Knowledge Map and Chat tool

Connecting an electronic reference book with topic based text chat between learners – The Aachen University Scenario

RWTH Aachen University is using ROLE technology in a Computer Science course. They created an electronic reference book, the Web 2.0 Knowledge Map, as a kind of improved Wikipedia system. The application supports students in looking up factual knowledge needed in their homework assignments to design computer software. Students can search for knowledge articles by entering topic keywords and navigate from the current article to related articles using hyperlinks. It is based on semantic net technology, where hyperlinks are not just links, but belong to predefined categories, each bearing a meaning, as a named relation. The Knowledge Map tool won the second prize in the 2010 International E-Learning Association Awards, in the category “Academic Blended Learning”.

RWTH instructors used ROLE technology to create a learning environment, with the Knowledge Map tool in its centre and additional closely linked learning tools Chat and Personal History attached to it, adding meaningful services (see the figure below). The Chat tool allows learners to communicate with instant chat messages and to see the online status of other learners. It is integrated with the Knowledge Map by automatically creating a separate chat room for each topic that is currently read by a learner. Learners will see the topics other learners are reading and can quickly join them in the topic specific chat room to discuss their understanding of the topic and how it relates to their homework assignment. The Personal History tool records the topics visited in the Knowledge Map and allows quickly navigating back to previous topics. In addition it records user interactions with the Knowledge Map to enable the creation of usage statistics. In the future this data can be used to automatically provide the learner with recommendations of learning content and learning peers.

More than 180 students from a Mechanical Engineering Computer Science course used the learning environment successfully April to July 2010. Both usage data and student feedback were recorded and analysed.

Organizational context and tools used

The “Center for Learning and Knowledge Management and Department of Information Management in Mechanical Engineering” (ZLW/IMA) at RWTH Aachen University, Germany uses ROLE technology in the context of the lecture “Informatik im Maschinenbau" (Computer Science in Mechanical Engineering) with more than 1000 students each summer term. In the context of a dedicated project task, students train practical foundations in software development on the example of a marshalling yard management tool. The project task takes place in a computer pool with 220 workstations. The usage of e-learning tools also outside the courses supports teaching. One of these e-learning tools is the Web 2.0 Knowledge Map (WKM). The WKM is a semantic-net based tool which is similar to a Wiki and its supports a non-linear learning approach. For the summer term 2010 the original WKM was enhanced by ROLE technologies. In particular, the original WKM was transferred to a Widget-based environment as a bundle of different widgets interacting with each other via ROLE Interwidget Communication. Figure 1 shows the current interface of the ROLE version of the WKM.

The design of the ROLE version of the WKM was motivated by the following main goals:

• improve student knowledge about computer science in mechanical engineering
• improve general skills such as scanning, multitasking and processing of discontinued information
• guide and support students in a self-regulated and non-linear learning process
• augment traditional lecture format with provision of interactive learning environment
• motivate, introduce & provide high-quality basic knowledge using multimedia material
• provide interactive reference book on lecture contents for exam preparation
• support interest-based real-time communication & collaboration in learner communities

 Technical Realization

In order to support the goals for an interactive learning environment augmenting the traditional lecture, the original WKM was embedded into the overall ROLE technical infrastructure. The ROLE version of the WKM was realized as a collaboration between ZLW/IMA and Chair of Computer Science 5 - Information Systems & Databases at RWTH Aachen University as well as the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology.

Realization as intercommunicating widgets

The environment is composed of three intercommunicating widgets as marked in the figure below:

1. WKM Widget: a widgetized version of the original WKM
2. Multiuser Chat Widget: general or topic-related group chats & presence information
3. History Widget: tracks individual learning activities and shows personal history of visited topics

 The following examples of widget communication events demonstrate a selection of implemented interactions:

• Entering a Topic-based Chat Room on Topic Selection: when a student selects a topic from the WKM, a corresponding chat room is entered in the chat widget. At the same time the student's online status is changed to the new topic in real-time and visible to and clickable for other students.
• Following a User’s Activity: when a student clicks the online status of another student, he navigates to the corresponding topic in the WKM, in turn triggering an event to enter the corresponding topic-specific chat room.
• Real-time Updates of Learning History: when a student selects a topic from the WKM, the selected topic appears at the top of his personal history.

 Enabling technologies used

Following the overall ROLE approach of open standard compliant Widget-based learning environments, the WKM was implemented involving the following enabling technologies:

• OpenSocial (http://www.opensocial.org/): OpenSocial is a set of common application programming interfaces (APIs) for web-based social network applications, developed by Google along with MySpace and a number of other social networks. Applications implementing the OpenSocial APIs will be interoperable with any social network system that supports them. The ROLE version of the WKM is deployed in Apache Shindig (http://shindig.apache.org/), the open source reference implementation of an OpenSocial container.

• XMPP (http://xmpp.org/): The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) is an open standard technology for real-time communication, which powers a wide range of applications including instant messaging, presence, multiuser chat, and collaboration. The ROLE version of the WKM offers XMPP-based features such as topic-based chat rooms and real-time information on current presence and learning activities.

• Interwidget Communication (IWC): With interwidget communication, individual widget functionalities can be combined to realize complete application workflows. ROLE leverages various forms of both local and remote collaboration and communication among. The ROLE version of the WKM demonstrates local IWC using technologies such as PMRPC (http://code.google.com/p/pmrpc/) and Google Gadget PubSub being part of the OpenSocial specifications. A basic form of remote IWC was demonstrated with the new WKM chat functionality.

• Monitoring: All learning activities are tracked by the history widget and persisted as Contextualized Attention Metadata. The ROLE version of the WKM was the first test-bed producing real-life usage data, which later on served for producing recommendations and as a basis for further development of the WKM and ROLE technologies in general.

User Experience Report

The ROLE version of the WKM was introduced in the lecture “Computer Science in Mechanical Engineering” at RWTH Aachen University in summer term 2010 (April 2010 – September 2010). The teaching period took place from Mid-April until end of July.

Usage data

ROLE used several approaches to capture user experiences in this period. For the ROLE version of the WKM we used the history widget, which tracks learner interaction. The figure below depicts system usage over the summer term 2010. Further user experiences were collected in think-aloud sessions with learners using the WKM as well as from the feedback form integrated in the WKM.

User feedback

The following experiences were derived from usage data and learner reports:

• General satisfaction with original WKM
• helpful and satisfying tool with a few acceptable bugs and usability issues
• Many helpful materials can be downloaded
• Index is a good entry page
• Online video lectures, embedded Wikipedia links are useful
• Suited to be worked through by students
• Students liked the comprehensiveness of the reference book
• Students requested more tools to be freely configurable in an enhanced version of the ROLE WKM:
• More Communication & Collaboration tools (supporting ROLE efforts in Real-time IWC)
• Seamless integration of chat contents in WKM topic pages (refers to IWC)
• Longer history list
• External Chat (already possible due to usage of XMPP, but possibility unknown to students)
• Improved UI experience incl. visual clues (e.g. more explicit incoming chat notifications)
• More interaction with learning contents (e.g. simulation applets, self-assessment, etc.)
• More personalization (e.g. resizing of UI elements)
• One can see what others learn/see at the moment. This may be a privacy issue, although only pseudonyms and not real names are visible.

Future development and usage

Aachen University will continue to use the ROLE based learning environment in the upcoming terms. The Personal History tool already records the topics visited in the Knowledge Map and other user interactions. In the future this data will be used to automatically provide the learners with recommendations of learning content and learning peers that match their current learning interest.

Further resources

1. ROLE project homepage at RWTH Aachen University at Chair Computer Science 5
2. RWTH Aachen University Institute ZLW/IWA