Global Teamwork: A Study of Design Learning in Collaborative Virtual Environments

With the recent developments in communication and information technologies, using Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) in design activity has experienced a remarkable increase. In this paper we present a collaborative learning activity between the University of Sydney (USYD), and the Istanbul Technical University (ITU). This paper shares our teaching experience and discusses the principles of collaborative design learning in virtual environments. Followed by a study on students’ perception on the courses and collaborative learning in both universities, this paper also suggests future refinements on the course structure and the main areas of collaborative design learning. Keywords: Collaborative Design; Collaborative Virtual Environments; Design Teaching And Learning</p

Collaborative learning and co-author students in online higher education: a-REAeduca – collaborative learning and co-authors

The technologies themselves cannot be analyzed as instruments per se, nor can they be exhausted in their relation with science. There is a social and even an individual dimension that affects our own way of relating to society. It is in open education that we have been developing our educational practices. This chapter presents a collaborative learning activity, the curricular unit Materiais e Recursos para eLearning, part of an on-line Master in Pedagogy of eLearning, Universidade Aberta, Portugal. In the present work, the authors dedicate their attention to co-learning and co-research, as processes that help to exemplify some situations, the a-REAeduca. The data collection was supported essentially by the content analysis technique.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

"Mad Scientists, Narrative, and Social Power: A Collaborative Learning Activity"

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories “The Birthmark” (1843) and “Rappaccini’s Daughter” (1844) encourage critical thinking about science and scientific research as forms of social power. In this collaborative activity, students work in small groups to discuss the ways in which these stories address questions of human experimentation, gender, manipulation of bodies, and the role of narrative in mediating perceptions about bodies. Students collectively adduce textual evidence from the stories to construct claims and present a mini-argument to the class, thereby strengthening their skills in communication and cooperative interpretation of ethical dilemmas. This exercise is adaptable to shorter and longer periods of instruction, and it is ideal for instructors who collaborate across areas of expertise

Teaching Buffer Overflow via a Guided Inquiry Collaborative Learning Activity

We have developed a guided inquiry collaborative learning activity to teach buffer overflow. The key research results including the comparison of pre- and post-evaluation of student learning in groups will be presented in the conference

Musical peddy-paper: a collaborative learning activity suported by augmented reality

Gaming activities are an integral part of the human learning process, in particular for children. Game-based learning focuses on motivation and children's engagement towards learning. Educational game-based activities are becoming effective strategies to enhance the learning process. This paper presents an educational activity focusing to merge mobile computing devices and Augmented Reality, as a means to engage student in collaborative learning towards the Aesthetical Periods of Music History. The Musical Peddy-paper proposes student to use their mobile computing devices (smartphones/ tablets) to find eight stations scattered in a set location, and then use their music literacy skills to find the correct answer in each station. Collaborative work is required to find the stations and the answers to the clues. The musical Peddy-paper was developed mixing Geo-location and Augmented Reality concepts. Geo-location Points of Interest (POI’s) where set through Hoppala platform. Augmented Reality browsing and QRCode reading is supported by the LAYAR platform. In this paper, we introduce the concept of game-based activities as a tool to promote motivation and engagement towards learning, and fully explain the development process of the activity. We conclude this paper presenting the conclusions contemplating the use of this activity among a group of children from the 2nd Cycle of Basic Education in Basic School Maria Manuela de Sá, Matosinhos – Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A grid-based approach for processing group activity log files

The information collected regarding group activity in a collaborative learning environment requires classifying, structuring and processing. The aim is to process this information in order to extract, reveal and provide students and tutors with valuable knowledge, awareness and feedback in order to successfully perform the collaborative learning activity. However, the large amount of information generated during online group activity may be time-consuming to process and, hence, can hinder the real-time delivery of the information. In this study we show how a Grid-based paradigm can be used to effectively process and present the information regarding group activity gathered in the log files under a collaborative environment. The computational power of the Grid makes it possible to process a huge amount of event information, compute statistical results and present them, when needed, to the members of the online group and the tutors, who are geographically distributed.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Multimodal collaborative workgroup dataset and challenges

© 2017, CEUR-WS. All rights reserved. This work presents a multimodal dataset of 17 workgroup sessions in a collaborative learning activity. Workgroups were conformed of two or three students using a tabletop application in a co-located space. The dataset includes time-synchronized audio, video and tabletop system's logs. Some challenges were identified during the collection of the data, such as audio participation identification, and user traces identification. Future work should explore how to overcome the aforementioned difficulties

Negotiating time-space contexts in students’ technology-mediated interaction during a collaborative learning activity

In this article, we build on the notion of the chronotope to investigate how students create and manage time-space contexts in their technology-mediated interactions during a collaborative learning activity. Drawing on a dialogic approach, the study defines chronotopes as socially constructed time-space configurations with a specific narrative character that represent cultural practices and values, and that operationalize the framing of the interactional situation and its actors. The empirical data derive from a case study of students’ technology-mediated interactions while collaborating in writing a school musical script. The findings show how chronotopes offer a useful conceptual heuristic for researching the creation and management of often contradictory time-space contexts in students’ technology-mediated interactions intertwined with institutional, relational, and personal spheres of activity.In this article, we build on the notion of the chronotope to investigate how students create and manage time-space contexts in their technology-mediated interactions during a collaborative learning activity. Drawing on a dialogic approach, the study defines chronotopes as socially constructed time-space configurations with a specific narrative character that represent cultural practices and values, and that operationalize the framing of the interactional situation and its actors. The empirical data derive from a case study of students' technology-mediated interactions while collaborating in writing a school musical script. The findings show how chronotopes offer a useful conceptual heuristic for researching the creation and management of often contradictory time-space contexts in students' technology-mediated interactions intertwined with institutional, relational, and personal spheres of activity. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe