Name: Julie Harrison

Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Meeting

Date: Thursday, December 12, 2024

Time: 12-1:30pm

Location: Virtual (https://gatech.zoom.us/j/96654594298?pwd=gc3GPauXYtnb1vFiQodJ4ceh5Uc2UJ.1&from=addon)

Dissertation Chairs/Advisor:

Jamie Gorman, Ph.D. (Arizona State)

Richard Catrambone, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Dissertation Committee Members:

Mengyao Li, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Sashank Varma, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Leanne Hirshfield, Ph.D. (University of Colorado, Boulder)

Title: A Multilevel Perspective of Events During Collaborative Problem Solving

Abstract: Collaborative problem solving (CPS) is a process that unfolds over time through the joint action of two or more agents. Many existing frameworks developed to measure CPS identify its component skills and processes in isolated behaviors (e.g., in a single speaking turn). However, given the interactive nature of CPS, timescales longer than singular behaviors are of interest for measurement and scaffolding. Though select team performance modeling methods have been employed to elucidate how CPS processes emerge in time, existing techniques fail to consider the perspective and experience of first-person actors. The present study sought to redress this gap by moving toward a more student-centered approach to real-time CPS measurement. Specifically, the present study provides initial support for correspondence between commonly employed modeling techniques (moving-window entropy models) and the perceptions of first-person actors by leveraging event segmentation theory. Results also suggest that first-person actors make judgments of event boundaries at subgoal completion times, adding evidence to the literature that event boundaries are drawn in accordance with goal progression. Lastly, the present study found a positive correlation between event boundary agreement between teammates and their team's performance on CPS activities, which suggests CPS is an appropriate application of event segmentation theory and implicated in task performance. Namely, this research helped elucidate and emphasize the first-person perspective of CPS measurement, which had since been missing. Results are intended to advance CPS measurement theory as well as the construction of dynamic assessment models for use in interactive classroom technologies, such as dashboards and artificial agents that assist with the regulation of collaborative processes.