Homepage of Dr. Björn Rudzewitz

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News.

2021/08/13: I am out of office between August 14 and August 29, 2021, and will not read or answer my e-mails in this time.

2021/06/23: successfully defended my PhD thesis: newsletter article

2021/06/21: I am out of office on June 22, 2021, to prepare my PhD defense, which will take place the next day.

2021/04/29: New publication accepted: link

2020/09/30: New web page by the central student advising service for incoming international sudents in the winter semester 2020/2021: link

2020/08/12: New e-mail address by the central administration for questions about international students regarding the winter semester under corona circumstances: coronaservice-incoming@uni-tuebingen.de

2020/03/31: New web page for students of the university with information regarding the virus and how it impacts student matters: link

2020/03/23: FAQ section by the university online regarding questions on how the corona virus outbreak impacts the situation for the summer semester: link

2020/03/16: Due to the corona virus and official recommendations of minimizing social contact, I will not be holding office hours until the situation has improved. However, I will be available via e-mail or in cases where we need to dicuss more complicated manners via video chat.

Publications.

• Björn Rudzewitz. Learning Analytics in Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning. PhD thesis, Faculty of Humanities, University of Tübingen, 2021. [link]
• Martí Quixal, Björn Rudzewitz, Elizabeth Bear, and Detmar Meurers. Automatic annotation of curricular language targets to enrich activity models and support both pedagogy and adaptive systems. Proceedings of the 10th Workshop on Natural Language Processing for Computer Assisted Language Learning (NLP4CALL 2021), Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 177:2, p. 15-27, 2021. [pdf]

• Björn Rudzewitz, Ramon Ziai, Florian Nuxoll, Kordula De Kuthy, Detmar Meurers. Enhancing a Web-based Language Tutoring System with Learning Analytics. Joint Proceedings of the Workshops of the 12th International Conference on Educational Data Mining co-located with the 12th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2019), Montréal, Canada, July 2019, CEUR Workshop Proceedings, Volume 2592, pages 1--7 [pdf].

• Detmar Meurers, Kordula De Kuthy, Florian Nuxoll, Björn Rudzewitz, and Ramon Ziai. Scaling up intervention studies to investigate real-life foreign language learning in school. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 39, 2019. [link]
• Ramon Ziai, Florian Nuxoll, Kordula De Kuthy, Björn Rudzewitz, and Detmar Meurers. The impact of spelling correction and task context on short answer assessment for intelligent tutoring systems. In Proceedings of the 8th Workshop on NLP for Computer Assisted Language Learning, pages 93--99, Turku, Finland, September 2019. ACL. [pdf]
• Detmar Meurers, Kordula De Kuthy, Florian Nuxoll, Björn Rudzewitz, and Ramon Ziai. KI zur Lösung realer Schulherausforderungen: Interaktive und adaptive Materialien im Fach Englisch. Schulmanagement-Handbuch, 169:65--89, 2019.

• Ramon Ziai, Björn Rudzewitz, Kordula De Kuthy, Florian Nuxoll, and Detmar Meurers. Feedback Strategies for Form and Meaning in a Real-life Language Tutoring System. In Proceedings of the 7th Workshop on NLP for Computer Assisted Language Learning (NLP4CALL 2018) at SLTC, Stockholm, 7th November 2018 (No. 152, pp. 91-98). Linköping University Electronic Press. [pdf]
• Björn Rudzewitz, Ramon Ziai, Kordula De Kuthy, Verena Möller, Florian Nuxoll, and Detmar Meurers. Generating feedback for English foreign language exercises. In Proceedings of the 13th Workshop on Innovative Use of NLP for Building Educational Applications (BEA), pages 127--136. ACL, 2018. [pdf]
• Detmar Meurers, Kordula De Kuthy, Verena Möller, Florian Nuxoll, Björn Rudzewitz, and Ramon Ziai. Digitale Differenzierung benötigt Informationen zu Sprache, Aufgabe und Lerner. Zur Generierung von individuellem Feedback in einem interaktiven Arbeitsheft. FLuL -- Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen, 47(2), 2018. [link]

• Björn Rudzewitz, Ramon Ziai, Kordula De Kuthy and Detmar Meurers. Developing a web-based workbook for English supporting the interaction of students and teachers. Proceedings of the Joint 6th Workshop on NLP for Computer Assisted Language Learning and 2nd Workshop on NLP for Research on Language Acquisition at NoDaLiDa 2017. Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 134: 36–46. [pdf]

• Björn Rudzewitz. An Integrated Approach to Answer Selection in Question Answering: Exploring Multiple Information Sources and Domain Adaptation. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Computational Linguistics (M.A. Thesis).
  [ pdf ]
• Björn Rudzewitz. Exploring the Intersection of Short Answer Assessment, Authorship Attribution, and Plagiarism Detection. In Proceedings of the 11th Workshop on Innovative Use of NLP for Building Educational Applications, pages 235–241, San Diego, CA, June 2016. Association for Computational Linguistics. [pdf | poster]

• Björn Rudzewitz. Alignment Weighting for Short Answer Assessment. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Computational Linguistics (B.A. Thesis).
  [ pdf | slides ]
• Ramon Ziai and Björn Rudzewitz. CoMiC: Exploring text segmentation and similarity in the English Entrance Exams task. In Linda Cappellato, Nicola Ferro, Gareth J. F. Jones, and Eric San Juan, editors, Working Notes of CLEF 2015 -- Conference and Labs of the Evaluation forum, volume 1391 of CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 2015.
  [ pdf ]
• Björn Rudzewitz and Ramon Ziai. CoMiC: Adapting a short answer assessment system for answer selection. In Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Semantic Evaluation (SemEval 2015), pages 247--251. Association for Computational Linguistics, 2015.
  [ pdf | poster ]

• Albert Wall, Niels Ott, Ramon Ziai, and Björn Rudzewitz. Macunaíma as a data source for the distribution and interpretation of bare NPs in Brazilian Portuegese: Corpus preparation and first annotation agreement results. Poster at the Third International Conference on Ibero-Romance Historical Corpora (CODILI 3), 6 2014.
  [ poster ]

• Summer Semester 2021: PS Text Technology (with Zarah Weiß)

• Winter Semester 2020/2021: PS Introduction to Computational Linguistics
• Summer Semester 2020: PS Text Technology (with Johannes Dellert)
  Syllabus: pdf

• Winter Semester 2019/2020: HS CLUWLL: Computational Linguistics for User-Adaptive Web-Based Language Learning (with Johannes Dellert)
• Summer Semester 2019: PS Text Technology (with Johannes Dellert)

• Winter Semester 2018/19: HS COLEWE: Computational Lexicography on the Web (with Johannes Dellert)
• Summer Semester 2018: PS Text Technology (with Johannes Dellert)

• Winter Semester 2017/2018: HS Industrial-Strength Multilingual Language Analysis (with Johannes Dellert):
  UIMA-based processing of large volumes of multilingual data emebedded in industrial-strength application frameworks
• Summer Semester 2017: PS Text Technology (with Xiaobin Chen)

• Winter Semester 2016/2017: PS Programming Course Computational Linguistics (with Xiaobin Chen)
• Summer Semester 2016: Tutor of the course Statistical Natural Language Processing

• Summer Semester 2015: Tutor of the course Statistical Natural Language Processing

Talks, Presentations, Workshops.

• 24/03/2021: Presentation "FeedBook: Ein interaktives Arbeitsheft für den englischen Fremdsprachenunterricht", Tag der Forschung: Digitalisierung in der Lehre, Hochschule für Technik Stuttgart

• 02/07/2019: Presentation "Enhancing a Web-based Language Tutoring System with Learning Analytics" at 2nd workshop of Learning Analytics: Building bridges between the Education and the Computing communities at EDM 2019, Montréal, Kanada.
• 08/02/2019: Presentation "Pro Learning Analytics" at Landesakademie für Fortbildung und Personalentwicklung an Schulen as part of the workshop "Chancen der Digitalisierung im Englischunterricht mit besonderem Fokus auf 2 Kompetenzbereiche (Schreiben und rezeptive Fähigkeiten)"
• 24/01/2019: Presentation "Developing an interactive workbook for English foreign language teaching" in the Proseminar Current Trends in Linguistics

• 02/10/2018: System demonstration of learning analytics in FeedBook at the INDUS meeting in Essen
• 20/07/2018: Presentation "Computerlinguistik am Beispiel des Projektes SFB 833 T1" at the Doktorandenkonvent summer school of the SFB 833
• 01/03/2018: Presentation "Feedback in the interactive online workbook FeedBook" at INDUS network workshop

• 19/12/2017: Presentation of FeedBook prototype in the proseminar "Current Trends in Linguistcs"
• 22/05/2017: Presentation of paper "Developing a web-based workbook supoorting the interaction of students and teachers" at the NLP4CALL Workshop 2017 (Gothenburg, Sweden) [link]
• 17/05/2017: Full-day workshop "NLP Technologies for Automatic Analysis of Language Productions" (with Xiaobin Chen) at the CALICO 2017 conference (Flagstaff, Arizona, USA) [link]

• 05/10/2016: Presentation of the FeedBook prototype at the SFB Days 2016 [poster]
• 16/06/2016: Presentation of the work "Exploring the Intersection of Short Answer Assessment, Authorship Attribution, and Plagiarism Detection" at The 11th Workshop on Innovative Use of NLP for Building Educational Applications (BEA-11) [poster]
• 13/05/2016: "A gentle introduction to UIMA" at the Oberseminar: hands-on session on UIMA's theoretical and practical foundations.
  Get the slides here.
  Get the materials here.
  
• 17/02/2016: Presentation of Alignment Weighting at the KonferenzLE 2016 (link)
  [ slides ]

• 30/10/2015: Presentation of B.A. Thesis in the Oberseminar Linguistic Modeling and its Interfaces (link)
  [ slides ]
• 05/06/2015: Presentation of publication CoMiC: Adapting a short answer assessment system for answer selection. at the 9th International Workshop on Semantic Evaluations (SemEval) in Denver, Colorado, USA.
  [ poster ]

M.A. Advising.

I am responsible for the M.A. advising for Computational Linguistics at the University of Tübingen. This means if you have any questions related to the M.A. studies, questions to the exam regulations, admission requirements, etc., please contact me and I will resolve the questions or problems.

Here (link) you can find information about how to get in touch with me.

Important:

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Q: I am a student and unsure about how the current situation regarding the corona virus will impact the summer semester. Where can I get information?
   A: Please refer to this (link) and this (link) web page for a FAQ section for students.
2. Q: Where can I get information about the structure of the M.A. studies in Computational Linguistics ?
   A: In the exam regulations and the module handbook on the web page of the Prüfungsamt (link).
3. Q: Which document should I definitely read carefully before and during the studies ?
   A: The most important document for you is the module handbook
4. Q: To which module do I need to count my courses specified in the admission requirements ?
   A: Module ISCL-MA-02
5. Q: How many courses need to be counted in the core/supplementary area ?
   A: 45 ECTS in the core, 45 ECTS in the supplementary area. Each area consists of modules with 15 ECTS each, and you need to fulfill each individual module.
6. Q: On my admission requirements it is stated that I need to complete the prescribed courses within one year or when first offered. What do I do when the courses are not offered such that I can complete them in one year ?
   A: Some courses are only offered every second semester and have admission requirements. In this case take the courses the first time they are offered and in the order they are intended.
7. Q: How can I get courses external to the SfS approved ?
   A: Please contact me before taking the course. I will check whether it is eligible and inform you about the decision.
8. Q: Where can I get a LaTeX template for my Master's thesis ?
   A: Send me an e-mail (see Contact) andI will provide you with a template you can use as a starting point.
9. Q: From where do I know whether a Hauptseminar at the Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft is from the core or supplementary area ?
   A: Take a look at the Campus page or the introductory meeting handout distributed at the beginning of each semester.
10. Q: Where can I hear more about the seminars offered at the Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft ?
    A: It is very important that you attend the introductory meeting at the beginning of each semester where all the seminars are presented, as well as organizational announcements. Take a look at the campus system to find the exact date for each semester.
11. Q: If I have questions regarding formalities of the application, e.g. regarding the validity or format of specific documents, whom should I contact ?
    A: Please contact the team at the Studierendensekretariat.
12. Q: Where can I find information regarding tuition fees for international students ?
    A: Take a look at this web page summarizing all information.
13. Q: Can I get insight into the application evaluation process before receiving the final decision?
    A: No, you will be contacted by the administration once your application has been decided upon.
14. Q: How long does it take to receive a decision regarding the application?
    A: The process usually takes several weeks.

Research.

In December 2020 I submitted my PhD thesis in Computational Linguistics with the title "Learning Analytics in Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning" [link], supervised by Detmar Meurers and Andreas Lachner . My work is at the inderdisciplinary crossroad of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), computational linguistics and computer science, educational empirical science, and Learning Analytics/Educational Data Mining. In this work, I explore how to build Learning Analytics tools for different user groups (students, teacher, material designers, educational administrators) and what learning process factors are predictive for which learning outcomes. This work emerged from the FeedBook project. The contribution of this work consists of tools and analyses that allow to get insights into and improve the proccess of human learning of a complex domain, namely the acquisition of a foreign language.

I worked in the project A4 in the SFB 833 as a researcher on the question of how content assessment for learner data can be performed by computers. This question is especially interesting since language learners, in contrast to native speakers, have only acquired an intermediate state of proficiency in their L2. This results in a high degree of variability in terms of form and meaning in utterances produced by language learners. In the A4 project we explore computational approaches for dealing with this variation in order to assess the semantic content of language learner data.

Besides working on the technical aspects of the CoMiC system (e.g. porting it to uimaFit and DKPro, ...), I wrote my B.A. thesis (link) about how general linguistic properties and the explicit task context can be used to improve short answer assessment of learner language in a reading comprehension scenario there. In addition I successfully demonstrated the ability of the system to adapt to new domains such as Question Answering, Answer Selection, and Plagiarism Detection. This and further work in the context of this project is documented in several scientific articles.

Furhtermore I'm working as lead developer on an interactive school workbook with feedback generation (FeedBook) in SFB 833 Transfer project 1 (T1) to refine my technical abilities and gain experience in realizing bigger software projects. In this project we explore how online scaffolding feedback can be generated in an intelligent, interactive workbook for learning English as a second language. The T1 project combines fundamental research from A4 with an authentic setting in order to advance meaning and form assessment in the cotext of feedback generation. I actively work on all aspects of the system, from frontend development to backend code. Currently we are running a large-scale empirical study testing the effectiveness of interactive scaffolding feedback in 14 German school classes over a complete school year.

Currently I am working in the project DigBinDiff (Digitale Binnendifferenzierung). In this project, I am responsible for the implementation of the tutoring system (i.e. an adaptation of the FeedBook), the learing analytics components, the learner modeling, and the implementation of an automatic sequencing component in the system taking into account performance and motivational factors. The topic of this project is closely related to and fosters my PhD project.

I am part of the ICALL Research Group.

Contact.