From multiple perspectives to shared understanding

The aim of this study was to explore how learners operating in a small group reach shared understanding as they work out joint research questions and build a theoretical framework and to identify the resources and tools they used in the process. The learners’ own interpretations of their group activities and learning were also taken into account. The data, consisting of group discussions and the documents produced by the group, were subjected to a qualitative content analysis. The group members employed a variety of resources and tools to exchange their individual perspectives and achieve shared understanding. Summaries of relevant literature laid a foundation for the group’s theoretical discussions. Reflective comparisons between their book knowledge and their personal experiences of online interaction and collaboration were frequent, suggesting that such juxtapositions may have enhanced their learning by intertwining the content to be mastered and the activities entailed by this particular content

Group Leadership in Online Collaborative Learning

The innovations in computer and communications technologies combined with on-going needs to deliver educational programs to students regardless of their physical locations, have lead to the innovation of distance education programs and technologies. To keep up with recent developments in both areas of technologies and techniques related to distance education programs, educators, administrators, and researchers are in constant needs of learning about issues, solutions, and challenges of these technologies. The Encyclopedia of Distance Learning offers the most comprehensive coverage of the issues, concepts, trends, and technologies of distance learning. With more than 2,000 terms and definitions and over 6,000 additional references, this authoritative 4-volume encyclopedia is considered the foremost reference source for the latest understanding, discoveries, and research in the field of distance learning

Toward a Semiotic Framework for Using Technology in Mathematics Education: The Case of Learning 3D Geometry

This paper proposes and examines a semiotic framework to inform the use of technology in mathematics education. Semiotics asserts that all cognition is irreducibly triadic, of the nature of a sign, fallible, and thoroughly immersed in a continuing process of interpretation (Halton, 1992). Mathematical meaning-making or meaningful knowledge construction is a continuing process of interpretation within multiple semiotic resources including typological, topological, and social-actional resources. Based on this semiotic framework, an application named VRMath has been developed to facilitate the learning of 3D geometry. VRMath utilises innovative virtual reality (VR) technology and integrates many semiotic resources to form a virtual reality learning environment (VRLE) as well as a mathematical microworld (Edwards, 1995) for learning 3D geometry. The semiotic framework and VRMath are both now being evaluated and will be re-examined continuously

Exploring Teachers Perceptions on Modeling Effort Demanded by CSCL Designs with Explicit Artifact Flow Support

Producción CientíficaArtifact flow represents an important aspect of teaching/learning processes, especially in CSCL situations in which complex relationships may be found. However, explicit modeling of CSCL processes with artifact flow may increase the cognitive load and associated effort of the teachers-designers and therefore decrease the efficiency of the design process. The empirical study, reported in this paper and grounded on mixed methods, provides evidence of the effort overload when teachers are involved in designing CSCL situations in a controlled environment. The results of the study illustrate the problem through the subjective perception of the participating teachers, complemented with objective parameters, such as time consumed, errors committed, uncertainty and objective complexity metrics.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project Project TIN2014-53199-C3- 2-R)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación - Ref. VA277U14)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación – Ref. VA082U16

Digital Tools and Instructional Rules: A study of how digital technologies become rooted in classroom procedures

This paper examines how a classroom culture developsadvanced strategies and procedures for handling complexdigital tools. We report from a vocational Mediaand Communication course at an Upper SecondarySchool in Oslo, Norway. Our analysis reveals how aprocedure called practical assignments has developedhistorically at the school, and how this procedure iscarried out in the classroom. Theoretically, our studyis informed by Activity Theory, which affords us toolsto analyze how social institutions and learning trajectoriesevolve over time, and how longitudinal dimensionsemerge in situ. Our findings show how teachers andlearners create a space for solving context-specific problemsinvolving sophisticated technology. A historicalanalysis is here crucial not only in understanding whydigital technologies are used in specific ways, but alsohow they evolve into classroom conventions

A study of the relationship between regulatory systems, assessment e locomotion, and online learning groups

The present paper examines the relationship between assessment, locomotion and attitudes and learning outcomes in a Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) framework. Results showed that regulatory mode predicted exam marks, numbers of tasks completed, messages sent and attitudes towards the course and the ingroup. The theoretical implications and some reflections about CSCL and Regulatory-mode Theory (RMT) are presented

Co- and self-regulation in a computer supported collaborative learning environment among Key Stage Three students

The current understanding of students' co- and self-regulated learning behaviours during group learning is limited. Research on social cognitive models of self-regulated learning (SRL) focused primarily on understanding the processes that students use to self-regulate their learning and the subsequent benefits of SRL on learning and academic performance. Recently, sociocultural models have begun to argue that SRL is fostered, developed, and maintained within social contexts and as a result of interactions with teachers and peers. This research employs both social cognitive and sociocultural theories to investigate students' co- regulatory behaviours in a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. The students worked in a computer based science simulation learning environment in which either self-regulatory prompts or co- and self- regulatory prompts were given. A longitudinal design methodology incorporating four studies was adopted. The first study engaged two hundred and fourteen year 7 and 8 (11-13 year oIds) students to pilot the developed co-regulated strategies for learning questionnaire (CRSLQ) in a high school at Bedfordshire County in the United Kingdom. The remaining three studies engaged forty year 7 students (11-12 year olds) from the same school who were randomly assigned to either the experimental or the control group to work collaboratively on various science topics. Both quantitative and qualitative data analyses were used to examine the strategies that students used to co- regulate their learning processes over time. Results from the quantitative analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between the experimental and the control groups in the students' demonstration of co-regulated learning (CRL) behaviours over time. However, the results from the knowledge tests, although they suggested that learning had taken place, did not reach statistical significance. Findings from the qualitative analysis suggested between group and within group differences in the nature of co-regulatory processes that groups used to co-regulate their learning behaviour over the course of the three studies. Theoretically, this research extends individual models of SRL to include social forms of regulation arguing that students acquire, refine, and use different forms of regulatory processes to regulate their learning behaviours during collaborative learning. Finally, given the emphasis on SRL throughout the national curriculum this research supports the use of collaborative tasks in a technology-rich learning environment as an instructional method to increase students' regulatory processes. Some recommendations for future work are then made