Co-learn: Collaborative learning engine a vision for pervasive collaboration in e-learning

Abstract

The quest for knowledge has been an intricate part of the human psyche and, more often than not, we learn by sharing our experiences and combining our efforts. Collaboration is an important part of the learning experience, and when combined with the technological boom of present times, can be a platform for the future of continuous education. In this paper, we present our vision of a collaborative learning engine, which allows the users to collaborate in real time using their mobile devices, such as smart phones and/or PDAs. Our proposed collaborative learning engine will allow handheld devices to communicate among each other and share text, files, audio and video from different sources. In our initial design and development, we have addressed up to eight devices for streaming video and audio content, however other channels of collaboration can be extended for more users. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.