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Initial Project Definition
Domain & Context
Our design focuses on the academic environment of the college-level online course.
Problem Definition
We have identified a critical problem where discussions fail to promote deep, meaningful engagement. We think the reason is LMS platforms can't effectively organize student posts. As a result, it leads to a cycle of repetitive responses that echo similar thoughts, which reduces meaningful interactions.
Some scholars also noticed the online discussion issue. Zhang (2017) found little has changed in the design of online discussion systems, in the decades they have been available, even as discussions grow in size and scope. Therefore, It is difficult for learners to make sense of large discussions and extract usable knowledge, or to situate conversations in the context of what is being discussed.
Darabi and Jin (2013) found the reason for the lack of quality associated with conventional online discussion was heavy cognitive load. Therefore, our group wants to develop a product that can lower the cognitive load, which leads to the idea of "AI Discussion Map".
Online Course Discussion Challenges
Lack of Meaningful Engagement
Online discussions often feel repetitive, with many students posting similar thoughts. This makes it hard to find new things to learn from each other.
Peer Feedback Become Formality
Instructors ask for at least two comments on peers' posts, but it's tough to give meaningful feedback when everyone sounds similar. This turns discussions into a mere formality without much real learning.
Lack of Structure
Most LMS just list posts one after the other, without sorting or organizing them in a helpful way. Therefore, students don't know where to contribute valuable and unique points.
Our Solution: AI Discussion Map (ADM)
Mind Map Integration
As students contribute posts, their ideas are added as branches from this central node or as sub-branches from other ideas. This creates a dynamic and interactive mind map. This allows participants to easily see how ideas relate to one another and to the main topic.
Interactive Engagement
Students can click on any node to read the associated post, add their response, or branch off with a related idea. This interactive element encourages deeper engagement with the material and with peers' contributions.
Competitive Product Audit
Competitive Products
There are some existing educational technologies designed to improve online discussion and create mind maps. Some integrate social media elements to make discussion attractive while others make users cooperate on a whiteboard to brainstorm.
Strengths
Strengths
Weakness
Weakness
Students can participate in the live conversations with multiple due dates
Students can't aggregate and review the discussions at a glance
Student discuss on the social media look platform and post with hash tag
All discussions happen at one page and hard to visualize the flow of discussions
Students can easily visualize their collaborative brainstorming results
As it's designed for brainstorming, it's hard to participate in deep-discussion
Our Advantages
Focus on Idea Generation
Our ADM prioritizes the cultivation of critical thinking, which surpasses the social-media-inspired platforms. This is particularly tailored to the needs of higher education where generating substantial dialogue and depth of thought are very important.
Seamless LMS Integration
Our ADM can integrate effortlessly with any LMS. This adaptability is designed to ensure minimal disruption to existing workflows while delivering a robust, intuitive experience.
AI-Driven Insights and Structure
Our ADM discerns and organizes complex discussion threads into an intelligible, interactive mind map, encouraging a depth of understanding and critical thought that is essential for academic success.
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