to better navigate through educational resources. Shortcuts are created taking into account only the user’s profile, while suggestions are created using the choices made by the learners with similar learning styles. The learning style finder assigns to each user a profile model, taking into account an index of learning styles, as well as patterns discovered in the virtual behavior of the user. The current study presents the agent itself, as well as its integration to a virtual collaborative learning environment and its success and limitations, based on users’ feedback.     

Effects of an online team project-based learning environment with group awareness and peer evaluation on socially shared regulation of learning and self-regulated learning

Recently, some studies proposed methods to promote socially shared regulation of learning (SSRL) level within a team because high SSRL levels enable an effective collaboration. Meanwhile, several studies also proposed methods in online collaboration to enhance individual self-regulated learning (SRL). Notably, most existing studies focused on proposing methods and tools either for enhancing SSRL level within a team or for enhancing individual SRL. A computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment with proper supports is promising for simultaneously enhancing the SSRL level within a team and individual SRL because SSRL and SRL have an inseparable relation and mutually influence during collaborative process. Based on the existing principles and theories, this work adopts the supports of group awareness and peer evaluation in CSCL with project-based learning. Group awareness (GA) can reveal collaborative behaviour of group members and regulate their participation while peer assessment (PE), which can appraise member’s contribution, can encourage individual responsibility and refine regulatory strategies. This study finds that the proposed group awareness and peer assessment (GAPE) (i.e. the experimental class) moderately reduces the free-rider effect and enhanced SSRL level and individual SRL, compared with NO-GAPE (i.e. the control group). Furthermore, this study also confirms that the perceived SSRL level can effectively predict individual SRL.     

Paying attention to adult learners online: The pedagogy and politics of community

Our article profiles the evolution of a fully online writing course designed for adult learners in our university's Prior Learning Assessment Program. Based on our own observations and experiences teaching adult learners online, we question if the virtual learning environment presents different challenges and prospects for the adult learner versus the traditional student learner, along with an extension and complication of the more social metaphors of “virtual community.” Moreover, because of the changing demographic from traditional to adult students, we argue that this change also fosters a change in the relationship between teachers and students. In chronicling this relationship, we note problems when the labor of adult education becomes invisible to those supervising online instructors. Because of these “invisible” labor issues, we argue that successful online instruction must include a range of interactions between students and instructors that extend the more public concept of community to better acknowledge the importance of personal, private interaction. Thus, we conclude with a call to rethink our online writing pedagogies to be more flexible to adult learner needs and learning styles, simultaneously recognizing the impact of adult online education on faculty workload.