Conditions For Collaborative Learning Research Articles

Student Engagement Variations across Institutions and Disciplines: Findings from Azerbaijan

Although student engagement has been a widely researched area known to improve student learning and a topic of scholarly debate for many decades now, this has yet to be the case in Azerbaijan. Data from the National Survey of Student Engagement, conducted among 433 undergraduate students of the 18-23 age range (M = 21.37, SD = 1.43) at eight universities in Azerbaijan, allowed us to examine variations in the conditions meant to foster student engagement, as well as students’ perspectives on improving their educational experiences. Specifically, we looked at differences related to academic challenges, learning with peers, teacher experiences, and campus environment. Student engagement varied across disciplines. Small universities in the capital city provided better collaborative learning conditions. However, students at regional universities were more satisfied with the quality of student-faculty interactions. Nonetheless, students saw a strong need for fundamental changes in higher education in Azerbaijan, focusing on improving the quality of teachers, teaching and the curriculum. The study provided an overview of student engagement variations across institutions and disciplines and how students conceptualise necessary improvements in student experiences. Institutional leaders must understand the variations for seeking essential changes in the HE system to effectively accommodate students’ needs and expectations.

Sustaining collaborative learning in a rurally located university classroom in South Africa: Conducive conditions and possible threats

This study investigated how collaborative learning, as a teaching and learning approach, can be enhanced to promote pre-service teachers' participation in university classrooms in rural areas of South Africa. The study aimed to identify the conducive conditions that support collaborative learning, as well as the threats that may hinder the implementation of collaborative learning in rural classrooms. Asset-based community development served as the theoretical framework for this study. A transformative paradigm was adopted, employing a participatory research design to bring together individuals with relevant experiences and opinions. The study involved fifteen participants, including five lecturers with more than five years of experience, five third-year students, and five fourth-year students from a selected university. Data was collected through focused group discussions and interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study revealed that connecting activities to assessment, proper planning, linking content to students' lives, and establishing a positive classroom culture were conducive conditions for collaborative learning. On the other hand, language barriers, unconducive classroom infrastructure, and lack of infrastructure were identified as factors that could hinder the implementation of collaborative learning in this study. The study recommends the creation of favourable conditions, such as aligning activities with assessments and effective planning, to promote collaborative learning among pre-service teachers in rural university classrooms in South Africa.

La teoría del conflicto sociocognitivo del desarrollo: Una mirada retrospectiva a partir de investigaciones propias

The theory of socio-cognitive conflict emerges in European Psychology in the 1970s, particularly from the research of the social psychology school of Geneve, that had a strong diffusion in the following years. This theory represents a neo-piagetian critical view of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, in the sense that the attention is focused on the role of peer socio-cognitive interaction (specifically in the social confrontations of different points of view) enhancing cognitive growth. The value of the socio-cognitive conflict promoting cognitive development lies in the decentration effect that it produces. According to this view, disturbance resulting from socio-cognitive conflicts gives way to a superior state of equilibrium. The first part of the article focuses on the theoretical and methodological analysis of the concept. In that way, two periods are distinguished in the evolution of the paradigm attending the inclusion of the communicational analysis of the verbal exchange between subjects. Also, this analysis refers to many confusions and misunderstandings in the larger application of the paradigm to psychology and education. The aim of the second part is to present some experimental illustrations produced by the IRICE (CONICET) research team’s work. These illustrations concern three conceptual axes: the application of the paradigm to the development of the formal-logical intelligence, the microanalysis of modalities and types of socio-cognitive conflict, and the extended application of the paradigm to the knowledge learning and conceptual change. The research reported in the first axis concerns the comparison of two experimental conditions: collaborative (dyads) and individual problem solving task (problems of Raven’s test), in a sample of 12-13 year old students. The comparison concerns to the performances both in the experimental treatment and in the individual post-test of equivalent problems applied to all participants. Results show, in both cases, the superiority of the collective condition. The second axis focuses on some studies concerning the modalities and types of socio-cognitive conflicts. Particularly, a system of categories for the analysis of the social behavior of children of different ages (4, 8 and 12 years old) in a block construction task (to build a house) is reported. This system differentiates many kinds of interactional behavior: dissociation, dominance-submission (both lower social coordination), cooperation (implicit and explicit) and collaboration (these three are modalities of higher social coordination). The third axis examines some illustrations referring to the extension of paradigm to the epistemic learning. After some references to the difficulty of this extension to the educational settings, two studies are reported. The first one concerns an experimental comparison between a collaborative learning condition (dyads) and an individual learning condition in university students of Psychology and Physics. Also, two kinds of collaborative learning are considered, one that assures alternating of participation, the incentive of argumentation and the reciprocal evaluation (in other words, the promotion of the socio-cognitive conflict), and one that is carried out without any intervention (spontaneous collaborative learning). Results show the superiority of the promoting socio-cognitive conflict condition upon the others, both in a written production and in individual learning post-tests. In a second research the comparison is between three instructional modalities to teach an epistemic topic: expositive, participative (with teacher’s scaffolding) and collaborative (only peers), in students of the first grade of secondary education (13 years old), in samples taken from two schools. Results for individual learning show that there are not great differences between the three modalities when the initial level (pre-test) of cognitive competence is high, but not if the cognitive level is low; here the collaborative condition (without scaffolding) has many difficulties. Finally, the article presents some general conclusions specifically concerning the socio-cognitive conflict. https://doi.org/10.16888/interd.2022.39.3.16

Use of Microblogging, Social Networking, and Short Messages in E-learning for Information Culture Building

This work examines the effect of microblogging, social networking, and short messaging in e-learning on the process of information culture formation. The study takes an experimental training course "The Psychology of Management" designed with Moodle, which implies the use of Instagram, and applies it to a sample of master’s level students. Learners were recruited from the Higher School of Economics and Business (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University) together with the Institute of Economics and Management in Agribusiness (Russian State Agrarian University - Timiryazev Moscow Agricultural Academy (RSAU – MTAA)). Students were asked to briefly express their thoughts, attitudes, and views toward the given topic on Instagram by creating blog posts and leave motivational and constructive comments under the blogs of other group members. The emotional responses of learners to the innovative style of teaching (i.e., the use of blogs) and its effect on the learning process were assessed using surveys. The study discusses the effect of blogging on Instagram as an educational tool. The majority of respondents reported a positive effect of blogs. According to learners, the use of Instagram gave the learning journey a makeover, making it relevant, effortless, and consistent. The use of blogs was found to create favorable conditions for collaborative learning, creative self-expression, and systematization of knowledge and experiences. Students reported that doing blogs was entertaining, motivating, and beneficial to their critical thinking, writing skills, and communication competency.

Effects of ICT on Teaching and Learning: A Review of Related Literature

The advent of ICT has made monumental changes in the world presently. This digital phenomenon has had effect in every facet of human life or endeavor. The introduction of ICT in education helped to improve the quality of education at the point where teaching and learning eventually became an engaging active process related to real life. The present study intends to collate the findings from a review of array of available literature related to the effects of ICT on education. The 21st century teaching and learning skills emphasize the need to transform the conventional teacher-centered pedagogy to more learner-centered methodology. Active and collaborative learning conditions facilitated by ICT helps to develop a knowledge-centered student community. This research work gives an insight into the use of ICT in the field of education, focusing on its impact on teaching learning process, quality, and accessibility of education, motivating learners, learning environment and students’ academic performance.

Scripting to enhance university students’ critical thinking in flipped learning: implications of the delayed effect on science reading literacy

ABSTRACTPremised on Web 2.0 technology, the current study investigated the effect of facilitating critical thinking using the Collaborative Questioning, Reading, Answering, and Checking (C-QRAC) collaboration script on university students’ science reading literacy in flipped learning conditions. Participants were 85 Taiwanese university students recruited from two introductory educational psychology courses. Groups were formed by affinity grouping and were randomly assigned to collaborative learning conditions with or without C-QRAC script support. Both groups received direct introduction to critical thinking and were given the assigned reading before class. Results of the study showed that direct instruction on critical thinking may have an immediate effect on science reading literacy for both groups. Moreover, the effect of the C-QRAC collaboration script was contingent upon time, gender moderation, and test formats. Students who followed the C-QRAC script performed better on the delayed advanced multiple-choice items than those in the control group. Further, the C-QRAC script helped eliminate the gender gap in immediate and delayed total MC. But in delayed basic MC, males demonstrated higher scores than females. Higher prior knowledge predicted better scores on delayed basic MC as well as immediate and delayed constructed-response items. The findings imply that providing structure for university students in the flipped collaborative science reading had a sustained effect on their learning such that they were more likely to think about the questions discussed with partners, to try to find the answers to the questions, to discuss findings in the reading content with friends, or to reread the shared online note or article. As a result, we suggest use of the C-QRAC collaboration script to facilitate students’ critical thinking and enhance their self-directed learning in flipped learning conditions.

Facilitating critical thinking using the C-QRAC collaboration script: Enhancing science reading literacy in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment

The criticism that reading online results in shallow reading may reflect the need for an intervention that can provide sufficient technological and pedagogical supports to socially and cognitively engage learners in critical thinking and collaboration. This study investigated the effect of facilitating critical thinking using a collaboration script modified from the Questioning, Reading, Answering, and Checking reading strategy (i.e., QRAC-the-Code; Berkeley & Riccomini, 2013) on students' science reading literacy in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. Participants were 76 college students (71% female) enrolled at a university in central Taiwan. Students were grouped by affinity grouping, where they self-selected their members, and were then randomly assigned to a collaborative learning condition with or without the collaboration script support. Overall, results showed that the collaboration script significantly enhanced students' reading literacy. Moreover, the effect was dependent upon gender and the format of tests. Males benefited more from the collaboration script on constructed-response items whereas females benefited more on multiple-choice items. Implications for instructional practices are drawn based on the findings of the study.

A single-display groupware collaborative language laboratory

Language learning tools have evolved to take into consideration new teaching models of collaboration and communication. While second language acquisition tasks have been taken online, the traditional language laboratory has remained unchanged. By continuing to follow its original configuration based on individual work, the language laboratory fails to take advantage of the potential provided by collaborative learning. We propose the use of a language laboratory based on single-display groupware (SDG) for learning vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and listening comprehension. By adopting SDG, the language laboratory benefits from the advantages of small group collaborative learning. In this paper, we first describe the design and pedagogical merit of the SDG collaborative language laboratory. We then share the results of a quasi-experimental pre–post comparison study, and use an observation guideline to analyze whether the conditions for collaborative learning have been fulfilled. Based on the results of this study, we conclude that developing pronunciation skills can be more effective when using a collaborative language laboratory versus an individual language laboratory. In addition to this, it can also be concluded that collaborative learning is most effective when accompanied by adequate instructional design.

Game Mechanics in the Design of a Collaborative 3D Serious Game

Background This article investigates the potential of utilizing game mechanics in designing 3D serious games for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) and attempt to produce new information about designing collaborative serious games. Aim This article has two aims: First, to clarify how theoretical knowledge of collaborative learning was related to game design in previous studies; and, second, to design a collaborative serious game based on theoretical knowledge of collaborative learning and game design. Results The reviewed studies revealed the potential of using collaborative games in education. However, they showed that collaborative learning games were typically designed only from pedagogical perspective. Thus, integrating educational theory and game design perspectives was rare. Therefore, we argue that collaborative serious games do not necessarily take full advantage of their potential. Conclusion The main contribution of this article is to present seven ways to utilize game mechanics in order to create favorable conditions for collaborative learning and to structure players’ actions to boost social interaction and collaborative activities. This article concludes with an example of taking advantage of game mechanics in the design of a collaborative serious game. This article also uses event-charts to demonstrate the practical implementation of game mechanics in three multiplayer puzzles.

A comparison of collaborative and traditional instruction in higher education

Although collaborative instructional techniques have become popular in college courses, it is unclear whether collaborative techniques can replace more traditional instructional methods. We examined the efficacy of collaborative courses (in-class, collaborative activities with no lectures) compared to traditional lecture courses (in-class, instructor-led presentations) in four sections of introductory psychology. Most other aspects of the courses remained constant, including the professor, assignments, and exams. The collaborative learning condition resulted in significantly lower quiz and exam scores in addition to lower self-reported satisfaction with the course and the instructor than the traditional lecture condition. Moreover, students were no more likely to be satisfied with the social environment in the collaborative condition. Our results suggest that collaborative techniques may be a way to enhance professorial lectures but should not be used to replace them entirely. Further research should explore the ratio of collaborative to traditional techniques that is most beneficial for college student learning.

The impact of a thinking skills intervention on children's concepts of intelligence

The study reported was part of a large thinking skills intervention for 11–12-year-old children. This paper focuses on the impact of a thinking skills intervention on children's understandings of intelligence. A total of 178 children (n=86 girls and n=92 boys) across six schools participated in the study. Children were individually pre-tested in the classroom using written tasks designed to tap concepts of intelligence (definitions, characteristics, causes of intelligence, and the stability of intelligence: entity versus incremental concepts) and a variety of thinking skills. Schools were allocated into one of three intervention conditions: control condition; individual condition; collaborative learning condition. Children in the individual and collaborative learning conditions participated in an 8-week thinking skills intervention. Children in the individual condition worked individually on tasks to apply the thinking skills whereas learners in the collaborative condition applied the thinking skills on tasks in groups of four. Following the thinking skills intervention all children were individually post-tested using the pre-test measures. The results showed that the intervention had an impact on children's understanding of intelligence. In particular, the collaborative learning intervention led to most improvement in concepts of intelligence. The results are discussed with reference to theories of intelligence concepts and thinking skills interventions.

Collaboration within large groups in the classroom

The purpose of this paper is to show how a large group of students can work collaboratively in a synchronous way within the classroom using the cheapest possible technological support. Making use of the features of Single Display Groupware and of Multiple Mice we propose a computer-supported collaborative learning approach for big groups within the classroom. The approach uses a multiple classification matrix and our application was built for language-learning (in this case Spanish). The basic collaboration mechanism that the approach is based upon is “silent collaboration,” in which students—through suggestions and exchanges—must compare their ideas to those of their classmates. An exploratory experimental study was performed along with a quantitative and qualitative study that analyzed ease of use of the software, described how the conditions for collaborative learning were achieved, evaluated the achievements in learning under the defined language objectives, and analyzed the impact of silent and spoken collaboration. Our initial findings are that silent collaboration proved to be an effective mechanism to achieve learning in large groups in the classroom.

Supporting collaboration with technology: does shared cognition lead to co-regulation in medicine?

The theoretical distinctions between metacognition, self-regulation and self-regulated learning are often blurred which makes the definition of co-regulation in group learning situations even more difficult. We have started to explore co-regulation in the context of decision making in simulated emergencies where medical teams work together to manage patient cases. Our earlier work has described the relationship between collaborative decision-making in this context as well as discourse patterns that emerge in a simulated medical emergency (Lu & Lajoie, 2008). This paper examines the interactions that occur during this simulation that reflect the relationship between co-regulation and medical decision-making. There are two collaborative learning conditions, a traditional situation where the instructor facilitates collaboration by using a whiteboard to document the group’s construction of a medical argument (the traditional whiteboard condition, TW). The second condition uses technology to facilitate the collaboration, where individuals use laptops and an interactive whiteboard (IW) where they can interact with the problem list as it is being created. Our assumption was that the IW would facilitate communication beyond the teacher–student, to include student–student both within and between the various subgroups. The IW group could document their medical arguments by using a structured template for constructing, annotating and sharing arguments. We found that participants in the IW condition differed from the TW condition in that they engaged in more adaptive decision-making behavior early on in the intervention. Similar overall levels of metacognitive activity were found in both conditions but the pattern and timing of metacognitive categories varied. Specifically, the IW group engaged in more planning and orienting than the TW group at the outset of the problem. Early engagement and co-regulation occurred in the IW group which led to shared understandings and subsequently to effective patient management in latter sessions (11.5% vs. 3.6% in TW). Technology supported greater metacognitive activity overall (44% vs 29% in the non supported group). Furthermore, technology facilitated greater planning (23% vs. 10%) and orienting (10% vs 1%) early in the medical problem solving activity. We refer to specific indicators in the discourse that help operationalize the concept of co-regulation.

Conditions for collaborative learning and constructive competition in school

Background: Teacher-organised group work, in which pupils work together in groups or pairs, is one of many learning situations pupils may encounter at school. Research (Williams, P. and Sheridan, S., Collaboration as one aspect of quality: a perspective of collaboration and pedagogical quality in educational settings. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 50, no. 1: 89–93, 2006) shows that even though pupils are aware of the benefits that working in groups can generate, they tend to avoid structured group work at school. Purpose: The aim of this study is to gain knowledge about necessary conditions for collaborative learning and constructive competition to develop among pupils at school. What conditions are necessary for collaboration and constructive competition to develop in learning situations among pupils at school? Sample: The study was carried out in Sweden and involved a total of 66 children, 6–18 years of age, and 25 teachers. Both sexes were equally represented among the pupils. The participating schools and teachers were selected by means of a stratified sample involving different geographical and socioeconomic areas and different educational programmes. Twelve children were selected from each of school grades 1, 5 and 9, whilst a total of 30 students were selected from five different upper secondary school programmes. Design and methods: To study the conditions under which constructive competition could develop in school, the methodology used involved individual interviews. The analysis was qualitative and focused on the phenomenon of constructive competition and situations in which pupils and teachers compete. The process of analysis was interplay between empirical data and interactionistic theory, an analytical process of abduction, which consists of interpreting data and devising a theory to explain them. The intentions were to highlight perspectives of constructive competition in a variety of ways. The analyses converge, as well as generating information and knowledge about how pupils and teachers understand constructive competition. Conclusions: Several factors emerged as important for collaboration and constructive competition to develop among pupils in school. These were categorised into three conditions: attitudes, organisation and the meaning of learning. Competition between pupils and teachers does occur in school but it is not often explicitly articulated. The ways in which competition develops, either in destructive or constructive directions, becomes more a question of chance or coincidence than as evolving out of a conscious choice. To compete constructively in a conscious manner requires knowledge of how to be able to control the situation in a positive manner, about the characteristics of this kind of competition and of how – that is to say under what kind of conditions – it will develop constructively between people in school contexts. Content and conditions are thus seen as inseparable in the development of constructive competition.

Examining different types of collaborative learning in a complex computer-based environment: A cognitive load approach

This study compared the effects of two collaborative learning strategies (Open-ended and Task-based) with an individualized learning strategy on individual learning in a computer-based environment. The experiment sought ecological validity by conducting it under real teaching and homework conditions. Ninety-four students from grade 9 participated in a webpage design task. Cognitive load theory was used to predict that the collaborative approaches would outperform the individualized approach due to reduced cognitive load. This hypothesis was confirmed by performance scores and cognitive load only in the case of the Open-ended collaborative learning condition. Evidence was also found that the Open-ended collaborative learning condition outperformed the Task-based collaborative one. It was concluded that in collaborative learning a more Open-ended task design together with moderate independent sub-task requirements leads to more effective learning.

Developing Young Thinkers: An intervention aimed to enhance children's thinking skills

It is increasingly popular to ‘teach’ thinking skills in schools. A diverse variety of programmes exist to support practitioners in this task, and some research has been gathered on the effectiveness of individual approaches. However, the difficulties when assessing the development of thinking skills are widely documented. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of teaching thinking skills explicitly to 11/12-year olds by infusing thinking skills into the curriculum (i.e., teaching thinking skills simultaneously with subject content). There were three intervention conditions: collaborative, individual and control. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated with a combination of standardised and study-specific pre- and post-tests. Results demonstrated statistically significant gains for both the individual and collaborative learning conditions in a range of thinking skills. The greatest increase in performance was seen in the collaborative learning condition. Educational implications for policy and practice are discussed.