Dirk Börner

Augmenting the senses: A review on sensor-based learning support

In recent years sensor components have been extending classical computer-based support systems in a variety of applications domains (sports, health, etc.). In this article we review the use of sensors for the application domain of learning. For that we analyzed 82 sensor-based prototypes exploring their learning support. To study this learning support we classified the prototypes according to the Blooms taxonomy of learning domains and explored how they can be used to assist on the implementation of formative assessment, paying special attention to their use as feedback tools. The analysis leads to current research foci and gaps in the development of sensor-based learning support systems and concludes with a research agenda based on the findings.

Beyond the channel: A literature review on ambient displays for learning

The review analyses work in the research field of ambient display with a focus on the use of such displays for situational awareness, feedback and learning. The purpose of the review is to assess the state-of-the-art of the use of ambient displays with an explicit or implicit learning purpose and the possible classification of respective prototypes on the basis of a presented framework. This framework is comprised of theories around the educational concepts of situational awareness and feedback as well as design dimensions of ambient displays. The review sheds light on results of recent empirical studies within this field as well as developed prototypes with a focus on their design and instructional capabilities when providing feedback. The results expose that the explicit use of ambient displays for learning is not a prominent research topic, although implicitly ambient displays are already used to support learning activities fostering situational awareness by exploiting feedback. Overall ambient displays represent a technological concept with great potential for learning and the review facilitates a proper foundation and research questions for further research in this direction - towards ambient learning displays.

Expert concept mapping study on mobile learning

Borner, D., Glahn, C., Stoyanov, S., Kalz, M., & Specht, M. (2010). Expert concept mapping study on mobile learning. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 27(4), 240-253.

Presentation Trainer, your Public Speaking Multimodal Coach

The Presentation Trainer is a multimodal tool designed to support the practice of public speaking skills, by giving the user real-time feedback about different aspects of her nonverbal communication. It tracks the users voice and body to interpret her current performance. Based on this performance the Presentation Trainer selects the type of intervention that will be presented as feedback to the user. This feedback mechanism has been designed taking in consideration the results from previous studies that show how difficult it is for learners to perceive and correctly interpret real-time feedback while practicing their speeches. In this paper we present the user experience evaluation of participants who used the Presentation Trainer to practice for an elevator pitch, showing that the feedback provided by the Presentation Trainer has a significant influence on learning.

Energy awareness displays: motivating conservation at the workplace through feedback

The paper presents a project that sets up to make energy consumption data visible and accessible to employees by providing dynamic situated consumption feedback at the workplace. Therefore a supporting infrastructure as well as two example applications have been implemented and evaluated. The resulting prototype fosters a ubiquitous learning process among the employees with the goal to change their consumption behaviour as well as the attitudes towards energy conservation. The paper presents the approach, the requirements, the infrastructure and applications, as well as the evaluation results of the conducted informative study, comparative study, user evaluation, and design study.

Mobile Augmented Reality with Audio

In this article the use of augmented reality with a smartphone for fieldwork of Cultural Sciences students is discussed based on two pilots in Florence. A tool named ARLearn developed to support different learning in different contexts using the multimedia capabilities and location based service on smartphones. In the pilots assignments were given in spoken messages and students collected notes by recording their own voice and taking pictures of artifacts in Florence. The use of the tool for fieldwork helped students with systematical collection of data for their essay. The educational design and ARLearn toolkit is developed further to enable individual fieldwork students and other educational scenarios.

A novel approach towards skill-based search and services of Open Educational Resources

Ha, K.-H., Niemann, K., Schwertel, U., Holtkamp, P., Pirkkalainen, H., Borner, D. et al (2011). A novel approach towards skill-based search and services of Open Educational Resources. In E. Garcia-Barriocanal, A. Ozturk, & M. C. Okur (Eds.), Metadata and Semantics Research: 5th International Conference MTSR 2011 (pp. 312-323), Izmir, Turkey, October 12-14, 2011. Springer.

Where Is My Time? Identifying Productive Time of Lifelong Learners for Effective Feedback Services

Lifelong learners are confronted with a broad range of activities they have to manage every day. In most cases they have to combine learning, working, family life and leisure activities throughout the day. Hence, learning activities from lifelong learners are disrupted. The difficulty to find a suitable time slot to learn during the day has been identified as the most frequent cause. In this scenario mobile technologies play an important role since they can keep track of the most suitable moments to accomplish specific learning activities in context. Sampling of learning preferences on mobile devices is a key benchmarks for lifelong learners to become aware on which learning task suits in which context, to set realistic goals and to set aside time to learn on a regular basis. The contribution of this manuscript is twofold: first, a classification framework for modelling lifelong learners’ preferences is presented based on a literature review; second, a mobile application for experience sampling is piloted aiming to identify which are the preferences from lifelong learners regarding when, how and where learning activities can be integrated.

Learning pulse: a machine learning approach for predicting performance in self-regulated learning using multimodal data

Learning Pulse explores whether using a machine learning approach on multimodal data such as heart rate, step count, weather condition and learning activity can be used to predict learning performance in self-regulated learning settings. An experiment was carried out lasting eight weeks involving PhD students as participants, each of them wearing a Fitbit HR wristband and having their application on their computer recorded during their learning and working activities throughout the day. A software infrastructure for collecting multimodal learning experiences was implemented. As part of this infrastructure a Data Processing Application was developed to pre-process, analyse and generate predictions to provide feedback to the users about their learning performance. Data from different sources were stored using the xAPI standard into a cloud-based Learning Record Store. The participants of the experiment were asked to rate their learning experience through an Activity Rating Tool indicating their perceived level of productivity, stress, challenge and abilities. These self-reported performance indicators were used as markers to train a Linear Mixed Effect Model to generate learner-specific predictions of the learning performance. We discuss the advantages and the limitations of the used approach, highlighting further development points.

Pervasive Interventions to Increase Pro-environmental Awareness, Consciousness, and Learning at the Workplace

This paper reports about pervasive interventions at a university campus to increase the pro-environmental awareness, consciousness, and learning of employees. Based on an assessment of the research gaps in this problem area we present results and design implications from three intervention iterations. While in the first intervention the focus was on increasing awareness through information distribution with ambient learning displays on the campus, the second iteration provided personalised feedback to employees with the help of a sensor network and different client applications. The third iteration then implemented a game-based learning concept. Results reveal that these approaches are effective on different levels and that a combination of these elements can lead to increased pro-environmental consciousness, learning and hopefully a sustained behaviour change of employees.