Margaret M. McManus

Collaboration Challenges: Bridging the IT Support Gap

Abstract The more collaborative enterprises are, the better they perform. However, current collaboration technologies do not contribute as much as expected to collaboration quality. Collaboration technology seems to be stuck in just overcoming the limitation of people not being in the same place at the same time. Real time communications are supported through such things as web-conferencing and instant messaging, while email, wikis, and web-based repositories provide the electronic equivalent of the shared file cabinet. Although some technologies support workflow and project management to a degree, there is little support for the joint development lifecycle of planning, creating, evaluating, negotiating, and consolidating group work. Focusing broadly on collaboration challenges highlights limitations of current technology and can help provide direction for the kinds of information technology that will be needed to bridge the IT support gap to meet current and future collaboration challenges.

Supporting Effective Collaboration: Using a Rearview Mirror to Look Forward

Our original research, to design and develop an Intelligent Collaborative Learning System (ICLS), yielded the creation of a Group Leader Tutor software system which utilizes a Collaborative Skills Network to monitor students working collaboratively in a networked environment. The Collaborative Skills Network was a conceptualization of collaborative skills and subskills associated with particular sentence openers. The Group Leader (GL) Tutor taught students effective use of collaboration skills while they worked in Jigsaw Teams on a Local Area Network (LAN). In their discussions, students selected sentence openers associated with particular collaborative skills defined in the Collaborative Skills Network, completing them with free-form sentence closers. Subsequent researchers leveraged this system in various ways including incorporating intelligent agents, expanding the Collaborative Skills Network, and matching sentence openers with appropriate sentence closers. The universal use of the Internet, responsive user interfaces, and learning management systems (LMS) have since provided additional research opportunities using more powerful technology. The ICLS research continues to hold promise for future applications and extensions of our model to new domains. Addressing the needs of both traditional students as well as adult learners in e-learning environments, even MOOCs, may extend the reach of our research into the future. Additionally, enhanced assessment of students’ learning outcomes may help improve their collaborative skills.

Gathering together through groupware in an MA program

A current pedagogical method in education is collaborative learning. Likewise, the computing profession requires team work to accomplish projects. Groupware facilities support both students and professionals to work together for the success of the group. However, the components of collaborative learning and the effective use of groupware need to be taught to students to prepare them for the professional world. This paper describes how a graduate course in Groupware and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work addresses groupware and CSCW issues, as well as teaching students the components of collaborative learning through the use of groupware itself. 1 Collaborative Learning and Groupware The purpose of collaborative learning (CL) in the educational environment is to encourage students to work effectively in groups to develop a project [7]. While collaborative learning became a popular pedagogy in the 1970’s, the use of the computer as supporting tool for CL arose within the last decade. The field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning studies the use of computing technology in collaborative learning [11 ]. Distance learning enables students at remote locations to participate in courses through the use of e-mail [1] and videoconferencing [4]. Virtual classrooms are constructed with electronic networks, rather than red bricks and mortar, through asynchronous networks [2], virtual classrooms [6], and electronic meeting systems [13]. Some graduate programs have incorporated the use of groupware and CSCW into their curricula. E-mail is used as a platform for discussions in a business curriculum [12], a textbased conferencing systems as a platform for developing master’s proposals [8], and the World Wide Web as a store for educational materials in the area of parallel processors [3].Some study has been done regarding the design and tools of computerized collaborative learning environments, Kiesler [9] found that networked groups often are more diversified and flexible than traditional groups, thus increasing interaction PerMISSIOn to make digiWhard mpy of part or all of this work for personol or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the copyright notice, the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying IS by permission of ACM, Inc. To rmpy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Integrating Tech. into C.S.E. 6/96 Barcelona, Spain 01996 ACM 0-89791 -844-4/96/0009 ...

Computer supported collaborative learning

3.50 among the members. Using conferencing systems to support and promote collaborative learning, Harasim [5] found that undergraduate and graduate students participated as active learners. However, she notes that “Much work is needed to enhance user effectiveness in teaching and learning online” [5]. In this spirit, this article discusses how a graduate groupware course was designed and undertaken to encourage students to learn not only about groupware, but also the use of groupware to support the components of collaborative learning. 2 Collaboration in the MA program The Master of Arts program in Computer Information Science at La Salle University encourages students to attain personal productivity with the personal computer, yet also to use collaborative learning techniques to develop group projects. In particular, “Groupware and Computer Supported Cooperative Work,” an elective course within the curriculum, provides students with the opportunity to work in groups with the use of computer-based technology, especial ly groupware facilities. The objectives of the course includes the following points concerning groupware and CSCW: ● To learn about the characteristics, systems and services; ● To discuss the issues of group process, data sharing and privacy; ● To consider Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) factors; ● To learn about design, components, architecture and implementation; ● To use a variety of software systems and packages; ● To create a knowledge base about Groupware and CSCW; ● To design and prototype a Groupware system. The classes were conducted in a groupware environment: a computer classroom with Pentium personal computers, networked on an Ethernet LAN segment of a campus-wide network. Groupware was utilized through a variety of software, including electronic mail, bulletin boards, collaborative authoring, electronic schedulers, the World Wide Web, and discussion databases. The issues of CSCW including group process, data sharing and privacy were discussed both verbally and with groupware tools.

CSCL report: human computer interaction and educational tools (HCI-ET) conference report: May 18–27, 1997 Sozopol, Bulgaria

Welcome! Welcome to the CSCL column! I am honored to serve as the first advisor for this area in SIGGROUP. I became interested in this area of Groupware from my teaching experience as a professor of computer science at La Salle University and from my doctoral studies at Temple University; both universities are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. As a teacher of undergraduate and graduate students, I was anxious to learn more effective pedagogical techniques. At a teaching and learning workshop, I learned about the Jigsaw method of cooperative learning (Aronson et. al, 1978). I utilized this method in a Programming Languages class in the following way: first the students worked in home groups to learn about one particular programming language and to complete a report; next the students were rearranged into expert groups, composed of one expert from each home group. These experts then shared their expertise with the other group members to produce a final comparative report of several programming languages. The students enjoyed working in groups and learned from the experience. For my doctoral studies, I designed, implemented and tested an Intelligent Collaborative Learning System (ICLS) to study collaborative learning with intelligent tutoring systems (McManus, 1995, 1993). The ICLS provided a CSCL environment in which students worked in electronic jigsaw groups to complete a project. The purpose of the system was not only for the students to complete the project, but also for the students to learn collaborative skills, enhance their attitudes and improve their academic achievement. The Group Leader computer tutor in the ICLS guided the students in this endeavor (McManus and Aiken, 1996, 1995a, 1995b, 1993). My research has continued with the effective use of Groupware for teaching in a CSCL environment (McManus, 1996a, 1996b).

Challenges of using groupware to teach groupware

HCI-ET, a working conference of the IFIP WG 3.3, addressed the technologies and issues of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) regarding educational tools. The managerial and procedural operations of the conference were handled electronically through e-mail and the World Wide Web, two of the most common technologies of groupware. The conference Web site bttp://www-it.fmi.uni-sofia.bg/HCIET/describes the goals of the conference as well as abstracts of the papers, and serves as the primary resource for the material in this report.This report focuses on the topics which concern Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), especially Web-based education and training, and computer-supported collaborative skills. Additional articles on other issues in HCI were presented. The full articles will be published in book format.

Monitoring computer-based collaborative problem solving

Groupware is defined as software, systems, and services that help groups of workers do their jobs better [2]. Computer Supported Cooperative Work is defined by Greif and Cashman as the support of multiple individuals working together with computer systems [1]. Groupware is currently a widespread tool in the professional community [3]. To educate and prepare students in these areas, many universities are teaching their students groupware and CSCW. In some educational environments, commercial systems are available, while in others, less sophisticated utilities are used. While groupware enables people to work together in groups over a network, the group process is also important. The panel discussed technical support and system issues in teaching groupware as well as implications for teaching group process.