Interactive Visualization Tools to Improve Learning and Teaching in Online Learning Environments
This paper presents two interactive visualization tools for learning management systems LMS in order to improve learning and teaching in online courses. The first tool was developed at the Intelligent Information Systems Laboratory IISLab at the Tampere University of Technology TUT. The tool is used to analyse students' activity from automatically recorded user log data and to build interactive visualizations. They provide valuable insights into the learning process and participation of students in a course offered to teachers and students. The second tool was developed at the Unitelma Sapienza University. It extends navigation and search functionalities in the discussion forum of an LMS with a topic driven paradigm. The tool analyses forum content and automatically identifies discussion topics. It then enhances the original forum with a topic driven navigation structure and an interactive search graph. Both tools have been developed as plug ins for the Moodle LMS, but their analysis processes and techniques can be adopted into any LMS.
Int. J. Distance Educ. Technol.