Designing electronic collaborative learning environments

Electronic collaborative learning environments for learning and working are in vogue. Designers design them according to their own constructivist interpretations of what collaborative learning is and what it should achieve. Educators employ them with different educational approaches and in diverse situations to achieve different ends. Students use them, sometimes very enthusiastically, but often in a perfunctory way. Finally, researchers study them and—as is usually the case when apples and oranges are compared—find no conclusive evidence as to whether or not they work, where they do or do not work, when they do or do not work and, most importantly, why, they do or do not work. This contribution presents an affordance framework for such collaborative learning environments; an interaction design procedure for designing, developing, and implementing them; and an educational affordance approach to the use of tasks in those environments. It also presents the results of three projects dealing with these three issues

Social Aspects of CSCL Environments: A Research Framework

Although there are research findings supporting the positive effects of computer-supported col- laborative learning (CSCL), problems have been reported regarding the learning process itself, group formation, and group dynamics. These problems can be traced back to impeded social interaction between group members. Social interaction is necessary (a) for group members to learn from each other in a CSCL environment and (b) for socioemotional processes to help cre- ate a social space where trust, sense of community, and strong interpersonal relationships exist. This article introduces a theoretical framework consisting of three core elements: sociability, social space, and social presence, along with their relationships with group members’ mental models, social affordances and learning outcomes. It postulates that the three core elements influence the social interaction needed for both learning and the emergence of a social space. This framework serves as a basis for a research agenda for systematic social CSCL research

The use of UTAUT and Post Acceptance models to investigate the attitude towards a telepresence robot in an educational setting

(1) Background: In the last decade, various investigations into the field of robotics have created several opportunities for further innovation to be possible in student education. However, despite scientific evidence, there is still strong scepticism surrounding the use of robots in some social fields, such as personal care and education; (2) Methods: In this research, we present a new tool named: HANCON model that was developed merging and extending the constructs of two solid and proven models: the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to examine the factors that may influence the decision to use a telepresence robot as an instrument in educational practice, and the Post Acceptance Model to evaluate acceptability after the actual use of a telepresence robot. The new tool is implemented and used to study the acceptance of a Double telepresence robot by 112 pre-service teachers in an educational setting; (3) Results: The analysis of the experimental results predicts and demonstrate a positive attitude towards the use of telepresence robot in a school setting and confirm the applicability of the model in an educational context; (4) Conclusions: The constructs of the HANCON model could predict and explain the acceptance of social telepresence robots in social contexts

Self-monitoring Practices, Attitudes, and Needs of Individuals with Bipolar Disorder: Implications for the Design of Technologies to Manage Mental Health

Objective To understand self-monitoring strategies used independently of clinical treatment by individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), in order to recommend technology design principles to support mental health management. Materials and Methods Participants with BD (N = 552) were recruited through the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the International Bipolar Foundation, and WeSearchTogether.org to complete a survey of closed- and open-ended questions. In this study, we focus on descriptive results and qualitative analyses. Results Individuals reported primarily self-monitoring items related to their bipolar disorder (mood, sleep, finances, exercise, and social interactions), with an increasing trend towards the use of digital tracking methods observed. Most participants reported having positive experiences with technology-based tracking because it enables self-reflection and agency regarding health management and also enhances lines of communication with treatment teams. Reported challenges stem from poor usability or difficulty interpreting self-tracked data. Discussion Two major implications for technology-based self-monitoring emerged from our results. First, technologies can be designed to be more condition-oriented, intuitive, and proactive. Second, more automated forms of digital symptom tracking and intervention are desired, and our results suggest the feasibility of detecting and predicting emotional states from patterns of technology usage. However, we also uncovered tension points, namely that technology designed to support mental health can also be a disruptor. Conclusion This study provides increased understanding of self-monitoring practices, attitudes, and needs of individuals with bipolar disorder. This knowledge bears implications for clinical researchers and practitioners seeking insight into how individuals independently self-manage their condition as well as for researchers designing monitoring technologies to support mental health management

What Drives Post Adoption Behavior in Virtual Traffic Community: The Role of Utilitarian and Hedonic Values

This study examines how satisfied experience enhance continuance intention of travel and navigation mobile application through the perceived value. It is proposed that user satisfaction stems from both utilitarian and hedonic value. Using a sample of 241 respondents and structural equation modeling, this study confirms that all aspect of perceived quality (information, system, service) enhances the perceived functionality of the app, while the sociability is the main determinant of the enjoyment perception. Both utilitarian and hedonic value are crucial in driving satisfaction, and eventually continuance intention of the apps. The findings are translated into practical implications and revenues for future research

Immersive Virtual Reality in Experiential Learning - A Value Co-creation and Co-destruction Approach

Immersive Virtual Reality (later VR) has its potential in enabling learning experiences. Several studies adopt experiential learning as a key concept to understand the outcomes of VR. This study consists of two parts – the first part conducts a systematic literature review on VR experiential learning and suggests seven main dimensions for the concept identified by the existing literature: engagement, sociability, contextual information, physical sensation, interactivity, cognitions, and presence. The second part adopts a value co-creation and co-destruction approach to empirically test the construction underlying VR experiential learning. The findings indicate 33 value co-creation and 19 value co-destruction constructs contributing to the seven dimensions. The suggested seven value construct dimensions combined with our own empirical findings and the theory of experiential learning, our research results build understanding about the experiential learning in the VR context and further encourages future VR learning research to test and validate these propositions

INTERMITTENT PARTICIPATION: HOW SOCIABILITY AND USABILITY SHAPE MEDIATED MOBILE INTERACTION

Mobile devices are common communication tools, which deeply affect social engagement practices. Smart-mobile devices move beyond voice and textual communication: they enable ubiquitous online connectivity, and bring changes to mediated social interaction. In this paper we bring the results of a study of the meditated social practices of students who use smart mobile devices on a university campus and beyond it. While the common premise is that smart mobile devices enable continuous collaborative interaction, our study shows this interaction is limited than previously believed. Two distinct factors were found to affect mobile interaction: sociability and usability. While sociability entices users to engage in continuous mobile-mediated interaction, usability issues encumber the full embracement of mobile-social applications. The tension between the two creates a new form of interaction - intermittent participation - in which users are constantly attuned to absorb notifications and updates, but rarely respond to them, unless a response is absolutely necessary

The Effect Of Social Presence On Teacher Technology Acceptance, Continuance Intention, And Performance In An Online Teacher Professional Development Course

The purpose of this study was to determine if the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) could explain the relationship between teacher\u27s acceptance of an online teacher professional development course and their continuance intentions regarding online teacher professional development (oTPD). This study focused on the perceptions of the teachers as opposed to the design or implementation of oTPD. The participants (N=517) were mostly teachers (88.8%) enrolled in a statewide online course to provide classroom teachers with the latest knowledge of research-based instructional reading strategies. The course was offered over a 10-14 week period during the Spring 2006 semester through a public state university. Structural equation modeling was used to create a path analytic model extending the TAM to include two additional constructs: sociability and social presence. In addition, gains in instructional reading strategies knowledge (performance) were examined. Using this expanded version of the TAM, the study examined the causal relationships between sociability, social presence, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, continuance intention, and gains. Online distance education research has indicated that social presence can influence post-secondary students\u27 attitude and persistence within a web-based course. However a paucity of research exists on how technology acceptance and social presence impacts teachers within an online teacher professional development setting. Path analysis, univariate analysis of variance, and independent t-tests in SPSS v12.0 for Windows were used to analyze the data. The results suggest that the hypothesized extended model was a good fit. The model did indicate that both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were determinants of teachers\u27 intent to continue using oTPD for future professional development needs

Influence of warmth and competence on the promotion of safe in-group selection. Stereotype content model and social categorization of faces

Categorizing an individual as a friend or foe plays a pivotal role in navigating the social world. According to the Stereotype Content Model, social perception relies on two fundamental dimensions, Warmth and Competence, which allow us to process the intentions of others and their ability to enact those intentions, respectively. Social cognition research indicates that, in categorization tasks, people tend to classify other individuals as more likely to belong to the out-group than the in-group (In-group Overexclusion Effect, IOE) when lacking diagnostic information, probably with the aim of protecting in-group integrity. Here, we explored the role of Warmth and Competence in group-membership decisions by testing 62 participants in a social-categorization task consisting of 150 neutral faces. We assessed whether (i) Warmth and Competence ratings could predict the in-group/out-group categorization, and (ii) the reliance on these two dimensions differed in low-IOE vs. high-IOE participants. Data showed that high ratings of Warmth and Competence were necessary to categorize a face as in-group. Moreover, while low-IOE participants relied on Warmth, high-IOE participants relied on Competence. This finding suggests that the proneness to include/exclude unknown identities in/from one's own in-group is related to individual differences in the reliance on SCM social dimensions. Furthermore, the primacy of Warmth effect seems not to represent a universal phenomenon adopted in the context of social evaluatio

Measuring perceived social presence in distributed learning groups

Kreijns, K., Kirschner, P. A., Jochems, W. M. G., & Van Buuren, H. (2011). Measuring perceived social presence in distributed learning groups. Education and Information Technologies, 16, 365-381.Social presence – the degree to which „the other‟ in a communication appears to be a „real‟ person – has captured the attention of those dealing with learning in groups through computer-supported collaborative learning environments. The concept is important because it affects participation and social interaction, both necessary for effective collaboration and knowledge construction. This article reports on the construction and validation of a self-reporting (Dutch-language) Social Presence Scale to determine perceived social presence in distributed learning groups using computer-supported collaborative learning environments. The result is a onedimensional scale consisting of five items with an internal consistency of .81. We used a nomological network of similar constructs for further validation. The findings suggest that the Social Presence Scale has potential to be useful as a measure for social presence