Collaborative trails in e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas – experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future

Emerging and scripted roles in computer-supported collaborative learning

Emerging and scripted roles pose an intriguing approach to analysing and facilitating CSCL. The concept of emerging roles provides a perspective on how learners structure and self-regulate their CSCL processes. Emerging roles appear to be dynamic over longer periods of time in relation to learners’ advancing knowledge, but are often unequally distributed in ad hoc CSCL settings, e.g. a learner being the ‘typist’ and another being the ‘thinker’. Empirical findings show that learners benefit from structuring or scripting CSCL. Scripts can specify roles and facilitate role rotation for learners to equally engage in relevant learning roles and activities. Scripted roles can, however, collide with emerging roles and therefore need to be carefully attuned to the advancing capabilities of the learners

Designing for interaction

At present, the design of computer-supported group-based learning (CS)GBL) is often based on subjective decisions regarding tasks, pedagogy and technology, or concepts such as ‘cooperative learning’ and ‘collaborative learning’. Critical review reveals these concepts as insufficiently substantial to serve as a basis for (CS)GBL design. Furthermore, the relationship between outcome and group interaction is rarely specified a priori. Thus, there is a need for a more systematic approach to designing (CS)GBL that focuses on the elicitation of expected interaction processes. A framework for such a process-oriented methodology is proposed. Critical elements that affect interaction are identified: learning objectives, task-type, level of pre-structuring, group size and computer support. The proposed process-oriented method aims to stimulate designers to adopt a more systematic approach to (CS)GBL design according to the interaction expected, while paying attention to critical elements that affect interaction. This approach may bridge the gap between observed quality of interaction and learning outcomes and foster (CS)GBL design that focuses on the heart of the matter: interaction

Developing e-assessment using the quiz activity within Moodle: empowering student learning

Using formative assessment within Moodle has been shown to encourage self-directed learning (Bromham & Oprandi, 2006). Our experience of using formative assessment quizzes as stand alone entities, as well as within Moodle lessons, has been used to introduce Moodle assessment quizzes over the past year in Level 1 and Level 2 Life Sciences courses. This experience has been distilled to inform the content of this workshop. Some advantages of incorporating assessments in the form of Moodle quizzes are that they allow for quick, reproducible and flexible assessment with a relatively small initial set-up cost, and substantial long-term staff and administration savings. One significant advantage is that staff and room pressures can be reduced as students can attempt the assessment at a time and location of their choice within a specified time period. This flexibility can help to reduce student stress associated with completion of a continuous assessment for their course. It is also a relatively simple process to account for students entitled to extra time during assessments. Providing clear instructions beforehand and at the start of the quiz ensures that students understand their responsibilities for completion of this assessment and ultimately the course. There are some disadvantages and limitations to the system as it currently exists, for example there is the perceived ability for students to “cheat” by completing the assessment as a group, accessing books and the internet. Strategies to account for these can be put in place and will be discussed in detail during the workshop. This workshop aims to take the participants through the initial set up of a quiz, highlighting the various question types and how these can be used to create a challenging assessment that can be quickly graded and prove informative for staff and course development. Reference Bromham L. & Oprandi P. (2006) Evolution online: developing active and blended learning by using a virtual learning environment in an introductory biology course. Journal of Biological Education 41 (1): 21-25

Supporting graduate teaching assistants in two STEM areas

No abstract available

Using the Jigsaw Method for Meaningful Learning to Enhance Learning and Rentention in an Educational Leadership Graduate School Course

This qualitative case study examined factors that were both successful and unsuccessful along with the attitudes and preferences of educational leadership graduate students towards working in an online cooperative jigsaw blog project in which each student had an active role for each topic addressed throughout the semester The theoretical framework for this study was based on the work of Novak 2011 and Ausubel 1960 Their theories explore how the learner processes large amounts of meaningful material from verbal and textual formats in classroom settings Analysis of the online questionnaire and face-to-face interview data indicated that the graduate students enrolled in the course effectively learn when they are learning collaboratively in smaller chunks of information at a time as subject matter experts and have an ease of access to the learning materials Students also preferred non-traditional methods over traditional lectures and become more involved when they participate in the evaluation of their peers Results also revealed that students disliked learning using the jigsaw method when there were missing pieces to the blog postings a lack of quality in the postings a lack of accuracy a repetition of information in the blog and a lack of peer and instructor feedbac

Using the Jigsaw Method for Meaningful Learning to Enhance Learning and Retention in an Educational Leadership Graduate School Course

This qualitative case study examined factors that were both successful and unsuccessful along with the attitudes and preferences of educational leadership graduate students towards working in an online cooperative jigsaw blog project in which each student had an active role for each topic addressed throughout the semester The theoretical framework for this study was based on the work of Novak 2011 and Ausubel 1960 Their theories explore how the learner processes large amounts of meaningful material from verbal and textual formats in classroom settings Analysis of the online questionnaire and face-to-face interview data indicated that the graduate students enrolled in the course effectively learn when they are learning collaboratively in smaller chunks of information at a time as subject matter experts and have an ease of access to the learning materials Students also preferred non-traditional methods over traditional lectures and become more involved when they participate in the evaluation of their peers Results also revealed that students disliked learning using the jigsaw method when there were missing pieces to the blog postings a lack of quality in the postings a lack of accuracy a repetition of information in the blog and a lack of peer and instructor feedbac

A protocol for multidimensional assessment in university online courses

This paper presents a protocol developed for multidimensional assessment for e-learning experiences based on socioconstructivist principles. First, we describe the structure of an e-learning course where the protocol as been developed and tested; second, we describe the protocol and how it has been used in that course. We believe this protocol is a useful tool for a twofold reason: on the one hand, it takes into account the complexity of the pedagogical architecture of socioconstructivist courses – where many teaching models and learning strategies are mixed, different individual and collaborative activities are proposed and students are asked to build a variety of final products. On the other hand, it promotes students’ assumption of responsibility and active role, with a particular reference to self-assessment competences. Instances of how we have applied the protocol will be described in the paper. The assessment protocol we present here is complex, nevertheless flexible. Therefore, although we have tested it in a specific course, it could also be used in similar or simpler course

Facilitating social collaboration in mobile cloud-based learning: a teamwork as a service (TaaS) approach

Mobile learning is an emerging trend that brings many advantages to distributed learners, enabling them to achieve collaborative learning, in which the virtual teams are usually built to engage multiple learners working together towards the same pedagogical goals in online courses. However, the socio-technical mechanisms to enhance teamwork performance are lacking. To meet this gap, we adopt the social computing to affiliate learners’ behaviors and offer them computational choices to build a better collaborative learning context. Combining the features of the cloud environment, we have identified a learning flow based on Kolb team learning experience to realize this approach. Such novel learning flow can be executed by our newly designed system, Teamwork as a Service (TaaS), in conjunction with the cloud-hosting learning management systems. Following this learning flow, learners benefit from the functions provided by cloud-based services when cooperating in a mobile environment, being organized into cloud-based teaching strategies namely “Jigsaw Classroom”, planning and publishing tasks, as well as rationalizing task allocation and mutual supervision. In particular, we model the social features related to the collaborative learning activities, and introduce a genetic algorithm approach to grouping learners into appropriate teams with two different team formation scenarios. Experimental results prove our approach is able to facilitate teamwork, while learners’ capabilities and preferences are taken into consideration. In addition, empirical evaluations have been conducted to show the improvement of collaborative learning brought by TaaS in real university level courses

Comparing collaborative problem solving in virtual reality and desktop computer display environments

https://www.ester.ee/record=b5160211*es