Awareness Indicators

Part of a defined a set of attributes characterizing the e-discussion or collaborative session (in terms of participation, interaction, structure, etc). The indicators included should enable better learning and awareness regarding what is going on in the session. These attributes are computed by analyzing the actions users take on the collaboration/discussion interface. (ARGUNAUT Deliverable 1.1.).

Each Awareness Indicator of a particular e-discussion provides summarized information about an important aspect of the e-discussion. An indicator may be a relatively easily computed aspect of the e-discussion, such as how many times each student has contributed to the conversation, or a more complex analysis component, such as whether the students have been or are currently engaged in critical reasoning.

The goal is to provide enough – but not too many – Awareness Indicators to support the moderator in making his or her own judgments about the on-going conversation and deciding whether to intervene. One of the key empirical goals of the ARGUNAUT project is to identify and implement the Awareness Indicators that will have the most impact on moderation. (M4.1, by Bruce M. McLaren? & Oliver Scheuer, DFKI).