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Collaboration within large groups in the classroom

  • Eyal Szewkis
  • Miguel Nussbaum
  • Tal Rosen
  • Jose Abalos
  • Fernanda Denardin
  • Daniela Caballero
  • Arturo Tagle
  • Cristian Alcoholado
Article
First Online:

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show how a large group of students can work collaboratively in a synchronous way within the classroom using the cheapest possible technological support. Making use of the features of Single Display Groupware and of Multiple Mice we propose a computer-supported collaborative learning approach for big groups within the classroom. The approach uses a multiple classification matrix and our application was built for language-learning (in this case Spanish). The basic collaboration mechanism that the approach is based upon is “silent collaboration,” in which students—through suggestions and exchanges—must compare their ideas to those of their classmates. An exploratory experimental study was performed along with a quantitative and qualitative study that analyzed ease of use of the software, described how the conditions for collaborative learning were achieved, evaluated the achievements in learning under the defined language objectives, and analyzed the impact of silent and spoken collaboration. Our initial findings are that silent collaboration proved to be an effective mechanism to achieve learning in large groups in the classroom.

Keywords

Collaborative learning in the classroom Silent collaboration Spoken collaboration Multiple mice Single display groupware Multiple classification matrix 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was partially funded by FONDECYT-CONICYT 1100309.

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Copyright information

© International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc.; Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Eyal Szewkis
    • 1
  • Miguel Nussbaum
    • 1
  • Tal Rosen
    • 1
  • Jose Abalos
    • 1
  • Fernanda Denardin
    • 1
  • Daniela Caballero
    • 1
  • Arturo Tagle
    • 1
  • Cristian Alcoholado
    • 1
  1. 1.Computer Science Department, School of EngineeringPontificia Universidad Catolica de ChileSantiagoChile

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