Learners' Roles and Predictable Educational Benefits in Collaborative Learning An Ontological Approach to Support Design and Analysis of CSCL

Abstract

To facilitate shared understandings of several models of collaborative learning, and collect rational models of effective collaborative learning, we have been constructing a system of concepts to represent collaborative learning sessions relying on existing learning theories. We call the system of concepts Collaborative Learning Ontology, and have been extracting and representing models inspired by the theories with the ontology. In this paper, as a part of the ontology, we concentrated on clarifying behavior and roles for learners in collaborative learning sessions, conditions to assign appropriate roles for each learner, and predictable educational benefits by playing the roles. The system of concepts and models will be beneficial to both designing appropriate groups for collaborative learning sessions, and interaction analysis among learners to assess educational benefits of the learning session. © Springer-Verlag 2004.