The development of a cognitive tool for teaching and learning fractions in the mathematics classroom: A design-based study

Two cycles of design-based research of a cognitive tool (CT) for teaching fractions have been completed. Following the success of a quasi-experimental study of the enhanced CT derived from the second cycle of design-based research, this article reports the findings of a pre-test–post-test control group empirical study using the enhanced CT in the classroom. The results indicate that there were no statistically significant differences in learning outcomes between the exploratory learning approach, using the CT, and the traditional direct teaching approach. The CT enabled students to generate a procedural knowledge of adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators through an exploratory learning process. Teachers asserted that the CT was effective for stimulating reciprocal tutoring among students, and students were enthusiastic about using the CT as an educational tool. Hence, the CT has potential for further development as a tool for promoting collaborative learning in the classroom.     

From handheld collaborative tool to effective classroom module: Embedding CSCL in a broader design framework

The field of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) includes designers who emphasize effectiveness, measured via experiments, as well as designers who emphasize context and conduct qualitative research on teaching and learning practices. We conjectured that these two different emphases could be fruitful combined in a research and development process aimed at producing effective CSCL practices. We explored this possibility in a project that adapted a CSCL tool from Chile to serve as the basis of an effective 3-week classroom module for primary school mathematics in the United States. To go from tool to module, we addressed curricular fit, training materials, pedagogical guidance, formative and summative assessments, and logistical support. In conducting the project, we found that effectiveness and contextual research could be conducted simultaneously and yielded complementary insight to this design process, which enabled our project to rapidly move from the base tool towards complete classroom modules. An experiment we conducted after our design iterations showed that students who used the modules learned more about the target content, fractions. A retrospective analysis of our design process suggests that the Integrative Learning Design framework is useful for organizing the complementary components of effectiveness and contextual research in our design process.     

Improving the scaffolds of a mobile-assisted Chinese character forming game via a design-based research cycle

This paper reports on one cycle of a design-based research (DBR) study in which mCSCL was explored through an iterative process of (re)designing and testing the collaboration and learning approach with students. A unique characteristic of our mCSCL approach is the student-led emergent formation of groups. The mCSCL application assigns each student a component of a Chinese character and requires them to form groups that can assemble a Chinese character using the components held by the group members. The enactment of the learning design in two modes (with and without the digital technology) was observed, and the actual process of students being scaffolded technologically or socially to accomplish their task was analyzed. Students were found to favor the card mode over the phone mode due to the emergent game strategy (social scaffold) of “trial and error” that they found it comfortable in applying. That triggered us to examine the scaffolding strategies by conducting another round of literature review. We explored domain-oriented theories (i.e. in Chinese character learning) to inform and guide them in deciding how they should further accommodate or rectify the students’ use of the strategy. This cycle of DBR in Chinese-PP project has effectively reshaped the overall learning model design. This paper brings to the fore the value of the interplay and iterations of theories, implementations and reflections, in no fixed order, as advocated by DBR.     

Understanding mobile technology-fit behaviors outside the classroom

An increase in mobile device usage among college students has been documented in different countries. We provide a solid theoretical and empirical foundation for mobile learning in the context of distance education, and more guidance in terms of how to utilize emerging mobile technologies and to integrate them into their teaching more effectively. This research focuses on a deeper understanding of how learners use mobiles as learning tools outside the classroom. Our results are based on a specific population drawn from two different countries, in which the US (United States) population reflected students from the education field, while the students from Israel are drawn more from the engineering and science fields. The findings of this study contribute to the generalizations to the education field and information system designers who need to analyze and design mobile-learning (m-learning) applications to be used outside the classroom.     

The evolution of a collaborative authoring system for non-linear hypertext: A design-based research study

Learning in complex and ill-structured knowledge domains requires accommodation of multiple perspectives embedded in authentic activities and the reconciliation of those perspectives with personal beliefs resulting in conceptual change. Cognitive flexibility hypertext systems support that process by enabling learners to explore authentic cases from multiple thematic perspective. Study 1 showed that knowledge exploration alone is insufficient to engage those conceptual change processes. So we reasoned that providing learners with environments that engage more constructive, personal knowledge representation activities would better support conceptual change. However, these environments rarely support learners in structuring, integrating, and representing their personal beliefs with other perspectives. That became the goal of our iterative research process.     

Students’ experiences with collaborative learning in asynchronous Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning environments

This paper describes an explorative study carried out to gain response from distance students on their experiences with collaborative learning in asynchronous computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments. In addition, this study also attempts to have a good grip of crucial aspects concerning collaborative learning. The study was undertaken among distance learners from the Open University of the Netherlands who were working in groups of 4–11 persons. During and after the course students’ experiences with collaborative learning were measured and after the course also students’ satisfaction with collaborative learning was assessed. The finding revealed that distance learners appreciate the opportunities to work collaboratively. They show positive experiences and are quite satisfied with collaborative learning. This study also sought to explore individuals as well as course characteristics that influenced aspects of collaborative learning, and to search aspects of collaborative learning that influenced students’ satisfaction. The findings suggested that a group product influences group process regulation and group cohesion influences students’ satisfaction with collaborative learning.     

Understanding collaborative learning activities in an information ecology: A distributed cognition account

Collaborative learning encloses a diversity of activities, interactions, and practices. Thus, designing a learning environment, potentially enhanced with technology, to support collaborative learning, is not an easy task. Using an in-class exploration involving four multidisciplinary teams, this research seeks to understand collaborative design activities within “InfoSpace” – an information ecology. That is, a collocated space enriched with a multiple interlinked heterogeneous technologies. The aim of the study is to explore how an information ecology works as an integrated cognitive system, through the lenses of distributed cognition. Through the analysis we constructed a detailed account of the information flow, physical layout and artefact models. We claim that distributed cognition framework can provide a lens for understanding interactions among learners, tasks, and tools in collocated technology enhanced learning environments. Furthermore, the analysis provides valuable insights on how the design of the information ecology supports collaboration and coordination.     

Where is the evidence? A meta-analysis on the role of argumentation for the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge in computer-supported collaborative learning

This meta-analysis investigated the role of the quality of argumentation for domain-specific knowledge gains in computer-supported collaborative learning settings. Given the scarcity of primary studies that report correlations between these two variables, a meta-regression approach was employed that uses interventions' effects on argumentation to predict their effects on domain-specific knowledge. Effect sizes for 17 comparisons extracted from 12 studies were included in the analysis using a random-effects model. Moderator analyses concerning type of argumentation measure, type of knowledge test, and type of intervention were conducted. The interventions had a statistically significant small to moderate mean effect (d = 0.39) on argumentation, which varied as a function of the type of argumentation measure employed. The mean effect of the interventions on domain-specific knowledge (d = 0.22) appeared to be non-existent (d = 0.00) on the basis of the whole sample of studies, and small at best after the exclusion of three outlying effect sizes from one study. With respect to the relation of the studies' effects on argumentation to their effects on domain-specific knowledge, no unequivocal picture emerges: After the exclusion of the three outliers, the regression coefficient for predicting the studies' effects on domain-specific knowledge on the basis of their effects on argumentation was b = −0.08 and statistically not significant. These findings constitute a challenge for the broadly shared theoretical assumption that argumentation mediates the effects of interventions on domain-specific knowledge. A set of recommendations for strengthening future research on the topic is presented.     

Assessing online collaborative learning: process and product

The assessment of online collaborative study presents new opportunities and challenges, both in terms of separating the process and product of collaboration, and in the support of skills development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of assessment with respect to the processes and products of online collaborative study. It describes a qualitative case study of staff and students perspectives on two UK Open University courses which have used a variety of models of online collaborative assessment. The findings underline the importance of assessment in ensuring online participation, and in supporting the practice and development of online collaborative learning. They have led to a number of recommendations for the assessment of online collaborative learning.     

Discovering the campus together: A mobile and computer-based learning experience

One of the most relevant difficulties faced by first-year undergraduate students is to settle into the educational environment of universities. This paper presents a case study that proposes a computer-assisted collaborative experience designed to help students in their transition from high school to university. This is done by facilitating their first contact with the campus and its services, the university community, methodologies and activities. The experience combines individual and collaborative activities, conducted in and out of the classroom, structured following the Jigsaw Collaborative Learning Flow Pattern. A specific environment including portable technologies with network and computer applications has been developed to support and facilitate the orchestration of a flow of learning activities into a single integrated learning setting. The result is a Computer Supported Collaborative Blended Learning scenario that has been evaluated with first-year university students of the degrees of Software and Audiovisual Engineering within the subject Introduction to Information and Communications Technologies. The findings reveal that the scenario improves significantly students’ interest in their studies and their understanding about the campus and services provided. The environment is also an innovative approach to successfully support the heterogeneous activities conducted by both teachers and students during the scenario. This paper introduces the goals and context of the case study, describes how the technology was employed to conduct the learning scenario, the evaluation methods and the main results of the experience.     

State of the art of frameworks and middleware for facilitating mobile and ubiquitous learning development

The emergence of mobile and ubiquitous technologies as important tools to complement formal learning has been accompanied by a growing interest in their educational benefits and applications. Mobile devices can be used to promote learning anywhere and anytime, to foster social learning and knowledge sharing, or to visualize augmented reality applications for learning purposes. However, the development of these applications is difficult for many researchers because it requires understanding many different protocols; dealing with distributed schemas, processes, platforms, and services; learning new programming languages; and interacting with different hardware sensors and drivers. For that reason, the use of frameworks and middleware that encapsulate part of this complexity appears to be fundamental to the further development of mobile learning projects. This study analyzes the state of the art of frameworks and middleware devoted to simplifying the development of mobile and ubiquitous learning applications. The results can be useful to many researchers involved in the development of projects using these technologies by providing an overview of the features implemented in each of these frameworks.     

Design of educational multiplayer videogames: A vision from collaborative learning

Videogames and their specific devices can be used to improve learning process since they are very attractive for children. In this way, pupils increase their cognitive skills, the time dedicated to learn, their motivation for learning, their concentration and their attention while they are working/playing. The subject of “learning by play” is behind the introduction of recreational educational techniques in the classroom. If we also consider the increasing presence of new technologies in society in general and in classrooms in particular, we encounter a new way of teaching/learning. Moreover, several studies in the area of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) have proved that learning in a group environment (both actively and interactively) is much more productive for pupils than traditional education.Our main objective is to reduce the complexity of introducing the collaborative learning techniques into development of educational videogames. So, in this paper we analyze the use of videogames as a particular case of new technologies in the classroom and we present a set of design guidelines to enable us to incorporate the features of collaborative learning in the videogame development process. We also explore how these guidelines affect the videogame architecture and how they can be applied when designing a videogame. As a practical example of using our proposal we have designed an educational videogame with group activities which aim is to learn the vowels.     

Using computer supported collaborative learning strategies for helping students acquire self-regulated problem-solving skills in mathematics

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of a proposed computer-based instructional method in Primary Education for self-regulated problem solving. The proposed instructional method is based on Sternberg’s model of problem solving within an authentic context. It consists of three main phases: observation, collaboration and semi-structured guidance. The ultimate learning objective is to augment the autonomous problem-solving skills of primary school children. In our study the Synergo tool was used, which is a synchronous computer supported collaborative learning tool, as well as the Moodle learning management system. The context which frames the method is authentic, very close to a students’ realistic learning situation. The findings of this study advocate that students can increase their problem-solving skills in a relatively short period of time. At the same time, they can improve their approach to the solution of a given mathematical problem, performing significant signs of autonomy.     

Comparing the roles of representations in face-to-face and online computer supported collaborative learning

This paper reports an empirical study comparing the role of discourse and knowledge representations (graphical evidence mapping) in face-to-face versus synchronous online collaborative learning. Prior work in face-to-face collaborative learning situations has shown that the features of representational notations can influence the focus of learners' discourse and collaborative activities. Two hypotheses were considered in the present study: (1) The influence of knowledge representations in the online condition could be weaker because of the lack of shared awareness and meaning that results from working together in front of a physically shared display, and because of the greater difficulty of utilizing the representations as a resource for conversation through gestural deixis, and (2) The influence of knowledge representations in the online study could be stronger because participants must rely more on them to compensate for the absence of face-to-face modes of communication. Quantitative results largely support the second hypothesis. There was greater consideration of certain coding categories supported by the knowledge representation software. However, essay quality and other observations provide indirect support for the first hypothesis. Explanations for these results and implications for the design of online collaborative learning environments are provided.     

Usage of a mobile social learning platform with virtual badges in a primary school

This study presents and examines SamEx, a mobile learning system used by 305 students in formal and informal learning in a primary school in Singapore. Students use SamEx in situ to capture media such as pictures, video clips and audio recordings, comment on them, and share them with their peers. In this paper we report on the experiences of students in using the application throughout a one-year period with a focus on self-directedness, quality of contributions, and answers to contextual question prompts. We examine how the usage of tools such as SamEx predicts students' science examination results, discuss the role of badges as an extrinsic motivational tool, and explore how individual and collaborative learning emerge. Our research shows that the quantity and quality of contributions provided by the students in SamEx predict the end-year assessment score. With respect to specific system features, contextual answers given by the students and the overall likes received by students are also correlated with the end-year assessment score.     

Analyzing collaborative learning processes automatically: Exploiting the advances of computational linguistics in computer-supported collaborative learning

In this article we describe the emerging area of text classification research focused on the problem of collaborative learning process analysis both from a broad perspective and more specifically in terms of a publicly available tool set called TagHelper tools. Analyzing the variety of pedagogically valuable facets of learners’ interactions is a time consuming and effortful process. Improving automated analyses of such highly valued processes of collaborative learning by adapting and applying recent text classification technologies would make it a less arduous task to obtain insights from corpus data. This endeavor also holds the potential for enabling substantially improved on-line instruction both by providing teachers and facilitators with reports about the groups they are moderating and by triggering context sensitive collaborative learning support on an as-needed basis. In this article, we report on an interdisciplinary research project, which has been investigating the effectiveness of applying text classification technology to a large CSCL corpus that has been analyzed by human coders using a theory-based multi-dimensional coding scheme. We report promising results and include an in-depth discussion of important issues such as reliability, validity, and efficiency that should be considered when deciding on the appropriateness of adopting a new technology such as TagHelper tools. One major technical contribution of this work is a demonstration that an important piece of the work towards making text classification technology effective for this purpose is designing and building linguistic pattern detectors, otherwise known as features, that can be extracted reliably from texts and that have high predictive power for the categories of discourse actions that the CSCL community is interested in.

Evaluating a graphical notation for modeling collaborative learning activities: A family of experiments

It is increasingly common to use languages and notations, mainly of a graphical nature, to assist in the design and specification of learning systems. There are several proposals, although few of them support the modeling of collaborative tasks. In this paper, we identify the main features to be considered for modeling this kind of activities and we propose the use of the CIAN notation for this purpose. In this work, we also try to empirically analyze the quality (in particular the understandability) of that notation. To this end, three empirical studies have been conducted. In these experiments we used several sources of information: subjective perception of the designers, their profiles and their performance on a set of understandability exercises, as well as the physical evidence provided by an eye tracker device. The results obtained denote positive perceptions about the use of the CIAN notation for modeling collaborative learning activities.     

Exploring students' learning effectiveness and attitude in Group Scribbles‐supported collaborative reading activities: a study in the primary classroom

Improving students' reading comprehension is of significance. In this study, collaborative learning supported by Group Scribbles (GS), a networked technology, was integrated into a primary reading class. Forty‐seven 10‐year‐old students from two 4th grade classes participated in the study. Experimental and control groups were established to investigate the effectiveness of GS‐supported collaborative learning in enhancing students' reading comprehension. The results affirmed the effectiveness of the intervention designed. In the experiment group, students' learning attitudes, motivation and interest were enhanced as well. Further analyses were done to probe students' interaction processes in the networked collaborative classroom and different collaboration patterns and behaviours were identified. Based on the findings obtained, implications for future learning design to empower L1 learning were elaborated.