Free-riding in collaborative diagrams drawing

Abstract

In this paper, we study the issue of free-riding in collaborative learning. Free-riding occurs when a part of the students lean on the efforts of the rest of their team and do not contribute much to the team work. It impacts negatively on performances of the whole team [1]. We present an experiment of collaborative diagram drawing (through a synchronous collaborative drawing tool, called Shared Drawing tool) in a Software Engineering course, that shows a significant equal participation and suggests that students employ some self-regulatory behaviors that results in fruitful collaboration. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.