S11 stated in their improvement proposal reasoning that "This update reflects the conversation from the 4/5 discussion." This could be indicative that the instructor has helped guide students' thinking to better clarify and think more critically about each others' contributions. In doing so, S11 made a notable improvement on the node and helped clarify the information to explain the concept more effectively.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The initial node titled "Eliminating Confounders," used for discussing methods to remove confounders, was created on March 15, 2020 by S9. In this node, S9 lists two methods, "back-door criterion" and "RCT", mentioned in "The Book of Why" that can be used for this purpose. The book later introduces the method of "front-door criterion" so on April 2, S10 proposes an improvement to this node which would then include "front-door criterion" in the list. 

However, classifying the methods in this way may be confusing because even though the methods may be used for the same purpose, "RCT" is a distinctly different method and performed very differently than using the "back-door criterion" or "front-door criterion." On April 12, S11 proposes another improvement to this node which changed the title to now become "Eliminating Non-Measurable Confounder Variables" and restructured the content to have "RCT" and "observational studies" in the list and providing a brief clarification that the previously mentioned methods (in addition to "do-calculus") can be applied to the listed methods, stating in their proposal reasoning that "This update reflects the conversation from the 4/5 discussion. We update the title to discuss eliminating non-measurable confounders, and simplify the strategies into two: RCT and observational studies." By renaming the node and restructuring the content, S11 improved the initial node proposed by S9 by better categorizing the methods used and differentiating "RCT" from "back-door criterion" and "front-door criterion."

Although the information in the node was not necessarily wrong, the improvements made on the node allowed for a better understanding and organization of learning the content. This improvement showcases that peers can help improve clarification of details or framing of the information by making edits. Furthermore, this node showcases that this structure allows for discussion of how others learned and interpreted the information as S11 states, "this update reflects the conversation from the 4/5 discussion," which seems to have prompted the change.

1Cademy Nodes for Deconfounding Analysis

After S9 proposed the initial node on March 15, 2020, students continued to add to the node as they learned more material from "The Book of Why." Immediately after creating the node, S9 linked this to the node "Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT" created by S6, a concept that was referenced in this node. This interaction shows how students can link and relate the knowledge they learn to others' contributions. 

S10 later proposed an improvement on S9's node on April 2, to add "front-door criterion" to the list on the node. This contribution shows that students could build on previous contributions that other students have made and improve them as they learn more about the subject.

S11 improved this node on April 12 to change the title to "Eliminating Non-Measurable Confounder Variables" stating in their proposal reasoning that "This update reflects the conversation from the 4/5 discussion. We update the title to discuss eliminating non-measurable confounders, and simplify the strategies into two: RCT and observational studies." S11 helps to specify that these methods specified for deconfounding are used for non measurable variables and further clarifies the distinction between "RCT" and "back-door criterion" and "front-door criterion" by noting how "front-door criterion," "back-door criterion," as well as "do-calculus" are methods that can be used with "RCT" and "observational studies" rather than being directly comparable. This contribution shows how students were able to help correct misconceptions and help clarify details about concepts to help each other learn more effectively.

"Eliminating Non-Measurable Confounder Variables" Student-Student Collaboration Analysis

Students were able to create relations between nodes and help connect the concepts they learned to concepts other students learned. Immediately following S9's creation of the node "Eliminating Confounders" on March 15, 2020, S9 then linked it to a concept discussed in this node, "Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT)." This shows how students were able to connect the concepts they learned with concepts others learned because the system allowed them to make relations between the nodes.

The system also allowed others to make improvements on others' nodes, allowing for others to add more information and help clarify misconceptions. This was showcased when S9 was able to immediately make a change to improve their own node, as described above, and then later when S10 added the method "front-door criterion" to the list on April 2, as the students were continuing to learn new concepts. This was also displayed when S11 restructured the node and its title on April 12 to help better categorize and specify aspects of the methods and making clearer distinctions between them, which were not initially present in the first iteration of this node. 

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