Many language proficiency tests include group oral assessments involving peer interaction. In such an assessment, examinees discuss a common topic with others. Human raters score each examinee's spoken performance on specially designed criteria. However, measurement models for analyzing group assessment data usually assume local person…

To provide insight into online learners' interests in various knowledge from course discussion texts, modeling learners' sentiments and interests at different granularities are of great importance. In this article, the proposed framework combines a deep convolutional neural network and a hierarchical topic model to discover the hidden structure of…

Argumentation enables students to engage in real world scientific practices by rationalizing claims grounded in supporting evidence. Student engagement in scientific argumentation activates the negotiation process by which students develop and defend evidence-based claims. Little is known, however, on the intricate process and potential patterns…

Purpose: This study aims to present a pedagogical approach that allows students to discuss and debate the differences between two competing models of corporate governance -- the shareholder primacy philosophy and the stakeholder value viewpoint. Design/methodology/approach: This study first presents the conceptual bases for each framework, noting…

There are lots of information and knowledge can be extracted from a discussion forum. Despite a discussion is opened by submitting a thread as the topic of discussion, however, the discussion may open out to different topics. This paper aims to present a model to find out a topic of discussion through latent semantic approach, named Topics Finding…

In the paper we deploy two related theoretical and methodological approaches to see how they complement each other in the analysis of oral communication in mathematics group work. The first approach is an authority framework that builds on positioning theory and the second is politeness theory, with a focus on the sociological notion of face.…

We used the design-based research approach to test and refine a theoretically grounded goal-access-feedback-challenge-collaboration gamification model. The testbed was a 10-week, university-level e-learning design course offered in two consecutive semesters. In Study 1, we implemented the initial goal-access-feedback-challenge-collaboration model…

In this article the authors describe a model that starts from the basics of the OWL (observe, wonder, learn) large-group discussion strategy then moves onto new experiences that serve as the jumping off point for student-generated questions and investigations. The OWL version of a KWL (Know-Want to Know-Learn) process becomes a path to language…

Background: Developing collective professional capacities in schools is important for school improvement, and principals can initiate such developments. That is, by initiating and leading professional group discussions on teaching and learning, principals can influence teaching practices and, thereby, indirectly affect student outcomes and school…

Developing collective professional capacity in schools is viewed as important for improving schools. Furthermore, principals are seen as being in a key position to promote the development of collective capacity. Although an array of studies report on what principals can do to support capacity development, such as by facilitating collective…

While the model of deliberative democracy gives a crucial role to dialog, empirical evidence has not yet established if discussion helps to reach a better understanding of political issues and, above all, if individuals are prepared to change their views. It is still unclear when the deliberative model, and more specifically discussion, could be…

A discussion forum is a valuable tool to support student learning in online contexts. However, interactions in online discussion forums are sparse, leading to other issues such as low engagement and dropping out. Recent educational studies have examined the affordances of conversational agents (CA) powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to…

Professional knowledge for science teaching develops over time and interplays with professional experiences in field. In the present study, we explore student teachers' reflective conversation upon teaching experiences, with pedagogical content knowledge, PCK, as an analytical lens. The empirical data is based on nine meetings, with groups of 3-6…

With the wide spread large-scale e-learning environments such as MOOCs, peer assessment has been popularly used to measure the learner ability. When the number of learners increases, peer assessment is often conducted by dividing learners into multiple groups to reduce the learner's assessment workload. However, in such cases, the peer assessment…

In this study, we work towards a strategy to measure and enhance the quality of interactions in discussion forums at scale. We present a machine learning (ML) model which identifies the phase of cognitive presence exhibited by a student's post and suggest future applications of such a model to help online students develop higher-order thinking. We…