This paper describes features and purposes for opening the learner model to the learner. Building on previous studies of use of a range of open learner models, it considers the features that are preferred by university level, experienced open learner model users. Recommendations are presented to help guide open learner model designers in their choices of features to make available to learners, ...

This paper presents a model for pedagogical agents to use the learner’s attention to detect motivation factors of the learner in interactive learning environments. This model is based on observations from human tutors coaching students in on-line learning tasks. It takes into account the learner’s focus of attention, current task, and expected time required to perform the task. A Bayesian model...

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 ...

The spike and slab Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM) is defined by having both a real valued “slab” variable and a binary “spike” variable associated with each unit in the hidden layer. In this paper we generalize and extend the spike and slab RBM to include non-zero means of the conditional distribution over the observed variables given the binary spike variables. We also introduce a term, qu...

The prevailing pattern of classroom interaction is a tripartite exchange structure known as IRF (teacher initiation, student response, teacher follow-up/feedback; Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975). Although it has its own contributions to classroom discourse, it has been criticized on several grounds, particularly for affording minimum learner participation opportunities (Kasper, 2001). An alternativ...

Automatic classes are classes of languages for which a finite automaton can decide the membership problem for the languages in the class, in a uniform way, given an index for the language. For alphabet size of at least 4, every automatic class of erasing pattern languages is contained, for some constant n, in the class of all languages generated by patterns which contain (1) every variable only...

The theory of transactional distance has been subjected to a variety of empirical tests and philosophical critiques. Throughout this process, the variable of dialogue has attracted much attention. Although dialogue has proven difficult to measure and define, it is widely regarded as an ideal outcome of the teacher-learner transaction. Considered from a constructivist perspective, dialogue can a...

Autonomous robots hold the possibility of performing a variety of assistive tasks in intelligent environments. However, widespread use of robot assistants in these environments requires ease of use by individuals who are generally not skilled robot operators. In this paper we present a method of training robots that bridges the gap between user programming of a robot and autonomous learning of ...

We propose the Variational Shape Learner (VSL), a hierarchical latent-variable model for 3D shape learning. VSL employs an unsupervised approach to learning and inferring the underlying structure of voxelized 3D shapes. Through the use of skip-connections, our model can successfully learn a latent, hierarchical representation of objects. Furthermore, realistic 3D objects can be easily generated...

Enrollment in online courses is rapidly increasing and attrition rates remain high. This paper presents a literature review addressing the role of interactivity in student satisfaction and persistence in online learning. Empirical literature was reviewed through the lens of Bandura's social cognitive theory, Anderson's interaction equivalency theorem, and Tinto's social integration theory. Find...