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Research has shown that the cheat sheet preparation process helps students with performance in exams. However, results have been inconclusive in determining the most effective guiding principles in creating and using cheat sheets. The traditional method of collecting and annotating cheat sheets is time consuming and exhaustive, and fails to

Research has shown that the cheat sheet preparation process helps students with performance in exams. However, results have been inconclusive in determining the most effective guiding principles in creating and using cheat sheets. The traditional method of collecting and annotating cheat sheets is time consuming and exhaustive, and fails to capture students' preparation process. This thesis examines the development and usage of a new web-based cheat sheet creation tool, Study Genie, and its effects on student performance in an introductory computer science and programming course. Results suggest that actions associated with editing and organizing cheat sheets are positively correlated with exam performance, and that there is a significant difference between the activity of high-performing and low-performing students. Through these results, Study Genie presents itself as an opportunity for mass data collection and to provide insight into the assembly process rather than just the finished product in cheat sheet creation.
ContributorsWu, Jiaqi (Co-author) / Wen, Terry (Co-author) / Hsiao, Sharon (Thesis director) / Walker, Erin (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
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Concept maps are commonly used knowledge visualization tools and have been shown to have a positive impact on learning. The main drawbacks of concept mapping are the requirement of training, and lack of feedback support. Thus, prior research has attempted to provide support and feedback in concept mapping, such as

Concept maps are commonly used knowledge visualization tools and have been shown to have a positive impact on learning. The main drawbacks of concept mapping are the requirement of training, and lack of feedback support. Thus, prior research has attempted to provide support and feedback in concept mapping, such as by developing computer-based concept mapping tools, offering starting templates and navigational supports, as well as providing automated feedback. Although these approaches have achieved promising results, there are still challenges that remain to be solved. For example, there is a need to create a concept mapping system that reduces the extraneous effort of editing a concept map while encouraging more cognitively beneficial behaviors. Also, there is little understanding of the cognitive process during concept mapping. What’s more, current feedback mechanisms in concept mapping only focus on the outcome of the map, instead of the learning process.

This thesis work strives to solve the fundamental research question: How to leverage computer technologies to intelligently support concept mapping to promote meaningful learning? To approach this research question, I first present an intelligent concept mapping system, MindDot, that supports concept mapping via innovative integration of two features, hyperlink navigation, and expert template. The system reduces the effort of creating and modifying concept maps while encouraging beneficial activities such as comparing related concepts and establishing relationships among them. I then present the comparative strategy metric that modes student learning by evaluating behavioral patterns and learning strategies. Lastly, I develop an adaptive feedback system that provides immediate diagnostic feedback in response to both the key learning behaviors during concept mapping and the correctness and completeness of the created maps.

Empirical evaluations indicated that the integrated navigational and template support in MindDot fostered effective learning behaviors and facilitating learning achievements. The comparative strategy model was shown to be highly representative of learning characteristics such as motivation, engagement, misconceptions, and predicted learning results. The feedback tutor also demonstrated positive impacts on supporting learning and assisting the development of effective learning strategies that prepare learners for future learning. This dissertation contributes to the field of supporting concept mapping with designs of technological affordances, a process-based student model, an adaptive feedback tutor, empirical evaluations of these proposed innovations, and implications for future support in concept mapping.
ContributorsWang, Shang (Author) / Walker, Erin (Thesis advisor) / VanLehn, Kurt (Committee member) / Hsiao, Sharon (Committee member) / Long, Yanjin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
In the last decade, the immense growth of computational power, enhanced data storage capabilities, and the increasing popularity of online learning systems has led to adaptive learning systems becoming more widely available. Parallel to infrastructure enhancements, more researchers have started to study the adaptive task selection systems, concluding that suggesting

In the last decade, the immense growth of computational power, enhanced data storage capabilities, and the increasing popularity of online learning systems has led to adaptive learning systems becoming more widely available. Parallel to infrastructure enhancements, more researchers have started to study the adaptive task selection systems, concluding that suggesting tasks appropriate to students' needs may increase students' learning gains.

This work built an adaptive task selection system for undergraduate organic chemistry students using a deep learning algorithm. The proposed model is based on a recursive neural network (RNN) architecture built with Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) cells that recommends organic chemistry practice questions to students depending on their previous question selections.

For this study, educational data were collected from the Organic Chemistry Practice Environment (OPE) that is used in the Organic Chemistry course at Arizona State University. The OPE has more than three thousand questions. Each question is linked to one or more knowledge components (KCs) to enable recommendations that precisely address the knowledge that students need. Subject matter experts made the connection between questions and related KCs.

A linear model derived from students' exam results was used to identify skilled students. The neural network based recommendation system was trained using those skilled students' problem solving attempt sequences so that the trained system recommends questions that will likely improve learning gains the most. The model was evaluated by measuring the predicted questions' accuracy against learners' actual task selections. The proposed model not only accurately predicted the learners' actual task selection but also the correctness of their answers.
ContributorsKOSELER EMRE, Refika (Author) / VanLehn, Kurt A (Thesis advisor) / Davulcu, Hasan (Committee member) / Hsiao, Sharon (Committee member) / Hansford, Dianne (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020