Matthias Nückles

The use of public learning diaries in blended learning

Learning diaries—as we employ them—are students’ written reflections of their learning experiences and outcomes over the course of university seminars. The writing of such diaries is ‘tutored’ by a computer program: eHELp supports the writing of sophisticated learning diaries through a modelling and scaffolding of the phases of planning, production and revision. In addition, the learning diaries get published—by uploading them in a cooperation platform—so that the learners can read and discuss their peers’ diaries. The main function of such public learning diaries is to enrich traditional university courses (Blended Learning) with additional elaborative, organisational, critical reasoning, and metacognitive activities in order to foster a deeper processing and better retention of the contents to be learnt. We would like to present the educational rationale of our approach and report the findings of corresponding empirical studies.

Information about a layperson's knowledge supports experts in giving effective and efficient online advice to laypersons.

To give effective and efficient advice to laypersons, experts should adapt their explanations to the laypersons knowledge. However, experts often fail to consider the limited domain knowledge of laypersons. To support adaptation in asynchronous helpdesk communication, researchers provided computer experts with information about a laypersons knowledge. A dialogue experiment (N = 80 dyads of experts and laypersons) was conducted that varied the displayed information. Rather than sensitizing the experts to generally improve the intelligibility of their explanations, the individuating information about the layperson enabled them to make specific partner adjustments that increased the effectiveness and efficiency of the communication. The results are suggestive of ways in which the provision of instructional explanations could be enhanced in Internet-based communication.

Enhancing computer-supported writing of learning protocols by adaptive prompts

Cognitive and metacognitive prompts are a central support procedure in eHELp a computer-based environment that supports the writing of learning protocols. In order to investigate the effectiveness of adapting prompts, 79 students revised a learning protocol in eHELp either supported by prompts that were adapted on the basis of the results of an integrated learning-strategy questionnaire or a meta-knowledge test, respectively, by randomly selected prompts, or without any support. Adaptive prompts improved the quality of the learning protocols and fostered the acquisition of declarative knowledge and deep understanding, irrespective of the applied diagnostic instrument. In conclusion, open-ended learning tasks like the writing of learning protocols can be made more effective by adaptive support based on prior strategy assessment.

Activation of Learning Strategies in Writing Learning Journals

Writing learning journals is a method of fostering the application of learning strategies. However, students often do not spontaneously apply many learning strategies in writing learning journals. Prompts can be used to address this deficit. The present study analyzed the effects of prompts with different specificity on the application of learning strategies. High school students from two classrooms (N = 51) wrote learning journals in mathematics in two consecutive weeks. They received cognitive and metacognitive prompts for writing the learning journals. In a within-subjects design, students once received nonspecific and once received specific prompts. We counterbalanced whether specific prompts or nonspecific prompts were presented first. Specific prompts increased the quantity of cognitive learning strategies and, in part, the diversity of the specific learning strategies. Thus, production deficiencies could be overcome. However, the quality of learning strategies could not be enhanced. The deficits in...

The assessment tool: a method to support asynchronous communication between computer experts and laypersons

Abstract Help-desks for hardware and software are a prominent example of Internet-based consulting services. If computer experts’ counseling of laypersons is to be effective, the experts need to be able to adjust their way of communicating to fit the knowledge of the layperson. In asynchronous Internet-based communication, the evaluation of an interlocutor’s knowledge is more difficult than in face-to-face communication because fewer channels of communication are available. Therefore, an assessment tool has been developed which supports computer experts in evaluating the knowledge of a client who initiates a support inquiry. A dialogue experiment was conducted, which showed that the assessment tool increased the efficiency and effectiveness of computer experts’ communication with clients. The assessment tool evidently facilitated the construction of a mental model of the client’s knowledge and thereby supported adaptation to the client’s communicational needs.

How do Experts Adapt their Explanations to a Layperson's Knowledge in Asynchronous Communication? An Experimental Study

Despite a plethora of recommendations for personalization techniques, such approaches often lack empirical justification and their benefits to users remain obscure. The study described in this paper takes a step towards filling this gap by introducing an evidence-based approach for deriving adaptive interaction techniques. In a dialogue experiment with 36 dyads of computer experts and laypersons, we observed how experts tailored their written explanations to laypersons’ communicational needs. To support adaptation, the experts in the experimental condition were provided with information about the layperson’s knowledge level. In the control condition, the experts had no available information. During the composition of their answers, the experts in both conditions articulated their planning activities. Compared with the control condition, the experts in the experimental condition made a greater attempt to form a mental model about the layperson’s knowledge. As a result, they varied the type and proportion of the information they provided depending on the layperson’s individual knowledge level. Accordingly, such adaptive explanations helped laypersons reduce comprehension breakdowns and acquire new knowledge. These results provide evidence for theoretical assumptions regarding cognitive processes in text production and conversation. They empirically ground and advance techniques for adaptation of content in adaptive hypermedia systems. They are suggestive of ways in which explanations in recommender and decision support systems could be effectively adapted to the user’s knowledge background and goals.

Development and Evaluation of a Computer-Based Learning Environment for Teachers: Assessment of Learning Strategies in Learning Journals

Training teachers to assess important components of self-regulated learning such as learning strategies is an important, yet somewhat neglected, aspect of the integration of self-regulated learning at school. Learning journals can be used to assess learning strategies in line with cyclical process models of self-regulated learning, allowing for rich formative feedback. Against this background, we developed a computer-based learning environment (CBLE) that trains teachers to assess learning strategies with learning journals. The contents of the CBLE and its instructional design were derived from theory. The CBLE was further shaped by research in a design-based manner. Finally, in two evaluation studies, student teachers (; ) worked with the CBLE. We analyzed satisfaction, interest, usability, and assessment skills. Additionally, in evaluation study 2, effects of an experimental variation on motivation and assessment skills were tested. We found high satisfaction, interest, and good usability, as well as satisfying assessment skills, after working with the CBLE. Results show that teachers can be trained to assess learning strategies in learning journals. The developed CBLE offers new perspectives on how to support teachers in fostering learning strategies as central component of effective self-regulated learning at school.

Does it Make a Difference? Investigating the Assessment Accuracy of Teacher Tutors and Student Tutors.

Tutors often have difficulty with accurately assessing a tutees understanding. However, little is known about whether the professional expertise of tutors influences their assessment accuracy. In this study, the authors examined the accuracy with which 21 teacher tutors and 25 student tutors assessed a tutees understanding of the human circulatory system in the course of tutoring. The authors found that the teacher tutors were more accurate than were the student tutors in assessing whether a tutee had a low or high level of knowledge about concepts relevant to the human circulatory system. In addition, in comparison with the student teachers, the teacher tutors more accurately assessed the number of concepts that a tutee would know. However, the teacher tutors and the student tutors did poorly in assessing a tutees mental model of the human circulatory system even though the teacher tutors were more aware of their assessment difficulties than were the student tutors.

Scripting Laypersons’ Problem Descriptions in Internet-Based Communication with Experts

In the information age, laypersons have to rely on experts in many domains and situations. Expert advice can be invaluable, for example, when new and complex software has to be learned, or an unexpected technical problem with the computer suddenly occurs. In order to communicate effectively with experts, laypersons should be able to provide the expert with a concise and comprehensive description of their problem. However, previous research on computer helpdesks has shown that laypersons’ problem descriptions often suffer from a number of serious drawbacks. Their deficient and fragmentary knowledge makes it hard for them to formulate their queries in a way that would make it possible for the expert to understand their problem. Based on an analysis of these deficiencies, a problem formulation script was developed that supports laypersons in describing their problems with the computer. An experimental study showed that computer experts reconstructed the actual problem from the layperson’s description best if the laypersons were prompted to describe successively (1) the aim of their interaction with the computer, (2) the steps they had so far undertaken, and (3) a hypothesis why they had failed to reach the aim. The script helped the laypersons to provide the expert with the relevant context information necessary to develop an adequate mental model of the layperson’s problem.

Preparing learners with partly incorrect intuitive prior knowledge for learning.

Learners sometimes have incoherent and fragmented intuitive prior knowledge that is (partly) “incompatible” with the to-be-learned contents. Such knowledge in pieces can cause conceptual disorientation and cognitive overload while learning. We hypothesized that a pre-training intervention providing a generalized schema as a structuring framework for such knowledge in pieces would support (re)organizing-processes of prior knowledge and thus reduce unnecessary cognitive load during subsequent learning. Fifty-six student teachers participated in the experiment. A framework group underwent a pre-training intervention providing a generalized, categorical schema for categorizing primary learning strategies and related but different strategies as a cognitive framework for (re-)organizing their prior knowledge. Our control group received comparable factual information but no framework. Afterwards, all participants learned about primary learning strategies. The framework group claimed to possess higher levels of interest and self-efficacy, achieved higher learning outcomes, and learned more efficiently. Hence, providing a categorical framework can help overcome the barrier of incorrect prior knowledge in pieces.