Analyses of learning based on student discourse need to account not only for the content of the utterances but also for the ways in which students make connections across turns of talk. This requires segmentation of discourse data to define when connections are likely to be meaningful. In this paper, we present an approach to segmenting data for the purposes of modelling connections in discourse using epistemic network analysis. Specifically, we use epistemic network analysis to model connections in student discourse using a temporal segmentation method adapted from recent work in the learning sciences. We compare the results of this study to a purely conversation-based segmentation method to examine the affordances of temporal segmentation for modelling connections in discourse.
When conversing and collaborating in everyday situations, people naturally and interactively align their behaviors with each other across various communication channels, including speech, gesture, posture, and gaze. Having access to a partner's referential gaze behavior has been shown to be particularly important in achieving collaborative outcomes, but the process in which people's gaze behaviors unfold over the course of an interaction and become tightly coordinated is not well understood. In this paper, we present work to develop a deeper and more nuanced understanding of coordinated referential gaze in collaborating dyads. We recruited 13 dyads to participate in a collaborative sandwich-making task and used dual mobile eye tracking to synchronously record each participant's gaze behavior. We used a relatively new analysis technique—epistemic network analysis—to jointly model the gaze behaviors of both conversational participants. In this analysis, network nodes represent gaze targets for each participant, and edge strengths convey the likelihood of simultaneous gaze to the connected target nodes during a given time-slice. We divided collaborative task sequences into discrete phases to examine how the networks of shared gaze evolved over longer time windows. We conducted three separate analyses of the data to reveal (1) properties and patterns of how gaze coordination unfolds throughout an interaction sequence, (2) optimal time lags of gaze alignment within a dyad at different phases of the interaction, and (3) differences in gaze coordination patterns for interaction sequences that lead to breakdowns and repairs. In addition to contributing to the growing body of knowledge on the coordination of gaze behaviors in joint activities, this work has implications for the design of future technologies that engage in situated interactions with human users.
Engineering virtual internships are a novel paradigm for providing authentic engineering experiences in the first-year curriculum. They are both individualized and accommodate large numbers of students. As we describe in this report, this approach can (a) enable students to solve complex engineering problems in a mentored, collaborative environment; (b) allow educators to assess engineering thinking; and (c) provide an introductory experience that students enjoy and find valuable. Furthermore, engineering virtual internships have been shown to increase students'-and especially women's-interest in and motivation to pursue engineering degrees. When implemented in first-year engineering curricula more broadly, the potential impact of engineering virtual internships on the size and diversity of the engineering workforce could be dramatic.
Before becoming interested in education, Golnaz studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a minor in Spanish. While earning her Bachelor's degree in engineering, she worked as a computer science instructor at Campus Middle School for Girls in Urbana, IL. Along with a team of undergraduates, she headlined a project to develop a unique computer science curriculum for middle school students. She then earned her M.A. in mathematics education at Columbia University. Afterwards, she taught in the Chicago Public School system at Orr Academy High School (an AUSL school) for two years. Currently, Golnaz is working with the Epistemic Games Research Group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she has led the efforts on engineering virtual internship simulations for high school and first year undergraduate students. Golnaz's current research is focused on how games and simulations increase student engagement in STEM fields, how players learn engineering design in real-world and virtual professional environments, and how to assess engineering design thinking.
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