Manolis Mavrikis

University College London | UCL · UCL Knowledge Lab

Data-driven technologies for education, such as artificial intelligence in education (AIEd) systems, learning analytics dashboards, open learner models, and other applications, are often created with an aspiration to help teachers make better, evidence-informed decisions in the classroom. Addressing gender, racial, and other biases inherent to data...

Children differ in various aspects such as prior knowledge, learning pace, socio-economic status, interests etc. It has been argued that when we take these differences into account when we develop learning environments, children will benefit from it in terms of learning outcomes, learning experience, and attitudes towards particular subjects. The e...

This paper proposes a model of teaching computational thinking as a sub-competence of a digital competence framework. This teaching model is based (a) on other models of teaching and learning programming aiming at managing students’ cognitive load, (b) on exploiting the engaging nature of unplugged activities and (c) on using erroneous examples to...

This chapter reviews the field broadly referred to as Intelligent Learning Environments (ILE), capturing the state-of-the-art in both Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) and Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED). After a brief historical account, we report design architectures and implementation approaches exemplified by a recent example. We t...

While it is commonly accepted that Learning Analytics (LA) tools can support teachers' awareness and classroom orchestration, not all forms of pedagogy are congruent to the types of data generated by digital technologies or the algorithms used to analyse them. One such pedagogy that has been so far underserved by LA is exploratory learning, exempli...

There has been a growing interest in how teaching might be informed by learning design (LD), with a promising method for investigating LD being offered by the emerging field of learning analytics (LA). In this study, we used a novel LA for LD methodology to investigate the implementation of LD in an online distance learning context. A key innovatio...

Feedback in exploratory learning systems has been depicted as an important contributor to encourage exploration. However, few studies have explored learners’ interaction patterns associated with feedback and the use of external representations in exploratory learning environments. This study used Fractions Lab, an exploratory learning environment f...

Pattern-finding analytical techniques to improve our understanding of the use of feedback and scaffolding during problem-solving processes have attracted much attention. This study used a lag sequential analysis to unfold the learning patterns according to affective states during student problem-solving processes. The results have shown that the si...

One of the fundamental aims of authoring tools is to provide teachers with opportunities to configure, modify and generally appropriate the content and pedagogical strategies of intelligent systems. Despite some progress in the field, there is still a need for tools that have low thresholds in terms of the users’ technical expertise. Here, we demon...

Diversity has long been the norm in German schools. The educational system, however, has not yet succeeded in providing all students with equal educational opportunities: In Germany, more than in almost any other country, learning success is dependent on a student’s social background. Consequently, the call for personalisation of the learning exper...

CRISS is a flexible and scalable cloud-based digital learning ecosystem that has the potential to allow the guided acquisition, evaluation and certification of digital competences. This demonstration will highlight some of the key activities under development, their underlying pedagogy and how the platform’s features support the acquisition, assess...

CRISS is a flexible and scalable cloud-based digital learning ecosystem that has the potential to allow the guided acquisition, evaluation and certification of digital competences. This demonstration will highlight some of the key activities under development, their underlying pedagogy and how the platform’s features support the acquisition, assess...

Der vorliegende Report zeigt auf, dass digitale Medien ein großes Potenzial bergen, wenn es darum geht, personalisiertes Lernen effektiv umzusetzen. Allerdings steht die Prüfung noch aus, ob dies auch in der Praxis gelingt. Selbst in Ländern, die zu den Vorreitern gehören, gibt es kaum belastbare Evaluationsstudien. Die wichtige Frage, ob digitale...

Interpretability of the underlying AI representations is a key raison d'\^{e}tre for Open Learner Modelling (OLM) - a branch of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) research. OLMs provide tools for 'opening' up the AI models of learners' cognition and emotions for the purpose of supporting human learning and teaching. Over thirty years of research in...

Interpretability of the underlying AI representations is a key raison d'\^{e}tre for Open Learner Modelling (OLM) -- a branch of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) research. OLMs provide tools for 'opening' up the AI models of learners' cognition and emotions for the purpose of supporting human learning and teaching. Over thirty years of research i...

Metacognitive competencies related to cognitive tasks have been shown to be a powerful predictor of learning. However, considerably less is known about the relationship between student’s metacognition related to non-cognitive dimensions, such as their affect or lifestyles, and academic performance. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of data...

In a bid to better understand cultural differences and feed into the design of an exploratory learning environment for learning fractions in China, we conducted a study in three schools in Beijing. A mixed methods protocol was followed involving 186 children. In this paper, we report several results, including a paired t-test suggesting a statistic...

Metacognitive competencies related to cognitive tasks have been shown to be a powerful predictor of learning. However, considerably less is known about the relationship between student’s metacognition related to non-cognitive dimensions, such as their affect or lifestyles, and academic performance. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of data...

This paper adds to the evidence of the efficacy of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) in mathematics learning by evaluating a large-scale intervention at the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico. We report the results of a quasi-experimental study, addressing at the same a particular request of the decision-makers responsible for the rollout to provide,...

This paper investigates the effect of affect-aware support on learning tasks that differ in their cognitive demands. We conducted a study with the iTalk2learn platform where students are undertaking fractions tasks of varying difficulty and assigned in one of two groups; one group used the iTalk2learn platform that included the affect-aware support...

In a bid to better understand cultural differences and feed into the design of an exploratory learning environment for learning fractions in China, we conducted a study in three schools in Beijing. A mixed methods protocol was followed involving 186 children. In this paper, we report several results, including a paired t-test suggesting a statistic...

This paper adds to the evidence of the efficacy of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) in mathematics learning by evaluating a large-scale intervention at the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico. We report the results of a quasi-experimental study, addressing at the same a particular request of the decision-makers responsible for the rollout to provide,...

Learning games now play a role in both formal and informal learning, including foundational skills such as literacy. While feedback is recognised as a key pedagogical dimension of these games, particularly in early learning, there has been no research on how commercial games available to schools and parents reify learning theory into feedback. Usin...

We observe achievement gaps even in rich western countries, such as the UK, which in principle have the resources as well as the social and technical infrastructure to provide a better deal for all learners. The reasons for such gaps are complex and include the social and material poverty of some learners with their resulting other deficits, as wel...

Students’ learning is ubiquitous. It happens wherever the learner is rather than being constrained to a specific physical or digital learning space (e.g. the classroom or the institutional LMS respectively). A critical question is: how to integrate and coordinate learning analytics to provide continued support to learning across physical and digita...

This paper investigates the effect of affect-aware support on learning tasks that differ in their cognitive demands. We conducted a study with the iTalk2learn platform where students are undertaking fractions tasks of varying difficulty and assigned in one of two groups; one group used the iTalk2learn platform that included the affect-aware support...

This paper contributes to our understanding of how to design learning analytics to capture and analyse collaborative problem-solving (CPS) in practice-based learning activities. Most research in learning analytics focuses on student interaction in digital learning environments, yet still most learning and teaching in schools occurs in physical envi...

Collaborative problem solving (CPS), as a teaching and learning approach, is considered to have the potential to improve some of the most important skills to prepare students for their future. CPS often differs in its nature, practice, and learning outcomes from other kinds of peer learning approaches, including peer tutoring and cooperation; and i...

This paper contributes to our understanding of how to design learning analytics to capture and analyse collaborative problem-solving (CPS) in practice-based learning activities. Most research in learning analytics focuses on student interaction in digital learning environments, yet still most learning and teaching in schools occurs in physical envi...

This paper describes how graph-based modelling can be used to explore interactions associated with a change in students' affective state when they are working with an exploratory learning environment (ELE). We report on a user study with an ELE that is able to detect students' affective states from their interactions and speech. The data collected...

This ‘industry’ paper reports on the combined effort of researchers and industrial designers and developers to ground the automatic quality assurance of online maths human-to-human tutoring on best practices. We focus on the first step towards this goal. Our aim is to understand the largely under-researched field of online tutoring, to identify suc...

We conducted a user study that explored the relationship between students’ usage of multiple external representations and their affective states during fractions learning. We use the affective states of the student as a proxy indicator for the ease of reasoning with the representation. Extending existing literature that highlights the advantages of...

This paper presents an analytics platform that has been developed for designers and teachers who build and use interactive e-books for learning. The analytics dashboard aims to increase awareness of the use of the e-books so that designers (and teachers in their role as designers) can make informed decisions on how to redesign and improve them taki...

This paper presents AuthELO an authoring environment that can be used for the configuration of logging and authoring of automated feedback for exploratory learning objects (ELOs). ELOs are web components (widgets) that can be integrated with learning platforms to synthesise highly interactive learning environments. AuthELO has been developed in the...

The paper is available at http://rdcu.be/GqPq This paper describes the design and ecologically valid evaluation of a learner model that lies at the heart of an intelligent learning environment called iTalk2Learn. A core objective of the learner model is to adapt formative feedback based on students' affective states. Types of adaptation include w...

Learning analytics is introducing a number of new techniques and frameworks for studying learning, including collaborative problem-solving processes. An increasing number of researchers are using data from students’ interactions with learning technologies to support the assessment of collaborative problem solving. Moreover, to create shared underst...

This paper explores the potential impact of a full teacher-driven design and implementation cycle of an electronic book (c-book). We analyse data gathered from a school case study and identify the potential of the affordances of the c-book technology that allow the integration of various mathematical widgets and reflective activities. Our conjectur...

Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) is a key skill for the modern workplace. We do not, however, have widely accepted ways of assessing and monitoring CPS to inform educators and learners and enable the provision of effective support. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study involving 15 school students aged 14-15 years taking part in...

The identification of effective Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) strategies for practice based learning would make an important contribution to a better understanding of how to support the CPS process and how to design effective interventions. In this paper, we present a method for identifying effective CPS strategies using learner behaviours as...

Robust domain knowledge consists of conceptual and procedural knowledge. The two types of knowledge develop together, but are fostered by different learning tasks. Exploratory tasks enable students to manipulate representations and discover the underlying concepts. Structured tasks let students practice problem-solving procedures step-by-step. Educ...

This paper describes the development and evaluation of an affect-aware intelligent support component that is part of a learning environment known as iTalk2Learn. The intelligent support component is able to tailor feedback according to a student's affective state, which is deduced both from speech and interaction. The affect prediction is used to d...

This paper presents an analytics dashboard that has been developed for designers of interactive e-books. This is part of the EU-funded MC Squared project that is developing a platform for authoring interactive educational e-books. The primary objective is to develop technologies and resources that enhance creative thinking for both designers (autho...

We study how the use of online learning systems stimulate cognitive activities, by conducting an experiment with the use of eye tracking technology to monitor eye fixations of 60 final year students engaging in online interactive tutorials at the start of their Final Year Project module. Our findings show that the students' visual scanning behaviou...

This poster explores how to develop a working framework for STEM education that uses both human annotated and machine data across a purpose-built learning environment. Our dual approach is to develop a robust framework for analysis and investigate how to design a learning analytics system to support hands-on engineering design tasks. Data from the...

This paper describes the development and evaluation of an affect-aware intelligent support component that is part of a learning environment known as iTalk2Learn. The intelligent support component is able to tailor feedback according to a student's affective state, which is deduced both from speech and interaction. The affect prediction is used to d...

This study explores the impact that co-designing a virtual manipulative, Fractions Lab, had on teachers’ professional development. Tapping into an existing community of practice of mathematics specialist teachers, the study identifies how a cooperative enquiry approach utilising workshops and school-based visits challenged 23 competent primary scho...

We present our approach to designing and evaluating tools that can assist teachers in classroom settings where students are using Exploratory Learning Environments (ELEs), using as our case study the MiGen system, which targets 11-14 year old students' learning of algebra. We discuss the challenging role of teachers in exploratory learning settings...

This paper presents a tool for the configuration of logging and authoring of automated feedback for exploratory learning objects (ELOs). This tool has been developed in the context of a larger project that is developing a platform for authoring interactive educational e-books. This platform comprises an extendable set of diverse widgets that can be...

Systematic investigation of the collaborative problem solving process in open-ended, hands-on, physical computing design tasks requires a framework that highlights the main process features, stages and actions that then can be used to provide 'meaningful' learning analytics data. This paper presents an analysis framework that can be used to identif...

This paper describes a computer-based tool that helps teachers group their students for collaborative activities in the context of secondary school math teaching, the challenge being to organize groups of students based on their recent work, so that their collaboration results in meaningful interactions. The complexity of the exploratory learning t...

This paper describes a computer-based tool that helps teachers group their students for collaborative activities in the classroom, the challenge being to organise groups of students based on their recent work so that their collaboration results in meaningful interactions. Students first work on an exploratory task individually, and then the compute...

Practice-based learning activities are an important aspect of education, particularly for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. However, their hands-on and open-ended nature makes them very challenging for students to control and reflect on their own learning. In this poster, we present work towards learning analytics to...

Practice-based learning activities are an important aspect of education, particularly for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Their immense importance to STEM curricula is unequivocal and so are the teachers' and students' need for support during those activities. However, considering the open-ended and hands-on nature...

The Internet of Things can be a useful tool for teaching STEM subjects using a project based practical approach. However, it creates an added layer of complexity to the process of understanding the learning that occurs and to developing appropriate ways to support both the teaching and learning process. The Learning Sciences has much to offer when...

This paper presents the initial results of a study where we embrace and test Entwistle’s theory in order to explain the students’ interaction when using interactive learning environments (ILEs) in real conditions. In contrast to others who seek ways of adapting a system to students’ specific learning style, our aim is to find ways of designing an I...

In this paper, we identify Learning to Learn Together (L2L2) as a new and important educational goal. Our view of L2L2 is a substantial extension of Learning to Learn (L2L): L2L2 consists of learning to collaborate to successfully face L2L challenges. It is inseparable from L2L, as it emerges when individuals face problems that are too difficult fo...

We investigate teachers’ practices in a whole-class context when they scaffold students’ learning in situations where students use technologies that facilitate group learning to solve mathematical problems in small groups. We describe teachers’ practices in order to evaluate their contribution to Whole-Class Scaffolding in the context of a course t...

Upshot: This response addresses the main points from the three commentaries, focusing particularly on additional terms and concepts introduced to the bridging metaphor. We further clarify our call for future research in the area and conclude with reflections about the practical implications emerging from our target article and the commentaries.

Context: In the digital era, it is important to investigate the potential impact of digital technologies in education and how such tools can be successfully integrated into the mathematics classroom. Similarly to many others in the constructionism community, we have been inspired by the idea set out originally by Papert of providing students with a...

The MC squared project (http://www.mc2-project.eu) aims to design and develop a new genre of authorable e-book, which the project calls the ‗c-book‘ (c for creative), extending e-book technologies to include diverse interactive components, learning analytics and collective design. As a research lens, literature from communities of interest (CoI) is...

This paper describes two design principles for designing mathematics tasks using technology. These are: The parallel instantiations principle. Presenting students with a large number of non-prototypical instantiations simultaneously and non-transiently perturbs their thinking and supports thinking-in-change. The discriminating tools principle: Disc...

This paper describes a study that investigated the use of a tool in an exploratory learning environment (ELE) designed to support students' understanding of equivalent fractions. The study, part of a larger project, involved 67 9-11 year old students in England. It addressed the question: How does a partitioning tool support students' conceptual un...

The European ‘MC-squared’ project is fostering several so-called ‘Communities of Interest’ (CoI) in a number of European countries. These communities work on designing and developing digital, interactive, creative, mathematics textbooks, called c-books. The c-books are made in the online digital authoring environment in which authors can construct...

It is widely acknowledged that many children have difficulty learning fractions. Accordingly, we are developing the iTalk2Learn system (www.italk2learn.eu), which aims to facilitate the robust learning of fractions by children in primary and early secondary education. The iTalk2Learn system integrates structured, practice-based tasks with explorato...

We describe a Wizard-of-Oz study that investigates the impact of different types of feedback on students' affective states. Our results indicate the importance of matching carefully the affective state with appropriate feedback in order to help students transition into more positive states. For example when students were confused affect boosts and...

Affective states play a significant role in students' learning behaviour. Positive affective states can enhance learning, while negative ones can inhibit it. This paper describes the development of an affective state reasoner that is able to adapt the feedback type according to students' affective states in order to evoke positive affective states...

This paper reports on our progress on a systematic approach to operationalizing support in Fractions Lab – an exploratory learning environment for learning fractions in primary education. In particular, we focus on the question of what feedback to provide and consider in detail the implementation of feedback according to two dimensions: the purpose...

Students' interaction data from learning environments has an inherent temporal dimension, with successive events being related through the"next event"relationship. Exploratory learning environments (ELEs), in particular, can generate very large volumes of such data, making their interpretation a challenging task. Using two mathematical microworlds...

This paper reports on our progress on a systematic approach to operationalizing support in Fractions Lab – an exploratory learning environment for learning fractions in primary education. In particular, we focus on the question of what feedback to provide and consider in detail the implementation of feedback according to two dimensions: the purpose...

Log files from adaptive Exploratory Learning Environments can contain prohibitively large quantities of data for visualisation and analysis. Moreover, it is hard to know in advance what data is required for analytical purposes. Using a microworld for secondary algebra as a case study, we discuss how students' interaction data can be transformed int...

Log files from adaptive Exploratory Learning Environments can contain prohibitively large quantities of data for visualisation and analysis. Moreover, it is hard to know in advance what data is required for analytical purposes. Using a microworld for secondary algebra as a case study, we discuss how students' interaction data can be transform...