Adding Social Comparison to Open Learner Modeling

Abstract

Achieving multiplication table fluency is a major concern during all primary school years and for many pupils it is considered a challenge. ‘Rote memory’ approaches that have been deployed for years in the traditional school curriculum have contributed to the prevailing assumption of pupils that Mathematics is unpleasant and uninviting. This paper presents a game-based approach to assess and gradually improve multiplication skills by combining an adaptive mechanism for identifying and resolving pupil weaknesses, while exposing parts of the learner model to the user through easily perceivable visualizations. Moreover, the game offers social comparison information and pupils can access progress data about their peers or their entire class a feature that is expected to improve self-reflection, allow for self-regulated learning and increase user motivation. This paper also presents the feedback received by the preliminary testing of the game with a representative sample of pupils and discusses the effect of allowing access to the progress of peers and summative class scores.