Using Case-Based Reasoning in Instructional Planning.Towards a Hybrid Self-improving Instructional P
This paper presents a new approach, based on the Case-Based Reasoning technique, which is useful to enhance Intelligent Tutoring Systems with learning abilities. Case-Based Reasoning is a recent paradigm for problem solving that has an inherent learning capability. So we integrate a Case-Based Instructional Planner within existing Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) to enhance the pedagogical component with learning capabilities. In this way, the enhanced tutors combine the Case-Based Instruction
Aspects of Speech Act Categorisation: Towards Generating Teachers' Language
In this paper we examine a possible method for classifying speech acts produced by human teachers, with a view of informing the designs of intelligent natural language tutors and of providing the basis for a formal analysis of the effects that teachers' language has on students' learning. We argue that traditional means as initiated by the Ordinary Language Philosophers such as Austin (1962), Grice (1975) and Searle (1979) are not sufficient to account for all types of linguistic phenomena occur
The “Blakkat” Software for Tagging Online Language Learner Corpora: Issues in SLA Assessment and R
This paper aims at showing, through a case study, one possible application of Computer Learner Corpus (CLC) to Network Based Language Teaching (NBLT). Research has shown how CLC can be used both for Second Language Acquisiton (SLA) research and Foreign Language Teaching (FLT), especially if they are tagged, that is, if interpretative annotations are added to the corpus (e.g. error annotations). Online learning generally takes place inside virtual environments where learners exchange mainly writt
Learning History by Playing a Mobile City Game
Digital games seem to be excellent tools for facilitating and supporting situated learning. This unbinding of knowledge from a specific context fosters its transfer to new problems and new domains. Additionally, childrenÂ’s attitude towards computer games is the very attitude we would like all our learners to have. Therefore, it makes sense to try to merge the content of learning and the motivation of games. The objectives of this paper are to generate insights into the practicalities and the ef
ActiveMath: A Generic and Adaptive Web-Based Learning Environment
ActiveMath is a generic web-based learning system that dynamically generates interactive (mathematical) courses adapted to the student's goals, preferences, capabilities, and knowledge. The content is presented in a semantic XML-based format. For each user, the appropriate content is retrieved from a knowledge base and the course is generated individually according to pedagogical rules. Then the course is presented to the user via a standard web-browser. One of the exceptional features of Active
LaCOLLA: Middleware for Self-Sufficient Online Collaboration
The LaCOLLA middleware makes it possible for collaborators to interact using their own resources and not depend on a centralized regime. By contributing their own resources, group members can organize and communicate using a federated peer-to-peer model. Utilizing LaCOLLA middleware, the group can function regardless of whether a member removes resources and despite network or node failures or disconnection. This capacity for self-organization, together with location transparency, lets applicati
A Generic Platform for the Systematic Construction of Knowledge-based Collaborative Learning Applica
This study aims to explore the importance of efficient management of event information generated from
group activity in collaborative learning practices for its further use in extracting and providing knowledge
on interaction behavior. The essential issue here is how to design a platform that can be used for real,
long-term, complex collaborative problem-solving situations and which enables the instructor to both
analyze group interaction effectively and provide an adequate support when needed.
Narrative Evolution: Learning from Students' Talk about Species Variation
Learners do not always enjoy productive interactions with Multimedia Interactive Learning Environments. Their attention can be distracted away from the educational focus intended by designers and teachers through poor design and operational inadequacy. In this paper we describe a study of groups of learners using a multimedia CD-ROM research tool called Galapagos. This tool was developed to enable us to observe groups of learners interacting with different versions of the same multimedia content
MArCo: Building an Artificial Conflict Mediator to Support Group Planning Interactions
The emphasis on building co-operative/collaborative environments has brought out the matter of group interactions. This, in its turn, has highlighted the issue of conflicts, inherent to group problem solving. If well employed, conflicts can act as triggers of cognitive changes, and thus help to refine the group's solution to the task. In this paper, we present a computational framework for detecting and mediating Meta-Cognitive conflicts. The theoretical framework presented here enables a comput
Going Beyond the Problem Given: How Human Tutors Use Post-Solution Discussions to Support Transfer
Two studies investigated the role and effectiveness of post-solution, reflective dialogues in physics tutorials. The first study investigated the instructional roles of post-solution discussions, their relationship to problem-solving discussions, and features that predict learning. Seven tutors individually guided 15 students as they worked on problems in the Andes physics tutoring system. Tutors adapted the post-solution discussions to students' ability levels and their performance on the curre
Benefits of Virtual Characters in Computer Based Learning Environments: Claims and Evidence
Pedagogical theory of today gives high priority to social components of learning. Within the field of computer supported learning there are many attempts to acknowledge this. One approach involves the addition of virtual characters to electronic learning environments. Such character enhanced systems are the focus of the present article. Firstly, a systematic overview is given of pedagogical benefits that have been proposed in the literature regarding character enhancement of electronic learning
Synchronous computer mediated collaborative activities among collocated students: Conditions that ma
Synchronous collaborative activities are usually studied in conditions where teachers and students are physically separated. Is there any possibility to apply these activities when all participants are collocated? Does this collocated collaboration setting seems meaningful and for what reasons? Is the quality of learning and teaching process satisfactory high? Under what conditions? The present research explores the previous questions. More
specifically, it explores synchronous computer mediated
Confronting ideas in collaborative scientific discovery learning
This study investigated how collaborative knowledge construction within a scientific discovery (or inquiry)learning environment can be assisted with tools that aim to support studentsÂ’ proposition generation and testing
processes. Sixty-six fourth year pre-university education students participated in a kinematics learning task. The instructional goal of the learning activity was to develop studentsÂ’ understanding of one dimensional kinematics. All students completed a proposition test in whic
Email use in elementary school: An analysis of exchange patterns and content
E-mail was embedded in a project in design & technology education in elementary school. During four lessons children worked in groups on building a flying object. These groups communicated through e-mail with groups of children from another school. The analyses of the e-mails, as viewed from distributed cognition theory, focus on the exchange patterns and content. Two characteristic exchange patterns are stacking and compounding. In stacking e-mails are sent out quickly enough to afford a ‘just
Using just-in-time information to support scientific discovery learning about geometrical optics in
Many problems that learners regularly encounter during discovery learning with computer-based simulations have been identified. A number of studies have examined different ways of support for discovery learning by facilitating the learning process. This study examines the effect of facilitating access to prior knowledge through just-in-time information. It is expected that access to just-in-time information will foster learning but will not interfere with it. To test these hypotheses, an experim
Principles for designing Web searching instruction
Web searching is a timely topic which importance is recognized by researchers, educators and instructional designers. This paper aims to guide these practitioners in developing instructional materials for learning to search the Web. It does so by articulating ten design principles that attend to the content and presentation of Web searching instruction. These principles convey a mixture of insights gleaned from instructional theory, empirical research, and many hours of classroom experience. Tog
Minimalist instruction for learning to search the World Wide Web.
This study examined the efficacy of minimalist instruction to develop self-regulatory skills involved in Web searching. Two versions of minimalist self-regulatory skill instruction were compared to a control group that was merely taught procedural skills to operate the search engine. Acquired skills were tested on Web search tasks and search tasks in an online library catalogue. Self-regulatory skill instruction was found to increase practice time by 25%. However, it did not enhance search perfo
Exploring novice users' training needs in searching information on the World Wide Web.
Searching for information on the WWW involves locating a website and locating information on that site. A recent study implied that novice users' training needs exclusively relate to locating websites. The present case study tried to reveal the knowledge and skills that constitute these training needs. Fourteen pre-university students, classified as novice (n = 7) or experienced WWW-user (n = 7) performed three web search tasks. Their actions and verbalisations were recorded. Between-group compa
Self-directed learning in simulation-based discovery environments
SIMQUEST1 is an authoring system for designing and creating simulation-based learn-ing environments. The special character of SIMQUEST learning environments is that they include cognitive support for learners which means that they provide learners with support in the discovery process. In SIMQUEST learning environments we try to find the balance between direct guidance of the learning process and sufficient free-dom for learners to regulate the learning process themselves. In this article we de-
The effects of graphical overviews on exploratory behaviour and knowledge acquisition in hypertext e
One of the main and recognized problems of learning with hypertexts is that learners are easily distracted and end up ‘lost in hyperspace’. As a result, they do not acquire complete and adequate knowledge. In this study, we enhanced a hypertext environment with a graphical overview that represented the basic structure of the domain and we designed the layout in such a way that learners were unobtrusively encouraged to follow a sequence of exploration that followed the domain structure. This so
