Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

The World of Widgets – An Important Step Towards a

Personalized Learning Environment

Martin Ebner, Behnam Taraghi, Thomas Altmann

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

http://ple.tugraz.at

Mashup of

widgets

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

HCI Tests

- Heuristik Evaluations- Thinking Aloud Tests- Expert Test Users- Test Users from Different Field of Studies

- Technical and non-technical fields

- Interviews & Questionnaires

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

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

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

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!

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

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.

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

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).

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

VariationsShift in genotypes or generic sequence

- Mutation:- Random process aiming at generation of new alternatives- Ex. change in DNA structure- Continuously happening

- Recombination:- Not random process- Combining & distributing genetic materials (DNA, RNA)

The Evolution never stops.In PLE: slight update of existing functionality or UI

In PLE: combining widgets to build new ones

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

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

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

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

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

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

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

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

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

PLE Web View => Desktop Widgets

Graz University of Technology

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, Ebner, Taraghi, Altmann U2X-4-PLE, 11.07.2011

SOCIAL LEARNING

http://tugraz.at

http://elearning.tugraz.at

Slides available at: http://www.slideshare.net/mebner

martin.ebner(at)tugraz.at