Mina Shirvani Boroujeni

Perceiving Learning at a Glance: A Systematic Literature Review of Learning Dashboard Research

This paper presents a systematic literature review of the state-of-the-art of research on learning dashboards in the fields of Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining. Research on learning dashboards aims to identify what data is meaningful to different stakeholders and how data can be presented to support sense-making processes. Learning dashboards are becoming popular due to the increased use of educational technologies, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The initial search of five main academic databases and GScholar resulted in 346 papers out of which 55 papers were included in the final analysis. Our review distinguishes different kinds of research studies as well as various aspects of learning dashboards and their maturity regarding evaluation. As the research field is still relatively young, most studies are exploratory and proof-of-concept. The review concludes by offering a definition for learning dashboards and by outlining open issues and future lines of work in the area of learning dashboards. There is a need for longitudinal research in authentic settings and studies that systematically compare different dashboard designs.

Understanding learning at a glance: an overview of learning dashboard studies

Research on learning dashboards aims to identify what data is meaningful to different stakeholders in education, and how data can be presented to support sense-making processes. This paper summarizes the main outcomes of a systematic literature review on learning dashboards, in the fields of Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining. The query was run in five main academic databases and enriched with papers coming from GScholar, resulting in 346 papers out of which 55 were included in the final analysis. Our review distinguishes different kinds of research studies as well as different aspects of learning dashboards and their maturity in terms of evaluation. As the research field is still relatively young, many of the studies are exploratory and proof-of-concept. Among the main open issues and future lines of work in the area of learning dashboards, we identify the need for longitudinal research in authentic settings, as well as studies that systematically compare different dashboard design options.

Dynamics of MOOC discussion forums

In this integrated study of dynamics in MOOCs discussion forums, we analyze the interplay of temporal patterns, discussion content, and the social structure emerging from the communication using mixed methods. A special focus is on the yet under-explored aspect of time dynamics and influence of the course structure on forum participation. Our analyses show dependencies between the course structure (video opening time and assignment deadlines) and the over-all forum activity whereas such a clear link could only be partially observed considering the discussion content. For analyzing the social dimension we apply role modeling techniques from social network analysis. While the types of user roles based on connection patterns are relatively stable over time, the high fluctuation of active contributors lead to frequent changes from active to passive roles during the course. However, while most users do not create many social connections they can play an important role in the content dimension triggering discussions on the course subject. Finally, we show that forum activity level can be predicted one week in advance based on the course structure, forum activity history and attributes of the communication network which enables identification of periods when increased tutor supports in the forum is necessary.

How to Quantify Student's Regularity?

Studies carried out in classroom-based learning context, have consistently shown a positive relation between students’ conscientiousness and their academic success. We hypothesize that time management and regularity are main constructing blocks of students’ conscientiousness in the context of online education. In online education, despite intuitive arguments supporting on-demand courses as more flexible delivery of knowledge, completion rate is higher in the courses with rigid temporal constraints and structure. In this study, we further investigate how students’ regularity affects their learning outcome in MOOCs. We propose several measures to quantify students regularity. We validate accuracy of these measures as predictors of students’ performance in the course.

Screen or Tabletop: An Eye-Tracking Study of the Effect of Representation Location in a Tangible User Interface System

This article presents a comparison of the effects of input-output location (co-located versus discrete) on user performance in a tangible user interface (TUI) system. We conducted a mobile eye-tracking study with two different versions of a TUI system and, despite similar performances in both conditions, our findings revealed differences in the users gaze patterns, shedding new light on the underlying cognitive processes.