Automated instructional design for CSCL: A hierarchical task network planning approach

Highlights

• A formalization of instructional design for CSCL using HTN planning is proposed.

• We used the proposed formalization to model and design adaptive CSCL scenarios.

• To validate our approach a CSCL courseware generator was created.

• Case studies are presented showing that the generator can automatically design personalized CSCL scenarios.

Abstract

In Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), one of the most important tasks for instructional designers is to define scenarios that foster group learning. Such scenarios, defined as Units of Learning (UoLs), comprise different components and are organized according to pedagogical approaches to orchestrate group learning processes. Examples of UoL components are learning objects, student roles, student characteristics (e.g., background, preferences, learning styles, etc.), instructional/learning goals, and activities, among others. Thus, the instructional design (ID) of a proper UoL for CSCL is a complex task that requires practice and experience. This is particularly true when designing, developing, adapting, and customizing UoLs, taking into consideration different instructional/learning goals and individual preferences of students. This paper therefore proposes using a Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) planning approach to automate and optimize the tasks of designers. To accomplish that, we define an initial CSCL scenario as “an ID task” and “a set of information related to students and the domain to be taught.” Then we propose a model that formally describes ID for CSCL as HTN planning, where the initial CSCL scenario is adapted and refined according to student needs. In this model, the ID strategies are defined as hierarchical tasks and methods into a planning domain definition, and the initial CSCL scenario is defined as a planning problem definition. To validate our approach, we develop a CSCL courseware generator that (i) helps designers to set up an initial CSCL scenario; (ii) automatically generates a personalized UoL based on a given initial scenario; and (iii) supports the adaptation of UoLs.

Introduction

The design and orchestration of effective and well thought out Collaborative Learning (CL) scenarios is a challenge that the Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) community has faced for several decades (Dillenbourg, 2002; Kobbe et al., 2007). The goal of creating a scenario in the context of group learning is to properly structure the interactions among peers, thereby increasing the learning gains of individuals. Such a scenario, defined as a Unit of Learning (UoL), is a delimited piece of education or training, such as a course, module, or lesson, in which the elements describing “what should to be taught” are structured according to different pedagogical approaches to define “the way in which participants (students and teachers) should interact.”

Development, adaptation, and customization of UoLs for CSCL requires careful instructional design (ID). Thus, some researchers developed authoring tools that use diagrams of graphs (e.g., Cool Modes (Pinkwart, 2003)) and CSCL Design Script Patterns (e.g., COLLAGE (Hernández-Leo et al., 2006), and CHOCOLATO (Isotani et al., 2010)) to better support the ID. However, the authorship of UoLs for CSCL with these tools is difficult if the goal is to develop, adapt, or customize units taking into account the individual characteristics of students. This is because the designer must decide what activities should be defined, what groups of students should be formed, what learning goals must be achieved, what roles must be played, what tools and materials must be used, and so on.

For example, to develop a UoL in which four students acquire knowledge about the mathematical concept “derivative” through exercises, an instructional designer (in the analysis phase) identifies what will occur in the CL scenario by setting instructional/learning goals. In setting of these goals, the designer defines the purpose of elements to be obtained as the desired stages of learning development (individual goals), skills, and attitudes to be achieved when the run of UoL is finished. In this example, the designer sets “the individual goals for all student as the acquisition of knowledge about derivative at level restructuring”, and “the acquisition of attitude positive interdependence” as the purpose of UoL (instructional/learning goals).

Next, the designer (in the design phase) defines how the learners attain these goals through the group formation, the selection of tools and learning materials for students, and the definition of learning plans. In the group formation, the designer may want two groups with two students or one group with four students. This decision depends on the availability of the students, teacher or the characteristics of individual students (e.g., stage of learning development related to the concept “derivative”). In the selection of learning material, the designer performs finding the proper exercise in external repositories (e.g., exercises that none of the students have previously seen). To define the learning plans in the CL scenario, the designer employs an authoring tool that uses CSCL Design Script Patterns to decide how to apply any pattern (e.g., COLLAGE or CHOCOLATO). For example, the designer applies the “jigsaw” pattern if the selected exercise can be divided into two parts and the students have experience in CL, the “pyramid” pattern if the selected exercise is difficult and the students don’t have experience in CL, or the “distributed cognition” pattern if the students have experience using the knowledge related to “derivate” or they have cognitive skills. Alternatively, the designer can decide to define the learning plan by employing an authoring tool that uses diagrams of graphs (e.g., Cool Modes).

Finally, the designer (in the development phase) arranges the concrete learning plans and develops all media and any supporting documentation that will be used in the CL scenario. The designer must define roles according to the ability of a student to perform a role and the behavior the role a player performs. In this example, if the designer decides to use the pattern “distributed cognition,” for a group with all students, he will set roles “instructor” and “learner”, and he will define of transmission/reception messages for each student. At this stage of the scenario it becomes clear what learners should participate, what roles they play, what behavior they perform, what learning materials they learn, and what educational benefits they are expected to acquire. Next, the designer will develop learning environments to enable interaction among students in the CL scenario. The learning environment is represented as an arrangement of tools for the members of the group. In this example, the designer can define an environment in which the student with the role “learner” will use a tool “simulation” to participate in the exercise, and the student with the role “instructor” will use the tool “monitoring learning process.” The tool “making a report paper” is set for all of the students, the tool “discussion channel” (like a chat system) is set for the student with the role “learner,” and the tool “monitoring discussion” is set for the student with the role “instructor.”

In Artificial Intelligence, the automated planning field studies the automatic generation of action sequences, called plans. The execution of plans leads to the satisfaction of certain goals. Therefore, there is a direct relationship between ID and automated planning, in which plans are used to generate a UoL that defines an individualized teaching–learning process for CSCL. In automated planning, HTN planning is a technique that uses hierarchical tasks and methods to represent domain-specific strategies. The methods define multiple ways to deconstruct the tasks into sub-tasks until getting a consistent and coherent plan. The ID of UoLs using CSCL Design Script Patterns can be documented as hierarchical tasks and methods. This knowledge focused on the rationale of the ID process of elements to be included into UoLs.

In this paper, we present a model that formalizes the ID for CSCL as a HTN planning approach. In the second section of the paper, we present basic information about ID using CSCL Script Design Patterns. In the third section, a brief description of HTN Planning is summarized. In the fourth section, we present our approach as a model that formalizes ID for CSCL as HTN planning. In the fifth section, we present an example that shows the formulation of a planning problem and its results. In the sixth section, we present related works and compare them with the results obtained by this research. Finally, we present conclusions and discuss future work.