More Like this

1. Conversations Gone Alright: Quantifying and Predicting Prosocial Outcomes in Online Conversations

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3442381.3450122  

   Bao, Jiajun; Wu, Junjie; Zhang, Yiming; Chandrasekharan, Eshwar; Jurgens, David (April 2021, The Web Conference)

   Online conversations can go in many directions: some turn out poorly due to antisocial behavior, while others turn out positively to the benefit of all. Research on improving online spaces has focused primarily on detecting and reducing antisocial behavior. Yet we know little about positive outcomes in online conversations and how to increase them—is a prosocial outcome simply the lack of antisocial behavior or something more? Here, we examine how conversational features lead to prosocial outcomes within online discussions. We introduce a series of new theory-inspired metrics to define prosocial outcomes such as mentoring and esteem enhancement. Using a corpus of 26M Reddit conversations, we show that these outcomes can be forecasted from the initial comment of an online conversation, with the best model providing a relative 24% improvement over human forecasting performance at ranking conversations for predicted outcome. Our results indicate that platforms can use these early cues in their algorithmic ranking of early conversations to prioritize better outcomes. 

   more » « less
2. The Albany Conversations Are Now the Next Generation Conversations: Albany @ Ruston

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s12551-024-01215-4  

   Bishop, Thomas C; Thayer, Kelly M; Young, Robert T (August 2024, Biophysical Reviews)
3. Investigating prosodic entrainment from global conversations to local turns and tones in Mandarin conversations

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2023.102961  

   Xia, Zhihua; Hirschberg, Julia; Levitan, Rivka (September 2023, Speech Communication)
4. Promoting meaningful conversations among prospective teachers.

   https://doi.org/10.37626/GA9783959872188.0.011  

   Bonaccorso, V. D. (September 2022, Building on the Past to Prepare for the Future, Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of The Mathematics Education for the Future Project. Munster: WTM.)
5. Reflection in Engineering Education: Advancing Conversations

   Turns, J.; Mejia, K.; Atman, C. (January 2020, ASEE Conference Proceedings)

   This work, funded by the Engineering Education and Centered directorate, is motivated by a belief in the value of reflection for student learning in engineering, an appreciation of the range of activities that educators can leverage in order to support student reflection, and a sense of the need for resources to help educators make informed decisions in the design of reflection activities for specific situations. Against the backdrop of these ideas, our grant is operating on two levels. On a foundational level, we are establishing empirically informed conceptual frameworks and associated survey instruments that help educators and resources understand (a) what knowledge gains result when students engage in specific reflection activities and (b) what types of reactions students have when they engage in the activity. On a practical level, we are exploring ways to distribute our conceptual frameworks alongside relevant information. With our work, we aim to advance conversations about the potential impact of reflection and conversations about how to leverage reflection in teaching. In the paper and poster, we will focus on both the foundational insights and practical resources that are emerging from this work. 

   more » « less