Temporal analysis of multimodal data to predict collaborative learning outcomes

The analysis of multiple data streams is a long-standing practice within educational research. Both multimodal data analysis and temporal analysis have been applied successfully, but in the area of collaborative learning, very few studies have investigated specific advantages of multiple modalities versus a single modality, especially combined with temporal analysis. In this paper, we investigate how both the use of multimodal data and moving from averages and counts to temporal aspects in a collaborative setting provides a better prediction of learning gains. To address these questions, we analyze multimodal data collected from 25 9–11-year-old dyads using a fractions intelligent tutoring system. Assessing the relation of dual gaze, tutor log, audio and dialog data to students' learning gains, we find that a combination of modalities, especially those at a smaller time scale, such as gaze and audio, provides a more accurate prediction of learning gains than models with a single modality. Our work contributes to the understanding of how analyzing multimodal data in temporal manner provides additional information around the collaborative learning process.     

Written verb use and diversity in children with Developmental Language Disorder: stepping stones to academic writing

Reading and Writing - Verb use and the production of verb argument structure in the written texts of children in elementary school is a key stepping stone towards academic writing success that has...     

The role of stress processing abilities in the development of bilingual reading

French and Dutch differ regarding the manifestations and lexical functions of the stress pattern of words. The present study examined group differences in stress processing abilities between French‐native and Dutch‐native listeners, thus extending previous cross‐linguistic comparisons involving Spanish‐native and French‐native adults. The results show that Dutch‐native first‐graders significantly outperformed French monolinguals, and that French‐native listeners schooled in Dutch produced intermediary performances, suggesting that stress‐processing abilities are a learnable set of skills. The present study also examined the contribution of stress processing abilities to reading development in Dutch, a stress‐based language, compared to that in French, a syllable‐based language. Although the expected correlation between stress processing abilities and reading was not observed in the Dutch monolinguals, such correlation was observed in the French‐native bilinguals schooled in Dutch and not in the Dutch‐native bilinguals schooled in French. This suggests that stress processing abilities influence reading development in a second, stress‐based, language. Moreover, the monolinguals and bilinguals schooled in Dutch showed significant associations between lexical development and stress processing abilities. Ways in which prosody might be involved in lexical and reading development are explored and discussed.     

Children writing: Multimodality and assessment in the writing classroom

Multimedia has had a widely recognised impact on society, but it is still under‐represented in the literacy pedagogies of many schools. This may relate to the way we view assessment for literacy, which is still almost wholly monomodal. Students assessed at a low level as producers of verbal text may respond positively when working multimodally, but the only assessment instruments we have do not reveal this. In a class of 26 ten‐year‐olds in Victoria, Australia, with rich access to computers, five children performed at a very low level when working with verbal expression only, but responded remarkably when invited to work multimodally. A programme of text production was monitored and the results analysed, progressing from handwritten monomodal work, through stages of multimodality to full multimodal expression. The results suggest strongly that some children need multimodal scaffolding in order to communicate complex ideas effectively. This, however, requires an acceptance of multimodal texts as part of the primary literacy curriculum. It is therefore suggested that assessment of multimodal composition, both narrative and other texts, should be developed to help teachers accept the value of introducing multimodal literacies into the classroom.     

Does self-efficacy contribute to the development of students’ motivation across the transition from secondary to higher education?

European Journal of Psychology of Education - The transition from secondary to higher education is a challenging process, in which the development of students’ motivation plays a pivotal...