Value of Social: Comparing Open Student Modeling and Open Social Student Modeling

2015; UMAP; Brusilovsky, P.; Somyurek, S.; Guerra, J.; Hosseini, R.; Zadorozhny, V.

Open Student Modeling (OSM) is a popular technology that makes traditionally hidden student models available to the learners for exploration. OSM is known for its ability to increase student engagement, motivation, and knowledge reflection. A recent extension of OSM known as Open Social Student Modeling (OSSM) attempts to enhance cognitive aspects of OSM with social aspects by allowing students to explore models of peer students or the whole class. In this paper, we introduce MasteryGrids, a scalable OSSM interface and report the results of a large-scale classroom study that explored the value of adding social dimension to OSM. The results of the study reveal a remarkable engaging potential of OSSM as well as its impact on learning effectiveness and user attitude