Iterative Context Engineering to Inform the Design of Intelligent Exploratory Learning Environments for the Classroom

Mavrikis, Manolis; Gutierrez-Santos, Sergio; Geraniou, Eirini; Noss, Richard R.; Poulovassilis, Alex

doi:10.4324/9780203075227.ch7

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…We referred to this approach as 'iterative context engineering' (see [10]) because we 'engineered' settings that gave teacher participants the opportunity to experience first-hand what it would mean to have access to such TA tools and, therefore, to offer deeper insights in susbequent one-to-one interviews. Based on these interviews, but also through feedback from our general teacher advisory group, a set of Usage Scenarios for the whole suite of TA tools were identified and the tools were refined accordingly.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and evaluation of teacher assistance tools for exploratory learning environments

Mavrikis¹,

Gutierrez-Santos

Poulovassilis

2016

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Learning Analytics &Amp; Knowledge - LAK '16

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We present our approach to designing and evaluating tools that can assist teachers in classroom settings where students are using Exploratory Learning Environments (ELEs), using as our case study the MiGen system, which targets 11-14 year old students' learning of algebra. We discuss the challenging role of teachers in exploratory learning settings and motivate the need for visualisation and notification tools that can assist teachers in focusing their attention across the whole class and inform their interventions. We present the design and evaluation approach followed during the development of MiGen's Teacher Assistance tools, drawing parallels with the recently proposed LATUX workflow but also discussing how we go beyond this to include a large number of teacher participants in our evaluation activities, so as to gain the benefit of different view points. We discuss the results of the evaluations, which show that participants appreciated the capabilities of the tools and were mostly able to use them quickly and accurately.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and evaluation of teacher assistance tools for exploratory learning environments

Mavrikis¹,

Gutierrez-Santos

Poulovassilis

2016

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Learning Analytics &Amp; Knowledge - LAK '16

Self Cite

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“…We recognised that in‐depth understanding of teachers' requirements for the TA tools necessitated observing and analysing situations of actual usage context. We, therefore, adopted a “contextual design” approach (Holtzblatt & Beyer, ) to engineer situations that gave teacher participants the opportunity to experience first‐hand what it would mean to have access to such tools and, therefore, to offer deeper insights in subsequent one‐to‐one interviews with the research team (Mavrikis et al ., ). This approach helped address the twofold challenge that expert teachers do not necessarily have the data literacy skills or understanding of the potential of LA to contribute to design decisions or to provide feedback without first using prototypes of the TA tools themselves.…”

Section: Design and Evaluation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We have previously outlined our iterative design methodology both in the first generative phase of ideation (Gutierrez Santos, Geraniou, et al ., ; Pearce‐Lazard et al ., ) and in later stages of prototyping, testing and evaluation (Mavrikis et al ., ), recognising from the outset the need for collaboration with teachers from early on and throughout the process. Revisiting our work, our design and evaluation approach for the TA tools resembles the LATUX workflow put forward for designing and deploying awareness tools in the classroom (Martinez‐Maldonado et al ., ).…”

Section: Design and Evaluation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, be it due to the lack of maturity of the technology, or potentially the scepticism around it, Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) cannot (and should not) replace key pedagogical strategies in this context as this may violate some of the constructionist principles upon which exploratory learning is founded (Mavrikis et al ., ). The silver lining is that this constraint also offers a response to criticisms of the field of educational technology, particularly the application of AI as wedded to an instructional pedagogy (cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The response is strengthened when we shift our attention from adaptive feedback or other recommendations for students to supporting the difficult role of the teacher as “facilitator” or “orchestrator” (Hoyles, Noss, & Kent, ; Trouche, ). This role would be relatively easy in one‐to‐one student–tutor interaction, but scaling it up to the number of students in a typical class poses several orchestration challenges, further compounded by the use of technology (Dillenbourg, ; Prieto, Dimitriadis, Asensio‐Pérez, & Looi, ) and the open‐ended nature of the exploratory tasks (Mavrikis et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Intelligent analysis and data visualisation for teacher assistance tools: The case of exploratory learning

Mavrikis¹,

Geraniou²,

Santos³

et al. 2019

Brit J Educational Tech

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While it is commonly accepted that Learning Analytics (LA) tools can support teachers' awareness and classroom orchestration, not all forms of pedagogy are congruent to the types of data generated by digital technologies or the algorithms used to analyse them. One such pedagogy that has been so far underserved by LA is exploratory learning, exemplified by tools such as simulators, virtual labs, microworlds and some interactive educational games. This paper argues that the combination of intelligent analysis of interaction data from such an Exploratory Learning Environment (ELE) and the targeted design of visualisations has the benefit of supporting classroom orchestration and consequently enabling the adoption of this pedagogy to the classroom. We present a case study of LA in the context of an ELE supporting the learning of algebra. We focus on the formative qualitative evaluation of a suite of Teacher Assistance tools. We draw conclusions relating to the value of the tools to teachers and reflect with transferable lessons for future related work. What is already known about this topic Learning Analytics (LA) tools can support teachers' orchestration but most of the work so far has focus mostly on instructionist pedagogies or Computer‐Supported Collaborative Learning. Exploratory Learning Environments (ELEs) encourage students to freely explore a domain and follow a variety of solutions and have the potential to lead to more engagement and deeper learning. The freedom in ELEs introduces orchestration challenges that hinder the adoption of such pedagogies in classroom. What this paper adds A set of usage scenarios for LA tools for exploratory environments derived from teacher input and design and methodological guidelines based on a reflection from the study. Showcases a suite of Teacher Assistance tools purposefully designed for teachers' orchestration requirements during Exploratory Learning. Empirical evidence of the perceived usefulness of these tools and feedback from a large number of teachers thanks to a methodology of re‐using previously collected classroom data. Implications for practice and/or policy A methodology for involving teachers in the design and evaluation of LA. Highlights teacher training needs for LA. Teachers should be provided with tools that help them orchestrate different activities including ones with digital tools underpinned by a constructionist pedagogy.

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Design of Teacher Assistance Tools in an Exploratory Learning Environment for Algebraic Generalization

Gutierrez-Santos

Geraniou

Pearce-Lazard

et al. 2012

IEEE Trans. Learning Technol.

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The MiGen project is designing and developing an intelligent exploratory environment to support 11-14 year-old students in their learning of algebraic generalisation. Deployed within the classroom, the system also provides tools to assist teachers in monitoring students' activities and progress. This paper describes the design of these Teacher Assistance tools and gives a detailed description of one such tool, focussing in particular on the research challenges faced, and the technologies and approaches chosen to implement the necessary functionalities given the context of the project.

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Iterative Context Engineering to Inform the Design of Intelligent Exploratory Learning Environments for the Classroom

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Design and evaluation of teacher assistance tools for exploratory learning environments

Design and evaluation of teacher assistance tools for exploratory learning environments

Intelligent analysis and data visualisation for teacher assistance tools: The case of exploratory learning

Design of Teacher Assistance Tools in an Exploratory Learning Environment for Algebraic Generalization

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