Lars Bollen

SMS-based discussions - technology enhanced collaboration for a literature course

In this paper we present a communication and discussion toolkit based on sending short messages designed for use in schools. Our approach uses PDAs in a wireless network to build an environment that emulates sending of short messages with mobile phones. The messages created by the students are collected in a database and establish a base for a discussion and analysis later on using Cool Modes, a graph based modeling and discussion system.

Creating cognitive tutors for collaborative learning: steps toward realization

Our long-term research goal is to provide cognitive tutoring of collaboration within a collaborative software environment. This is a challenging goal, as intelligent tutors have traditionally focused on cognitive skills, rather than on the skills necessary to collaborate successfully. In this paper, we describe progress we have made toward this goal. Our first step was to devise a process known as bootstrapping novice data (BND), in which student problem-solving actions are collected and used to begin the development of a tutor. Next, we implemented BND by integrating a collaborative software tool, Cool Modes, with software designed to develop cognitive tutors (i.e., the cognitive tutor authoring tools). Our initial implementation of BND provides a means to directly capture data as a foundation for a collaboration tutor but does not yet fully support tutoring. Our next step was to perform two exploratory studies in which dyads of students used our integrated BND software to collaborate in solving modeling tasks. The data collected from these studies led us to identify five dimensions of collaborative and problem-solving behavior that point to the need for abstraction of student actions to better recognize, analyze, and provide feedback on collaboration. We also interviewed a domain expert who provided evidence for the advantage of bootstrapping over manual creation of a collaboration tutor. We discuss plans to use these analyses to inform and extend our tools so that we can eventually reach our goal of tutoring collaboration.

Towards an Online Lab Portal for Inquiry-Based STEM Learning at School

Nowadays, the knowledge economy is growing rapidly. To sustain future growth, more well educated people in STEM science, technology, engineering and mathematics are needed. In the Go-Lab project we aim to motivate and orient students from an early age on to study STEM fields in their future educational path by applying inquiry learning using online labs. This paper presents an inquiry learning portal where teachers can discover, use and enhance online labs appropriate for their courses and students can acquire scientific methodology skills while doing experiments using the labs. The Go-Lab portal architecture is presented, which contains a repository of online labs, inquiry learning spaces and complementary services. The paper discusses a first version of the portal and our future plans.

LEMONADE: A Flexible Authoring Tool for Integrated Mobile Learning Scenarios

Most of the existing mobile learning environments for supporting field trip activities are limited to specific domains or contents and do not support authoring. We present a framework for planning and conducting field trips with mobile devices called LEMONADE, which provides full cycle support for authoring and conducting field trips, as well as for post-trip reporting and reflection activities. LEMONADE includes a generic graph-based language for authoring field trip tasks and for querying and presenting field trip results. It is fully integrated in the graph-based modelling environment FreeStyler, allowing the students’ results to be flexibly used in follow-up activities.

PDAs as Input Devices in Brainstorming and Creative Discussions

In this paper we present the use of PDAs as input devices in brainstorming sessions and creative discussions using the Mobile Notes architecture and application. Mobile Notes enables heterogeneous, mobile input devices together with collaborative modelling environments to be used in different discussion scenarios, e.g. classroom discussions, seminars or lectures. Based on the conceptual perspective of assigning specific functionalities to different devices in technology enhanced learning environments, we describe the design, implementation and first experiences with Mobile Notes.

Cognitive tutoring of collaboration: developmental and empirical steps towards realization

In this paper, we describe developmental and empirical steps we have taken toward providing Cognitive Tutoring to students within a collaborative software environment. We have taken two important steps toward realizing this goal. First, we have integrated a collaborative software tool, Cool Modes, with software designed to develop Cognitive Tutors (the Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tool). Our initial integration does not provide tutoring per se but rather acts as a means to capture data that provides the beginnings of a tutor for collaboration. Second, we have performed an initial study in which dyads of students used our software to collaborate in solving a classification / composition problem. This study uncovered five dimensions of analysis that our approach must use to help us better understand student collaborative behavior and lead to the eventual development of a Cognitive Tutor for collaboration. We discuss our plans to incorporate such analysis into our approach and to run further studies.

The use of mobile computing to support SMS dialogues and classroom discussions in a literature course

In this paper we present a communication and discussion toolkit based on sending short messages designed for use in schools. This toolkit is the result of a students project at the University of Duisburg-Essen in collaboration with a local secondary school. Our approach uses PDAs in a wireless network to build an environment which emulates sending of short messages with mobile phones. The messages created by the students are collected in a database and establish a base for a discussion and analysis later on using Cool Modes, a graph based modeling and discussion system.

Flexible Analysis of User Actions in Heterogeneous Distributed Learning Environments

In this paper, we describe an architectural framework for the engineering of distributed learning environments with different devices and multi-language agent support. The framework consists of a central Tuple Space server and clients that differ in hardware (PDAs, PCs with projection) and in programming languages (C#, Prolog, Java). The analysis components use state patterns and action patterns to be defined in and interpreted by Prolog. This framework has been used for supporting the design rationale method QOC in a collaborative visual modelling environment.

Collaborative drawing on a shared digital canvas in elementary science education: The effects of script and task awareness support

Creating shared representations can foster knowledge acquisition by elementary school students by promoting active integration and translation of new information. In this study, we investigate to what extent awareness support and scripting facilitate knowledge construction and discourse quality of elementary school students (n = 94) in a computer-supported collaborative drawing scenario. Students in the awareness condition received feedback prompts based on the characteristics of their drawing. The script foresaw a sequence of creating, comparing, discussing, and merging individual drawings to arrive at a shared representation of the subject matter, which was photosynthesis. Both forms of support, (awareness and scripting) facilitated the learning processes and outcomes. Discourse analysis revealed that awareness and scripting increased (the share of) integrative and conflict-oriented consensus-building activities as well as (the share of) off-task and coordination-related activities in comparison to the control group. Awareness and scripting facilitated deeper understanding of the processes and relations of domain concepts. The scripted students acquired significantly more conceptual knowledge than the unscripted students.

Using self-made drawings to support modelling in science education

The value of modelling in science education is evident, both from scientific practice and from theories of learning. However, students find modelling difficult and need support. This study investigates how self-made drawings could be used to support the modelling process. An experiment with undergraduate students (n = 37) at a predominantly technical university led to three conclusions. 1. Most learners created realistic rather than schematic drawings of real world systems. Furthermore, learners who represented situations realistically identified a greater number of important aspects of these situations than learners who represented them purely schematically. 2. Access to simulations during the construction of these drawings led to increased insight into the effects of variables that can be manipulated. However, participants with access to simulations thought of fewer important variables that were not explicitly available in the simulation than participants without this access. 3. Participants almost never drew multiple objects with a single stroke and generally drew objects sequentially. These patterns in the digital drawing process can simplify automatic sketch segmentation, which can be used to support learners in creating models from drawings