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1. Exploration Maps, Beyond Top Scores: Designing Formative Feedback for Open-Ended Problems

   Mallavarapu, A. ( July 2020 , Proceedings of The 13th International Conference on Educational Data Mining)

   Anna N. Rafferty, Jacob Whitehill (Ed.)

   Learners are being exposed to abstract skills like innovation, creativity and reasoning through collaborative open-ended problems. Most of these problems, like their real-world counterparts, have no definite starting or ending point, and have no fixed strategies to solve them. To help the learners explore the multiple perspectives of the problem solutions there is an urgent need for designing formative feedback in these environments. Unfortunately, there are barriers to us- ing existing EDM approaches to provide formative feedback to learners in these environments: (1) due to the vast so- lution space, and the lack of verifiability of the solutions it is impossible to create task and expert models, thus mak- ing the detection of the learners progress impractical; (2) formative feedback based on individual learner models does not scale well when many learners are collaborating to solve the same problem. In this work, we redefine formative feed- back as reshaping the learning environment and learners’ exploration paths by exposing/enlisting “fugues” as defined by Reitman [28]. Through a case study approach we, (1) val- idate methods to extract learners’ “fugues” from a collabora- tive open-ended museum exhibit, (2) design formative feed- back for learners and educators using these extracted fugues in real-time, (3) evaluate the impact of exposing fugues to group of learners interacting with the exhibit. 

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2. Exploring the Utility of Social-Network-Derived Collaborative Opportunity Temperature Readings for Informing Design and Research of Large-Group Immersive Learning Environments

   https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2022.7419  

   Mallavarapu, A. ; Lyons, L. ; Uzzo, S. ( January 2022 , Journal of learning analytics)

   Large-group (n > 8) co-located collaboration has not been adequately studied because it demands different conceptual framings than those used to study small-group collaboration, while also posing pragmatic constraints on data collection. Working within these pragmatic constraints, we use video data to devise an indicator of the current possibilities for learner collaboration during large-group co-located interactions. We borrow conceptualizations from proxemics and social network analysis to construct collaborative opportunity networks, allowing us to define the concept of collaborative opportunity temperature (COT) readings: a “snapshot” of the current configuration of the different social subgroup structures within a large group, indicating emergent opportunities for collaboration (via talk or shared action) due to proximity. Using a case study of two groups of people (n = 11, n = 12) who interacted with a multi-user museum exhibit, we outline the processes of deriving COT. We show how to quickly detect differences in subgroup configurations that may result from educational interventions and how COT can triangulate with and complement other forms of data (audio transcripts and activity logs) during lengthier analyses. We also outline how COT readings can be used to supply formative feedback on social engagement to learners and be adapted to other learning environments. 

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3. Examining Collaborative Support for Privacy and Security in the Broader Context of Tech Caregiving

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3479540  

   Kropczynski, Jess ; Ghaiumy Anaraky, Reza ; Akter, Mamtaj ; Godfrey, Amy J. ; Lipford, Heather ; Wisniewski, Pamela J. ( October 2021 , Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction)

   Managing digital privacy and security is often a collaborative process, where groups of individuals work together to share information and give one another advice. Yet, this collaborative process is not always reciprocal or equally shared. In many cases, individuals with more expertise help others without receiving help in return. Therefore, we studied the phenomenon of "Tech Caregiving" by surveying 20 groups (112 individuals) comprised of friends, family members, and/or co-workers who identified at least one member of their group as a someone who provides informal technical support to the people they know. We found that tech caregivers reported significantly higher levels of power use and self-efficacy for digital privacy and security, compared to tech caregivees. However, caregivers and caregivees did not differ based on their self-reportedcommunity collective-efficacy for collaboratively managing privacy and security together as a group. This finding demonstrates the importance of tech caregiving and community belonging in building community collective efficacy for digital privacy and security. We also found that caregivers and caregivees most often communicated via text message or phone when coordinating support, which was most frequently needed when troubleshooting or setting up new devices. Meanwhile, discussions specific to privacy and security represented only a small fraction of the issues for which participants gave or received tech care. Thus, we conclude that educating tech caregivers on how to provide privacy and security-focused support, as well as designing technologies that facilitate such support, has the potential to create positive networks effects towards the collective management of digital privacy and security. 

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4. “Go[ing] Hard...as a Woman of Color”: A Case Study Examining Identity Work within a Performative Dance and Computing Learning Environment

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3531000  

   Desportes, Kayla ; McDermott, Kathleen ; Bergner, Yoav ; Payne, William ( December 2022 , ACM Transactions on Computing Education)

   Performing arts computing environments have received little attention in the educational sphere; yet, they offer opportunities for learners to validate their efforts, ideas, and skills through showcasing their work in a public-facing performance. In this work, we explore an out-of-school dance and computing educational program run by the organization, STEM From Dance. The organizational mission is to create an equitable learning experience for young women of color to engage with computing while exposing them to STEM careers. Through an analysis of eleven interviews with youth participants, instructors, and the executive director, we examine how the social, cultural, and political dimensions of the learning environment facilitate identity work in computing and dance. Our findings point to three primary activities used by the organization to promote equity: (1) providing psychological safety through a supportive community environment, (2) meaningfully engaging with learners’ social and cultural context through creative work with constructionist artifacts, and (3) actively promoting identity work as women of color in computing and STEM through both artifact work and community events. Applying the constructs of identity and psychological safety we explore the tensions and synergies of designing for equity in this performing arts and computing learning environment. We demonstrate how the seemingly contradictory elements of a high-stakes performance within a novice learning environment provides unique opportunities for supporting young women of color in computing, making them non-negotiable in the organization’s efforts to promote equity and inclusion. Our work illustrates how attending closely to the sociocultural dimensions in a constructionist learning environment provides lenses for navigating equity, identity work, and support for inclusive computing. 

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5. Continuing to Talanoa: storytelling dialogues for youth engagement in climate action and justice

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s42055-023-00070-7  

   Hautzinger, Sarah ( February 2024 , Sustainable Earth Reviews)

   This article recounts a classroom application of a dialogue, story-telling process used at COPs beginning in 2017. In that year, the Fijian President of the United Nations climate summit, COP23 in Bonn, proposed the entire assembly use his nation’s Talanoa Dialogue process for building ambition for national commitments to the Paris Agreement. When youth, women’s and Indigenous voices were heard in unprecedented ways, many committed to continuing the practice. A florescence of the Asian-Pacific-inspired, conflict-resolution storytelling and dialogue practice ensued, with some continuing for years afterward. This paper recounts eight rounds of varied Talanoa Dialogues employed in higher education contexts. Purposes ranged from internal team-building, to forging community partnerships, to serving as vehicles for youth representation in international contexts like climate COPs. All dialogues nonetheless prioritized listening, recording, and representation through ethnographic, anthropological lenses. These experiences support recommendations to (1) Create chances for youth to listen empathetically to the stories of others in ways attentive to varied national, ethnic and other intersectional (e.g. gendered, class-based) social locations, expanding their awareness and linking their affective and intellectual selves; (2) Make opportunities for youth to voice their own stories and perspectives on climate challenges and work, considering their developmental trajectories in intergenerational contexts, while emphasizing the need to “scale” from individual through global dimensions; (3) Explore the implications of borrowing from exogenous cultural traditions, considering what factors may render this relatively legitimate, as opposed to appropriative. I explore particularities of the cultural origins of Talanoa Dialogues, which mediate hierarchy and egalitarianism, arguing that this function is especially apt for navigating conundrums of youth leadership and so-called “youth-washing.”

    

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