CRAFT

This chapter addresses the notion of complexity in collaborative learning, especially computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). Collaborative learning may simply be the joint use of learning materials such as textbooks or drill-and-practice software. However, due to its socio-constructivist roots, CSCL research often addresses group learning in complex environments.

Abstract We aim at merging technologies from information technology, roomware, and robotics in order to design adaptive and intelligent furniture. This paper presents design principles for our modular robots, called Roombots, as future building blocks for furniture that moves and self-reconfigures. The reconfiguration is done using dynamic connection and disconnection of modules and rotations of the degrees of freedom.

Abstract Animated graphics are extensively used in multimedia instructions explaining how natural or artificial dynamic systems work. As animation directly depicts spatial changes over time, it is legitimate to believe that animated graphics will improve comprehension over static graphics. However, the research failed to find clear evidence in favour of animation. Animation may also be used to promote interactions in computer-supported collaborative learning.

Abstract. Free collaboration does not systematically produce learning. One way to enhance the effectiveness of collaborative learning is to structure interactions by engaging students in well-defined scripts. A collaboration script is a set of instructions prescribing how students should form groups, how they should interact and collaborate and how they should solve the problem. In computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), the script is reified in the interface of the learning environment.

Abstract. For many years, theories of collaborative learning tended to focus on how individuals function in a group. More recently, the focus has shifted so that the group itself has become the unit of analysis. In terms of empirical research, the initial goal was to establish whether and under what circumstances collaborative learning was more effective than learning alone.

Abstract This paper presents a comprehensive conceptual framework and notation for learner modelling in intelligent tutoring systems (ITS). The framework is based upon the computational distinction between behavior, behavioral knowledge, and conceptual knowledge (in a “vertical” dimension) and between the system, the learner, and the system's representation of the learner (in a “horizontal” dimension). All existing techniques for learner modelling are placed within this framework.

Abstract In the field of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), scripts are designed to support collaboration among distant learners or co-present learners whose interactions are (at least partially) mediated by a computer. The rationale of scripts is to structure collaborative learning processes in order to trigger group interactions that may be rare in free collaboration.

Abstract. This paper argues that for the study and facilitation of collaborative learning, existing theories of grounding such as that of Clark and Shaefer [5] cannot be applied without adjustments. When comparing collaborative learning and conversation, four dimensions can be identified where grounding at a knowledge level differs from the grounding at an utterance level. Firstly, the indirect access and the existence of a range of manifest meanings, poses the need for a notion of 'groundedness'.

Abstract In most Interactive Learning Environments (ILEs), the human learner interacts with an expert in the domain to be taught. We explored a different approach: the system does not know more than the learner, but learns by interacting with him. A human-computer collaborative learning (HCCL) system includes a micro-world, in which two learners jointly try to solve problems and learn, the human learner and a computerized co-learner. This paper presents the foundations of this artificial co-learner.

Abstract This chapter explores a particular form of the" transparency" concept: designing styles of interaction that explicitly reveal the pedagogical foundations of the ECS. Reflection tools and activities can help the learner to internalize an active model of learning. This model would emphasize the active, heuristic and negotiated nature of learning, by opposition to the schoolmade passive idea of what learning is.

This article reports on an exploratory study of the relationship between grounding and problem solving in multimodal computer-mediated collaboration. This article examines two different media, a shared whiteboard and a MOO environment that includes a text chat facility. A study was done on how the acknowledgment rate (how often partners give feedback of having perceived, understood, and accepted partner's contributions) varies according to the media and the content of interactions.

Abstract Learning in multi-agent environments constitutes a research and application area whose importance is broadly acknowledged in artificial intelligence. Although there is a rapidly growing body of literature on multi-agent learning, almost nothing is known about the intrinsic nature of and requirements for this kind of learning. This observation is the starting point of this chapter which aims at providing a more general characterization of multi-agent learning.

SUMMARY Is the concept of'virtual learning environment'just a popular label to describe any educational software? No, the concept includes several interesting features that justify the use of a specific label. We review these features in the first part of our contribution. Do these features guarantee pedagogical effects? No, we review in the second some potential contributions of virtual learning environments. Turning potential effects intro actual outcomes is the challenge of designers.

Abstract. This paper compares the negotiation processes in different learning environments: systems where an artificial agent collaborate with the human learner, and systems where the computer supports collaboration between two human users. We argue that, in learning context, collaboration implies symmetry between agents at the design level and variable asymmetry at the interaction level.

ABSTRACT Augmented tabletops have recently attracted considerable attention in the literature. However, little has been known about the effects that these interfaces have on learning tasks. In this paper, we report on the results of an empirical study that explores the usage of tabletop systems in an expressive collaborative learning task.

Abstract. This chapter considers computer-based learning environments from a sociocultural perspective. It relates several concepts from this approach with design principles and techniques specific to learning environments. We propose a metaphor intended to help designers of learning environments to make sense of system features within the socio-cultural perspective. This metaphor considers the software and the learner as a single cognitive system, variably distributed over a human and a machine. Keywords.

Good morning mesdames, good morning mesdemoiselles and good morning messieurs. The question I want to address is the following one: If cognition is really situated or distributed (I will come to that later) what do we have to change in our systems? What are the technical implications of distributed cognition?