Introduction to Data Mining (10 pts)

This first graded assignment will introduce you to Educational Data Mining (EDM). It will be like the previous assignment but this time you will:

• Search for three relevant external resources and share one with the class on this week's Classwiki

Upon completion, you should be able to:

• Articulate and discuss the primary EDM methods in terms of their relevance to various professional contexts including your own.
• Articulate and discuss the primary EDM applications in terms of their relevance to various professional contexts including your own.
• Locate personally relevant articles or other resources on EDM.

Notes: Some of the instructions have been compressed for convenience; if you forget how to do something look at the previous assignment. Also be sure the check the announcements for early posters. Their examples and the initial comments from the instructor and others should be helpful once you get started.

 

CREATE A NEW WIKIFOLIO DISCUSSION PAGE AND RESTATE YOUR CHALLENGE (BY DUE DATE)

This will work just like in the previous assignments.  

1.  Create a new wikifolio discussion page.  At the discussion home page, create a new discussion that you will use for your third wikifolio.  Click on +Discussion (blue upper right).  Then insert a title for the page in the top bar starting with your full name and followed by the title of the Assignment, like Dan Hickey: Introduction to Data Mining.  Then be sure to check Allow threaded replies and Allow liking

2.  Restate your EDS Challenge.  Insert an appropriate head and restate the EDS challenge you drafted in the first assignment.  Do not cut and paste.  You should have a better sense of your challenge after completing the second assignment and looking at the challenges of your peers. You likely will want to further refine you description after completing the rest of the assignment.  ..

3.  Save your wikifolio discussion page then select and copy the page URL.  

4.  Enter the name of the new wikifolio page on your home page and hyperlink the URL.

 

ENGAGE WITH THE READING  (REQUIRED, BY DUE DATE)

Now you will use a more elaborated version of the engagement strategy introduced in the first activity.  

1.  Access and read/review the paper.  Click here to access Baker and Yacef (2009). Download Baker and Yacef (2009).

 Try to read the paper straight through.  If you have trouble following it then just skim it and come back to the assignment. You may also wish to reference Baker and Siemens (2013) Download Baker and Siemens (2013)

for more detailed information on these topics

2.  Summarize the EDM methods and rank relevance. Baker and Yacef outline the following categories of EDM Methods:  relationship mining, clustering, prediction, human judgement, discovery with models, and other.  In the main edit window of your wikifolio discussion page. Insert a header for EDM Methods and write at least a paragraph about each method and how they might be relevant to you. Consider entering additional methods and rank accordingly. Then arrange the summaries in order of perceived relevance (most-relevant to least-relevant) and justify. At minimum explain why the first appears most relevant and the last appears least relevant. If you disagree with this characterization of the methods (and you might) you should say so.

3.  Summarize the key applications of EDM methods and rank relevance. Baker outlines four key applications of EDM: student models, domain models, pedagogical support, and empirical evidence. You may want to add additional applications.  You are welcome and encouraged to consider and question the distinctions Baker makes in his paper.  Insert a header, summarize each application in general and in terms of relevance, order in terms of relevance to you and justify your rankings.

4.  Complete the survey for this assignment.  There is a brief multiple choice survey used to provide participatory analytics.  It is not optional and it is located here.  If you change your ranking please retake the survey.

 

LOCATE AND SHARE EXTERNAL RESOURCES, PUBLISH, AND SUBMIT (REQUIRED FOR GRADES AND BADGES, BY THE DUE DATE)

This is a new activity that you will do every week going forward. It is optional if you are not enrolled for credit and don't care about earning badges

1. Search the Internet for relevant resources.  Use Google Scholar and the links on the Resources Classwiki and begin searching for external resources that are relevant to your EDS Challenge and your professional roles and goals.  These can be articles, podcasts, websites, slideshares, etc. Spend enough time to find ones that are relevant and then engage with them.  If you find useful directories to multiple resources, please insert them at the top of the classwiki.

You are strongly advised to use Google Scholar to search forward to relevant articles that reference the assigned article: (a) Locate the assigned article in Goggle Scholar; (b) click on the number below the reference indicating the number of times the article has been cited;. (c) check the box Search with citing articles;  (d) enter new search terms that represent you EDS challenge, your academic domain, your professional role, etc.  If you get too many reference, consider narrowing the search using the down arrow in the Google Scholar search box and searching for keywords in titles only.

2.  List and annotate least three relevant external resources.  Insert an appropriate header.  Insert the URLs for at least three external resource that are particularly relevant to your challenge, roles, and goals. Add an annotation indicating how the article is relevant to you and more generally.  List them in order of relevance and make it clear why the first one is most relevant. If you plan to write the optional literature review paper, write these as paragraphs closer to how they might appear in a literature review paper.

3.  Share your most relevant resource on the classwiki.  Copy and paste the resources that you think will be most relevant to the class (it may not be your most relevant) and annotation with the class and paste it under the appropriate header for this week on the classwiki for this week. Indicate on your wikifolio which one you shared and why.

4.  Refine your EDS Challenge.  You should be able to further refine your EDS challenge at the top of this weeks wikifolio using insights gained from interacting with the paper and resources

5. Save, publish, and submit (by the due date).  Publish your discussion wikifolio so peers can see it and comment on it; click submit so the instructor can quickly see who has posted and assign points to credential students.  

INTERACT WITH PEERS AND PROMOTE THEIR COMMENTS (REQUIRED, BEFORE AND AFTER THE DUE DATE)

1. Consider posting a question to the instructor and your peers.  Try to come up with a question that this assignment raised for you.  Post it as a comment to your wikifolio. It is best to write the question in a way that leads others to read your wikifolio.

2.  Read and discuss peer wikifolios.  Examine and comment on at least four of your peers.  Be sure to read their introductions on their homepage before reading their wikifolios. Post questions, get discussion going, etc.

3.  Respond to comments and questions.  Be sure to go back to your own wikifolio and respond to comments and questions.

4.  "Like" the comments of at least five peers.  While you are interacting, click Like on all of the comments (or by implication, threads) that you think are exemplary.  Exemplary comments are those that are disciplinary (about the topic of the assignment or the discipline of EDS more broadly) and productive (move the conversation forward, advance understanding, clarify uncertainty, bring in new resources, consider a different perspective, etc.).  If you cannot like a comment it is because your peer did not enable liking when they made the wikifolio.  Leave a comment asking them to turn it on!

 

REFLECT ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT (REQUIRED FOR CREDENTIAL STUDENTS, WITHIN ONE WEEK OF THE DUE DATE)

This is a new activity that you will do every week going forward and is the primary bases for the grade assigned to credential students.  Insert an appropriate header and draft a paragraph that responds to each of the following.  Note that the reflections go from very specific to your context to more general. All of the points for each wikifolio will be awarded for posting a complete draft by the deadline and posting coherent reflections that provide evidence of meaningful disciplinary engagement. Student enrolled in the course for a grade must complete the reflections to receive points for the wikifolio towards grade in the class.

1.  Critical engagement: How suitable was your EDS challenge and professional context for learning the big ideas this week?  Did your classmates have a challenge and a context that were more directly relevant?    You are not being asked to criticize your understanding or your work; rather you are critiquing the suitability of your professional context for learning to use the knowledge of EDS that we were introduced to this week.

2.  Collaborative engagement.  Review the comments from your classmates and reflect on any insights that emerged in the discussions, anything particularly useful or interesting.  Single out the peers that have been particularly helpful in your thinking, both in their comments and from reading their wikifolios.  Your goal each week should be to get recognized in the reflection on collaborative engagement by your peers.

3. Consequential engagement.   What are the consequences of what you learned this week for your professional role and for educational professionals in general. What are the broader consequences of these ideas?  Try to be specific in your examples but general in your thinking.