Using Shared Workspaces in Higher Education

We evaluate the use of BSCW shared workspaces in higher education by means of a comparison of seven courses in which this environment was used. We identify a number of different functions for which the BSCW environment has been used and discuss the relative success of these functions across the cases. In addition, we evaluate the cases with the 4E model of Collis et al. (2000) which predicts the chances of acceptance of ICT in an educational setting. Effectiveness for the given task appears to be a prime success factor for using ICT. But an effective tool may fail due to other factors like ease of use and organisational, socialcultural or technological obstacles. The particular strength of a shared workspace, for which BSCW is most effective and efficient, is providing a repository for objects of collaborative work. Other types of usage showed mixed results. In the future we expect that learning takes place in an integrated, open ICT environment in which different kinds of tools are available for different purposes and users can switch between tools as appropriate. We could observe this in several of the case studies, where non-use of BSCW did not mean that a particular task was not performed, but, on the contrary, a more efficient solution for the same function was available. Shared workspaces have proven to be highly useful, but it seems advisable that their purpose be limited to what they were originally designed for

Awareness support for learning designers in collaborative authoring for adaptive learning

Adaptive learning systems offer students a range of appropriate learning options based on the learners’ characteristics. It is, therefore, necessary for such systems to maintain a hyperspace and knowledge space that consists of a large volume of domain and pedagogical knowledge, learner information, and adaptation rules. As a consequence, for a solitary teacher, developing learning resources would be time consuming and requires the teacher to be an expert of many topics. In this research, the problems of authoring adaptive learning resources are classified into issues concerning interoperability, efficiency, and collaboration.This research particularly addresses the question of how teachers can collaborate in authoring adaptive learning resources and be aware of what has happened in the authoring process. In order to experiment with collaboration, it was necessary to design a collaborative authoring environment for adaptive learning. This was achieved by extending an open sourced authoring tool of IMS Learning Design (IMS LD), ReCourse, to be a prototype of Collaborative ReCourse that includes the workspace awareness information features: Notes and History. It is designed as a tool for asynchronous collaboration for small groups of learning designers. IMS LD supports interoperability and adaptation. Two experiments were conducted. The first experiment was a workspace awareness study in which participants took part in an artificial collaborative scenario. They were divided into 2 groups; one group worked with ReCourse, the other with Collaborative ReCourse. The results provide evidence regarding the advantages of Notes and History for enhancing workspace awareness in collaborative authoring of learning designs.The second study tested the system more thoroughly as the participants had to work toward real goals over a much longer time frame. They were divided into four groups; two groups worked with ReCourse, while the others worked with Collaborative ReCourse. The experiment result showed that authoring of learning designs can be approached with a Process Structure method with implicit coordination and without role assignment. It also provides evidence that collaboration is possible for authoring IMS LD Level A for non-adapting and Level B for adapting materials. Notes and History assist in producing good quality output.This research has several contributions. From the literature study, it presents a comparison analysis of existing authoring tools, as well as learning standards. Furthermore, it presents a collaborative authoring approach for creating learning designs and describes the granularity level on which collaborative authoring for learning designs can be carried out. Finally, experiments using this approach show the advantages of having Notes and History for enhancing workspace awareness that and how they benefit the quality of learning designs

Computer-Supported Collaborative Production

This paper proposes the concept of collaborative production as a focus of concern within the general area of collaborative work. We position the concept with respect to McGrath's framework for small group dynamics and the more familiar collaboration processes of awareness, coordination, and communication (McGrath 1991). After reviewing research issues and computer-based support for these interacting aspects of collaboration, we turn to a discussion of implications for how to design improved support for collaborative production. We illustrate both the challenges of collaborative production and our design implications with a collaborative map-updating scenario drawn from the work domain of geographical information systems

Division of labour and sharing of knowledge for synchronous collaborative information retrieval

Synchronous collaborative information retrieval (SCIR) is concerned with supporting two or more users who search together at the same time in order to satisfy a shared information need. SCIR systems represent a paradigmatic shift in the way we view information retrieval, moving from an individual to a group process and as such the development of novel IR techniques is needed to support this. In this article we present what we believe are two key concepts for the development of effective SCIR namely division of labour (DoL) and sharing of knowledge (SoK). Together these concepts enable coordinated SCIR such that redundancy across group members is reduced whilst enabling each group member to benefit from the discoveries of their collaborators. In this article we outline techniques from state-of-the-art SCIR systems which support these two concepts, primarily through the provision of awareness widgets. We then outline some of our own work into system-mediated techniques for division of labour and sharing of knowledge in SCIR. Finally we conclude with a discussion on some possible future trends for these two coordination techniques

USAge of Groupware in Software Engineering Education at the Cscw Laboratory of University Duisburg-essen: Possibilities and Limitations

This paper analyzes the application level in CSCW laboratory there are Electronic meeting rooms, Video Conferencing, Desktop Conference (Passenger), and BSCW system which conducting in The University Duisburg – Essen Germany. This analysis included short analysis and discussion about possibilities and limitation of each experiment followed by outlook how this lab can be further developed.Multi-user to Multipoint Videoconferences is introduced to cover all of devices join to the conferences. A computer network, PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), ISDN Phone, Wireless Infrastructures (accessed by laptop, smart phone, PDA) and videoconferences systems is proposed to be integrate

A definition of digital media literacy competences required by workers to collaborate in distance work environments

This chapter is structured as follows. First, we lay out the theoretical framework for our work. We introduce the concept of digital media literacy (DML) and discuss how it positions our object of study beyond a technologically-centered approach, encompasses both basic operational skills and full-fledged competences, and allows us to articulate both functional and critical aspects of these competences. We then specify the relationship between DML and the social practices that actualize them. Finally, we define categories of collaborative work that are essential to our observation of distance collaboration practices. Second, we detail the methods of data collection and analysis we used to infer a map of DML competence from the interview and observational data of sixty workers engaged in distance collaboration in ten public and private Belgian organizations. Third, we present an overview of the results of our analyses, followed by a detailed description of the domains of competence we identified in terms of activities collaborators perform, and dimensions these activities include. Fourth, we offer an alternative, complementary look at our data in the form of aggregated quantitative indicators. Finally, our conclusions are presented based on the discussion of the results