FROG: A Platform for the Authoring and Running of Complex Collaborative Scripts

Abstract

FROG is an open-source web-platform to author (design) and run rich collaborative learning activities. It introduces a concept of pluggable activity types (like video player, quiz, brainstorming or programming exercises), which can be configured by the designer, and connected in a learning graph, with data from one activity being transformed and reused in another (ideas from a brainstorm flowing into a concept map tool), and with pluggable "operators", which can transform data, intelligently group students, etc. through the use of algorithms and machine learning.

While the teacher runs the class, intelligent visualizations show not only simple facts like how many people have watched a given video, but can provide predictions based upon analysis of student actions with the activities. This platform might be used in small classrooms, large lectures (we have conducted experiments with 350 students in a lecture theatre), or MOOCs.

The goal of FROG is to make it easier for educational researchers to design experiments around scripting and orchestration, to make algorithms and novel visualizations actually usable by teachers, and to serve as a research platform around orchestrating large classrooms, flexible synchronous learning online learning, pedagogical scripts and automated prompts, etc. This talk will introduce the open source tool, with an open invitation to other research groups to participate in its development, or use it in research (we are already working with several other research groups).

Speaker Bio

Stian Haklev is a post-doc researcher in the CHILI lab at EPFL, working with Pierre Dillenbourg. He completed his PhD in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto), and the Knowledge Media Design Institute. His dissertation (which was previously the subject of a DANCE talk) described the design and implementation of a collaborative EdX MOOC for teachers, including technological support for crowdsourcing, and supporting work in small groups. He was a co-founder of the Peer2Peer University, an innovative pre-cursor to current-day MOOCs, and has also worked with the Office of Online Learning Strategy as the data coordinator for University of Toronto's Coursera and EdX MOOCs. He is currently working on the FROG platform, a system that will allow researchers and teachers to author and orchestrate complex learning flows. He is also interested in open science and new ways of scientific collaboration.