Meletis Margaritis

Real-time collaborative problem solving: a study on alternative coordination mechanisms

It is believed that computer-supported collaboration at a distance can stimulate learning. An innovative environment that permits real-time collaborative problem solving is described. In particular we study the effect of two alternative coordination mechanisms on the problem solving activity of pairs of students engaged in concept map building. The first mechanism imposes locking of the shared activity board for one student at a time, while the second mechanism allows access of all group members to the shared activity board in a contemporary way. The reported findings are of interest to researchers and practitioners who are involved in the design and study of real-time collaborative learning environments.

Collaborative Interaction Analysis: The Teachers’ Perspective

Collaborative interaction analysis involves quantitative and qualitative techniques of coding and interpreting recorded group activities, mostly used by researchers of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL). These techniques are usually tedious and necessitate specialized knowledge, so they are not suitable for everyday class practice. A hypothesis investigated in this paper is that such methods in a simplified version, if supported by adequate tools may be useful in design, implementation and evaluation of collaborative activities by teachers. The Synergo interaction analysis tool is proposed for such use and an example of collaborative problem solving activity analysis by teachers during a collaborative activity is discussed as evidence of the effectiveness of this proposal

On supporting users' reflection during small groups synchronous collaboration

During computer-mediated synchronous collaboration there is need for supporting reflection of the partners involved. In this paper we study techniques for determining the state of an evolving collaborative process, while the activity is in progress, making the users aware of this state. For this reason, a State of Collaboration (SoC) indicator has been defined, which is calculated using a combination of machine-learning and statistical techniques. Subse-quently a study was performed during which SoC was presented to a number of groups of collaborating partners engaged in problem-solving activities. It was found that this group awareness mechanism influenced in a significant way the behavior of the groups in which it was used. This study has wider implications to the design of groupware and in particular towards gaining an insight into the effect of group awareness mechanisms on computer-mediated collaborative learning.

On tools for analysis of collaborative problem solving

Analysis of collaborative problem solving involves analysis of dialogue and interaction, analysis of tasks and social roles through ethnographic and other field studies. Use of tools to facilitate this process can be very useful. We discuss first the key requirements of a new generation of interaction and collaboration analysis tools. We then present how these requirements have lead to the design of prototype tools, recently developed. These tools can relate and synchronize various streams of field data. An important characteristic of the tools is their support for a multilayer structure of annotations of various levels of abstraction, through which the activity can be interpreted and presented.

Visualization of synchronous collaborative modeling activities

This paper presents Synergo, a collaboration support environment that monitors the activity and permits visualization of various quantitative parameters, like density of interaction, symmetry of the activity, degree of collaboration etc, particularly useful for understanding the mechanics of collaboration. Synergo has been proposed as a testbed for analysis of small-group model-building synchronous interaction.