An ontology engineering approach to the realization of theory-driven group formation

One of the main difficulties during the design of collaborative learning activities is adequate group formation. In any type of collaboration, group formation plays a critical role in the learners’ acceptance of group activities, as well as the success of the collaborative learning process. Nevertheless, to propose both an effective and pedagogically sound group formation is a complex issue due to multiple factors that influence group arrangement. The current (and previous) learner’s knowledge and skills, the roles and strategies used by learners to interact among themselves, and the teacher’s preferences are some examples of factors to be considered while forming groups. To identify which factors are essential (or desired) in effective group formation, a well-structured and formalized representation of collaborative learning processes, supported by a strong pedagogical basis, is desirable. Thus, the main goal of this paper is to present an ontology that works as a framework based on learning theories that facilitate group formation and collaborative learning design. The ontology provides the necessary formalization to represent collaborative learning and its processes, while learning theories provide support in making pedagogical decisions such as gathering learners in groups and planning the scenario where the collaboration will take place. Although the use of learning theories to support collaborative learning is open for criticism, we identify that they provide important information which can be useful in allowing for more effective learning. To validate the usefulness and effectiveness of this approach, we use this ontology to form and run group activities carried out by four instructors and 20 participants. The experiment was utilized as a proof-of-concept and the results suggest that our ontological framework facilitates the effective design of group activities, and can positively affect the performance of individuals during group learning.     

Contextual perspective in analysing collaborative knowledge construction of two small groups in web-based discussion

This paper presents a methodology designed to explore the role of context in collaborative knowledge construction activity in asynchronous web-based discussion. The discussions of two student groups participating in a web-based teacher education course were compared. The comparison aimed to highlight the differences and similarities between the groups’ knowledge construction activity through studying the thematic structure, communicative functions and contextual resources used in their discussions. The results indicated that the different backgrounds of the two student groups influenced the way context was created and interpreted, and how meanings were negotiated. The differences and similarities between the groups’ activity illuminated the situated and mediated nature of learning. The possibilities of the methodology used in this study for evaluating collaborative knowledge construction in context are also discussed.     

Comparing the effects of representational tools in collaborative and individual inquiry learning

Constructing a representation in which students express their domain understanding can help them improve their knowledge. Many different representational formats can be used to express one’s domain understanding (e.g., concept maps, textual summaries, mathematical equations). The format can direct students’ attention to specific aspects of the subject matter. For example, creating a concept map can emphasize domain concepts and forming equations can stress arithmetical aspects. The focus of the current study was to examine the role of tools for constructing domain representations in collaborative inquiry learning. The study was driven by three questions. First, what are the effects of collaborative inquiry learning with representational tools on learning outcomes? Second, does format have differential effects on domain understanding? And third, does format have differential effects on students’ inclination to construct a representation? A pre-test post-test design was applied with 61 dyads in a (face-to-face) collaborative learning setting and 95 students in an individual setting. The participants worked on a learning task in a simulation-based learning environment equipped with a representational tool. The format of the tool was either conceptual or arithmetical or textual. Our results show that collaborative learners outperform individuals, in particular with regard to intuitive knowledge and situational knowledge. In the case of individuals a positive relation was observed between constructing a representation and learning outcomes, in particular situational knowledge. In general, the effects of format could not be linked directly to learning outcomes, but marked differences were found regarding students’ inclination to use or not use specific formats.     

Wiki-supported collaborative learning in primary education: How a dialogic space is created for thinking together

This paper explores how wikis may be used to support primary education students’ collaborative interaction and how such an interaction process can be characterised. The overall aim of this study is to analyse the collaborative processes of students working together in a wiki environment, in order to see how primary students can actively create a shared context for learning in the wiki. Educational literature has already reported that wikis may support collaborative knowledge-construction processes, but in our study we claim that a dialogic perspective is needed to accomplish this. Students must develop an intersubjective orientation towards each others’ perspectives, to co-construct knowledge about a topic. For this purpose, our project utilised a ‘Thinking Together’ approach to help students develop an intersubjective orientation towards one another and to support the creation of a ‘dialogic space’ to co-construct new understanding in a wiki science project. The students’ asynchronous interaction process in a primary classroom—which led to the creation of a science text in the wiki—was analysed and characterised, using a dialogic approach to the study of CSCL practices. Our results illustrate how the Thinking Together approach became embedded within the wiki environment and in the students’ collaborative processes. We argue that a dialogic approach for examining interaction can be used to help design more effective pedagogic approaches related to the use of wikis in education and to equip learners with the competences they need to participate in the global knowledge-construction era.     

Properties of Bayesian student model for INQPRO

Employing a probabilistic student model in a scientific inquiry learning environment often presents two challenges. First, what constitute the appropriate variables for modeling scientific inquiry skills in such a learning environment, considering the fact that it practices exploratory learning approach? Following exploratory learning approach, students are granted the freedom to navigate from one GUI to another. Second, do causal dependencies exist between the identified variables, and if they do, how should they be defined? To tackle the challenges, this research work attempted the Bayesian Networks framework. Leveraging on the framework, two student models were constructed to predict the acquisition of scientific inquiry skills for INQPRO, a scientific inquiry learning environment developed in this research work. The student models can be differentiated by the variables they modeled and the causal dependencies they encoded. An on-field evaluation involving 101 students was performed to assess the most appropriate structure of the INQPRO’s student model. To ensure fairness in model comparison, the same Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) construction approach was employed. Lastly, this paper highlights the properties of the student model that provide optimal results for modeling scientific inquiry skill acquisition in INQPRO.     

Modeling individual and collaborative problem-solving in medical problem-based learning

Today a great many medical schools have turned to a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to teaching as an alternative to traditional didactic medical education to teach clinical-reasoning skills at the early stages of medical education. While PBL has many strengths, effective PBL tutoring is time-intensive and requires the tutor to provide a high degree of personal attention to the students, which is difficult in the current academic environment of increasing demands on faculty time. This paper describes the student modeling approach used in the COMET intelligent tutoring system for collaborative medical PBL. To generate appropriate tutorial actions, COMET uses a model of each student’s clinical reasoning for the problem domain. In addition, since problem solving in group PBL is a collaborative process, COMET uses a group model that enables it to do things like focus the group discussion, promote collaboration, and suggest peer helpers. Bayesian networks are used to model individual student knowledge and activity, as well as that of the group. The validity of the modeling approach has been tested with student models in the areas of head injury, stroke, and heart attack. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis shows that the models are highly accurate in predicting individual student actions. Comparison with human tutors shows that the focus of group activity determined by the model agrees with that suggested by the majority of the human tutors with a high degree of statistical agreement (McNemar test, p = 0.774, Kappa = 0.823).     

Teacher regulation of multiple computer-supported collaborating groups

Teachers regulating groups of students during computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) face the challenge of orchestrating their guidance at student, group, and class level. During CSCL, teachers can monitor all student activity and interact with multiple groups at the same time. Not much is known about the way teachers diagnose student progress and decide upon appropriate interventions when they regulate multiple groups synchronously. This explorative study describes the strategies and experiences related to regulating the activities of seven groups of students, as reported by two teachers, and aimed to widen the framework for describing teacher regulation of CSCL settings that are characterized by synchronicity. Recurring themes included the high amount of information load teachers experienced while diagnosing students’ needs, the focus and level of regulation, and the way the teachers used prior knowledge of students to decide on an intervention after diagnosis. Both teachers valued the ability to monitor student progress online, and mentioned the necessity of students being able to follow the teacher’s activity as well. Theoretical implications are described in terms of understanding teacher regulation, synchronicity, and information load. Practical implications are described for lowering information load.     

Crossing boundaries in Facebook: Students’ framing of language learning activities as extended spaces

Young people’s interaction online is rapidly increasing, which enables new spaces for communication; the impact on learning, however, is not yet acknowledged in education. The aim of this exploratory case study is to scrutinize how students frame their interaction in social networking sites (SNS) in school practices and what that implies for educational language teaching and learning practices. Analytically, the study departs from a sociocultural perspective on learning, and adopts conceptual distinctions of frame analysis. The results based on ethnographic data from a Facebook group in English-learning classes, with 60 students aged between 13 and 16 from Colombia, Finland, Sweden and Taiwan indicate that there is a possibility for boundary crossing, which could generate extended spaces for collaborative language-learning activities in educational contexts where students combine their school subject of learning language and their communicative use of language in their everyday life. Such extended spaces are, however, difficult to maintain and have to be recurrently negotiated. To take advantage of young people’s various dynamic communicative uses of language in their everyday life in social media, the implementation of such media for educational purposes has to be deliberately, collaboratively and dynamically negotiated by educators and students to form a new language-learning space with its own potentials and constraints.     

Using Dialogue Features to Predict Trouble During Collaborative Learning

A web-based, collaborative distance-learning system that will allow groups of students to interact with each other remotely and with an intelligent electronic agent that will aid them in their learning has the potential for improving on-line learning. The agent would follow the discussion and interact with the participants when it detects learning trouble of some sort, such as confusion about the problem they are working on or a participant who is dominating the discussion or not interacting with the other participants. In order to recognize problems in the dialogue, we investigated conversational elements that can be utilized as predictors for effective and ineffective interaction between human students. These elements can serve as the basis for student and group models. In this paper, we discuss group interaction during collaborative learning, our representation of participant dialogue, and the statistical models we are using to determine the role being played by a participant at any point in the dialogue and the effectiveness of the group. We also describe student and group models that can be built using conversational elements and discuss one set that we built to illustrate their potential value in collaborative learning. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Rainbow: A framework for analysing computer-mediated pedagogical debates

In this paper we present a framework for analysing when and how students engage in a specific form of interactive knowledge elaboration in CSCL environments: broadening and deepening understanding of a space of debate. The framework is termed “Rainbow,” as it comprises seven principal analytical categories, to each of which a colour is assigned, thus enabling informal visualisation by the analyst of the extent to which students are engaging in interaction relating to potential achievement of its pedagogical goal. The categories distinguish between activities that are part of the prescribed assignment and activities that are not, and between task-focused and non-task-focused activities. Activities focused on managing the interaction itself are distinguished from argumentative interaction. Notably, an operational definition of what it means to broaden and deepen understanding in this case is also provided here. The functional Rainbow analysis is complemented by an analysis of topics and subtopics that enables identification of one form of conceptual deepening of the question. In comparison with existing analysis techniques, Rainbow synthesises much of what is known into a single framework, with a broad theoretical base. The usability and educational relevance of the framework has been validated experimentally across a variety of collaborative learning tasks and communication media. Possible and actual extensions to the framework are discussed, with respect to additional CSCL tools, domains and tasks. The research reported here was carried out within the SCALE project (Internet-based intelligent tool to Support Collaborative Argumentation-based Learning in secondary schools, project n° IST-1999–10664, March 2001 – February 2004), funded by the European Community under the ‘Information Societies’ Technology’ (IST) Programme. Information on the project can be found at: , or     

The multivoicedness of game play: Exploring the unfolding of a student’s learning trajectory in a gaming context at school

The purpose of this article is to gain knowledge about how interactions in a gaming context become constituted as effective resources for a student’s learning trajectory. In addition, this detailed study of a learning trajectory documents how a computer game becomes a learning resource for working on a specific topic in school. The article reports on a qualitative study of students at an upper secondary school who have played the computer game Global Conflicts: Palestine to learn about the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A sociocultural and dialogic approach to learning and meaning-making is employed as an analytical framework. Analyzing different interactional episodes, in which important orientations and reorientations are located, documents how the student’s learning trajectory developed and changed during the project. When engaged in game play in educational settings, experiences with playing computer games outside of school can relevantly be invoked and become part of the collaborative project of finding out how to play the game. However, these ways of engaging with a computer game might not necessarily facilitate a subtle understanding of the specific topic that is addressed in the game. The findings suggest that the constitution of a computer game as a learning resource is a collaborative project, in which multiple resources for meaning-making are in play, and for which the teacher has an important role in facilitating student’s adoption of a multiperspective on the conflict. Furthermore, the findings shed light on what characterizes student-teacher interactions that contribute to a subtle understanding, and offer a framework for important issues upon which to reflect in game-based learning (GBL).     

Neclle: Network-based communicative language-learning environment focusing on communicative gaps

This paper focuses on the problem of language transfer in foreign language learning. The transfer often leads to a communicative gap, which is caused by the difference between a learner's mother language (ML) and the target language (TL). This paper first analyzes the semantic relations between the ML and the TL. Then it proposes a CGM (Communicative Gap Model) because of the meaning difference between both languages. We have developed a computer assisted language-learning system called Neclle (Network-based Communicative Language-Learning Environment) in order to support foreign language learning through communication using a text based chat tool. Neclle has a software agent called Ankle (Agent for Kanji Learning), which observes the conversation between a learner and a native speaker, looks up a communicative gap in the learner's utterance automatically according to CGM, the student model and the word dictionary of both languages, intervenes into the conversation, and gives an instruction for bridging the gap. Then, the learner can not only be aware of the gap but also acquire its cultural background from the native speaker. In our case study, Chinese students used Neclle for Japanese language learning. Japanese language had incorporated with Chinese kanji but the meaning of a kanji sometimes differed between two languages. Therefore, the Chinese learners who want to study Japanese language have to pay much attention to the meaning gap between Chinese and Japanese language. In the evaluation of Neclle, nine Chinese students talked with Japanese students about three topics with Neclle for 1 h 30 min. The results of the experiment showed that it was very useful for Japanese language learning.     

Comparing student competences in a face-to-face and online business game

In today’s globalized environment, universities and business schools need to incorporate elements and tools to obtain high-performance capabilities. Curricular schooling can benefit from the usage of educational business games. We analyzed the evolution and performance of two group of students who have followed a business simulation during some academic semesters. Data from a questionnaire answered by 146 students were analysed and compared with the European Tuning Project competence ranking. The results showed that the level of generic and specific competences obtained using business games is quite high. Moreover, the study have found that the assessment of competences acquired by students with a business game is not the same in the case of on-campus students than in the case of online students, in most cases the online group values specific competences higher than the face-to-face group. Our results suggest that the use of business games and can be considered a useful tool to improve student’s achievements and to foster a good level of competences.     

Supporting science learning in linguistically diverse classrooms: Factors related to the use of bilingual content in a computer-based learning environment

Computer-based learning environments (CBLEs) are a promising means to support language minority (LMi) students in acquiring knowledge and skills through the integration of authentic support in their home language. This study aimed to determine the use of scientific bilingual content offered to fourth-grade students (n = 250) in the CBLE E-Validiv and to identify both student and classroom characteristics related to this use. All the content in E-Validiv is accessible in the language of instruction and one of six other languages. For LMi students, the other language is set to their home language. Multilevel hierarchical regression analyses show that especially LMi students who assess themselves as highly proficient in their home language use the content more in the other language than language majority students. However, even LMi students focus mainly on content in the language of instruction, which indicates that they particularly apply their home language to support their learning process in the language of instruction. Additionally, students who perform higher on science subjects access content more in the language of instruction. The presence of linguistic diversity in the classroom and the positive use of linguistic diversity by the teacher do not seem to matter. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Are two heads always better than one? Differential effects of collaboration on students�� computer-supported learning in mathematics

While some studies found positive effects of collaboration on student learning in mathematics, others found none or even negative effects. This study evaluates whether the varying impact of collaboration can be explained by differences in the type of knowledge that is promoted by the instruction. If the instructional material requires students to reason with mathematical concepts, collaboration may increase students’ learning outcome as it promotes mutual elaboration. If, however, the instructional material is focused on practicing procedures, collaboration may result in task distribution and thus reduce practice opportunities necessary for procedural skill fluency. To evaluate differential influences of collaboration, we compared four conditions: individual vs. collaborative learning with conceptual instructional material, and individual vs. collaborative learning with procedural instructional material. The instruction was computer-supported and provided adaptive feedback. We analyzed the effect of the conditions on several levels: Logfiles of students’ problem-solving actions and video-recordings enabled a detailed analysis of performance and learning processes during instruction. In addition, a post-test assessed individual knowledge acquisition. We found that collaboration improved performance during the learning phase in both the conceptual and the procedural condition; however, conceptual and procedural material had a differential effect on the quality of student collaboration: Conceptual material promoted mutual elaboration; procedural material promoted task distribution and ineffective learning behaviors. Consequently, collaboration positively influenced conceptual knowledge acquisition, while no positive effect on procedural knowledge acquisition was found. We discuss limitations of our study, address methodological implications, and suggest practical implications for the school context.     

An alternate reality game for language learning: ARGuing for multilingual motivation

Over the last decade, Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), a form of narrative often involving multiple media and gaming elements to tell a story that might be affected by participants’ actions, have been used in the marketing and promotion of a number of entertainment related products such as films, computer games and music. This paper discusses the design, development and evaluation of an ARG aimed at increasing the motivations of secondary school level students across Europe in the learning of modern foreign languages. The ARG was developed and implemented as part of a European Commission Comenius project and involved 6 project partners, 328 secondary school students and 95 language teachers from 17 European countries. The collaborative nature of ARGs provides a potentially useful vehicle for developing collaborative activities within an educational context. This paper describes the educational value of ARGs, in particular the ARG for supporting the teaching of modern European languages and the specific activities that were developed around Web 2.0 and gaming that underpinned the ARG and helped promote cooperation and learning within an educational environment. An evaluation of the ARG was conducted using an experimental design of pre-test → ARG intervention → post-test. 105 students completed the pre-test, 92 students completed the post-test and 45 students completed both the pre-test and post-test questionnaires. In general, student attitudes towards the ARG were very positive with evidence suggesting that the ARG managed to deliver the motivational experience expected by the students. The majority of students who completed the post-test either agreed or strongly agreed that they would be willing to play the game over a prolonged period of time as part of a foreign language course. In addition, through using the ARG, students believed that they obtained skills relating to cooperation, collaboration and teamwork.     

Building a community among teachers, researchers and university students. A blended approach to training

In this paper we present a case study about a community of practice’s foundation and development among Italian teachers, researchers and university students who participated in a European project aimed at developing and testing innovative pedagogical models and technologies for collaborative knowledge building. Forty-five people (34 teachers, five researchers and six university students) participated in the community of adults that interacted for a school year both face to face and online. We analyzed interactions in order to study the roles, forms and distribution of participation in that community, and the content of teachers’ reflections about the activity. The analysis focuses particularly on different modalities of participation between expert teachers (involved in the project from the beginning) and novices, novice and expert being treated as relevant dimensions according to Wenger’s model. Conversations were transcribed and a qualitative analysis of face-to-face and online discussion performed. The diversity of roles and different modalities of participation between social factors involved in the community, in particular between novice and expert teachers, emerged from the analysis. In final focus groups, teachers underlined innovative potentialities as well as difficulties related to computer-supported collaborative learning, both in classroom activities and in teacher training. In these final focus groups, novice teachers participated in the community, becoming more competent and conscious partners in shared planning with the expert teachers.     

A framework for understanding learning from management simulations

Article proposes a framework for understanding certain aspects of learning from computer‐based management simulations. The framework is developed as a result of small‐scale, exploratory research amongst postgraduate students at three European Business Schools. An overview from the general literature on management learning is provided and claims made in the specific literature regarding student learning from management simulations are considered. There is reference to the methodological problems associated with establishing learning outcomes. The need to conduct research into the learning experience from the student perspective is argued. A framework for mapping student perceptions of management simulation learning is developed using the established notions of learning style and depth of learning. Data from the exploratory research are used as illustration for the framework.     

Interfering and resolving: How tabletop interaction facilitates co-construction of argumentative knowledge

Tangible technologies and shared interfaces create new paradigms for mediating collaboration through dynamic, synchronous environments, where action is as important as speech for participating and contributing to the activity. However, interaction with shared interfaces has been shown to be inherently susceptible to peer interference, potentially hindering productive forms of collaborative learning. Making learners effectively engage in processes of argumentative co-construction of knowledge is challenging in such exploratory learning environments. This paper adapts the social modes dimension of Weinberger and Fischer’s (Computers and Education 46(1):71–95, 2006) analytical framework (for argumentative co-construction of knowledge) to analyse episodes of interference, in the context of a shared tabletop interface, to better understand its effect on collaborative knowledge construction. Studies involved 43 students, aged 11–14 years, interacting in groups of three, with a tangible tabletop application to learn basic concepts of the behaviour of light. Contrary to the dominant perspective, our analysis suggests that interference in shared interfaces can be productive for learning, serving as a trigger for promoting argumentation and collective knowledge construction. Interference episodes led to both productive and counter-productive learning opportunities. They were resolved through quick consensus building, when students abandoned their own activity and accepted changes made by others; integration-oriented consensus building, where students reflected on and integrated what happened in the investigation; or conflict-oriented consensus building where students tried to undo others’ actions and rebuild previous configurations. Overall, interference resolved through integration-oriented consensus building was found to lead to productive learning interactions, while counter-productive situations were mostly characterised by interference resolved through conflict-oriented consensus building.