Designing Learning Environments
Based on Collaborative Content
Creation
21st September 2013
EC-TEL Meets ECSCW
Ivan Srba, Mria Bielikov
Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
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Knowledge sharing
Crucial process in organizations and communities
Knowledge sharing applications based on Web 2.0 principles
Wikis, forums, social networking sites
Collaborative content creation tools (e.g. Google Docs)
Community question answering systems (e.g. Yahoo! Answers)
How to design innovative collaborative learning environments?
Application of concepts which have been successfully verified in different domains
Knowledge Sharing as
Model for Learning Environments
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Knowledge sharing applications
Already support informal learning, somehow
Are not primarily designed and developed for purpose of effective learning
Absence of important features which are essential for learning
Instructors can lack the features for organization and management of learning process
Learners can miss the appropriate tools for their self-regulation and motivation
How can we design learning environments which employ verified
concepts of knowledge sharing applications and provide necessary
learning support?
Necessity of Learning Support
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How to support collaborative learning? (Dimitracopoulou, 2005)
Appropriate means for dialogue and action
Interaction and communication tools
Functions for supporting learners self-regulation or guidance
Scaffolding collaboration (e.g. scripting)
Functions for workspace awareness
Who is in the workspace, what are the others users doing, etc.
Functions related to community level management
Management tools above the content and community itself
Facilities related to teachers assistance
Learning analytics, dashboards
Tools and Functions for Learning Support
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Classroom Salon, Open Study
Focused primarily on communication and socializing
Forums, real-time chat, social networking sites, question answering
Knowledge Sharing Concepts
in Existing Learning Environments
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Learning besides collaborative content creation
We take into consideration concepts of popular content creation tools (e.g. Google Docs)
PopCorm support content in three representations:
Free text in a text editor
Graphical diagrams in a graphical editor
Lists of items in a categorizer
Discussion for learners communication
Popular Collaborative Platform (PopCorm)
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Popular Collaborative Platform (PopCorm)
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Popular Collaborative Platform (PopCorm)
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The Trade-off between Free and Structured Dialogue
Strictly structured communication
Higher orientation on task solving
Problem with other messages
Semi-structured approach of sentence openers
18 different types of messages including general message types
The Trade-off between Parallel and Embedded Tools
Discussion embedded into all interaction tools
Fast and effective referencing on the created content
Communication is compactly recorded in the discussion
PopCorm Design Trade-offs
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The Trade-off Related to the Coordination of Action and Dialogue
Unrestricted simultaneous collaboration
Real-time content synchronization
Still quite uncommon scenario in learning systems
The Trade-off between Self-Regulation and Teacher Support
Automatic identification of students activities
According to message types in discussion
Statistics about collaboration
Automatically calculated evaluation
PopCorm Design Trade-offs
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Formal learning settings
Target group: students
Content: short-term tasks which supplement learning materials
Role of instructor: a teacher
Informal learning settings
Target group: workplace teams, communities of practice
Content: tasks related to their involvement in their organizations
Examples: solving of problems employees run into during their work, human resources trainings or team building activities
Role of instructor: a manager, a supervisor, a team leader
Supported Collaboration Scenarios
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Evaluation in formal learning settings
Long-term experiment
106 students
254 dynamic short-term study groups
69 short tasks prepared by a teacher
Collecting feedback from students
Collaborative learning in PopCorm
Interesting and unconventional way of education
Effective and successful learning
Evaluation of Design Decisions
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From knowledge sharing applications
Users are already familiar with their concepts
Widely used by different organizations
to innovative learning environments
It is possible to design collaborative learning environments by employing concepts verified in knowledge sharing applications
Finding synergy and equilibrium
But, it is still necessary to provide suitable learning support
Our design decisions in implementation of learning environment PopCorm which is inspired by
Knowledge sharing applications
Collaborative content creation tools
Contributions to Workshop Aims
