Designing Learning Environments

Based on Collaborative Content

Creation

21st September 2013

EC-TEL Meets ECSCW

Ivan Srba, Mária Bieliková

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 student’s 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