Supporting knowledge monitoring ability: open learner modeling vs. open social learner modeling

Peter Brusilovsky,Sibel Somyürek,Julio Guerra

doi:10.1186/s41039-020-00137-5

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that people generally think both their knowledge and performance levels are greater than they are. Although several studies have suggested that knowledge and progress visualization offered by open learner modeling (OLM) technology might influence students’ self-awareness in a positive way, insufficient evidence exists to show that this is the case. This paper examines the effects of open learner modeling and its extension with social comparison features, known as open social learner modeling (OSLM), on students’ knowledge monitoring abilities. We report the results of two semester-long classroom studies, using subjects who were undergraduate and graduate students in Java Programming and Database Management courses at the University of Pittsburgh. During their studies, the students were able to use different versions of an online practice system equipped with both OLM and OSLM. The students’ knowledge monitoring abilities were examined in two ways: through absolute and relative assessments. According to the results, although in both OLM and OSLM groups the students’ absolute knowledge monitoring ability increased during the semester-long study, relative self-assessment ability (i.e., their ability to compare their own knowledge levels with the knowledge levels of their peers) only increased in the OSLM group. The authors also traced relationships between the students’ academic achievement and their absolute and relative knowledge monitoring abilities.

Highlights

Many studies have shown that people generally overestimate their knowledge, skills, and/or performance
Students in the first group studied with an e-learning system that included only open learner modeling (OLM) functions, and the second group studied with an e-learning system that included open social learner modeling (OSLM) functions
OLM group and the 22 students in the OSLM group who were sufficiently active in the system to be considered for this analysis, only 18 and 17 students respectively answered the confidence questions in both the pre- and post-tests

Summary

Introduction

Many studies have shown that people generally overestimate their knowledge, skills, and/or performance. The ability to estimate one’s own knowledge has been explored in different disciplines, using different terms such as knowledge monitoring ability, feeling of knowing, metamemory, and self-awareness (Tobias and Fletcher, 2000; Koriat, 1993; Nelson, 1990; Zimmerman, 2002) This ability is subject to a well-studied cognitive bias, known as overconfidence or the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is characterized by an overestimation of one’s actual abilities and chance of being successful, the belief that others are worse than oneself, and lack of hesitation in professing the correctness of personal beliefs (Moore and Healy, 2008). Comparing students’ actual performances relative to others with their self-reported judgments is considered to be an important relative knowledge monitoring assessment method (Kruger & Dunning, 1999) The accuracy of both assessments is critical for students to be aware of their learning needs, to set more realistic goals, and to make better decisions about what topics to study (Somyürek & Çelik, 2018)

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