Alexander Nussbaumer

Towards responsive open learning environments: the ROLE interoperability framework

In recent years, research on mash-up technologies for learning environments has gained interest. The overall goal is to enrich or replace traditional learning management systems (LMS) with mash-ups of widgets and services that can be easily combined and configured to fit the learner needs. This paper presents the implemented prototype of the ROLE interoperability framework and a business and an educational case study. The framework provides a common technical infrastructure to assemble widgets and services in Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). Evaluation results indicate that the perceived usefulness and usability is high for one case study in which a mature LMS was enriched with ROLE technology. In the second case study, an early mash-up prototype was deployed. The usefulness and usability of this early prototype were rated low, but the case study provides interesting insights for further research and development.

Evaluating a digital humanities research environment: the CULTURA approach

Digital humanities initiatives play an important role in making cultural heritage collections accessible to the global community of researchers and general public for the first time. Further work is needed to provide useful and usable tools to support users in working with those digital contents in virtual environments. The CULTURA project has developed a corpus agnostic research environment integrating innovative services that guide, assist and empower a broad spectrum of users in their interaction with cultural artefacts. This article presents (1) the CULTURA system and services and the two collections that have been used for testing and deploying the digital humanities research environment, and (2) an evaluation methodology and formative evaluation study with apprentice researchers. An evaluation model was developed which has served as a common ground for systematic evaluations of the CULTURA environment with user communities around the two test bed collections. The evaluation method has proven to be suitable for accommodating different evaluation strategies and allows meaningful consolidation of evaluation results. The evaluation outcomes indicate a positive perception of CULTURA. A range of useful suggestions for future improvement has been collected and fed back into the development of the next release of the research environment.

A mashup recommender for creating personal learning environments

This paper presents an approach and an integrated tool that supports the creation of personal learning environments suitable for self-regulated learning. The rationale behind this approach is an ontology of cognitive and meta-cognitive learning activities that are related to widgets from a Widget Store. Patterns of such learning activities allow for providing the user with appropriate recommendations of widgets for each learning activity. The system architecture follows a Web-based approach and includes the Mashup Recommender widget and its backend service, the ontology available through a Web service, the Widget Store with its interface to retrieve widgets, and the integration into the learning environment framework. The pedagogical approach regarding the usage of this technology is based on self-regulated learning taking into account different levels between guidance and freedom. A quantitative and qualitative evaluation with teachers describes advantages and ideas for improvement.

Supporting Self-Regulated Learning

Self-regulated learning (SRL) competences are crucial for lifelong learning. Their cultivation requires the right balance between freedom and guidance during the learning processes. Current learning systems and approaches, such as personal learning environments, give overwhelming freedom, but also let weak learners alone. Other systems, such as learning management systems or adaptive systems, tend to institutionalise learners too much, which does not support the development of SRL competences. This chapter presents possibilities and approaches to support SRL by the use of technology. After discussing the theoretical background of SRL and related technologies, a formal framework is presented that describes the SRL process, related competences, and guidelines. Furthermore, a variety of methods is presented, how learners can be supported to learn in a self-regulated way.

The Hierarchical Visualisation System (HVS)

Numerous techniques have been developed for visualising hierarchically structured information. This paper presents a new framework for the visualisation of hierarchies called the hierarchical visualisation system (HVS). HVS is a general framework implemented in Java. It provides a synchronised, multiple view environment for visualising, exploring and managing large hierarchies. HVS reads hierarchies either from the file system or from TreeML files. Eleven hierarchy browsers have so far been implemented within HVS, including: traditional tree views, the classic Walker tree layout, information pyramids, treemaps, a hyperbolic browser, sunburst, and cone trees. In addition to being a tool to explore and manage hierarchies, HVS was also designed to provide a platform for the empirical evaluation and comparison of different hierarchy browsers. The hierarchical visualisation testing environment (HVTE) is a semi-automated testing environment built on top of HVS. HVTE is being used for a series of comparative studies of hierarchy browsers.

A Framework for Cognitive Bias Detection and Feedback in a Visual Analytics Environment

This paper presents a framework that supports the detection and mitigation of cognitive biases in visual analytics environments for criminal analysis. Criminal analysts often use visual analytics environments for their analysis of large data sets, for gaining insights on criminal events and patterns of criminal events, and for drawing conclusions and making decisions. However, due to the nature of human cognition, these cognitive processes may lead to systematic errors, so-called cognitive biases. The most prominent and relevant cognitive bias in the intelligence field is the confirmation bias, in which an analyst disproportionally considers and selects information that supports the initial expectation and hypothesis. The framework presented in this paper describes a model, how the possible occurence of the confirmation bias can be detected automatically, while the analyst makes use of the visual environment. Moreover, based on this information, different feedback methods are employed that support and encourage the mitigation of the confirmation bias. This framework is in a work-in-progress state and contains research objectives and directions, the framework design, initial implementations, plans for further development and integration, as well as user-centric evaluation.

Exploring the Challenges of Implementing Guidelines for the Design of Visual Analytics Systems

Intelligence analysis activities are increasingly seen as a sense-making activity. Information systems supporting these activities have, therefore, to be designed in a way to enable analysts to engage in sensemaking in an efficient manner. In the context of the VALCRI project, we developed guidelines for an appropriate design of intelligence analysis systems. Such guidelines can be very valuable in the design process, but their application is sometimes not straightforward. We describe such problems and also suggest possible solutions for these application problems within the context of intelligence analysis.

Combining Self-Regulation and Competence-Based Guidance to Personalise the Learning Experience in Moodle

Adaptive learning systems aim to address a learners specific needs, considering factors such as prior knowledge, learning efficiency, learning goals and motivation. Especially in distance education, often directed to adult learners with full-time jobs, it is very important to provide assistance to counteract high dropout rates. This paper describes an approach on how to support adult learners through the adoption of personalisation and guidance in Moodle. The implementation grounds on the combination of two pedagogical theories, competence-based learning and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). Three-phases were used to roughly frame the design of the SRL learning flow, where the individual phases are supported by competence-based guidance. In this way Moodle is extended from a teacher and course management to a learner-centric system. This work has been implemented and evaluated in the course of a European project that targets vocational training of heat pump installers.

Self-regulated learning in formal education: perceptions, challenges and opportunities

Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) is a term that can be used to describe an individuals ability to develop a skill set allowing him or her to learn in a number of different ways. SRL can also relate to new pedagogical theories that encourage teachers in formal education to motivate and support their students into achieving a high level of self-regulation. This paper reports on the findings of a number of surveys conducted with a wide variety of teachers in different countries, regarding their perceptions of SRL. The results and analysis of these surveys help inform not only the perceptions of SRL amongst teachers but also examine the challenges and opportunities that arise from taking this approach.

An evaluation system for digital libraries

Evaluation is an important task for digital libraries, because it reveals relevant information about their quality. This paper presents a conceptual and technical approach to support the systematic evaluation of digital libraries in three ways and a system is presented that assists during the entire evaluation process. First, it allows for formally modelling the evaluation goals and designing the evaluation process. Second, it allows for data collection in a continuous and non-continuous, invasive and non-invasive way. Third, it automatically creates reports based on the defined evaluation models. On the basis of an example evaluation it is outlined how the evaluation process can be designed and supported with this system.