Data mining interactions in a 3D immersive enviroment for real-time feedback during simulated surgery

An illustration of the sources and data types used in cyber analytics (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The presenter, Gregor Kennedy, started by saying that this is a bit of an odd presentation. He was presenting on behalf of quite a big team, including a couple of data mining experts. Learning analytics are a hot topic..."and why not?" Kennedy said that it is a gold mine for providing information to identify students who are at risk, and promoting a shared understanding. Learning analytics looks at the micro level of what students do in virtual environments (which are usually 'hidden') to understand what they are doing. Academic analytics offers a much more macro view, and is more of managers and administrators rather than students and educators.

The intelligent tutoring system grew out of the 60s - you have an area of knowledge within a domain, and the model indicates what students are expected to do within a specific pedagogical model. There is a long history of educators being interested in learning analytics, although they weren't necessarily very sure what they were going to do with it. By the 1980s intelligent tutoring systems were discredited, in part because of the rigidity of the model and approach.

There are some concerns with learning analytics. They are often descriptive (useful), but do not complete the feedback loop for students. There is quite a rich body of research around how students use technology.

A demonstration of one of the simulations gave us an idea of what and how students can experience in this type of 3D environment and some of the benefits. The haptic controls mean that the students can 'feel' the different textures that they would if they were actually performing the surgery. Usually a surgeon will sit on the shoulder of a student to give feedback as the student performs surgery. In this trial there were 30 novices and 30 experts involved in simulator rums. Data was collected throughout and categorised (e.g. burr metrics, anatomical structure metrics, and bone specimen metrics). The idea was that by using the data they could gain a sophisticated understanding of what was 'going on'. Forty-five percent of the surgeries were completed, with an average force magnitude of less than 0.23 Newtons, when this was the case 78% of these were performed by novices.

The presentation was interesting and it was good to see an approach evaluated so rigorously. The patterns of behaviour demonstrated by a novice were identified, and this means that feedback can be given to assist students to improve their skills. There is a balance between providing feedback, and knowing about a particular student's behaviour. The way this was resolved was by looking at a surgeon's usual micro pauses, and then make decisions as to whether feedback was given. Making meaning from the data is tricky - and there needs to be a conceptual framework that you need to keep going back to to make sense of the data (in this case going back to the surgeons). There is a lot of data and a lot of 'noise' too, which makes this tricky.

Future steps include providing different types of feedback (not just around force), and finding different ways of providing feedback to users who are concentrating on a task in a virtual world.

Related articles

• Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics
• Colleges Look To Data Mining As A Tool To Help Students Succeed

Inspiration, skills, and feedback via video: Introducing Russell Stannard

Have you come across Russell Stannard? He has been doing some really interesting things around recording video feedback for students, as well as creating (free) videos for teacher professional development. It is well worth checking him out, especially if you teach English as an Additional Language or have a similar language support role.

Below is an extract from the monthly newsletter that you can subscribe to if you want to stay up to date with the work Russell is doing.

"Welcome to the January 2012 TeacherTrainingVideos.com newsletter. Happy new year to you. I didn't send out a newsletter in December so you will get 2 this month and each one will have new content. I have quite a few new videos set up to share.
This month there are new videos on how to use Smartboard software. So if you use a Smartboard IWB then these videos will really help you. There are also new videos on the fabulous Audioboo podcasting tool. If you want to create podcasts or get your students to create them, then you will find these really useful. There is also a set of videos on a fabulous video mail tool, which is great for getting your students to do speaking activities. There is also my latest audioboo, an recent article of mine in the Guardian and lots more: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/iwb2/index.html

Audioboo-Great Podcasting Tool
Audioboo is a great tool for podcasting and it is free. It can also work with smart phones, so great for doing podcasts on the run. The videos take you through everything and even show you how to connect your audioboos so that they can be found on iTunes! Great tool and easy to use.
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/audioboo/index.html

Jing
If you want to learn to use JING, the fabulous tool I use for creating the feedback videos, then here is the link.
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/Jing/index.html".


 

Derek Wenmoth shared the following online safety, interactive game, writing:

It's a cyber-safety resource developed by an Australian company that I linked with in Tasmania earlier this year. They have produced a number of interactive resources like this, many focusing on cyber safety and cyber citizenship. Last year the Australian government paid for one of their products to be made available free to all schools

So I went and had a play. I was hooked, and really enjoyed the environment, the game aspect (you get points and bonus points), the opportunity to learn from errors (you get more chances with similar scenarios), and it was also a great way to check my own knowledge about staying safe online. You could use the game in a collaborative environment, and add a competitive edge by asking users to share (and get better) scores. It was suggested that the game would be suitable for children from about year 4 to 5 upwards, and I would add, for adults too!

A couple of slightly irritating features for me were sometimes the task was a bit unclear (but could just be me!) - and this meant that you would get an incomplete response and be given another opportunity to respond - not so helpful if you're not sure exactly what is required. In this case the tool stopped testing what the player new about staying safe in the online environment, and started to test familiarity with interactive task interfaces. It was also pointed out by Anne Sturgess in the discussion that followed Derek's initial sharing that "I didn't notice whether or not there was an opportunity for players to find out what they could do to ensure they made the correct choice in a real situation (e.g. checking security on an online shopping site)" On the whole though - a big thumbs up.

Derek would be keen to receive any feedback you may have about your experiences with the Grapple challenge, so if you post comments below, I'll be sure to pass them on :-)

How do I measure the effects of shifts in my professional practice?

This presentation looks at how self-reflections is positioned in relation to evaluation, feedback, assessment and research (and also looks at possible definitions and purposes). Links to a video and a Prezi around reflective practice as a personal and school-wide activity are included - which are complemented by a concrete example provided by the principal of Matapu school, Rick Whalley.

How do I measure the effects of shifts in my professional practice?

Feedback and Feedforward: Assessment for enhancing learning in an online environment

Image by hazelowendmc via Flickr

A clear, well-explained video that talks about the role of the teacher (transmission to facilitation / mediation) and the student (novice to expert) on a journey from acquisition of content to participation and reflection. One of the really useful things about this video is that it provides a framework which can be used to map assessments, and suggests which tools in Moodle may be used at which points along the learning journey (in both online and face-to-face courses).

The term 'feedback is defined as assessment of learning, and 'feedforward' as assessment for learning.

One thing I found enlightening was hearing the students who had been involved in the piloting of the framework and course, speak about their experiences.

Feedback and Feedforward: Assessment for enhancing learning in an online environment from Ako Aotearoa on Vimeo.

Related articles

• Rubric for assessing student created learning (macictinteraction.wordpress.com)
• Mark Reed: What is Social Learning? (peopleandplace.net)
• Great student project examples, lesson ideas and links integrating media #learning2cn (speedofcreativity.org)

Pedagogy, Policing or Preventing Plagiarism? Experiences with facilitating Professional Development and Turnitin

This was a paper Vickel Narayan and I presented at the eFest meets Teaching & Learning conference, UCOL 2009. It was an interesting experience at a vibrant conference. A time for firsts, it was Vickel's first time to present and write an academic paper for a conference, and it was the first time that we had written and presented together. I felt that we both learned a lot on the way, from each other, from the feedback we gathered from the audience (see below), and from reflecting on how well it went on the day.

It was an interesting audience, and it was great to have much more of a discussion underway throughout the session. There appeared to be a lot of sharing of experiences, strategies, and problems faced, which saw the audience fully engaged. Throughout the session there was also a couple of people Tweeting about main points, and I found this was a great way, afterwards to see how people had interpreted what had been said, and what they saw as central points. It was also great to find out, for example, that the mindmap I had made building on previous work I'd done in 2006, was in fact useful and did illustrate some key factors behind why learners plagiarise.

All in all, judging from the comments, the discussion, and the feedback, I think the audience went away with some new ideas and approaches, as well as affirmation that they 'not alone'! :-)

To access the accompanying handout: http://www.scribd.com/full/20133056?access_key=key-2kh798rentwwpywxfd9l

To access the full paper: http://www.scribd.com/full/18077894?access_key=key-2d8r0452hsbwlgdffwx7

Feedback

• Excellent; general overview; positive approach to manage plagiarism
• Session was great. Just enough time to have our discussion!
• Liked the suggestion: getting students to have constructive dialogue about plagiarism
• Love the handout w the links. Thanks heaps. T
• I enjoyed the session but needs longer time for discussion
• Plagiarism is a lot more than I realised
• Important - see a way to move from punitive to formative
• "Use a free tool for formative use" - this was a new idea for me! Thanks for all the links - I will use
• Good to see Turnitin as a formative tool rather than punitive
  
• Turnitin as a tool - not the answer
• Thanks for the references
• Cultural issues seem to be the main factor but I value the deterrence factor and want to improve arguments

Abstract: Plagiarism is a global issue that needs to be addressed by all educators and learners. This paper considers a simple definition of plagiarism, and then briefly considers reasons why students plagiarise. At Unitec NZ, Te Puna Ako: The Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation (TPA:CTLI) is working closely with faculty, managers, student support services and library personnel to introduce strategies and tools that can be integrated into programmes and curricula whilst remaining flexible enough to be tailored for specific learners. The authors therefore provide an overview of one of the tools available to check student work for plagiarism - Turnitin - and describe the academic Professional Development (PD) approaches that have been put in place to share existing expertise, as well as help staff at Unitec NZ to use the tool in pedagogically informed ways, which also assist students in its use. Evaluation and results are considered, before concluding with some recommendations. It goes on to theorise how blended programmes that fully integrate academic literacy skills and conventions might be used to positively scaffold students in the avoidance of plagiarism. Conference participants will be asked to comment on and discuss their institutions' approach to supporting the avoidance of plagiarism (including the utilisation of PDS and other deterrents), describe their own personal experiences, and relate the strategies they employ in their teaching practice and assessment design to help their learners avoid plagiarism. It is planned to record the session so that the audience's narratives can be shared with other practitioners.

Please cite as: Owen, H., & Narayan, V. (2009, 29 Sept - 01 Oct). Pedagogy, Policing or Preventing Plagiarism? Experiences with facilitating Professional Development and Turnitin. Paper presented at the Teaching excellence - excellence in teaching: Teaching and Learning Conference Meets eFest 2009, Universal College of Learning (UCOL), Palmerston North.

Pedagogy, Policing or Preventing Plagiarism? Experiences with facilitating Professional Development and Turnitin

View more presentations from Hazel Owen.