Epistemic and Social Scripts in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
Collaborative learning in computer-supported learning environments typically means that learners work on tasks together, discussing their individual perspectives via text-based media or videoconferencing, and consequently acquire knowledge. Collaborative learning, however, is often sub-optimal with respect to how learners work on the concepts that are supposed to be learned and how learners interact with each other. One possibility to improve collaborative learning environments is to conceptuali
Early States and Trade, circa 1400 2 from the course World Regions, Peoples, and States
This course will provide a framework for recognizing and analyzing the major distinctive regions of the world in comparative context. The most important interrelations between environment, economy, ethnicity, and the national identity and viability of states will be explored.
Knowledge convergence in collaborative learning: Concepts and assessment
In collaborative learning the question has been raised as to how learners in small groups influence one another and converge or diverge with respect to knowledge. This article conceptualizes knowledge convergence and further provides measures for its assessment prior to, during, and subsequent to collaborative learning. In an exemplary study in the field of computer-supported collaborative learning with forty-eight (48) locally distant participants in 16 groups of three, we apply these measures
Supporting CSCL with Automatic Corpus Analysis Technology
Process analyses are becoming more and more standard in research on computer-supported
collaborative learning. This paper presents the rational as well as results of an evaluation of a tool called TagHelper, designed for streamlining the process of multi-dimensional analysis of the collaborative learning process. In comparison with a hand-coded corpus coded with a 7 dimensional coding scheme, TagHelper is able to achieve an acceptable level of agreement (Cohen's Kappa of .7 or more) along 6 out
Scripting argumentative knowledge construction in computer-supported learning environments
Argumentative knowledge construction in computer-supported collaborative learning
environments is often weak. This experimental study analyzes two collaboration scripts, which should facilitate argumentative knowledge construction. One script aims to support the construction of argumentation sequences and the other script aims to support the argument construction. These scripts should facilitate the argumentative knowledge construction on both the micro- and macrostructure of argumentation durin
Narratives and their significance for childrens communication about their world
In this article I will give a description and a definition of narrative through historical review. This forms a background to my other purpose, to describe and discuss the importance of using storytelling as a tool for meaning making for the individual. In this text I will also raise the significance of stories as a tool for society to mediate culturally important messages to the individual and thereby shed light upon the dialectics between the individual and the collective.,part of Kaleidoscope
Computer-Supported Collaborative Video Analysis
Video can serve as a powerful medium for analyzing interactions involved in learning activities, for capturing records of teaching for uses in professional development, and for learners to construct or interact with videos expressively, but there have been many barriers to its collaborative uses. The DIVER Project is tackling core problems in advancing computer-supported collaborative video analysis. DIVER establishes a unique video platform for users to control a “virtual camera window” on
WILD for learning: Interacting through new computing devices anytime, anywhere
We use the acronym WILD to refer to Wireless Interactive Learning Devices1. WILD are powerful and small handheld2 networked computing devices. The smallest handheld computers fit in one hand easily. The user interacts with the device either by touching the screen with a pen-shaped stylus, or by typing with both thumbs on a small keyboard known as a thumb-pad keyboard. The largest are the size of a paperback book and have a keyboard that is large enough to type on with all ten fingers. Their low
The evolution of research on collaborative learning
For many years, theories of collaborative learning tended to focus on how individuals function in a group. More recently, the focus has shifted so that the group itself has become the unit of analysis. In terms of empirical research, the initial goal was to establish whether and under what circumstances collaborative learning was more effective than learning alone. Researchers controlled several independent variables (size of the group, composition of the group, nature of the task, communication
Emerging Social Engineering in the Wireless Classroom
Code It! fosters mathematics learning environments where pre-algebra students use handheld technologies to confidently and enjoyably explore and learn about functions. The resources we developed—server-based and handheld software and paper-based student and teacher texts—were packaged as a 20-session unit on code making and breaking and designed to boost students’ understanding of mathematical functions and their facility with the multiple representations of tables, graphs and symbols. We
Functioning in the Wireless Classroom
Code It! fosters mathematics learning environments where pre-algebra students use handheld technologies to explore and learn about functions. The resources developed - server-based and handheld software and paper-based student and teacher texts - were packaged as a 20-session unit on code making and breaking and designed to boost students' understanding of functions and their facility with the multiple representations of tables, graphs and symbols. We field tested the wireless system with two te
CML - The ClassSync Modeling Language.
The ClassSync Modeling Language (CML) addresses the problem of creating a controlling overlay to classroom learning activities, or e-leaming workflows. Our aim is to allow authors and teachers to generate a mapping from activity design to its implementation in a wirelessly networked classroom with ubiquitous use of handheld computers for information exchange. CML models e-learning workflows with three major components: actors, data objects, and interaction networks. Actors are the diverse perfon
The CoVis Project: Building a Large-Scale Science Education Testbed
This paper describes the construction and research program of the Learning Through Collaborative Visualization (CoVis) Project. a testbed for exploring science education reform with telecommunications technology. The CoVis testbed is contrasted with other forms of cducational research in an "ecolo~yo f paradigms." which argues that testbeds are in fact a new setting for research with different requirements and challenges for the researcher. Two extended examples of telecommunications research ar
Using the World Wide Web to Build Learning Communities in K- 12
Social accounts of learning and human knowledge have led to attempts to reorganize schools as learning communities. This paper examines the utility of World Wide Web (WWW) for aiding in the construction of school-based and work-based learning communities An ordered list of interactions is provided to characterize the depth of students entry into new learning communities. Current offerings on the WWW are then surveyed in terms of these categories. Finally, proposals are advanced for enhancing the
Constructivism in the Collaboratory
Great attention has been paid recently to the capabilities of computers to provide environments in which active learners can construct their own understanding through open-ended interaction. Yet discussion of constructivist learning environments has commonly focused on the learner as an individual, learning in isolation from other learners. For example, Perkins (1991) characterizes a learning environment as being composed of five facets: information banks, symbol pads, construction kits, phenome
Using the WWW to Build Learning Communities in K-12 Settings - Part I. Global Network Navigator
The World Wide Web (WWW) can play a vital role in the formation and successful operation of learning communities. Just 18 months ago, there were but 100 WWW servers online worldwide, while today there are over 10,000 WWW servers. Current estimates predict 100,000 WWW servers a year from now, according to M.K. Gray's Measuring the Size and Growth of the Web. This decentralized development of information resources, which cover everything from scientific databases to corporate products to traffic a
The greenhouse effect visualizer: a tool for the science classroom
The Greenhouse Effect Visualizer (GEV) is designed to help students visualize data sets related to the earth's energy balance. This work was inspired by the benefits scientific visualization have provided to scientists in discovering patterns and presenting the results of their work to broad communities. The hope is that scientific visualization can provide equal assistance to students trying to learn science. The philosophy underlying this approach links learning with practice. Hence, students
Web 2.0 for Content for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
The study will provide a set of recommendations for the JISC, institutions, and teachers on the effective use of Web 2.0 technologies for sharing content for teaching and learning. This will be achieved by desk research building on JISC funded and other work already undertaken, and widespread consultation across the community through an online workshop. The desk research will look at both existing practice and institutional policies which can facilitate or inhibit the use of Web 2.0 technologie
Medical Response to Weapons of Mass Destruction: Mustard Gas
This presentation discusses exposure to vesicant vapors, such as the chemical mustard, mechanisms of action, disease manifestations, how to diagnose and treat exposure. This Web-based course combines Medantic Technology's didactic presentations and Medulator virtual patient cases delivered via a custom learning management system. Originally published for Medantic Technology by Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, the course was co-developed with subject matter expertise provided by the Uniformed Serv
Adaptive Personalisation in Self e-Learning Networks
This paper presents some of the personalisation services designed for self e-learning networks in the SeLeNe project. A self e-learning network consists of web-based learning objects that have been made available to the network by its users, along with metadata descriptions of these learning objects and of the networks users.
The architecture of the network is distributed and service-oriented. The personalisation facilities include: querying learning object descriptions to return results tail
