mBook

Using the example of a multimedia book (‚mBook’ for lower secondary school) it is investigated how individual competency development, i.e. the concrete use of a multimedia textbook in institutional and home learning environments describable with log data, can be explained.
For the project history didacts, empirical educational and educational data mining researchers cooperate. This interdisciplinary co-operation aims at analysing user data, e.g. log data from the use of the mBook, by using complex statistical methods of machine learning, making statements about probable user behaviour as well as creating relations between use and learning success. By this means, mBook shall be optimized concerning handling and increase of competence. For this purpose, we are investigating the integration of suggestions (“This could be also interesting for you”) as well as personalized comprehension questions (see adaptive testing).
Therefore, the project innovatively contributes to the question, to which extent multimedia textbooks, depending on personal learning style, can support competency oriented learning of students. 

Objectives

In the context of the DIPF- 2015 proposal for mBook four objectives shall be achieved:

1. Joint Project Proposal

Preliminary studies shall be conducted for submitting a project proposal to the German Research Foundation (DFG) or Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) together with the co-operating partners, Catholic University of Eichstätt and the University of Tübingen.

2. Application Modeling Technique

The developed modeling techniques of machine learning shall be applied in the context of learner related process data.

3. Intensification of Co-Operation

The co-operation of the involved areas and teams shall be intensified.

4. Research Data Infrastructure at DIPF

The infrastructure of mBook shall be located at DIPF to gain experience with new data, e.g. log data and their exploitation for empirical research. Perspectively, the collected project experience offers the possibility to fathom the inclusion of log data in the Research Data Centre (RDC) to provide DIPF a further national as well as international unique feature regarding research data infrastructure.

 

Funding: DIPF

Cooperation: Catholic University of Eichstätt, University of Tübingen

Duration: since 11/2013

Project manager: Heiko Rölke

Contact: Ulf Brefeld, Frank Goldhammer, Ulf Kröhne

Further Links: The multimedial textbook