A multi-agent model that promotes team-role balance in computer supported collaborative learning

Abstract

Organizing students in groups does not guarantee their learning. The behaviors that student show while solving a task in a computer-supported collaborative environment, that is, the roles they play, are vital to reach teaching and learning goals successfully. In this context, we present a multi-agent model that monitors students' participation in a group, recognizes their team roles as they work collaboratively, automatically builds their profiles, diagnoses the state of the collaboration considering balance of team roles as an ideal situation, and proposes corrective actions when the group behavior is far from this ideal. The proposed model will be developed in the context of an e-learning environment and will be validated using real groups of students working collaboratively. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.