5 representation

Representation

• Importance of representation• Current state of play• What’s required• Some futures

Yet another competition

• Given the numbers – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

• Each team takes turn to take one number• The aim is get 3 numbers whose sum is 15

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54964059@N04/8178747734/

Solving a problem simplymeans representing it soas to make the solutiontransparent. If the problemsolving could actually beorganised in these terms,the issue of representationwould indeed become central

(Simon, 1996)

In actuality, things left out are mostly things we do not know how to represent, which is not the same as things of little importance. Nonetheless, things not represented fall in importance: They tend to be forgotten or, even if remembered, given little weight

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22539273@N00/9366361966/

Current state of play

• Garcia-Solorzano; Moran (2012): "However, unlike face-to-face classes, teachers have difficulty in monitoring their learners in an online environment, since a lot of learning management systems provide faculty with student tracking data in a poor tabular format that is difficult to understand.

• The visualisation of this data is commonly restricted to poorly organised tabular formats, or statistical graphs

to maintain performance, it is necessary for people to be “able to learn, use, and reference access necessary information within a single context and without breaks in the natural flow of performing their jobs.” (Villachica, Stone, & Endicott, 2006, p. ??).

(Lockyer et al, 2013, p. 15)

(Lockyer et al, 2013, p. 15)

Being able to interpret the patterns provided by learning analytics and apply them to practice is difficult, time-consuming, requires additional support, and is worthy of further investigation (Dawson et al., 2011; Dawson & McWilliam, 2008)

The process of finding the best way to visually represent data is often iterative

(Olmos & Corrin, 2012)

(Olmos & Corrin, 2012)

(Olmos & Corrin, 2012)

(Olmos & Corrin, 2012)

(Olmos & Corrin, 2012)

Lessons

• Understand the questions• Need visual analysis and design skills• Importance of mock ups• Representation is a trade-off

(Olmos & Corrin, 2012)

http://flickr.com/photos/tonymangan/754511201/

Generally speaking, the student data available on the Khandashboard was impressive, but it also was challenging attimes for the teacher to figure out how best to synthesizeand use all the data – a key future needed if teachers areto maximize the potential of blended learning

(Greenberg et al, 2011)

http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=1374

http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=1374

Current status

• They confuse easy data with good data• They aren’t pedagogical useful• They’re overwhelming

http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=17265