Integrated Telegram and Web-based Forum with Automatic Assessment of Questions and Answers for Collaborative Learning

We designed, developed and implemented an integrated Telegram and Web-based Forum capable of automatic thoughtfulness assessment of questions and answers, using text mining and Natural Language Processing (NLP) methodologies, for collaborative learning. We trained and applied the Random Forest algorithm to provide instant thoughtfulness score prediction for the new posts contributed by the students, and prompted the students to improve on their posts, thereby invoking deeper learning. In addition, the platform is designed to ensure that students remain engaged on the platform. Our initial implementation for a university course on spreadsheets modeling using Excel, shows some promising results which strengthened our belief that through the process of asking good questions, and providing good answers, students' learning can be improved beyond the traditional classroom, and beyond instructor-student relationship.