News – Page 2 – Learning Informatics Lab

LIL Faculty Chen, Scharber, and DeLiema Awarded NSF Grant

LIL Faculty Bodong Chen, Cassie Scharber, and David DeLiema were awarded an NSF grant to develop a justice-oriented, tech-enhanced learning program that integrates critical data literacies in science and social studies. “DataX: Exploring Justice-Oriented Data Science with Secondary School Students” is a project that aims to help St. Paul Public School students learn how to use data in meaningful and authentic ways. The two-year project will iteratively advance curriculum, a web-based platform, and pedagogical design components of the DataX program.

See the full abstract here.

New Publication by LIL Faculty Cassie Scharber

Lana Peterson and Cassie Scharber recently published an article in collaboration with their long-term community partners in Austin Public Schools, MN describing the ways this K-12 school district shifted to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full article here.

Co-Director Bodong Chen and PhD Student Basel Hussein present at Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference

Bodong Chen and PhD student Basel Hussein recently presented a study in a workshop at the 11th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge conference. Their paper, titled “Modelling Network Dynamics in Social Annotation,” examines complex network dynamics in collaborative web annotation in an online classroom. Departing from a conceptual exploration of social interaction in web annotation as a mediated process, as well as a dissatisfaction with analytical methods applied to web annotation data, they analyzed student interaction data from a web annotation environment following the Relational Event Modelling approach. Results found several network factors including student activity, reciprocity, annotation popularity, and annotation location playing important roles, while longer annotations were also slightly more likely to attract replies. This study contributes empirical insights into web annotation and calls for future work to investigate mediated social interaction as a dynamic network phenomenon.

View the presentation slides here.

LIL Faculty Bye and Varma Receive Disciplinary Diversity & Integration Award

Vimal Rao, PhD student in the quantitative methods in education program in the Department of Educational Psychology, Jeffrey Bye, lecturer in the psychological foundations of education program, and Sashank Varma, formerly a professor in the psychological foundations of education program now at Georgia Tech, have been awarded a Disciplinary Diversity & Integration Award by the Cognitive Science Society. The trio are receiving the honor for their paper, “Categorical perception of p-values.”

According to CSS, the Disciplinary Diversity & Integration Award recognizes the best cognitive science research in disciplines that have been traditionally under-represented at its annual conferences and journals. All submissions must include interdisciplinary perspectives and integrative approaches to understanding the human mind.

See full post

Journal of Learning Sciences names LIL core faculty DeLiema a Reviewer of the Year

Dr. David DeLiema, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and core faculty of the Learning Informatics Lab, has been named a Reviewer of the Year by the Journal of Learning Sciences (JLS). DeLiema was recognized for his timely, thorough reviews and invaluable mentorship to authors. He is one of eight reviewers to receive the honor for 2020.

This award acknowledges Dr. DeLiema’s generous and deeply pedagogical reviews, which promote the best in scholars seeking to disseminate their work and is consistent with what we see in his interactions with students and colleagues.

College of Education and Human Development interim dean Michael Rodriguez explains of the honor.

Read the full article here.

LIL Co-Director Kendeou awarded Distinguished McKnight University Professorship

Kendeou’s cutting-edge research on the cognitive processes of reading comprehension advances our understanding of reading and transforms reading instruction in K-12 schools.

Panayiota (Pani) Kendeou, Guy Bond Chair in Reading, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology’s psychological foundations of education program, and co-director of the Learning Informatics Lab has been awarded the Distinguished McKnight University Professorship. The Professorship is awarded to outstanding faculty members who have recently achieved full professor status. It is a title Kendeou will carry throughout her University career. She is one of seven University professors receiving the award in 2021.

Read the full article here

SoLAR Statement on Social Justice and Dismantling Injustice in Education

Bodong and Sashank — Lab co-director Bodong Chen participated in the drafting of the SoLAR Statement on Social Justice & Dismantling Injustice in Education.
We support the SoLAR statement and encourage everyone to learn, reflect, and take action.

From SoLAR Executive Committee: Statement of Support and Call for Action

C&I’s Bodong Chen Leads Learning Analytics Webinar

Associate Professor Bodong Chen of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction recently co-led an invited learning analytics webinar organized by the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR). The talk, “Analyzing Learning and Teaching through the Lens of Networks,” attracted more than 200 remote attendees. Together with Dr. Sasha Poquet from the University of South Australia, Chen shared the latest research in the use of networks in learning analytics as a methodology for understanding learning and the connections involved. Using case studies to demonstrate the usefulness of network analysis, they argue for greater consideration of learning as a networked phenomenon and call for future learning analytics work in this area.

A recording of the webinar has been uploaded to the SoLAR website as a learning resource for the community. It is also available below:

Learning Informatics Lab Featured in Connect Magazine

https://connect.cehd.umn.edu/understanding-learning-through-data

Lab co-directors Sashank Varma (left) and Bodong Chen discuss the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) new Learning Informatics Lab in the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Connect.

LIL Core Faculty DeLiema selected as a 2020 NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow

David DeLiema, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and core faculty member of the Learning Informatics Lab, has been named a 2020 National Academy of Education/Spencer (NAEd/Spencer) Postdoctoral Fellow.