A method for cooperation support between discussion space and activity space in collaborative learning and its experimental evaluation

This paper describes a prototype and the experimental evaluation of a chat system that offers cooperation support between a discussion space and an activity space in collaborative learning. In collaborative learning in the proposed system, the students are divided into groups, carry out discussions on a study topic through chats, and create online reports in a cooperative manner. The proposed cooperation support method aims at improving the level of cooperation among students and the effectiveness of learning by making group members aware of other members' learning circumstances through cooperation support in group member utterances and report creation. We use a Wiki as a tool for collaborative work in this research. Cooperation support displays the Wiki's update time and contents on the chat system with activity cooperation support, offering a space for distance collaborative learning and allowing each student to become aware of the other students' situations. In addition, the number of chat utterances is displayed, and other students' situation is easily grasped. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 95(2): 25–38, 2012; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10366