Profiling Student Interactions in Threaded Discussions with Speech Act Classifiers

Sujith Ravi, Jihie Kim

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

On-line discussion is a popular form of web-based computer-mediated communication and is an important medium for distance education. Automatic tools for analyzing online discussions are highly desirable for better information management and assistance. This paper presents an approach for automatically profiling student interactions in on-line discussions. Using N-gram features and linear SVM, we developed “speech act” classifiers that identify the roles that individual messages play. The classifiers were used in finding messages that contain questions or answers. We then applied a set of thread analysis rules for identifying threads that may have unanswered questions and need instructor attention. We evaluated the results with three human annotators, and 70-75% of the predictions from the system were consistent with human answers.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationArtificial Intelligence in Education
Subtitle of host publicationBuilding Technology Rich Learning Contexts That Work
EditorsRosemary Luckin, Kenneth R. Koedinger, Jim Greer
PublisherIOS Press BV
Pages357-364
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781586037642
StatePublished - 2007
Event13th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, AIED 2007 - Los Angeles, United States
Duration: 9 Jul 200713 Jul 2007

Publication series

NameFrontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications
Volume158
ISSN (Print)0922-6389
ISSN (Electronic)1879-8314

Conference

Conference13th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, AIED 2007
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLos Angeles
Period9/07/0713/07/07

Keywords

  • discussion assessment
  • On-line discussion board
  • speech act

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