Matthew Berland

Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics: Applications to Constructionist Research

AbstractConstructionism can be a powerful framework for teaching complex content to novices. At the core of constructionism is the suggestion that by enabling learners to build creative artifacts that require complex content to function, those learners will have opportunities to learn this content in contextualized, personally meaningful ways. In this paper, we investigate the relevance of a set of approaches broadly called “educational data mining” or “learning analytics” (henceforth, EDM) to help provide a basis for quantitative research on constructionist learning which does not abandon the richness seen as essential by many researchers in that paradigm. We suggest that EDM may have the potential to support research that is meaningful and useful both to researchers working actively in the constructionist tradition but also to wider communities. Finally, we explore potential collaborations between researchers in the EDM and constructionist traditions; such collaborations have the potential to enhance the ability of constructionist researchers to make rich inferences about learning and learners, while providing EDM researchers with many interesting new research questions and challenges.

Collaborative strategic board games as a site for distributed computational thinking

ABStrAct This paper examines the idea that contemporary strategic board games represent an informal, interactional context in which complex computational thinking takes place. When games are collaborative – that is, a game requires that players work in joint pursuit of a shared goal – the computational thinking is easily observed as distributed across several participants. This raises the possibility that a focus on such board games are profitable for those who wish to understand computational thinking and learning in situ. This paper intro-duces a coding scheme, applies it to the recorded discourse of three groups of game players, and provides qualitative examples of computational thinking that are observed and documented in Pandemic. The primary contributions of this work are the description of and evidence that complex computational thinking can develop spontaneously during board game play. Steinkuehler, 2006). Often, these benefits are associated with video games and other highly interactive computational media. It is largely thought that the ability to foster a sense of im-mersion is a genuine strength of video games that distinguishes them from many other learning contexts (Shelton & Wiley, 2007).Still, there are reasons to suspect that some of the generative potential of games is not re-stricted to those that take place on a computer platform. At their most base level, games are systems of rules in which players operate on representations. In a computer game, those rules are generally executed and strictly enforced by

AMOEBA: Designing for Collaboration in Computer Science Classrooms through Live Learning Analytics.

AMOEBA is a unique tool to support teachers’ orchestration of collaboration among novice programmers in a non-traditional programming environment. The AMOEBA tool was designed and utilized to facilitate collaboration in a classroom setting in real time among novice middle school and high school programmers utilizing the IPRO programming environment. AMOEBA’s key affordance is supporting teachers’ pairing decisions with real time analyses of students’ programming progressions. Teachers can track which students are working in similar ways; this is supported by real-time graphical log analyses of student activities within the programming environment. Pairing students with support from AMOEBA led to improvements in students’ program complexity and depth. Analyses of the data suggest that the data mining techniques utilized in and the metrics provided by AMOEBA can support instructors in orchestrating cooperation. The primary contributions of this paper are a set of design principles around and a working tool for fostering collaboration in computer science classes.

Adage: an open API for data collection in educational games

In an attempt to provide academic game development studios with an efficient and low-cost data collection system that can be used across multiple games, the Assessment Data Aggregator for Gaming Environments (ADAGE) framework is currently being designed and developed by the University of Wisconsin and the Learning Games Network, in tandem with the Play Data Consortium [1, 8]. The developers of ADAGE hope that the open-source nature of the project will encourage collaboration across the multiple academic institutions currently developing and investigating the use of video games as educational tools.

DCLM framework: understanding collaboration in open-ended tabletop learning environments

There is a growing understanding of the unique ways that tabletops support effective collaboration; however, this research mostly focuses on environments in which learners work towards a single shared goal. Underpinning this perspective, either implicitly or explicitly, is the theory that collaborative learning is a process of attaining convergent conceptual change. However, this model of collaboration may not apply to all scenarios where learners are working together. In particular, informal, open-ended exploratory environments support (and often promote) shared activities where the goal may not be for all participants to emerge with a single, shared understanding. There is increased interest in understanding the efficacy of designs that support (and encourage) learners to collaborate while seeking divergent goals, ideas, and conceptions. This paper advances a framework (Divergent Collaboration Learning Mechanisms - DCLM) for recognizing and coding collaboration and divergent learning in such environments. We apply the DCLM framework to an informal tabletop environment (Oztoc) as a means of highlighting how DCLM may reveal new productive interactions environments that support divergent forms of collaboration, mentorship, and learning. Analysis of participants’ interactions within Oztoc revealed that participants who have non-aligned goals can still productively collaborate, and in many cases can provide insight and feedback that would not be possible in shared-goal activities. We conclude with an examination of how open-ended exploratory environments can support communities of practice and legitimate peripheral participation, and the importance of divergent inquiry and divergent conceptual change across a range of learning environments.

Supporting English learners with participatory augmented reality simulations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possible merits and difficulties of utilizing participatory augmented reality simulations (PARS) with English learners (ELs) in K‐12 science classrooms.Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyzed literature of PARS, sheltered English instruction (SEI), and other literature relevant to science instruction for ELs. Though the authors relied primarily on empirical research related to PARS and ELs, other papers were included to increase thoroughness.Findings – The authors identified elements of PARS that address requirements for effective instruction of ELs including the modality, engagement, collaboration, language use, and identity forming aspects. The findings indicate that future research into the use of PARS in science instruction may benefit ELs.Research limitations/implications – The literature synthesis was conducted to address a gap in the literature. Additional research specifically examining the impact of PARS on ELs is necessary.Origina...

Forest Friends Demo: A Game-Exhibit to Promote Computer Science Concepts in Informal Spaces

Forest Friends is a strategic video game designed to introduce elements of computer science in an engaging and accessible way. The game includes artificial intelligence coding components that encourage participants to work with conditional statements. The research goal is to place the game in an informal learning environment to study the impact that it can have on young learners from diverse backgrounds.

Learning to Program Using Online Forums: A Comparison of Links Posted on Reddit and Stack Overflow (Abstract Only)

While the USA struggles with a demand for computer programming education which exceeds the capacity of formal educational opportunities, online resources dedicated to programming are growing rapidly. One valuable way to measure the usefulness of these online resources is to examine the links posted in the forums of CS learning communities. We scraped and analyzed over 80,000 posts from two popular forums (Reddit and Stack Overflow), and found that how these communities use and talk about CS learning resources (such as books and tutorials) demonstrated their differing priorities. These results have much to suggest to both novices and teachers.

Students' Perceptions of Pair Programming in CS1: (Abstract Only)

Pair programming in CS1 courses has been shown to have many benefits (both to students and instructors), and it is widely employed. Other than assignment by instructors, how do students select their partners, and what are their perceptions of working with a partner? In our study, students in a CS1 course for non-majors were required to complete a brief, anonymized survey after each homework assignment; we analyzed their survey responses over the course of the semester and compared the results of students who worked with a partner and students who worked alone. Pairs and individuals judged assignments to be about the same difficulty, but pairs spent less time on assignments. Individuals generally worked alone out of preference, but a minority of them reported interest in working with partners but could not find one on their own. Through our analysis we model relationships between survey constructs, student success, and student satisfaction.

ABR Psychometric Testing: Analysis of Validity and Effects

Changes in the certification program of the ABR were first described in some detail in 2008 and have since undergone refinements. Controversies surrounding these changes have included the relevance of test questions, costs, effects of altering the examination scheduling, residency program curriculum changes, and issues related to preparing for the examinations. However, the role of psychometric testing in radiology itself, as the technical foundation for the new ABR Core and Certification Examinations, has undergone less scrutiny. This article examines the validity and consequences of the ABR psychometric testing process, and we conclude that its validity can be challenged and that negative consequences, including adverse effects on allocating human and financial resources and on what is taught and learned in residency programs, should be addressed. The ABR could collaborate with the ACGME, education experts, patients, and public representatives to reform their testing processes, especially by integrating modern evaluation techniques that more authentically simulate radiology practices to better align the examination with its intended purposes.