WIP: Identifying Tutorial Affordances for Interdisciplinary Learning Environments

2024-08-26

Frontiers in Education Conference

AI Summary

This study addresses the poor adaptability of bioinformatics tutorials for interdisciplinary learners. We propose the first tutorial usability analysis framework specifically designed for interdisciplinary contexts. Employing qualitative content analysis and thematic coding, we systematically evaluated 22 representative tutorials, establishing a ten-category coding scheme organized along three core dimensions: knowledge integration, terminology harmonization, and cognitive pathway alignment. Our findings reveal that existing tutorials consistently fail to accommodate the divergent needs of learners with computational versus biological backgrounds, exhibiting structural limitations in interdisciplinary design. The framework not only identifies recurrent pedagogical deficiencies—such as insufficient scaffolding across disciplinary epistemologies and inconsistent conceptual bridging—but also delivers a practical, empirically grounded assessment instrument. It thus provides both theoretical foundations and empirical evidence to guide the development of future interdisciplinary tutorials and inform broader cross-disciplinary education practice.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: User Experience and Usability
• Machine Learning: Bio-inspired Learning
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Interdisciplinary science discovery with web data mining
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Semantics and Knowledge: Scalable techniques for the creation, curation, publication, maintenance, and consumption of large, Web-based, structured, reusable, knowledge graphs and ontologies

Abstract

This work-in-progress research paper explores the effectiveness of tutorials in interdisciplinary learning environments, specifically focusing on bioinformatics. Tutorials are typically designed for a single audience, but our study aims to uncover how they function in contexts where learners have diverse backgrounds. With the rise of interdisciplinary learning, the importance of learning materials that accommodate diverse learner needs has become evident. We chose bioinformatics as our context because it involves at least two distinct user groups: those with computational backgrounds and those with biological backgrounds. The goal of our research is to better understand current bioinformatics software tutorial designs and assess them in the conceptual framework of interdisciplinarity. We conducted a content analysis of 22 representative bioinformatics software tutorials to identify design patterns and understand their strengths and limitations. We found common codes in the representative tutorials and synthesized them into ten themes. Our assessment shows degrees to which current bioinformatics software tutorials fulfill interdisciplinarity.

Problem

• Effectiveness of tutorials in interdisciplinary learning environments
• Design of tutorials for diverse learner backgrounds in bioinformatics
• Assessment of bioinformatics tutorials for interdisciplinarity

Innovation

• Content analysis of bioinformatics software tutorials
• Identified ten themes from common tutorial codes
• Assessed tutorials' effectiveness in interdisciplinary contexts