Presentation at PLE Conference, Southampton, 2011

1. Graz University of Technology
The World of Widgets – An
Important Step Towards a
Personalized Learning
Environment
Martin Ebner, Behnam Taraghi, Thomas Altmann
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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2. Graz University of Technology
http://ple.tugraz.at
Mashup
of
widgets
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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3. Graz University of Technology
HCI Tests
- Heuristik Evaluations
- Thinking Aloud Tests
- Expert Test Users
- Test Users from Different Field of Studies
- Technical and non-technical fields
- Interviews & Questionnaires
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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4. Graz University of Technology
Usability and UX
- Personalization in foreground
- E.g. own desktop background image, look & feel etc.
- Different UI structures & themes
- Total control of own environment is desired!
- Resemblance btw. Real and virtual world
- More than one Personal Desktop vs. An unlimited Desktop
- Free widget arrangement on UI
- Flexible widget dimensions
- Drag & Drop effects vs. simple clicks
- Sharing, collaboration, networking
- Ubiquitous PLE
- Mobile and desktop views
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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5. Graz University of Technology
Interviews & Questionnaires
- PLE Concept (What)
- Unknown to all test users
- PLE Workflow (How)
- Not easy to get started with
- Due to unfamiliar concept
- Introduction, tutorials for novel users strongly recommended
- PLE Competences
- Self-organization
- Self-cognition
- ….
A Change from Teacher-Controlled to Coaching
needed!
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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6. Graz University of Technology
Selection Mechanisms*
Stabilizing Selection:
- Favorites the average.
- Decrease of variability within the population.
*Solbrig O.T. (1970). Principles and Methods of Plant Biosystematics. The Mac-Millan Company. Collier-Mac Millan Limited, London.
*Solbrig O.T. & D.J Solbrig. (1979). Populationbiology and evolution. Addision-Wesley. Publ. Co. Reading Mass.
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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7. Graz University of Technology
r/K Selection Theory*
Tradeoff btw. quantity & quality of
offspring
In long term K-strategy is superior.
Quality succeeds in long run over quantity.
r-Strategy (quantity)
- Succeeds in unpredictable, unknown environments.
- High reproduction rate – short lifespan
K-Strategy (quality)
- Succeeds in predictable, known environments.
- Constant growth, ruled by population density & env. capacity
- Usually close to the max. capacity
- Slower adaptation – longer lifespan
In PLE a mixed approach is applied.
*Pianka E.R. (1970). On r and K selection. American naturalist 104, 592-597.
*MacArthur, R. and Wilson, E.O. (1967). The Theory of Island Biography, Princeton University Press (2001 reprint).
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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8. Graz University of Technology
Variations
Shift in genotypes or generic sequence
- Mutation:
- Random process aiming at generation of new alternatives
- Ex. change in DNA structure
- Continuously happening
The Evolution never stops.
In PLE: slight update of existing functionality or UI
- Recombination:
- Not random process
- Combining & distributing genetic materials (DNA, RNA)
In PLE: combining widgets to build new ones
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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9. Graz University of Technology
Selections and Variations
- Following r/K strategy towards stabilizing selection
- Producing quantitative widgets
- Increasing the quality
- Mutation
- slight update of the functionality and UI
- Recombination
- Combining two widgets to build new functionalities
- Combining code of different widgets to build new ones
- Using IWC to realize new use cases
- Widgets are developed by users
- According to their needs and interests
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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10. Graz University of Technology
Implicit / Explicit Knowledge
- Tracking module helps
- To get knowledge about user behavior
- To get user preferences
- To categorize different user groups
- Improve the PLE with variations & selections
- Implicit feedback for a recommender system within PLE
- Missing qualitative data
- Qualitative rating system is needed in PLE
- Small feedback questionnaire for each widget
- Explicit feedback system
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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11. Graz University of Technology
Tracking module in PLE
-Tracks users’ behavior on widgets
- Deep retrieve of statistics data
- Frequency of widgets usage
- Features used in each widget
- Realized via IWC
- App. 1000 users registered up to now.
- App. 30% active users
- Top 5 most used widgets out of 30:
- tugWidget, tccourses, tugllBlogs, mail, changeThemeColor
- Top 5 most activated widgets:
- weatherForcast, RSSReader, twitter, TUGLibrary, leoDictionary
- weatherForcast & newsgroup are improved according to K-strategy
Most activated widgets are not necessarily most used ones
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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12. Graz University of Technology
Ubiquitous PLE
- A step towards more personalization
- Every where, every when
- Mobile PLE
- Smart phones (on roadmap)
- Desktop PLE
- Windows 7, Mac OS X (ongoing work)
- (W3C => Desktop) Widget converter
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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13. Graz University of Technology Ebner M., Taraghi B., Altmann T.
Personal Learning Environment - Graz University of Technology
PLE Web View => Desktop Widgets
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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14. Graz University of Technology http://twitter.tugraz.at
Slides available at: http://www.slideshare.net/mebner
Slides available at: martin.ebner(at)tugraz.at
http://elearningblog.tugraz.at
SOCIAL LEARNING
SOCIAL LEARNING
Computer and Information Services
Graz University of Technology
http://elearning.tugraz.at
http://tugraz.at Graz University of Technology
Martin Ebner
http://elearningblog.tugraz.at
m ebn er http://elearning.tugraz.at
, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011
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