Acerca de Open ENA

A small team. An open horizon.

Open ENA brings together learning science, quantitative ethnography, artificial intelligence, and educational technology.

We are building a transparent and approachable path into Epistemic Network Analysis—one where methods, interface decisions, and future capabilities can be inspected rather than hidden.

Why open

Openness is more than access.

It means making the path from evidence to interpretation visible: what the model receives, what the computation does, what the figure shows, and what it cannot claim.

Educación, investigación y acceso gratuito para siempre

Open ENA es una plataforma no comercial con fines educativos y de investigación y será gratuita para siempre.

Explore Open ENA

The team

A shared commitment to understandable research tools.
Portrait of Dr. Peter HU Dongpin

Dr. Peter HU Dongpin

The Education University of Hong Kong

Educational researcher · Application developer

His work spans technology-enhanced learning, learning analytics, artificial intelligence in education, network analysis, and content and language integrated learning.

EdUHK profile
Portrait of Ludwig Jianxing Yu

Ludwig Jianxing Yu

3D ENA Research Group · Hong Kong

ENA variants · Dimensionality-reduction algorithms

He has played a pioneering role in advancing ENA variants such as 3D ENA and dimensionality-reduction algorithms for ENA. As the key developer of 3D ENA 1.0, he combines computer science and psychology to develop interactive research tools.

3D ENA team profile
Portrait of Prof. Sandy TU Yun-Fang

Prof. Sandy TU Yun-Fang

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology

Assistant Professor · Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education

Her work spans artificial intelligence in digital learning, cognitive and social networks, data literacy, data visualization, and graph analysis.

Taiwan Tech profile
Portrait of Ms. Shirleen XU Qiaolin

Ms. Shirleen XU Qiaolin

Meredith College, North Carolina, USA

Open ENA team

A member of the Open ENA team affiliated with Meredith College, North Carolina, USA.

Project publications

Selected work across three-dimensional ENA, data literacy, and the development of open, web-based analysis tools.
Project cover artwork showing JavaScript syntax and a prominent JS chip connecting a smoked-glass development environment to a browser-based epistemic network tool

Forthcoming conference paper · 2026

Design and development from rENA to jENA: Accelerating the creation of web-based Open ENA tools

Hu, D., Hamilton, E., Tu, Y. F., & Xu, Q. (2026, November). Design and development from rENA to jENA: Accelerating the creation of web-based Open ENA tools. [Conference paper]. International Conference on Quantitative Ethnography.

ICQE 2026 · Publication details forthcoming
Project cover artwork showing a large smoked-glass code editor and an overlapping browser-based epistemic network preview

Journal article · 2025

Effects on the learning achievement, approaches to learning, and multi-stage reflection quality of students with different levels of digital self-efficacy in a data literacy course: An ARCS-based self-reflective online learning model

Tu, Y. F., Hwang, G. J., & Hu, D. (2025). Effects on the learning achievement, approaches to learning, and multi-stage reflection quality of students with different levels of digital self-efficacy in a data literacy course: An ARCS-based self-reflective online learning model. Computers & Education, 238, 105397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105397

View journal article
Project cover artwork showing a curated three-dimensional epistemic network suspended inside a transparent glass coordinate volume

Conference paper · 2024

Development of ENA 3D: A tool for epistemic network analysis in three-dimensional space

Yu, J., Hu, D., & Wang, C. H. (2024). Development of ENA 3D: A tool for epistemic network analysis in three-dimensional space. In Y. J. Kim & Z. Swiecki (Eds.), Advances in quantitative ethnography (Communications in Computer and Information Science, Vol. 2278, pp. 152–165). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76335-9_11

View conference paper

Reconocimiento de las contribuciones originales

Open ENA se basa en la teoría y los métodos de Quantitative Ethnography (QE) y Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA). Agradecemos a University of Wisconsin–Madison, al profesor David Williamson Shaffer y a los investigadores, desarrolladores y colaboradores de Epistemic Analytics Lab, en Wisconsin Center for Education Research, su trabajo fundacional y continuado en QE, ENA y webENA.

Fundamentos teóricos: QE y ENA

Quantitative Ethnography (QE) combina la comprensión cualitativa de la actividad humana en su contexto con el análisis cuantitativo. (Shaffer, 2017)

Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) modela las conexiones entre elementos codificados que aparecen conjuntamente en contextos significativos. Estas conexiones forman redes que permiten la visualización y la comparación estadística de sus estructuras. (Shaffer et al., 2016)

A partir de este trabajo, Open ENA organiza los datos codificados, la configuración de los modelos y las comparaciones de redes en un flujo de trabajo dentro del navegador. Los investigadores deben interpretar los resultados teniendo en cuenta la pregunta de investigación, los fundamentos de la codificación y el material cualitativo original. (Shaffer & Ruis, 2017)

Origen del diseño y relación con webENA

El equipo de Open ENA utilizó webENA y lo tomó como referencia para establecer el aspecto y la disposición iniciales de esta plataforma. Reconocemos expresamente que esta referencia de diseño procede del equipo original de ENA y de su trabajo en webENA en Madison, Wisconsin, Estados Unidos.

La visualización de redes ENA también se nutre de la investigación sobre diseño visual e interpretación. (Tan et al., 2022)

Open ENA es una plataforma independiente mantenida por el equipo de Open ENA.

Referencias y trabajos previos

  • Shaffer, D. W. (2017). Quantitative ethnography. Cathcart Press. https://www.quantitativeethnography.org/
  • Shaffer, D. W., Collier, W., & Ruis, A. R. (2016). A tutorial on epistemic network analysis: Analyzing the structure of connections in cognitive, social, and interaction data. Journal of Learning Analytics, 3(3), 9–45. https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2016.33.3
  • Shaffer, D. W., & Ruis, A. R. (2017). Epistemic network analysis: A worked example of theory-based learning analytics. In C. Lang, G. Siemens, A. F. Wise, & D. Gašević (Eds.), Handbook of learning analytics (pp. 175–187). Society for Learning Analytics Research. https://doi.org/10.18608/hla17.015
  • Tan, Y., Hinojosa, C., Marquart, C., Ruis, A. R., & Shaffer, D. W. (2022). Epistemic network analysis visualization. In B. Wasson & S. Zörgő (Eds.), Advances in quantitative ethnography (pp. 129–143). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93859-8_9