Cooperative Learning in Videoconferencing: The Influence of Content Schemes and Cooperation Scripts on Shared External Representations and Individual Learning Outcomes

Video-conferencing is expected to become increasingly important for tele-learning environments. This study investigates how to foster cooperative learning in videoconferencing. The learning environment was a peer-teaching scenario, which demanded the learners to teach each other theories. In this study the effects of different types of support for cooperation were investigated. The main research question is how (1) content schemes and (2) cooperation scripts enhance the construction of collaborative external representations and foster learning outcomes. Re-sults indicate that content schemes as well as cooperation scripts foster the construction of shared external representations. Furthermore, the cooperation script enhances learning outcomVideokonferenzen werden in Telelernumgebungen zunehmend wichtiger. Im Rahmen dieser Studie wird untersucht, wie man kooperatives Lernen in Videokonferenzen unterstützen kann. Als Lernumgebung wurde ein Peer-Teaching Szenario gewählt, bei dem es die Aufgabe der Lernenden war, sich gegenseitig eine Theorie zu vermitteln. Dabei werden die Auswirkungen einer Unterstützung durch die Faktoren (1) Wissensschemata und (2) Kooperationsskripts auf die Erstellung einer gemeinsamen externalen Repräsentation und auf den Lernerfolg untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sowohl Wissensschemata als auch Kooperationsskripts positive Effekte auf die Erstellung der gemeinsamen externalen Repräsentation haben. Lernende mit Kooperationsskript wiesen zusätzlich einen höheren Lernerfolg auf als Lernende ohne Kooperationsskr

A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education

This review focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education. It provides a synthesis of the research literature in the field and a series of illustrative examples of how these tools are being used in learning and teaching. It draws out the perceived benefits that these new technologies appear to offer, and highlights some of the challenges and issues surrounding their use. The review forms the basis for a HE Academy funded project, ‘Peals in the Cloud’, which is exploring how Web 2.0 tools can be used to support evidence-based practices in learning and teaching. The project has also produced two in-depth case studies, which are reported elsewhere (Galley et al., 2010, Alevizou et al., 2010). The case studies focus on evaluation of a recently developed site for learning and teaching, Cloudworks, which harnesses Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate the sharing and discussion of educational practice. The case studies aim to explore to what extent the Web 2.0 affordances of the site are successfully promoting the sharing of ideas, as well as scholarly reflections, on learning and teaching

Art, academe and the language of knowledge

In this chapter I pursue the effects for knowledge, pedagogy and learning of practice led research in art and design education. I examine how postgraduate students of art, design and museology at the Institute of Education, University of London, explore and critically engage with the implications of art as a situated research practice. In particular, I foreground the complexities and antinomies surrounding methodology when students negotiate the practice of making in a studio context that encourages them to analyse their subject identities as teachers/lecturers, students, artists, academics and researchers. The expectation of academe and the position which language (written, spoken and visual) occupies is central to the formation of these identities, negotiations and dialogues. I will demonstrate, through discussion of work produced by students, that the traditional division between engagements with art making as a ‘sensory experience’ and with reading, writing and research as ‘rational activities’, presents a false dichotomy that needs to be reappraised in the debates surrounding practice-led research and its potential for pedagogy

“Fairy rings” of participation: the invisible network influencing participation in online communities

Individuals participate in many different ways in online communities. There is an extensive body of research describing participation as a key metaphor in communities of practice and stressing that participatory mobility is influenced by underground multidirectional activities, directed away from the notion of periphery to the centre practices and taking the shape of expansive swarming and multidirectional pulsations. This article describes an ongoing observational study proposing a model that attempts to determine how users participate in online communities and what influences them to alter the way in which they participate. We performed daily observations on user participatory behaviour in 50 online communities using public domain – anonymous data available in the communities. The specific communities were selected because they are related to learning and support learning activities within their networks. The data observations collected were analysed using Compendium, a hypermedia knowledge mapping and sense-making tool, to represent and structure the data, make complex cross data queries, test hypotheses and build representation of real examples to support our claims. Initial findings indicate that users connect, participate, contribute and collaborate on a shared objective, transferring information and pooling knowledge within and between communities in four different modes. During their online journey, users switched between modes of participation or even remained in one specific mode, implying that the way in which users participate in an online community is not just related to the mode of participation and the level of engagement with the community but it is also due to hidden reasons or motivations, an invisible network of interactions of elements that affect the willingness of the user to participate. This layer is not immediately evident in the user actions but can be inferred by analysing user reactions. It is argued that user participation in online communities occurs in two layers; the “visible” layer of participation with the different modes; and the “invisible” layer of element interactions, similar to formations observed in nature when a radically spreading underground network of fungi activity results in a ring or arc formation of mushrooms, also known as a “fairy ring”. These underground multidirectional activities influence participation and participatory mobility. Following an open scientific inquiry approach and an open research paradigm we plan to share these observations with a wider audience of practitioners, researchers and theorists for all to test or contest our arguments, and to enrich, question, or support our model

Learning design – making practice explicit

New technologies have immense potential for learning, but the sheer variety possible also creates challenges for learners in terms of navigating through an increasingly complex digital landscape and for teachers in terms of how to design and support learning interventions. How can learners and teachers make informed decisions about what technologies to use in the design and support of learning activities? This presentation will consider this question and present a new methodology for design – 'learning design', which aims to shift the creation and support of learning from what has traditionally been an implicit, belief-based practice to one that is explicit and design based. Learning design research at the Open University, UK has included the development of a set of conceptual design views, a tool for visualising designs (CompendiumLD) and a social networking site, for sharing and discussing learning and teaching ideas and designs (Cloudworks). An overview of this work will be provided, along with a discussion of the perceived benefits of this new approach to educational design

Learning by Seeing by Doing: Arithmetic Word Problems

Learning by doing in pursuit of real-world goals has received much attention from education researchers but has been unevenly supported by mathematics education software at the elementary level, particularly as it involves arithmetic word problems. In this article, we give examples of doing-oriented tools that might promote children\u27s ability to see significant abstract structures in mathematical situations. The reflection necessary for such seeing is motivated by activities and contexts that emphasize affective and social aspects. Natural language, as a representation already familiar to children, is key in these activities, both as a means of mathematical expression and as a link between situations and various abstract representations. These tools support children\u27s ownership of a mathematical problem and its expression; remote sharing of problems and data; software interpretation of children\u27s own word problems; play with dynamically linked representations with attention to children\u27s prior connections; and systematic problem variation based on empirically determined level of difficulty

What would learning in an open world look like? A vision for the future

The pace of current technological advancement is phenomenal. In the last few years we have seen the emergence of ever more sophisticated gaming technologies, rich, immersive virtual worlds and new social networking services that enable learners and teachers to connect and communicate in new ways. The pace of change looks set to continue as annual Horizon reports testify (http://www.nmc.org/horizon). Clearly new technologies offer much in an educational context, with the promise of flexible, personalised and student-centred learning. Indeed research over the past few years, looking at learners' use of technologies, has given us a rich picture of how learners of all ages are appropriating new tools within their own context, mixing different applications for finding/managing information and for communicating with others (Sharpe and Beetham, forthcoming)

Monitoring Conceptual Development: Design Considerations of a Formative Feedback tool

This paper presents the design considerations of a tool aiming at providing formative feedback. The tool uses Latent Semantic Analysis, to automatically generate reference models and provide learners a means to compare their conceptual development against these models. The design of the tool considers a theoretical background which combines research on expertise development, knowledge creation, and conceptual development assessment. The paper also illustrates how the tool will work using a problem and solution scenario, and presents initial validations results. Finally the paper draws conclusions and future work

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N