Ontology development for computer supported collaborative learning scripts

This paper presents an ongoing effort to develop an ontology for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) Scripts. Our work merges the field of collaborative learning with the field of semantic web and provides a framework for the formalization of collaboration scripts using the OWL language. Collaboration scripts are didactic scenarios that prescribe learners ’ interactions in collaborative settings. A script comprises a number of phases and each phase specifies the activity that learners have to perform, the composition of the group, the distribution of the activity, the mode of interaction and the phase duration. Scripts can also be positioned along various design dimensions, such as their granularity, coercion degree and locus of control. The presented ontology is being developed with the purpose of formalizing scripts in order to promote their reusability and portability between various computer-supported learning platforms. We discuss design decisions and illustrate how this ontology could be beneficial when embedded in a knowledge-based system that supports collaborative learning