A mathematics rendering model to support chat-based tutoring
- Authors: Haskins, Bertram Peter
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Intelligent tutoring systems , Educational innovations , Tutors and tutoring
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:9822 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020567
- Description: Dr Math is a math tutoring service implemented on the chat application Mxit. The service allows school learners to use their mobile phones to discuss mathematicsrelated topics with human tutors. Using the broad user-base provided by Mxit, the Dr Math service has grown to consist of tens of thousands of registered school learners. The tutors on the service are all volunteers and the learners far outnumber the available tutors at any given time. School learners on the service use a shorthand language-form called microtext, to phrase their queries. Microtext is an informal form of language which consists of a variety of misspellings and symbolic representations, which emerge spontaneously as a result of the idiosyncrasies of a learner. The specific form of microtext found on the Dr Math service contains mathematical questions and example equations, pertaining to the tutoring process. Deciphering the queries, to discover their embedded mathematical content, slows down the tutoring process. This wastes time that could have been spent addressing more learner queries. The microtext language thus creates an unnecessary burden on the tutors. This study describes the development of an automated process for the translation of Dr Math microtext queries into mathematical equations. Using the design science research paradigm as a guide, three artefacts are developed. These artefacts take the form of a construct, a model and an instantiation. The construct represents the creation of new knowledge as it provides greater insight into the contents and structure of the language found on a mobile mathematics tutoring service. The construct serves as the basis for the creation of a model for the translation of microtext queries into mathematical equations, formatted for display in an electronic medium. No such technique currently exists and therefore, the model contributes new knowledge. To validate the model, an instantiation was created to serve as a proof-of-concept. The instantiation applies various concepts and techniques, such as those related to natural language processing, to the learner queries on the Dr Math service. These techniques are employed in order to translate an input microtext statement into a mathematical equation, structured by using mark-up language. The creation of the instantiation thus constitutes a knowledge contribution, as most of these techniques have never been applied to the problem of translating microtext into mathematical equations. For the automated process to have utility, it should perform on a level comparable to that of a human performing a similar translation task. To determine how closely related the results from the automated process are to those of a human, three human participants were asked to perform coding and translation tasks. The results of the human participants were compared to the results of the automated process, across a variety of metrics, including agreement, correlation, precision, recall and others. The results from the human participants served as the baseline values for comparison. The baseline results from the human participants were compared with those of the automated process. Krippendorff’s α was used to determine the level of agreement and Pearson’s correlation coefficient to determine the level of correlation between the results. The agreement between the human participants and the automated process was calculated at a level deemed satisfactory for exploratory research and the level of correlation was calculated as moderate. These values correspond with the calculations made as the human baseline. Furthermore, the automated process was able to meet or improve on all of the human baseline metrics. These results serve to validate that the automated process is able to perform the translation at a level comparable to that of a human. The automated process is available for integration into any requesting application, by means of a publicly accessible web service.
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- Date Issued: 2014
An investigation into patterns of interaction in small teaching groups at Rhodes University, with particular emphasis on the effect of gender, mother-tongue and educational background
- Authors: Hunt, Sally Ann
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Tutors and tutoring , Multicultural education--South Africa , Group work in education , Small groups--Study and teaching (Higher)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2350 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002632 , Tutors and tutoring , Multicultural education--South Africa , Group work in education , Small groups--Study and teaching (Higher)
- Description: The assumption underlying this study is that knowledge is constructed through interaction. Small teaching groups, or tutorials, are often regarded as a particularly effective context for learning in the setting of tertiary education in that they provide an environment for free interaction between students, and thus facilitate active learning. Factors which systematically affect the degree of participation of the individual in tutorIals -directly affect the learning experience of that individual and raise questions about the equality achieved in tutorials, in terms of opportunities for learning. This study focuses on one such type of factor: culturally acquired norms of interaction. The individual is seen as a composite of cultural identities, utilising norms acquired through socialisation and experience in appropriate contexts. Previous research has demonstrated that gendered norms of interaction and those associated with the individual's mother-tongue are particularly salient. In the educational context, norms acquired through previous experience of education are likely to be carried over to the new setting of the university. Thus these factors form the focus of this study. One flrst-year tutorial from each of five departments in the Faculties of Arts and Social Science at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, was video-recorded and the data thus obtained was analyzed for patterns of interaction in terms of gender, mother-tongue and educational background. A model of utterance types was developed to provide a structured description of the patterns found in the tutorials. Interviews and video-sessions with a sample of the tutorial members were conducted, which add a qualitative dimension to the investigation and allow for triangulation. The recorded tutorials and interviews reveal a marked awareness amongst students of the composition of tutorial groups in terms of gender and ethnicity and this composition appears to affect the relative participation of students, in that members of numerically dominant groups are more willing to participate. This is particularly clear in the case of female students. With regard to second-language (L2) speakers of English, a number of factors are highlighted which tend to decrease participation. Apart from problems with English as the medium of instruction, these students tend to be reluctant to participate due to cultural norms, according to which students, as subordinates, should not take the initiative in interaction, in order to show appropriate respect. Patterns of interaction by L2 students from racially integrated schools, however, do not conform to this set of norms as strongly. It is argued that sensitivity is required to address this situation and a number of options are presented.
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- Date Issued: 1997