Exploring Participative Learner Modelling and Its Effects on Learner Behaviour
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Date
12/2000Author
Morales Gamboa, Rafael
Metadata
Abstract
The educational benefits of involving learners as active players in the learner modelling process
have been an important motivation for research on this form of learner modelling, henceforth
referred to as participative learner modelling. Such benefits, conceived as the promotion of
learners’ reflection on and awareness of their own knowledge, have in most cases been asserted
on the grounds of system design and supported only by anecdotal evidence.
This dissertation explores the issue of whether participative learner modelling actually promotes
learners’ reflection and awareness. It does so by firstly interpreting ‘reflection’ and
‘awareness’ in light of “classical” theories of human cognitive architecture, skill acquisition
and meta-cognition, in order to infer changes in learner abilities (and therefore behaviour)
amenable to empirical corroboration. The occurrence of such changes is then tested for an
implementation of a paradigmatic form of participative learner modelling: allowing learners to
inspect and modify their learner models.
The domain of application centres on the sensorimotor skill of controlling a pole on a cart
and represents a novel type of domain for participative learner modelling. Special attention
is paid to evaluating the method developed for constructing learner models and the form of
presenting them to learners: the former is based on a method known as behavioural cloning for
acquiring expert knowledge by means of machine learning; the latter deals with the modularity
of the learner models and the modality and interactivity of their presentation.
The outcome of this research suggests that participative learner modelling may increase
the abilities of learners to report accurately their problem-solving knowledge and to carry out
novel tasks in the same domain—the sort of behavioural changes expected from increased
learners’ awareness and reflection. More importantly perhaps, the research suggests a viable
methodology for examining the educational benefits of participative learner modelling. It also
exemplifies the difficulties that such endeavours will face.