Yusuke Kometani

Development of a Learning Support System for Source Code Reading Comprehension

In this paper, we describe the development of a support system that facilitates the process of learning computer programming through the reading of computer program source code. Reading code consists of two steps: reading comprehension and meaning deduction. In this study, we developed a tool that supports the comprehension of a programs reading. The tool is equipped with an error visualization function that illustrates a learners mistakes and makes them aware of their errors. We conducted experiments using the learning support tool and confirmed that the system is effective.

Development of a Seminar Management System

The role of universities in imparting of knowledge is declining as e-learning and massive open online courses become widespread, and eventually only seminar activity will remain on university campuses. It is important to make seminars the central component of university education, and to think of them as a “university within a university”. Within this educational philosophy, each seminar should compete as an attractive educational experience that students want to participate in, and should aim to achieve high quality. In this paper, we report the development of an integrated seminar management system to support seminar activities.

Construction of a Literature Review Support System Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation

The role of universities in imparting knowledge to students is declining as e-learning and massive open online courses become widespread, and it seems likely that eventually only seminar activities will remain on university campuses. Prof. Nagaoka, Waseda University in Japan, previously proposed the importance of making seminar activities the core of university education, considering them as a “university within a university,” and furthermore proposed the concept of a seminar management system (SMS). Following this proposal, we report on the development of a literature review support system using latent Dirichlet allocation as one aspect of an SMS.

Development of a Seminar Management System: Evaluation of Support Functions for Improvement of Presentation Skills

We propose that seminar activities should be a focus of university education in the future. Under this principle, we have been developing a seminar management system and a learning management system for traditional classroom instruction and e-learning environments for university education. The main point of seminar activities is not only acquiring knowledge and skills, but also the ability to mutually assess growth with appropriate instructor support and foster student self-learning. Recognizing the importance of seminar activities in university education, we discuss seminar activities that should be the center of university education five to ten years from now to consider policies and support methods now.

An Improved Teaching Behavior Estimation Model from Student Evaluations

Many universities conduct student evaluations. Their purpose is to encourage improvement in teaching. However, the evaluations are merely subjective assessments by students, meaning that instructors cannot necessarily easily relate evaluations to areas for improvement in teaching. To address this issue, we suggest a teaching behavior estimation model that can estimate teaching behaviors from student evaluations of each lesson. In previous research, we built a model on the assumption that teaching behaviors are not correlated with other behaviors and that student evaluation items are uncorrelated to other evaluation items. However, this assumption could not be verified. Our research suggests a new teaching behavior estimation model that represents the correlation between factors of teaching and factors of student evaluations. To analyze this, we conducted canonical correlation between two kinds of factors and obtained correlations. This result shows that it is possible to construct a teaching behavior estimation model based on factors of teaching behavior and factors of student evaluations.

Correlation between Teaching Behavior and Real-Time Student Evaluations

Many universities conduct student evaluations, with the goal of encouraging improvement in teaching. Evaluations are subjective assessments by students, and do not directly evaluate specific teaching methods or behaviors as being good or bad. Instructors therefore cannot necessarily easily relate evaluations to areas for teaching improvement. To address this issue, we proposed a teaching behavior estimation model that can estimate teaching behaviors from student evaluations of each lesson. In this study, with the goal of identifying correspondences between lesson progress and teaching behaviors, we examine a model for estimating teaching behaviors from real-time student evaluations (evaluations performed during the lesson). In a basic study toward this end, we acquired student evaluations at three points -- 30, 60, and 90 minutes into university lectures -- and investigated correlations between evaluation changes as the lesson progressed and the number of occurrences of teaching behaviors during each part of the lesson. As a result, we identified relations between teaching behaviors that affect student evaluation items as lessons progress.

Video Bookmarking for Learner Support in Blended Learning: Selection of Appropriate Keywords for Efficient Review of Lecture Video

We investigated a video book marking function, which is expected to be useful for students to efficiently review videotaped lectures. Video book marking allows students to record classroom lectures and mark the start time of specific points in the lecture video. They can later jump directly to bookmarked segments when reviewing the lecture video. It is important that keywords be useful indicators of bookmarked video segment content. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey to evaluate five keywords for bookmark labeling. We evaluated the suitability of the keywords based on subjective evaluation and system usage logs. We conclude that the five keywords examined are suitable for efficient video book marking by students during lectures.