Views in user generated content for enriching learning environments: a semantic sensing approach

Social user-generated content (e.g. comments, blogs) will play a key role in learning environments providing a rich source for capturing diverse viewpoints; and is particularly beneficial in ill-defined domains that encompass diverse interpretations. This paper presents Views - a framework for capturing viewpoints from user-generated textual content following a semantic sensing approach. It performs semantic augmentation using existing ontologies and presents the resultant semantic spaces in a visual way. Views was instantiated for interpersonal communication and validated in a study with comments on job interview videos, achieving over 82% precision. The potential of Views for enriching learning environments is illustrated in an exploratory study by analysing micro-blogging content collected within a learning simulator for interpersonal communication. A group interview with simulator designers evinced benefits for gaining insights into learner reactions and further simulator improvement.