Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)

Learning from and with Customers with Social Media: A Model for Social Customer Learning

by Jari Jussila

Co-authored with Hannu Kärkkäinen and Maija Leino, published in International Journal of Management, Knowledge and Learning, 2012

Social media can enable and significantly increase the collaboration and learning from customers in various ways, for... more Social media can enable and significantly increase the collaboration and learning from customers in various ways, for instance by novel social ways of providing and receiving feedback from new products and concepts. We have created a model that can support managers and researchers to better analyse and understand the possibilities of social media approaches especially from the business-to-business (B2B) customer interface standpoint. We used the model to analyse found various types of business-to-business related social media approaches to create new understanding of the scarcely researched field of social media in the customer learning and the customer interface of B2B innovation.

Peer Interactions in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning using Dynamic Mathematics Software

by Shiau Wei Chan

Chan, S.W., and Zaleha Ismail (2010). Peer Interactions in Computer-supported Collaborative Learning using Dynamic Mathematics Software. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 8, 600-608.

Analysing video and audio data: existing approaches and new innovations

by Elizabeth FitzGerald (née Brown)

Full citation:
FitzGerald, E. (2012) Analysing video and audio data: existing approaches and new innovations. Short paper submitted to the Surface Learning Workshop 2012, 18-20 March 2012, Bristol, UK.

Across many subject disciplines, video and audio data are recorded in order to document processes, procedures or... more Across many subject disciplines, video and audio data are recorded in order to document processes, procedures or interactions. These video and audio data are consequently analysed using a number of techniques, in order to try and make sense of what was happening at the time of the recording, sometimes in relation to initial hypotheses or sometimes in terms of a 'post hoc' analysis where a more grounded approach is used. This paper contains an overview of tools and techniques for examining video data and looks at potential new methods borrowed from the field of learning analytics, related to discourse analysis. Discourse analysis, where conversations and the spoken word are explored and dissected in detail, can provide us with information about the learning context and the ways in which learners interact with people and other resources in their environment.

How gamers manage aggression: Situating skills in collaborative computer games

by Ulrika Bennerstedt

co-authored with Jonas Ivarsson & Jonas Linderoth. Published in International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning.

In the discussion on what players learn from digital games, there are two major camps in clear opposition to each... more In the discussion on what players learn from digital games, there are two major camps in clear opposition to each other. As one side picks up on negative elements found in games the other side focuses on positive aspects. While the agendas differ, the basic arguments still depart from a shared logic: that engagement in game-related activities fosters the development of behaviors that are transferred to situations beyond the game itself. With an approach informed by ethnomethodology, in this paper we probe the underlying logic connected to studies that argue for such general effects of games. By focusing on proficient gamers involved in the core game activity of boss encounters in a massively multiplayer online game, we examine the fundamentals that must be learnt and mastered for succeeding in an ordinary collaborative gaming practice where aggression is portrayed. On the basis of our empirical analysis we then address the contentious links between concrete instances of play and generic effects. As expected, the results point to “aggression” as well as “collaboration” as major components in the gaming experience, but our analysis also suggests that the practices associated with these notions are locally tied to the game. Based on these results, we propose that to reverse this relationship and claim that game environments foster collaboration or aggression in general first assumes strong theoretical claims about the nature of cognition and learning, and second, risks confusing the debate with hyperbole.

A Rational Framework for Student Interactions with Collaborative Educational Systems

by Curtis Atkisson

Time-­‐Shifted Online Collaboration: Creating Teachable Moments Through Automated Grading

by Curtis Atkisson

Network and Content Analysis in a Blog Training Course.

by Maria Maheridou

M., Maheridou, P., Antoniou, E., Tsitskari & Th., Kourtessis. Published in International J. Soc. Sci. & Education, 2 (2), 238-251 (2012).

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate interaction patterns among twenty (n=20) physical educators... more ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate interaction patterns among twenty (n=20) physical educators (PE) who voluntarily attended an eight week training course using blog, in order to enhance their professional development and their skills in effective teaching; the way they shared and constructed
knowledge together was also a focus of our interest. The asynchronous online discussion between the learners formed the basis for the study. Social network analysis and content analysis were applied to analyze the data. The results showed that interaction patterns between the participants were rather
centralized and network was relatively dense. Moreover, person to person communication was rather high. Content analysis revealed that the discussion was mainly focused on sharing and comparing information, as far as in negotiation and knowledge construction. A significant degree of social presence was established, which indicated that socio-emotional interaction between learners was essential in realizing meaningful and worthwhile educational outcomes.

Piloting mobile ICT in a developing school in South Africa

by Jacqueline Batchelor

The last of three articles as part of a Masters mini-dissertation

This article reports on the 2nd MobilED intervention set in a under-resourced school. This follows the first iteration... more This article reports on the 2nd MobilED intervention set in a under-resourced school. This follows the first iteration in the design research testing text-to-speech technology and the creation and contribution of new knowledge in the language of choice. The same lesson plan designed and developed for the resourced school in the 1st pilot was used, and the technology platform settings were adjusted slightly to accommodate the pitfalls as identified in the first pilot at a developed school.  All resource materials were provided, as the research focussed primarily on the experience of the learners in a mobile supported collaborative learning event.  Issues such as ownership, time management, accessibility and possible uses are discussed.

A collaboration framework for on-line learning environments

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Carlos José Olguin and Armando Delgado. Published in RIBIE'2000.

Collaborative learning supported through computers seems to be very promising, since advances in computational... more Collaborative learning supported through computers seems to be very promising, since advances in computational technology enable the widespread use of tools such as bulletin boards, chats, whiteboards and even video-conference. However, it is not clear which approach for on-line learning – individual or collaborative – is more effective for the students. This paper addresses a proposal to combine both approaches, taking in account that some advantages related to individual learning, such as self-pacing and establishment of learning goals by the learner, imply in difficulties to establish collaborative settings. This proposal is based upon the dynamic creation and management of study groups of distributed learners sharing on-line material. A model is proposed to set collaboration profiles that would enable to identify potential collaborators, and an agent-based infrastructure is presented to support this model in an on-line learning environment. Finally, an example of use of this infrastructure is presented using CALM, a learning environment developed on top of the Web architecture.

Changing Interaction Paradigms in Annotation Environments

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Christian Adriano, Alberto Raposo, and Léo Magalhães. Published in EDMEDIA'2000.

Implementation of novel learning scenarios frequently implies the adoption of new interaction paradigms provided by... more Implementation of novel learning scenarios frequently implies the adoption of new interaction paradigms provided by new media. Changes on media bring several issues to educational metaphors, such as deciding which characteristics should be maintained, removed and improved. This paper discusses these issues by means of a case study comparing evolving scenarios for the annotation metaphor: from paper-based to hypertext and virtual reality.

An Agent Infrastructure to Set Collaborative Environments

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Armando Delgado and Carlos José Olguin. Published in Educational Technology and Society, 2000.

Collaborative learning supported through computers seems to be very promising, since advances in computational... more Collaborative learning supported through computers seems to be very promising, since advances in computational technology enable the widespread use of tools such as bulletin boards, chats, whiteboards and even video-conference. However, it is not clear which approach for on-line learning – individual or collaborative – is more effective for the students. This paper addresses a proposal to combine both approaches, taking in account that some advantages related to individual learning, such as self-pacing and
establishment of learning goals by the learner, imply in difficulties to establish collaborative settings. This proposal is based upon the dynamic creation and management of study groups of distributed learners sharing on-line material. A model is proposed to set collaboration profiles that would enable to identify potential collaborators, and an agent-based infrastructure is presented to support this model in an on-line learning environment. Finally, an example of use of this infrastructure is presented using CALM, a learning environment developed on top of the Web architecture.

Fostering Theoretical, Empirical and Tool Specific Knowledge in a Software Testing Learning Scenario

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Ellen Barbosa, Christian Adriano, José Carlos Maldonado, and Mario Jino. Published in ICECE'2000.

Teaching some subjects, as for example Computer Science, concerns the support for a learning process that involves... more Teaching some subjects, as for example Computer Science, concerns the support for a learning process that involves cooperation of theoretical and empirical knowledge with related software tools. The underlying hypothesis is that there is a lack of appropriate support, to students and instructors, to the apprenticeship of specific theories and skills. The current research aims at a more specific learning scenario – Software Testing – addressing of what would be these specific theories and skills. A Software Testing Lab requires three cooperating types of knowledge – theoretical, empirical and tool specific, which together compose the learning and the evaluation process. To investigate such hypothesis, a specific learning scenario is implemented within a platform named CALM. This learning
scenario comprises a unit testing activity and the support of an integrated testing tool – PokeTool. With the implemented learning scenario we hope to be in a position to suggest more specific guidelines to be integrated into the platform CALM. It is expected that this experience can also be extended to other software engineering courses.

Monitoring learners activities in a collaborative environment

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Armando NL Delgado, Carlos JM Olguin. CRWIG 2001.

Collaborative learning supported through computers seems to be very promising due to advances in computer mediated... more Collaborative learning supported through computers seems to be very promising due to advances in computer mediated communication tools. Howevel; it is not clear which approach for on-line learning - individual or collaborative - is more effective for the students. This paper is a continuation of previous work from authors, that combine both approaches, taking in account that some advantages related to individual learning, such as the self-pacing and the establishment of learning goals by the learner, imply in diflculties to establish collaborative settings. In this article it is proposed a framework for the management of study groups of distributed learners sharing on-line material. A model is presented to capture the essences of group activities. These information allow further analysis of group and individual performances.

Tasks interdependencies in collaborative learning activities: Specification and modeling

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Alberto Raposo. Published in CATE'2002.

In collaborative environments, coordination is an essential matter to the specification of activities, which are... more In collaborative environments, coordination is an essential matter to the specification of activities, which are described as sets of  interdependent tasks. An extensible framework encompassing coordination mechanisms to specify tasks interdependencies is initially presented. These mechanisms are formally modeled using Petri nets and, along with a Petri net representation for the tasks to be performed, can be used to create a model to evaluate the environment. The use of this framework is illustrated in the context of a learning environment based on collaborative Web document construction.

Activity Coordination in Collaborative Learning Environments

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Carlos José Olguin and Alberto Raposo. Published in CSAC'2004.

In the context of computer-supported collaborative learning, discussions are essential to increase the knowledge level... more In the context of computer-supported collaborative learning, discussions are essential to increase the knowledge level of the members of a group. This work proposes the modeling of the discussion activities of a study group using an activities coordination model. Starting from the formal modeling of the system, and using coordination mechanisms based on Petri Nets, the behavior of the environment can be simulated and analyzed. These simulations allow anticipating possible problems and help to turn interactions among students more efficient.

Knowledge management applied to education.

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Leandro C Ledel. WCETE 2004. In Portuguese

This paper describes a software architecture to support knowledge management in academic contexts, with an example... more This paper describes a software architecture to support knowledge management in academic contexts, with an example application developed in a research laboratory.

The TIDIA-Ae Portfolio Tool: a case study of its development following a component-based layered architecture

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with DM Beder, JL Otsuka JL, CG Silva, AC Silva, A Talarico-Neto, AR Oliveira, HV Rocha, JC Anacleto. Published in TIDIA Workshop, 2005.

The objective of the present case study is the validation of the Architecture and Development Process definitions used... more The objective of the present case study is the validation of the Architecture and Development Process definitions used within the TIDIA-Ae Project, as exemplified in the development of the Portfolio tool. In this way, the main results obtained in the development process of the Portfolio tool, the solutions adopted for the open issues encountered in this process, and the main lessons to be learned are presented.

Redesigning Computer-Based Learning Environments: Evaluation as Communication

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Matthias Brust and Christian Adriano. Published in International Conference on Education and Information Systems, 2007.

In the field of evaluation research, computer scientists live constantly upon dilemmas and conflicting theories. As... more In the field of evaluation research, computer scientists live constantly upon dilemmas and conflicting theories. As evaluation is differently perceived and modeled among educational areas, it is not difficult to become trapped in dilemmas, which reflects an epistemological weakness. Additionally, designing and developing a computer-based learning scenario is not an easy task. Advancing further, with end-users probing the system in realistic settings, is even harder. Computer science research in evaluation faces an immense challenge, having to cope with contributions from several conflicting and controversial research fields. We believe that deep changes must be made in our field if we are to advance beyond the CBT (computer-based training) learning model and to build an adequate epistemology for this challenge. The first task is to relocate our field by building upon recent results from philosophy, psychology, social sciences, and engineering. In this article we locate evaluation in respect to communication studies. Evaluation presupposes a definition of goals to be reached, and we suggest that it is, by many means, a silent communication between teacher and student, peers, and institutional entities. If we accept that evaluation can be viewed as set of invisible rules known by nobody, but somehow understood by everybody, we should add anthropological inquiries to our research toolkit. The paper is organized around some elements of the social communication and how they convey new insights to evaluation research for computer and related scientists. We found some technical limitations and offer discussions on how we relate to technology at same time we establish expectancies and perceive others work.

Cooperative, Geographically Distributed Development of Open Educational Modules

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Ellen Barbosa, Elisa Nakagawa, Fabio Kon, Marcelo Turine, Débora Paiva. Published in Grand Challenges in Computer Science Research in Latin America Workshop (CharLA 2008), 2008.

Several initiatives on using computing technologies have been investigated in order to facilitate the learning process... more Several initiatives on using computing technologies have been investigated in order to facilitate the learning process in general. The idea is to provide ways to establish quality educational products, capable of motivating the students and effectively contribute to their knowledge construction processes in active learning environments.

Computer-based learning systems: A technological perspective

by Ivan Ricarte

2008

Educators always have discussed how technology could impact on learning. In the last half century, this discussion... more Educators always have discussed how technology could impact on learning. In the last half century, this discussion focused mainly on computer-based technology and, more recently, on learning supported by the World Wide Web. A look at the past shows how guessing how future learners will use technology is futile. However, there are some few concrete steps already paving the way in the direction of the future of learning systems