Ad-Hoc Transient Communities Simulation

Abstract

Individual learner support in Learning Networks is needed, but professional tuition is not always available. On the one hand, resources may be limited; at the other hand support is time-consuming. One solution for this problem is to let peer students answer questions of fellow learners. In our approach the analysis of documents and the identification of appropriate and available persons in the Learning Network are combined to bring students together in a so-called Ad-Hoc Transient Community. Experiments demonstrate that, indeed, the use of Latent Semantic Analysis of documents combined with the identification of peers with appropriate tutor-suitability is effective. However, the possibilities to test these technologies and their underlying model for the selection of capable peers across different educational settings are limited. To this end, this simulation has been built. The aim is twofold: 1a) to replicate the first experiments that have been carried out with the system and in that way to validate the model of tutor suitability. 1b) to enhance the model for tutor-suitability, taking into account the factor of network dynamics. The simulation allows new learners to enter network and allows learners to formulate individual goals. Thus, we are able to track the tutor suitability in different educational contexts. 2) To obtain information about interactions that take place between learners in a learning network