Dan Mihaila

Although Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) advocates the use of instant messaging and discussion forums for collaboration between learners, there is a scarcity of tools for leveraging the information in this kind of conversations. Thus, these technologies are primarily used for communication and, once the conversation is over, the raw data is rarely manually analyzed by tutors, teachers and other learners. This paper presents a methodology and a system that can be used for providing feedback and support to learners and tutors that are involved in tasks that make use of chats and forums. In order to achieve this objective, PolyCAFe employs Natural Language Processing and Social Network Analysis techniques to discover polyphony and inter-animation in textual collaborations. To evaluate the proposed approach and the designed system a first validation experiment has been performed and the results are discussed and analyzed in the end of the paper.

This paper presents a model and an application that can be used to assess chat conversations according to their content, which is related to a number of imposed topics, and to the personal involvement of the participants. The main theoretical ideas that stand behind this application are Bakhtin’s polyphony theory and Tannen’s ideas related to the use of repetitions. The results of the application are validated against the gold standard provided by two teachers from the Human-Computer Interaction evaluating the same chats and after that the verification is done using another teacher from the same domain. During the verification we also show that the model used for chat evaluation is dependent on the number of participants to that chat.

Abstract. The paper presents an evaluation method for e-learning platforms, based on different types of measurements collected in logs of interactions during learning sessions, and on the analysis of collaborative learning activities performed using social networks visualization of the relations established among users during the experiments. The evaluation was used to highlight the ease of access to different platforms' resources in two case studies: Sintec and Moodle. Problems encountered during the evaluation and ...

IT-security and IT-integration are two important themes that preoccupy the companies. Both should give the company the possibility to gain more profit from the information processing. The present procedures in the integration process and in the design of ISMS have common parts and influence each other. These arguments for including the security issues, as an important part of the IT

ABSTRACT Abstract Participation in virtual communities of practice (vCoP) can be influenced at the same time by technology acceptance and by community factors. To overcome methodological issues connected with the analysis of these influences, learning analytics were applied. Based on a recent vCoP model, the collaborative dialogue comprising 4040 interventions in 1981 messages created by a vCoP located at a US American online university was automatically analyzed. The text-based asynchronous online discussions were scored using a cohesion-based participation and collaboration analysis. Additionally, a sample of N = 133 vCoP participants responded a technology acceptance survey. Thus, a combined research model including the vCoP model and an established technology acceptance model was verified. The results confirmed the vCoP model entirely, and the acceptance model only partially. As consequence for educational research, the CoP model was confirmed and extended to vCoP settings, while the acceptance model appears to need reconsideration. For academic practice, the study initiates the development of assessment tools fostering knowledge sharing through dialogue in vCoP. Also, it suggests how virtual classrooms can be extended to open spaces where value creation takes place through social learning. Learning analytics proved thus successful, provides information that impacts both theory and practice of technology-enhanced learning.

This report is about the way to deliver relevant feedback to students' written production, either for free texts (eg, essays, syntheses, notes) or chat conversation, in order for the students to build knowledge. This report presents an overview and a selection of existing models, methods and resources for: 1) the automatic analysis of learner interactions using language technologies or social network analysis (Task 5.1) and 2) the automatic analysis of learner text (Task 5.2). Secondly, a proposition of the tools to be developed for the project ...

Trausan-Matu, S., Dessus, P., Rebedea, T., Loiseau, M., Dascalu, M., Mihaila, D., Braidman, I., Armitt, G., Smithies, A., Regan, M., Lemaire, B., Stahl, J., Villiot-Leclercq, E., Zampa, V., Chiru, C., Pasov, I., & Dulceanu, A. (2010). D5.3 Support and feedback services version 1.5. LTfLL-project. ... Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Although Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) advocates the use of instant messaging and discussion forums for collaboration between learners, there is a scarcity of tools for leveraging the information in this kind of conversations. Thus, these technologies are primarily used for communication and, once the conversation is over, the raw data is rarely manually analyzed by tutors, teachers and other learners. This paper presents a methodology and a system that can be used for providing feedback and support to ...

This report presents Version 1 of the support and feedback services (delivering recommendations based on interaction analysis and on students' textual production) that can be integrated within an e-learning environment. Further steps toward the implementation of Version 2 of these services and their future integration with all the LTfLL services are also suggested.