Machine Learning (ML) is traditionally formalized as the study of learning concepts from labeled examples. We are interested in providing a way for a human teacher to interact with a learner using natural instructions, thus allowing the teacher to communicate the relevant domain expertise to the learner without necessarily knowing anything about the internal representations used for learning. W...

This article presents key steps in the design and analysis of a computer based problem-solving assessment featuring interactive tasks. The purpose of the assessment is to support targeted instruction for students by diagnosing strengths and weaknesses at different stages of problem-solving. The first focus of this article is the task piloting methodology, which demonstrates the relationship bet...

The application of zone of proximal development (ZPD), as a major tenet of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT, 1978), has recently been invited in the L2 learning/teaching profession. This study mainly examined whether Iranian EFL learners’ interactions in diverse ZPD-activated proximal contexts through the use of storytelling instruction could improve their oral (speaking) proficiency and at...

This paper introduces process modeling and mining as an approach to process analysis for CSCL. This approach is particularly relevant for collaborative learning that takes a project-based form, and is applied in this study to online chat data from teams working on a complex task. The groups differed in terms of the number of members and the amount of scaffolding aimed at group processes and tas...

This paper describes a study that focused on long-term web-supported learning diffusion among lecturers at Tel Aviv University (TAU), from an organizational point of view. The theoretical models we used to examine this process are Rogers' model for "Diffusion of Innovation" (1995) and Bass's "Diffusion Model" (1969). The study was conducted between the academic years 2000/01 and 2007/08. At tha...

Reading comprehension has recently been reconceptualized in EFL reading instruction to foreground the importance of putting a social perspective on learning. Developed as a crucial aspect of Vygotskian sociocultural theory, activity theory views reading as a socially-mediated activity, for which the prerequisite cognitive processes are distributed among teacher, individual reader, other student...