Using visualizations to support collaboration and coordination during computer-supported collaborative learning

This thesis addresses the topic of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL in short). In a CSCL-environment, students work in small groups on complex and challenging tasks. Although the teacher guides this process at a distance, students have to regulate and monitor their own learning process, study sources of information, and discuss and argue about the topic of their task. This whole process takes place via the computer: students work with and communicate through the computer. As everyone who has ever worked in a team knows, collaborating with group members is not always easy or without problems. This research therefore addresses four different problems group members may experience during CSCL. First, when students collaborate through the computer they find it difficult to know what their group members are doing. This lack of awareness of group members’ activities can seriously hamper the effective coordination of group work. Furthermore, electronic communication (e.g., through chat) is sometimes more difficult than face-to-face communication because nonverbal ways of communication (e.g., facial expressions, tone of voice) are unavailable. In addition, although critical but constructive discussion is required for successful collaboration, group members often fail to critically evaluate and discuss their own and their group members’ ideas and opinions. The described problems may all undermine the effectiveness and efficiency of CSCL. The aim of this research was to investigate the usefulness of visualizations to overcome the described problems. Specific social and task-related aspects of the collaboration may be visualized in a CSCL-environment using graphical or textual elements. In one of our studies for example, we visualized the symmetry in group members’ participation levels (i.e., do all group members contribute equally to the discussion?). We hypothesized that by giving group members access to visualizations of social and task-related aspects of the collaboration, the collaborative process would improve. Three visualizations were developed: the Participation-tool visualized symmetry in participation levels, the Shared Space visualized the amount of agreement or discussion during chat conversations, and the Graphical Debate-tool visualized how well group members supported a graphical representation of a historical debate with arguments (e.g., have both positions been given equal attention?). The three studies reported on in this thesis largely confirm these expectations. Two of the three developed visualizations (Graphical Debate-tool and Shared Space) led to an increased group performance (i.e., group members wrote better essays). The finding that the third visualization (Participation tool) did not increase group performance highlights the need to further investigate which kinds of visualizations can be effective under which specific circumstances. The results furthermore show visualizations can have an important impact on the collaborative process, by raising group members’ awareness of the activities of their group members, decreasing communication problems, and facilitating the coordination of the collaborative process. Future research however should investigate whether these results extend beyond the subject of history in which the studies were carried out and more attention should be given the role of the teacher in guiding groups of collaborating students