Scientific texts convey new and complex information relevant not only to researchers but also to lay audiences. We present a randomized controlled trial that investigated whether showing a concept map, gradually building up as a user reads a scientific text, supports the cognitive processes of knowledge construction. The intervention group (n = 44) exhibited significantly more knowledge construction [t(89) = 1.94, p = .029, d = 0.41] than the control group (n = 47). The intervention supported basic knowledge construction, i.e., simple processing of information, but not medium and complex levels. This study makes two contributions: (1) showing interactive concept maps and building them up gradually alongside reading helps make scientific texts cognitively more accessible to a lay audience, e.g., to inform public debate, and (2) knowledge construction theory can be used as a theoretical foundation for measuring specific aspects of learning processes—complementing other metrics for comparative design examinations, e.g., usability, user experience, or performance-based measures.

The uptake of open science resources needs knowledge construction on the side of the readers/receivers of scientific content. The design of technologies surrounding open science resources can facilitate such knowledge construction, but this has not been investigated yet. To do so, we first conducted a scoping review of literature, from which we draw design heuristics for knowledge construction in digital environments. Subsequently, we grouped the underlying technological functionalities into three design categories: i) structuring and supporting collaboration, ii) supporting the learning process, and iii) structuring, visualising and navigating (learning) content. Finally, we mapped the design categories and associated design heuristics to core components of popular open science platforms. This mapping constitutes a design space (design implications), which informs researchers and designers in the HCI community about suitable functionalities for supporting knowledge construction in existing or new digital open science platforms.

This paper aims to identify self-regulation strategies from students' interactions with the learning management system (LMS). We used learning analytics techniques to identify metacognitive and cognitive strategies in the data. We define three research questions that guide our studies analyzing i) self-assessments of motivation and self regulation strategies using standard methods to draw a baseline, ii) interactions with the LMS to find traces of self regulation in observable indicators, and iii) self regulation behaviours over the course duration. The results show that the observable indicators can better explain self-regulatory behaviour and its influence in performance than preliminary subjective assessments.

Traditionally, professional learning for senior professionals is organized around face-2-face trainings. Virtual trainings seem to offer an opportunity to reduce costs related to travel and travel time. In this paper we present a comparative case study that investigates the differences between traditional face-2-face trainings in physical reality, and virtual trainings via WebEx. Our goal is to identify how the way of communication impacts interaction between trainees, between trainees and trainers, and how it impacts interruptions. We present qualitative results from observations and interviews of three cases in different setups (traditional classroom, web-based with all participants co-located, web-based with all participants at different locations) and with overall 25 training participants and three trainers. The study is set within one of the Big Four global auditing companies, with advanced senior auditors as learning cohort.

The benefits of self-tracking have been thoroughly investigated in private areas of life, like health or sustainable living, but less attention has been given to the impact and benefits of self-tracking in work-related settings. Through two field studies, we introduced and evaluated a mood self-tracking application in two call centers to investigate the role of mood self-tracking at work, as well as its impact on individuals and teams. Our studies indicate that mood self-tracking is accepted and can improve performance if the application is well integrated into the work processes and matches the management style. The results show that (i) capturing moods and explicitly relating them to work tasks facilitated reflection, (ii) mood self-tracking increased emotional awareness and this improved cohesion within teams, and (iii) proactive reactions by managers to trends and changes in team members’ mood were key for acceptance of reflection and correlated with measured improvements in work performance. These findings help to better understand the role and potential of self-tracking at the workplace, and further provide insights that guide future researchers and practitioners to design and introduce these tools in a work setting.