Learner-centered education becomes more and more popular. One way of offering learner-centered education is to have assignments where learners can select from a pool of learning tasks with different difficulty levels (e.g., many easy tasks, few challenging tasks, etc.). However, a problem that learners can face in such assignments is to select the tasks that are most appropriate for them. In th...

Three potential sources of comprehensible input for second language acquisition are examined: Modified Input, Interactionally Modified Input and Modified Output. To this end, an attempt is made to closely investigate how each type of linguistic environment facilitates learner comprehension, and subsequently, acquisition. Different theoretical claims as well as a number of empirical studies are ...

Successfully promoting engagement within learning environments is a subject of increasing attention within the AI in Education community. Evidence is mounting that game-based learning environments hold great potential to engage students, but disengaged behavior is still observed. Devising adaptive strategies to re-engage students in the learning task is a key open research question. Toward that...

Self-determination theory (SDT) underpins research on learner empowerment, but it is rarely discussed in empowerment-related literature. In addition, a motivational measure stemming from SDT has received little visibility in communication research. To address these concerns, this study focuses on motivational theory and measurement in an attempt to tease out the relationship between motivation ...

We describe a system that grades learner answers in reading comprehension tests in the context of foreign language learning. This task, also known as short answer scoring, essentially requires determining whether a semantic entailment relationship holds between an individual learner answer and a target answer; thus semantic information is a necessary part of any automatic short answer scoring s...

The relationship between emotions and learning was investigated by tracking the affective states that college students experienced while interacting with AutoTutor, an intelligent tutoring system with conversational dialogue. An emotionally responsive tutor would presumably facilitate learning, but this would only occur if learner emotions can be accurately identified. After a learning session ...

Providing adaptivity in web-based educational systems supports learners in their learning process and makes learning easier for them. However, providing adaptivity requires knowing the needs of the learners. Therefore learner modelling, the process of building and updating a learner model, is a crucial aspect of adaptive systems and necessary for providing course content that fits to the learne...

We apply an online optimization process based on machine learning to the production of Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). BEC is typically created with an exponential evaporation ramp that is optimal for ergodic dynamics with two-body s-wave interactions and no other loss rates, but likely sub-optimal for real experiments. Through repeated machine-controlled scientific experimentation and observa...

Executive coaching literature was investigated to uncover common themes within definitions, models and approaches, and effectiveness. An integrative literature review of 533 publications found relationship, goals, performance, and learning to be keywords used most often in defining executive coaching. The most prominent approaches included cognitive, and goal oriented coaching. Effectiveness wa...

In recent years there has been considerable interest in how many learners complete MOOCs, and what factors during usage can predict completion. Others, however, have argued that many learners never intend to complete MOOCs, and take MOOCs for other reasons. There has been qualitative research into why learners take MOOCs, but the link between learner goals and completion has not been fully esta...