Towards Partial Order Reductions for Strategic Ability

We propose a general semantics for strategic abilities of agents in asynchronous systems, with and without perfect information. Based on the semantics, we show some general complexity results for verification of strategic abilities in asynchronous interaction. More importantly, we develop a methodology for partial order reduction in verification of agents with imperfect information. We show that the reduction preserves an important subset of strategic properties, with as well as without the fairness assumption. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of the reduction on a number of benchmarks. Interestingly, the reduction does not work for strategic abilities under perfect information.

Investigating Asynchronous Interaction Between MOOC Learners Through Forum Use and Peer Review

Designers, developers, and educators in an online course, where the risk of learners feeling isolated is of greater concern, should consider including learning activities that engage students with content and with each other in order to promote multiple ways of interaction and communication between learners and higher learners' engagement in the course. Interaction could be developed both in synchronous and asynchronous mode, in a direct or/and indirect (vicarious) way within the e-learning process. This chapter focuses on the development of asynchronous interaction between learners in a MOOC on personal development, provided in 2016 via a popular educational platform and how interaction affected the learning outcomes. The ways that learners asynchronously interact with each other through forum and peer review are identified and research proved that learners interact in a direct and indirect way and that the development of interaction returns multiple benefits to the learning process and outcome.

Synchronous and Asynchronous Discussions: Effects on Cooperation, Belonging, and Affect

Supporting productive peer-to-peer interaction is a central challenge in online courses. Although cooperative learning research provides robust evidence for the positive outcomes of face-to-face cooperative learning (Johnson & Johnson, 1989), online modes of cooperative learning have provided mixed results. This study examines the effects of synchronous versus asynchronous interaction on students’ sense of cooperation, belonging, and affect in online small-group discussions. Fifty-two undergraduate students were assigned to synchronous and asynchronous interaction conditions. The findings support prior research that asynchronous communication interferes with the relationship between cooperative goals and the outcomes of cooperation. Results inform theory and practice, by showing that asynchronous cooperative learning may not work as designed because the presence of cooperative goals do not predict cooperative outcomes.

Interaction in a discussion list: An exploration of cognitive, social, and teaching presence in teachers’ online collaborations

Discussion lists have gained a significant popularity in professional development research over the past few decades for the opportunity they provide for asynchronous interaction. This article presents findings from a small-scale case study that aimed at exploring the nature of teachers’ asynchronous exchanges in a discussion list. The data comprised the archived log of the messages in a Yahoo Group discussion list by five in-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers who volunteered to take part in a hybrid computer-assisted language learning (CALL) teacher education course in a state university in Iran. The discussion list was incorporated into the course to engage participants in professional dialogue on topics related to technology/CALL. During the initial data analysis, participants’ asynchronous exchanges were grouped as suggestions, questions, unclassified, answers, and delivery, drawing upon Oriogun and Cave’s (2008) SQUAD categorization, following the constant comparative method of analysis. Through a follow-up computer-mediated discourse analysis, cognitive, social, and teaching presence functional moves were identified in the data. Participants used the space not only for socializing and peer instruction but also for constructing knowledge. Despite an uneven pattern of contribution, asynchronous exchanges provided opportunities for knowledge construction at different levels of cognitive presence on topics ranging from technology tools and their affordances/constraints to computer-assisted language testing, materials development, and classroom management. The findings provide CALL teacher education researchers and course designers insights into the potential of asynchronous interaction for online and blended language teacher education.