Group Awareness of Social and Cognitive Behavior in a CSCL Environment

Phielix, C., Prins, F. J., & Kirschner, P. A. (2010). Group awareness of social and cognitive behavior in a CSCL environment. In K. Gomez, L. Lyons, & J. Radinsky (Eds.), Learning in the Disciplines: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2010): Volume 1 (pp. 230-237). Chicago IL, USA: International Society of the Learning Sciences.This study investigated whether a peer feedback tool and a reflection tool would enhance group performance in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. The underlying assumption was that group performance can be positively influenced by making group members aware of how their social and cognitive behavior is perceived by themselves, their peers, and the group as a whole. Participants were 120 fourth-year high school students working, with or without the tools, in dyads, triads and groups of 4 on a collaborative writing task. Results show that groups using tools perceived their team as being better developed, experienced higher levels of group satisfaction and lower levels of conflicts, than groups not using the tools. Results demonstrate that awareness, stimulated by peer assessment and reflection tools, enhances the social performance of a CSCL-group

Detección automática de conflictos grupales en entornos de aprendizaje colaborativo

Estudios realizados han comprobado que los entornos de Aprendizaje Colaborativo Soportado por Computadora (ACSC) pueden traer aparejados beneficios educativos, sociales y motivacionales para los grupos de estudiantes. Sin embargo, la tecnología por sí misma no garantiza la creación de un ambiente donde la colaboración pueda ocurrir. Para colaborar efectivamente los estudiantes necesitan (entre otras cosas) de un e-tutor (docente) que coordine las discusiones, promueva la participación, y ayude a enfrentar los problemas que surjan durante la dinámica de trabajo grupal. Para coordinar efectivamente a los grupos de estudiantes en ACSC es preciso que los e-tutores analicen las interacciones que se produzcan entre los alumnos pero, esta tarea requiere una considerable cantidad de tiempo y esfuerzo. En este artículo se presenta una línea de investigación que propone incorporar técnicas de minería de textos y agentes de software a una herramienta de ACSC existente, con el propósito de monitorear las interacciones, identificar conflictos grupales, e informar al docente sobre la presencia de dichos conflictos para propiciar su oportuna intervención.Eje: Tecnología Informática Aplicada en Educación.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Studying and Supporting Activity Awareness in Collaborative Learning Groups: Using a Persuasive Social Actor

Collaborative learning is known as an effective learning method and various different kinds of technologies have been developed to support and facilitate collaborative learning. Many of these technologies are used to support the functional activities of a group of learners by enabling students to communicate, share documents and materials, track the work of the group, or distribute and allocate tasks. One factor that influences the success of collaborative groups is the awareness that members have of each others' activities i.e. activity awareness (Gutwin et al., 2004). Limited attention has been paid to promoting activity awareness in the collaborative learning literature. The work that does exist has focused on enhancing activity awareness by capturing and sharing details of the activity (e.g. Ganoe et al., 2003; Carroll et al., 2003). In contrast, there are no technologies that focus on the learners’ attitudes and behaviours with regard to activity awareness without considering the functional aspects of the group's work. This PhD hypothesises that persuasive technologies can offer a novel way of promoting activity awareness by changing learners’ attitudes and behaviours and persuading them to be more aware of fellow group members’ activities. This approach to enhancing activity awareness was investigated by using a persuasive social actor to change the attitudes and behaviours of learners who were working on collaborative learning projects over extended periods of time. Four studies were conducted: a pilot study to explore collaborative learning groups, an exploratory study to understand collaboration and activity awareness, a follow-up study to study activity awareness in depth, and a main study where a persuasive social actor for activity awareness in collaborative learning groups was developed and tested. All of these studies focused on a specific collaborative learning setting, in which small numbers of students (3 to 5) worked together in collaborative groups to complete real learning projects over approximately 6 weeks. This thesis makes four contributions to the fields of HCI and collaborative learning. The main contribution is a novel approach to enhance activity awareness in collaborative learning groups by changing learners’ attitudes and behaviours using a persuasive technology i.e. a persuasive social actor. The second contribution is a new method to evaluate activity awareness in collaborative learning groups. The third contribution is insight into how the Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model (Oinas-kukkonen & Harjumaa, 2009) can be used in the design and evaluation of a persuasive social actor. The fourth contribution is an analysis of how students collaborate in long-term collaborative learning projects in naturalistic settings

WICC 2017 : XIX Workshop de Investigadores en Ciencias de la Computación

Actas del XIX Workshop de Investigadores en Ciencias de la Computación (WICC 2017), realizado en el Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA), el 27 y 28 de abril de 2017.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI