2014 International Conference on Teaching and Learning in Computing and Engineering
The Design of A Computer-supported Collaborative Learning Environment that Promotes Interaction Nurbiha A Shukor
Zaidatun Tasir
Edu. Sciences, Maths & Creative Multimedia Department Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai, Malaysia
[email protected]
Edu. Sciences, Maths & Creative Multimedia Department Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai, Malaysia
[email protected]
Norasykin Zaid
Norazlina Ahmad
Edu. Sciences, Maths & Creative Multimedia Department Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai, Malaysia
Edu. Sciences, Maths & Creative Multimedia Department Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai, Malaysia
Abstract— Designing an educational online learning environment requires proper planning as it will influence students’ learning experiences. For the purpose of developing a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment, the development process should be properly designed to meet the objectives of learning. In this research, the design of a CSCL environment is explained using the Three-phase Development Model (3PD) which serves as a guideline for developing a functional learning environment. This study attempts at promoting interaction in CSCL by designing interaction during the development process of the CSCL environment rather than scaffolding interaction during the online learning process. Keywords—instructional design; computer-supported collaborative learning; online learning; interaction.
I.
INTRODUCTION
Online learning is widely implemented at all levels of education. The development of online learning environment has to be properly planned to ensure the effectiveness of its implementation. Instructional design (ID) model provides the systematic overall process of planning the learning principles for the development of a learning tool [1]. Many ID models such as Dick and Carey Model [2] or Rapid Prototyping those can serve as a guideline for the development of online learning environment. However the lack of planning for functionality while designing an online learning environment has results in the development of learning tools which can be less effective. It is a challenge to devise the most effective way of developing a functional online learning environment that supports learning content delivery at maximum level. In the present study, the development of a computersupported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment using the 3PD model is presented. The Three-phase Development (3PD) model is the ID model which emphasized on the functionality during the development of online learning environment. Rather than focusing on the success of the development of the CSCL environment, this study attempts at:
978-1-4799-3592-5/14 $31.00 © 2014 IEEE DOI 10.1109/LaTiCE.2014.17
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x
The development of CSCL environment that promotes interaction,
x
To evaluate the development of the CSCL environment that promotes interaction based on 3PD model.
In this study, the development of the computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment rests on the premise of socio cultural theory where Bonk and Cunningham [3] stated that, collaborative learning is a sociocultural dialogic activity. They stated that there are many works done to propose theories to explain collaborative learning in many different context but a learning tool for collaborative learning has to be efficient in delivering its purpose. Accordingly, this study integrates collaborative learning principles according to sociocultural perspectives so that the developed collaborative learning tools can be as efficient as its’ designing purpose. Other than that, several additional steps for interaction were incorporated to promote interaction for a better impact on learning. II.
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Three-phase Development Model The Three-phase Development Model is a development model which considers drawbacks, unexpected outcomes and reflective practice to address sudden changes in emerging online environments [4]. According to the 3PD model, development of a learning environment has to go through three phases; Phase 1 to ensure functionality of components or design, Phase 2 to enhance the functional component as suggested by the stakeholders (A, D and ED) and Phase 3 to maintain the functional component by modifying and adding resources when it is necessary to the learning environment. In relation to the collaboration concept of the 3PD model, three stakeholders will have their own priorities in each phase [5]. For example in Phase 1, educational designer (ED) plays the major role, later the designer (D) and finally the academician (A) [5]. Additionally, as the 3PD model values
students’ point of view for the development of an online course [4], a student who had four years of experience in learning online was appointed to collaborate with the developer to give opinions and evaluate the CSCL environment during the development process. A step-by-step in developing CSCL environment was integrated with the 3PD model as in Fig 1.
parties will be able to learn from each other [5]. It also aims that all the involving parties will be able to scaffold each other during the process and thus can have mutual benefits [5]. Due to the unique features of 3PD model that suits the emerging online environment, the CSCL environment in the present research adapts the model for development purpose. B. Designing for CSCL Environment There is a large volume of published studies describing CSCL environment and collaborative learning tools. One of the studies is by Bonk and Cunningham [3]. They emphasized that development of an instructional tool must be based on a specific theory of learning and cognition. They further elaborated that there are many tools designed to serve learning but the extent of the usability and how the tool can be most effective are always a remaining issue. Hence, they proposed principles to fully utilize the developed collaborative learning tools. They identified ten principles:
Fig. 1. Three-phase development Model [4].
An example of the implementation of this model is reported by [6] under the Georgia Virtual School project. In this project, online courses have to be developed using the Desire2Learn platform with the aim of enhancing cognitive learning and providing options for ‘Advanced Placement’ courses. For this purpose, the teachers have to innovate their instructions for online adaptability. The 3PD model appears to be most useful because she said that development of online courses considers the opinions of these teachers, as well as students, other than the production team who is responsible for the development of the online course. Thus, the teachers (as the experts) and students can also take part in the development processes. She emphasized that this model provides a structural and organizational framework for the execution of online learning development [6]. Compared to the typical sequential steps of analysis, design, develop, implement and evaluation (ADDIE) which is widely used, the 3PD model presents a flexible mode of designing so that the online environment can be sustained, where the ongoing changes can be done at any phase of the model [4]. In ADDIE, the authority of designing lies in the hands of the designer but 3PD model considers all the stakeholders such as the students, the content expert and the designer during the development process [5]. Because of all the involving parties are positioned within one team, 3PD emphasized on the collaboration concept with the aimed that all the involving
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x
Mediation (M),
x
Zones of Proximal Development (ZPD),
x
Internalization (I),
x
Cognitive Apprenticeship (CA),
x
Assisted Learning (AL),
x
Tele apprenticeship (TA),
x
Scaffolded Instruction (SI),
x
Inter subjectivity (IS),
x
Activity setting as Unit of Analysis (A), and
x
Distributed intelligence in learning community (DI).
In response to designing the environment for CSCL, designing phase should incorporate these principles. C. Promoting Interaction in CSCL environment Prior to the objective of developing CSCL environment that promotes interaction, researchers have to identify the elements that could promote interaction. Strijbos, Martens and Jochems [7] proposed six steps of promoting interaction in online collaborative learning: x
Determine which type of learning objective will be taught,
x
Determine the expected interaction,
x
Select the task-type with respect to the learning objective and expected interaction,
x
Determine how much structure is necessary with respect to learning objective, expected interaction and task type,
x
Determine which group size is the most suitable with respect to learning objective, expected interaction, task type and level of pre-structuring,
x
Determine how computer-support is best used to support learning and expected interaction. III.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
To ensure the success of the development of a CSCL environment that promotes interaction, an integration of CSCL principles and interaction principles has to be carried out. The development of the environment follows the phases in 3PD model: x
Phase 1: Functionality,
x
Phase 2: Enhancement,
x
Phase 3: Maintenance.
A. Phase 1: Functionality In this phase, academician, learner and designer collaborate to produce functional teaching and learning environment that meets the learning objectives those being earlier designed [5]. The end product of this phase concerns about specifying the essential elements for the course such as resources, mode of access, assessment-based outcomes, the teaching strategies and the learning activities involved. Later, the functional components were peer-reviewed. There are four functional components for the CSCL environment in this study. The functional components are as follows: x
Error 404: You have uploaded your website. While testing your website in server, you come across this error: Error 404. What is the reason for this error and how would you fix this problem? Discuss this issue in your group discussion.
x
Problems in Website Design: Open one of the website in the internet. Discuss aspects such as the loading time of the website, the use of multimedia in the website, colors of the website and navigation aspect of the website. As a web developer, how can you tackle these design problems?
x
Different views in different web browsers: You have designed your website. When you preview it through Internet Explorer, it is not at the original location. What is the cause of this problem? How would you solve it?
x
Which media fits?: There are images, video, sound and animation that can be embedded in the website. However, for each media, what kind of images/video/sound/animation can fit www technology in a better way? Discuss this issue and present your group findings.
B. Phase 2: Enhancement In Phase 2 of enhancement, alpha testing and beta testing were carried out continuously during the implementation of the CSCL environment. A master degree student majoring in Educational Technology (acts as the learning instructor) was
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appointed to carry out alpha testing. Ten undergraduate students involved in beta testing of the CSCL environment. Both testing were carried out by checking several aspects such as spelling, fonts, and graphics using a website evaluation rubric by Kalkman [8] using the scale from 1 to 4. The rubric consists of 13 categories. C. Phase 3: Maintanance Maintenance is essential to ensure the sustainability of the developed environment. According to [5], the 3PD model values the continuity of the online course and thus the resources are constantly subjected to changes. Maintenance in the development of CSCL environment is carried out to ensure that the functional components (web links, simulation and resources) are functioning and that CSCL environment is accessible from anytime and anywhere. For this purpose, the website evaluation checklist by Kalkman [8] was used. IV.
RESULTS AND FINDINGS
The following discussion describes the results of integration of CSCL principles and interaction principles using the 3PD model. A. Phase 1: Functionality To suit the purpose of developing the CSCL environment, which is to design an environment that can foster interaction, the functional components in the CSCL environment were developed according to six steps suggested by [7] with respect to the needs of CSCL principles [3]. Based on Table 1, we present the results of how the functional components ‘function’ in the CSCL environment by also aligning the design with the CSCL principles [3] so that it will promote interaction. B. Phase 2: Enhancement During Phase 2, alpha testing and beta testing were carried out. During alpha testing, student reported the errors as in Table 1. Student reported the lowest score for ‘Copyright’ where there was no indication that the materials used was owned by the researcher. The student also reported that the online learning environment has relevant content (category content scores ‘3’) but it was lacking in several areas where there should be learning objectives being stated in the online learning environment. During beta testing, ten undergraduate students gave scores to the online learning environment as shown in Table 2. Students in beta testing gave better scores particularly in the category of ‘Content’ and ‘Content Accuracy’ upon enhancement based on the scores given during alpha testing.
TABLE I.
Functional Component
CSCL Task Error 404
INTEGRATION OFINSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN: FUNCTIONAL COMPONENT OF CSCL TASK ERROR 404
Spelling and grammar Sound Copyright
Implementation of Designing for CSCL Interaction
Learning Objective
Types of Interaction
Task type
Level of prestructuring
Group size
Open skills: argumentation, negotiation, discussion of multiple alternatives Interaction will focus on discussion of what is Error 404, argumentation of opinions about how to fix Error 404. Interaction requires a collaboratively written report representing shared understanding. There is no clear solution on how to fix Error 404 since there can be multiple solutions. Students are dependent upon each other during the whole discussion about how to fix Error 404 and the investigation of what causes Error 404. All members have to contribute equally (every student in the group should at least post a comment about the problem).
Collaboration computer.
Computer support
via
Communication will be combination of computer-mediated and face-to-face. Communication is asynchronous CMC through discussion board
CSCL Principles
A: Finding the cause of Error 404 and finding ways to solve Error 404 as the activity unit.
V.
ZPD: Instructor encourages students to explain explicitly in their own words about the information that they found on the internet. CA: The more expert peer explains solutions and information to the less expert group member.
Johnson and Aragon [9] explained that the quality of online learning should go beyond the traditional instructions as online learning platform has a lot to offer. However, to devise the plan to develop a quality online learning experience is a challenge. The 3PD model emphasized on the functionality of the learning content which is one of the contributing factors of a success online learning experience. Using 3PD model, an online learning environment is tested for functionality before implementation can be carried out.
AL: Instructor encourages the more expert peer to explain to the less expert group member.
SI: Instructor gives clues and hints to trigger information sharing.
B. Promoting interaction in CSCL environment This study also shows that integration of interaction principles is possible during the development process. Interaction during online learning is rarely emphasized during the development process. Most studies report students’ interaction as a result of learning in an online learning environment. For example, Cho and Cho [10] used instructor scaffolding to encourage students’ interaction in online learning. Although scaffolding during learning is necessary, it would also be best if interaction is pre-design. Designing interaction during the development process would probably generate better learning gain and learning experiences. This is because, the teachers will be able to have prior expectation and they will be able to know the proper interaction intervention [7]. Liu [11] stated that pre-design interaction, particularly students’ interaction will results in more students’ interaction during online course. More importantly, Long, Marchetti and Fasse [12] found that students who interact more during online courses outperformed students in online courses with less interaction.
IS: The online discussion board is used as the negotiation space for Error 404. I: Students try to explain in their own words on how to solve Error 404.
ALPHA AND BETA TESTING SCORES UPON EVALUATION USING KALKMAN [8] WEBSITE EVALUATION RUBRIC
Content Content accuracy Layout Navigation Links Background Colour choices Fonts Graphics Images
Scores during alpha testing
Mean score during beta testing, M
3 4 2 2 2 4 3 4 3 3
4 4 3.1 3 2.8 3.2 4 4 4 3.5
DISCUSSIONS
A. Using 3PD model for the development of online learning environment Irlbeck et al [4] stated that and ID model is not appropriate for all settings. As the online learning environment emerged and increased in complexity, the ID model has to emerge to tackle the needs of development process. This study gave an example of how 3PD model can comply with the needs of the development of online learning environment which tackles the comments by the stakeholders; the teacher as well as the students.
TABLE II.
Category of Errors
3 3 2.5
C. Phase 3: Maintenance Maintenance was carried out by the researcher based on the categories provided by Kalkman [8] evaluation rubric while focusing more on the lower scores obtained during Phase 2. Maintenance was carried out repeatedly (on weekly basis) to ensure the CSCL environment was freed from errors such as broken website links (for students’ resources), spelling errors and other malfunctions.
Phase 1: Building Functional Component CSCL Design for Interaction
2 3 1
VI.
LIMITATIONS
This study is limited to exploring the possibility of designing interaction during the development process using the
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3PD model. The result on the impact of the development on the actual interaction during online learning is not straightened out in this study. However, this study provides guidelines and suggests ideas for instructional designers that designing instruction such as promoting interaction should be incorporated during the development process and it is feasible. VII. CONCLUSION This paper describes how the integration of learning principles into developing model can be made possible. Furthermore, we integrate another entity towards betterment of the developed online learning environment by injecting the elements that could promote interaction. To design an effective online learning environment, one has to consider the appropriate learning principles and the suitable development model to be aligned with. The students’ success in online learning often relies on the design of the learning environment. VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors would like to thank the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Ministry of Education (MoE) Malaysia for their support in making this project possible. This work was supported by the Research University Grant (Q.J130000.2731.00K61) initiated by UTM and MoE. REFERENCES [1] [2]
P. L. Smith, & T. J. Ragan, Instructional Design, 2nd ed. New York: John, 1999. W. Dick, & L. Cary, The Systematic Design of Instruction, Third Edition, Harper Collins, 1990.
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[3]
, “Searching for constructivist, learner learning tools,” in C. Bonk & K. King (Eds.), ! " ! # $ %''* +
