Enabling peer-to-peer collaboration within online learning environments and virtual laboratories.

Abstract

This literature review will provide a foundation for future research into the emerging cloud campus within The University of Glasgow. I have previously described the cloud campus concept as a working definition, used to describe the node between located (face-to-face) learning and virtual learning through the use of digital technologies (Dunn, 2016:29). There have been similar constructs established by other academics in the past (Knowles, 1984; Kopp and Hill, 2008; Urban-Woldron, 2013). These constructs tend to be based on recognised theories of learning; for example, connectivism (Siemens, 2005) and the time-tested epistemological frameworks described by Piaget (1963) and Vygotsky (1978) through cognitivism and constructivism (including social- constructivism). This review will provide a synthesis of key papers and it will argue the case for peer-to-peer collaboration within virtual spaces. Specifically, it will argue for the use of technology to support such collaboration within online virtual learning environments and within physical learning spaces as newly defined ‘virtual laboratories’. The paper will present the arguments by illustrating the opportunities and challenges within teacher agency and in physical space design