Publication Archives - EduTec Science

Jul182024 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

New Pub: Revolutionizing Essay Scoring with Hierarchical Rater Models

Artificial Intelligence, Assessment, Higher Education, Journal, New Pub

For a special issue on Natural Language Processing in Psychology we proposed a hierarchical rater model-based approach to address the challenges in automatic essay scoring. Essay writing tests are an integral part of educational systems, essential for assessing students' critical thinking, articulation and understanding. Since the manual scoring process requires significant resources and time, teachers are beginning to use Automated Essay Scoring (AES), which is potentially capable of alleviating the manual effort involved. #AutomatedEssayScoring #NaturalLanguageProcessing #FormativeAssessment #EducationalTechnology #MachineLearning #AIinEducation #HierarchicalRaterModel #EdTech #ScoringAutomation #AI #AssessmentTools #MeasurementInvariance #TransformerModels #EducationResearch #UniversityTesting #AIModels #TechInEducation There are an abundance of available models and each one has its own unique features and scoring methods. Thus, selecting the optimal model is complex and challenging, especially when different aspects of content have to be assessed over a number…

Jul122024 by Prof. Dr. Hendrik DrachslerNo Comments

Advancing Automated Analysis of Concept Maps at AIED24

Artificial Intelligence, Feedback, Higher Education, Learning Analytics, Publication, School, Workshop, Workshop

The 25th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2024), held from July 8-12 in Recife, Brazil, was a significant event for the Highly Informative Learning Analytics Research Programme. This year marked the first Brazilian-German cooperation in this field, supported by the Alexander Humboldt Foundation, the DIPF in Frankfurt and IPN in Kiel under the ALICE project. Two workshop papers presented at the conference showcased innovative approaches to automatically analyze concept maps, promising to automate the way educators assess and understand the student-created context. #AIED24 #LearningAnalytics #ConceptMaps #AIinEducation #EducationalTechnology #MachineLearning #CulturalDiversity #RealTimeFeedback #EdTech #AI #Education #CrossCulturalCollaboration Paper 1: The Influence of Diverse Educational Contexts on Concept Map Structures Authors: Laís P. Van Vossen, Isabela Gasparini, Elaine H. T. Oliveira, Berrit Czinczel, Ute Harms, Lukas Menzel, Sebastian Gombert, Knut Neumann,…

Jul22024 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

New pub: Potentials and Challenges of Generative AI in Instruction and Research on Instruction

Artificial Intelligence, Feedback, General education, Journal, New Pub, School

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming such a part of our daily lives that soon it will be almost impossible to imagine life without it. Especially since the emergence of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models, endless new possibilities have arisen for the usage of AI in many areas, especially in educational settings. Currently, the effective use of AI in education, both in teaching and learning, remains largely undefined, as do its limitations. We are also missing clarity regarding the potential benefits of AI for instructional research and the ethical boundaries of its use in this field. The opportunities and challenges associated with integrating AI into educational practices and research are explored in a newly published article from Hendrik Drachsler, Knut Neumann and Jochen Kuhn. In their paper they identify specific…

Jul12024 by Sebastian GombertNo Comments

New pub: Predicting Item Difficulty and Item Response Time with Scalar-mixed Transformer Encoder Models and Rational Network Regression Heads

Artificial Intelligence, Assessment, Computational Psychometrics, Conference, Higher Education, Publication, Workshop

In a contribution to the BEA 2024 Shared Task, we addressed the challenge of predicting the difficulty and response time of multiple-choice questions from the United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE®). This exam is an important assessment for medical professionals. To predict these variables, we evaluated various BERT-like pre-trained transformer models. We combined these models with Scalar Mixing and two custom 2-layer classification heads, using learnable Rational Activations as the activation function. This multi-task setup allowed us to predict both item difficulty and response time. The results were noteworthy. Our models placed first out of 43 participants in predicting item difficulty and fifth out of 34 participants in predicting item response time. This demonstrates the potential of advanced AI techniques in improving the evaluation processes of critical exams like the…

Jun302024 by Daniele Di MitriNo Comments

New pub: A Human-centric Approach to Explain Evolving Data

Conference

A recent study led by Gabriella Casalino at the University "Aldo Moro" of Bari, Italy in collaboration with Daniele Di Mitri highlights the importance of transparency and explainability in Machine Learning models used in educational environments. As we embrace this technological shift driven by AI in education, it is imperative to address the ethical considerations surrounding AI applications in educational settings. A recent study has underscored the critical importance of transparency and explainability in machine learning models utilized in educational environments. At the forefront of this study is the introduction of DISSFCM, a dynamic incremental classification algorithm that harnesses the power of fuzzy logic to analyze and interpret students' interactions within learning platforms; by offering human-centric explanations, the research endeavours to deepen stakeholders' understanding of how AI models arrive at…

Jun112024 by Fernando P. Cardenas-HernandezNo Comments

The final Consortial Meeting of the MILKI-PSY Project was held in Cologne

Event, New Pub, Project meeting

At the end of May, all project partners of the Multimodal Immersive Learning with Artificial Intelligence for Psychomotor Skills (MILKI-PSY) project convened for the concluding session at the Cologne Game Lab and the German Sport University in Cologne. The project's aim was to develop artificial intelligence-supported, data-driven, multimodal, immersive learning environments for the autonomous acquisition of psychomotor skills. The research outcomes and their corresponding learning tools underwent evaluation. These included a virtual learning environment developed to facilitate the training process, innovative feedback methods to learn and refine movements, and the creation of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality applications for sports such as golf, dancing, and running. Furthermore, virtual learning scenarios were devised for collaborative tasks with a robot in assembly work. It was demonstrated that innovative, immersive learning environments could…

Jun102024 by Joshua WeidlichNo Comments

New Pub: Emotional and motivational effects of automated and personalized feedback

Computer-supported collaborative learning, Empirical Study, Feedback, Higher Education, Journal, Learning Analytics, New Pub, Open access

With increasingly large student numbers, providing personalized teacher feedback becomes untenable. On the other hand, providing students feedback about their work is an integral part of ensuring student support throughout their learning trajectory. Fortunately, Learning Analytics now makes it feasible to automatically deploy feedback to many students at once. However, the design of effective feedback still remains an area of investigation Joshua Weidlich, Aron Fink, Ioana Jivet, Jane Yau, Tornike Giorgashvili, Hendrik Drachsler, and Andreas Frey's recently published paper in the Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning focused on one key design feature: the reference frame. Any feedback content must be formulated in reference to some performance level, be it the average of the student group (social comparison), the desired performance level (criterion-referenced comparison), or past performance. A longstanding literature on this…

May272024 by Daniele Di MitriNo Comments

New BJET special section published

Special Issue

In the ever-evolving landscape of education, innovative technologies continue to shape the way we learn and acquire new skills. One such frontier that is gaining momentum is the realm of multimodal and immersive learning systems. Recently, a special section in a prestigious British Journal of Education Technology delved into this fascinating intersection, shedding light on the potentialities and challenges of these cutting-edge technologies. Di Mitri, D., Limbu, B., Schneider, J., Iren, D., Giannakos, M. and Klemke, R. (2024), Multimodal and immersive systems for skills development and education. Br J Educ Technol. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13483 Multimodal learning, as defined in the special section, engages learners through multiple sensory and action systems, offering a more holistic and immersive educational experience. This approach is supported by the theory of multimodality in communication, which emphasizes the emergence of…

May272024 by Daniele Di MitriNo Comments

Workshop: A Deep Dive into Multimodal Technologies for Skills Development

Summer School, Workshop

In the rapidly evolving landscape of education, the integration of technology in learning processes has become a pivotal element. The recent workshop on Multimodal Technologies for Skills Development, hosted at the JTEL summer school, stands as a testament to this transformation. The Workshop Overview The workshop, aptly titled "Multimodal Technologies for Skills Development (mute4skid)," was a comprehensive event that explored the utilization of AI and multimodal systems in the realm of education. It was structured in two parts, offering theoretical insights and practical applications. The speakers The speakers for the "Multimodal Technologies for Skills Development" workshop were: Daniele Di Mitri, DIPF, Germany Jan Schneider, DIPF, Germany Bibeg Limbu, University of Duisburg Khaleel Asyraaf Mat Sanusi, Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln, Germany Roland Klemke, Open University of The Netherlands, The…

May242024 by Heather WehnerNo Comments

FoLA supports Simulation-based Training for High-risk Clinical Situations

Assessment, Empirical Study, Feedback, Further Education, Higher Education, Learning Analytics, Learning Design, medical education, Multimodal Learning Analytics, Workshop

From May 16th to 17th, 2024, Hendrik Drachsler and Marcel Schmitz (TETRA AI, ZUYD University of Applied Science) had the pleasure of providing a FoLA workshop at the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland (CAI) in Dublin, Ireland, under the support of the Insight research centre. Together with members from CAI and from the ASSERT Centre, College of Medicine and Health, University College Cork (UCC), they used the FoLA tool to plan a simulation-based training for high-risk clinical situations using highly informative feedback. Data from these trainings will be collected and analyzed to determine how effective this training is in improving the performance of the attendees. The study is being planned to take place with around 100 doctors in training at two simulation training centers: at ASSERT Centre UCC and at…