Title: Towards balanced discussions in the classroom using ambient information visualisations

Authors: Sven Charleer; Joris Klerkx; Erik Duval; Tinne De Laet; Katrien Verbert

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200A, 3001 Leuven, Belgium ' Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200A, 3001 Leuven, Belgium ' Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200A, 3001 Leuven, Belgium ' Tutorial Services of Engineering Science, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200I, 3001 Leuven, Belgium ' Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200A, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

Abstract: In a collaborative learning environment, the promotion and support of well-balanced student participation is an important step towards the achievement of learning outcomes. Ambient information visualisations can help raise awareness of the balance of distribution in meetings and small learner groups. This paper explores the use of ambient information in the classroom, where we attempt to encourage a proper balance of feedback between student groups during 'design critique' studio sessions. The contribution of the paper is two-fold: (1) we present necessary design choices for ambient visualisations that promote feedback balance in classrooms, motivating under-participators while limiting over-participation (2) we show the effects on student perception and feedback participation through the actual deployment of such visualisations in 'real classroom sessions'.

Keywords: ambient displays; AIV; ambient information visualisation; awareness; classroom learning activities; design critique; discussion participation; learning analytics; participation balance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTEL.2017.084501

International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 2017 Vol.9 No.2/3, pp.227 - 253

Received: 31 Jan 2016
Accepted: 31 Aug 2016
Published online: 09 Jun 2017 *

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