[LON-CAPA-cvs] cvs: modules /gerd/discussions/paper discussions.tex

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www		Thu Jan  5 12:53:47 2006 EDT

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    /modules/gerd/discussions/paper	discussions.tex 
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Index: modules/gerd/discussions/paper/discussions.tex
diff -u modules/gerd/discussions/paper/discussions.tex:1.35 modules/gerd/discussions/paper/discussions.tex:1.36
--- modules/gerd/discussions/paper/discussions.tex:1.35	Thu Jan  5 12:13:39 2006
+++ modules/gerd/discussions/paper/discussions.tex	Thu Jan  5 12:53:46 2006
@@ -260,7 +260,10 @@
 \end{tabular}
 \end{ruledtabular}
 \end{table}
-All 3394 discussion contributions were classified by the author over the course of two months. 
+All 3394 discussion contributions were classified by the author over the course of two months. Each discussion contribution can only be in one class, for example ``Emotional/Physics-Related/Question.''
+In most cases, classification was straightforward, since the contributions are usally short and targeted. However, in a future study, the design should likely allow for more than one classification, such that each contribution can have fractional membership in more than one class. 
+Reliability and generalizability of the classification could be enhanced by having more than one instructor classifying each contribution, and being able to fractionally consider each 
+judgement in case of disagreements.
 
 Different classes were combined into the following 
 ``superclasses'':
@@ -270,7 +273,8 @@
 contributions. This number would be negative if the problem led to mostly negative emotional comments.
 \item[Type and feature sums] - number of all related contributions belonging to a certain type, subtype, or feature.
 \end{description}  
-While a certain discussion contribution can only be in one class, for example ``Emotional/Physics-Related/Question,'' the same contribution can be in more than one 
+
+A discussion contribution can be in more than one 
 superclass, for example both ``Chat'' and ``Physics-Related.'' Figure~\ref{fig:discussionexample} shows an example of a homework problem and its associated discussion, as well as the appropriate discussion entry classification.
 The majority of the discussion contributions were of type surface-level or procedural, followed by emotional 
 contributions.
@@ -588,7 +592,7 @@
 individual discussion behavior and performance in the course clearly exists (see subsection~\ref{subsec:gradedep}).
 It should be noted that the earlier study dealt with a relatively small set of
 representation-translation problems, some of which involved non-static time-evolving simulations as data-source, while in this study, none of the simulation-based problems were assigned. A future study may need to consider the interpretation of time-evolving 
-simulations as a separate feature, once that more problems of this type exist in the resource pool.
+simulations as a separate feature, once more problems of this type exist in the resource pool.
 \subsection{Influence of the course}
 Few significant differences could be found between the algebra-based and the calculus-based course:
 \begin{itemize}
@@ -642,6 +646,8 @@
 discussions contain less spurious verbiage and slang, and tend to exhibit better grammar and more complete sentences than the spoken word, evaluation is easier.
 The discussion contributions are likely to closely reflect students' actual approach, since students would aim to solve the homework in the way they believe is most efficient. 
 The large number of discussion contributions allows for statistically significant results.
+A disadvantage is that this method depends on problem randomization, and thus can only be used with systems like LON-CAPA. Were the online problems not randomizing, discussions would likely consist of one or two entries only with the final 
+answer, such as ``17.5 m/s" or ``Answer B." Also, the online system must not have a separate discussion area, but provide contextual discussion functionality.
 
 In the current study, a general classification scheme was deployed across physics topics and concepts. However, since the discussions are associated with certain problems, they can be used to study student
 understanding of certain topics.