NCFPAL 2014 - International Workshop on Non-Cognitive Factors & Personalization for Adaptive Learning

Many computer-based learning environments adapt to individual learners based on cognitive factors like skill mastery. Recent research has been directed at improving personalization in such systems by harnessing non-cognitive factors such as learner affect, motivation, preferences, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and grit. This workshop will bring together researchers studying non-cognitive factors in a variety of environments and platforms, using various experimental, measurement, and/or data mining and statistical methods. In addition to presenting on-going research on specific non-cognitive factors and their impact of learning outcomes, this workshop is a venue to address common methodological questions and problems: what are suitable ways to measure, observe, detect, sense, or infer factors like learner affect or mood? How do interventions efficaciously “honor” learner preferences or motivate students? How should a system balance instructional needs with the desire to respond to student attitudes and other non-cognitive factors? What are appropriate levels of granularity for analyses and interventions (e.g., at a level of problems, topical sections, or entire curricula)? How do lessons learned about one particular factor or learner population generalize to other non-cognitive factors and learner populations? How do theoretical advances in the learning sciences and data mining techniques complement each other to help answer questions about non-cognitive factors and personalization in disparate, adaptive learning environments in the era of “big data?”