Collaboration in Educational Settings

Nathan Campbell Lisa Doan

Kirill KireyevMalte Winkler

Traditional Instruction• “Sage on Stage”• Limited interaction, participation

– Hard to ask questions• Cramming for tests

– Shallow understanding– Low retention rate

• Competitive grading discourages cooperation• Not taught how to find information• Material not personally interesting, relevant

Why Collaboration?• Solve large problems• Teaches valuable “people” skills• Self-empowerment, responsibility, self-

expression• Attitudes towards learning• “When you teach, you learn”• Synergy of ideas, “symmetry of ignorance”• Cognitive Dissonance Theory

– Learning by resolving disagreements

Collaboration Techniques in the Large Classroom

• What are some methods educators have come up with.

• How do they help the student? • Can technology make these techniques more

powerful?

Think-Pair-Share(Lyman, 1981)

• The teacher asks a question, the students think about it for a moment and then converse with a neighbor.

• Breaks up the lecture.• Refocuses the class.• immediate and explicit feedback on the strength

or weakness of their understanding

Concept Test(Mazur, 1997)

• Similar to think pair share.• Students write down an answer with a

confidence level. Then try to convince their neighbor of their answer and then write their confidence level again.

• Mazur found using this technique significantly helped his students test scores.

Debriefing Exams(Cooper, 2000)

• leverages the communal knowledge of the class• Exams are handed back in groups of folders.• Each group will work together to help correct the

exams by asking their peers for the correct answer.• In a matter of 15 minutes a large portion of the

students questions about the exam will be answered with out having to tax a large portion of the instructors time.

The Minute Paper(Wilson, 1986 )

• Have students write a summarizing thought about what they have learned.

• Uses reflection to deepen understanding of subject mater.

Scripted Cooperative Learning (Dansereau, 1992)

• After 20 minutes of lecture have the students pair up to go over what has been taught.

• One student is the summarizer and the other is the checker.

• Work together to create visual representation of key points learned.

• Increases depth of understanding

Summary of Classroom Collaboration Techniques

• How can we use technology use these techniques to make them more powerful.

• Can technology institutionalize these techniques to bring these or similar concepts to more Classrooms.

Why Computer-aided Collaboration?

• Helps mediate opinions (everyone is heard)• Easy to organize/visualize information• Work remotely• Reach out to wider audience• Contribute at any time• Store information, discussions for later access• Fun

Our Research

• Internet– Overview of technologies, lessons

• Books• Interviews

– CU faculty members• Current Technologies• Observations• Discourse via Swiki

Different Modes of Collaboration

Collaborative Tools

Universidad de Vigo,Spain

Collaborative Tools

Georgia Institute of Technology

Handheld Applications

“Ecosystem” “Match-My-Graph”

Handheld/Wireless Applications

• ClassTalk – asking questions– Multiple choice, text, numerical

• ImageMap – interactive images– Maps, graphs, photos

• Probeware – physical measurements• Participatory simulations

– Tracking student’s movement, position• Exploratorium – interactive museums

Interviews & Observations• People:

– Gerhard Fischer / Hal Eden (Swiki)– Sebastian De La Chica (UI design)– Michael Main (WebCT)– Carl Wieman (Clickers)– Amer Diwan

• Technologies @ CU:– WebCT– EDC– FEEL (DLC ’04)– Swiki– Moodle– Clickers

The SwikiGerhard Fischer • Allows students to create their own environment• Allowed for asynchronous communication

Sebastian De La Chica• Great for communication• Very messy if no structure is set up from the beginning

Hal Eden• Limited extension of the classroom• Best for small groups

Professor Michael Main• WebCT Message Board

– Too rigid & structured– Forced usage– Unintuitive design– Data persistence fades after semester

• Collaboration– 3 modes of work: alone, in groups, in groups

online– Students should be adept at all of them

Conversational Classroom

Amer Diwan• Students Lead Class Conversation• Allows for more ideas and discussion• Conversation must be lead in the right direction

– Key Topics• Allows professor to get a better understanding of

students knowledge

Interviews & Observations

• Issues– Structured vs. unstructured– Whiteboard vs. message board– In class vs. online discussions

• Generalizations– “Beaten Path”

• Remembering reasoning– “Cycle of Abandonment”

• Critical mass for acceptance of technology

Cycle of Abandonment

Collaboration: Challenges

• Re-structuring educational practices• Creating supportive environment

– Non-competitive– Open-ended creative projects

• Re-thinking grading policies• “Free-rider” problem• Scheduling overhead• Teaching collaboration skills

Technology Design Questions

• Balance online vs. face-to-face– How to integrate?

• Structured (WebCT) vs Unstructured (wiki)– Freedom may be messy, overwhelming

• General vs. specific• Mediation?• Support flexibility, evolution

– Users will use in different ways• Sensitive to context, time

Making Collaboration Successful

• Shared motivations, common goals• Adequate incentives• Positive interdependence• Symmetry of ignorance

– Diversity of opinions, backgrounds• Flexibility, opportunities for creativity• Establishing team goals, deadlines, roles• Regular synchronous meetings• Social relationship building