Browsing by Author "Hernández-Leo, D"

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Embargo
Collaborative Learning Designs using PyramidApp
(BEYOND COMPETENCIES: NEW CHALLENGES IN A DIGITAL SOCIETY, 2021-09-22) Amarasinghe, I; Hernández-Leo, D; Manatunga, K; Beardsley, M; Garcia, J.B; Llach, M. C; Chacón-Pérez, J; Jimenez-Morales, M; Santos, D. L; Pastor, S. L; Moreno, J. M; Rodriguez, P. S; Vujovic, M
Designing effective collaborative learning activities for classroom is challenging. The PyramidAppis a tool that facilitates the implementation of the Pyramid pattern, shaping a collaboration structure that promotes the participation of all students and fruitful social interactions. This paper shows how this educational strategy can be applied to different types of tasks and subject matters, shedding light about how computersupported collaborative learning can be incorporated in the classroom.
Open Access
Collaborative learning orchestration using smart displays and personal devices
(Springer, Cham, 2015-09-15) Manathunga, K; Hernández-Leo, D; Caicedo, J; Ibarra, J. J; Martinez-Pabon, F; Ramirez-Gonzalez, G
Pervasive classroom environments with interconnected smart devices permit enacting diverse pedagogical models in education. This paper proposes an extensible architecture integrating smart display, smart phones and wearable devices to support flexible orchestration of dynamic collaborative learning activities in face-to-face educational scenarios. The paper motivates an architectural design and describes its main components based on existing systems like Signal Orchestration System (SOS) and a multi-screen cooperation middleware. An applicable scenario illustrates the usage of proposed architecture in which wearable devices are used to indicate orchestration mechanisms (group formation, change of activity), a shared display visualizes tasks with summary of the orchestration and activity progress for collective awareness and smart phones are used to interact with the shared display and complete the activities.
Open Access
Flexible CSCL orchestration technology: mechanisms for elasticity and dynamism in pyramid script flows
(International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS), 2019) Manathunga, K; Hernández-Leo, D
Flow patterns (e.g., Pyramid or Snowball) formulate good practices to script collaborative learning scenarios, which have been experimented in small-scale settings widely. Applying flow patterns on large-scale contexts present challenges to educators in terms of orchestration load. Orchestration technology can support educators to manage collaborative activities; yet existing technology do not address flexibility challenges like accommodating growing numbers of students or tolerating dynamic conditions in learning settings. We define elasticity and dynamism as two key elements in the flexibility of a script. Elasticity is related to the capacity of an orchestration technology to incorporate varying participant counts. Dynamism is the capacity to maintain a pedagogically meaningful script progression in presence of different individual behaviors. In this paper we propose flow creation and flow control mechanisms to address elasticity and dynamism in orchestration technology for Pyramid flows. These mechanisms, implemented in the PyramidApp tool, have been evaluated across four scenarios varying from small to large settings. The results show that rules enabling pyramid creation on-demand and the use of timers are useful to achieve elasticity and dynamism in the pyramid formation and progression in an automatic manner.
Embargo
Group-based mobile learning: Do group size and sharing mobile devices matter?
(Pergamon, 2015-03-01) Melero, J; Hernández-Leo, D; Manatunga, K
Within the field of Game-based Learning (GBL) location-based games are based on pervasive and mobile learning to allow the creation of in situ learning activities considering gamification mechanisms. In these learning activities collaboration often plays an important role. Usually, groups of students have to perform different tasks with single mobile device. This paper studies the effects of sharing a mobile device within groups and the size of groups in students’ engagement and their activity performance in an indoor location-based learning activity. In particular, the paper focuses on a game designed by a secondary education teacher to support a learning activity in a contemporary art museum. The teacher’s design has been implemented using “QuesTInSitu: The Game” technology. A total of 76 students played the game during a 3-h activity in the museum. The analysis of the data shows that while there are not important differences in the satisfaction with the activity of the students carrying and not carrying the mobile device within their groups, carrying the device does have a significant (positive) impact in their performance. Group size (4 vs. 5 members) does not seem to be a variable affecting individuals’ performance but students in 4-member groups express higher levels of engagement.
Embargo
Has research on collaborative learning technologies addressed massiveness? A literature review
(International Forum of Educational Technology & Society, 2015-10-01) Manathunga, M; Hernández-Leo, D
There is a growing interest in understanding to what extent innovative educational technologies can be used to support massive courses. Collaboration is one of the main desired elements in massive learning actions involving large communities of participants. Accumulated research in collaborative learning technologies has proposed and evaluated multiple models and implementation tools that engage learners in knowledge-intensive social interactions fostering fruitful learning. However, it is unclear to what extent these technologies have been designed to support large-scale learning scenarios involving arguably massive participation. This paper contributes with a literature review that aims at providing an answer to this question as well as offering insights about the context of use, characteristics of the technologies, and the types of activities and collaboration mechanisms supported. The main results point out that till 2013 the level of massiveness considered in top scientific journal papers on collaborative learning technologies was low, the scenarios studied were predominantly contextualized in co-located higher education settings using Learning Management Systems, the most common activities considered were open and structured discussion, followed by peer assessment and collaborative writing, and the most broadly used mechanism to foster fruitful collaboration was group formation following diverse policies
Open Access
A multiple constraints framework for collaborative learning flow orchestration
(Springer, Cham, 2016-10-26) Manathunga, K; Hernández-Leo, D
Collaborative Learning Flow Patterns (e.g., Jigsaw) offer sound pedagogical strategies to foster fruitful social interactions among learners. The pedagogy behind the patterns involves a set of intrinsic constraints that need to be considered when orchestrating the learning flow. These constraints relate to the organization of the flow (e.g., Jigsaw pattern - a global problem is divided into sub-problems and a constraint is that there need to be at least one expert group working on each sub-problem) and group formation policies (e.g., groups solving the global problem need to have at least one member coming from a different previous expert group). Besides, characteristics of specific learning situations such as learners’ profile and technological tools used provide additional parameters that can be considered as context-related extrinsic constraints relevant to the orchestration (e.g., heterogeneous groups depending on experience or interests). This paper proposes a constraint framework that considers different constraints for orchestration services enabling adaptive computation of orchestration aspects. Substantiation of the framework with a case study demonstrated the feasibility, usefulness and the expressiveness of the framework.
Open Access
PyramidApp: Scalable Method Enabling Collaboration in the Classroom
(Springer, Cham, 2016-09-13) Manathunga, K; Hernández-Leo, D
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning methods support fruitful social interactions using technological mediation and orchestration. However, studies indicate that most existing CSCL methods have not been applied to large classes, means that they may not scale well or that it’s unclear to what extent or with which technological mechanisms scalability could be feasible. This paper introduces and evaluates PyramidApp, implementing a scalable pedagogical method refining Pyramid (aka Snowball) collaborative learning flow pattern. Refinements include rating and discussing to reach upon global consensus. Three different face-to-face classroom situations were used to evaluate different tasks of pyramid interactions. Experiments led to conclude that pyramids can be meaningful with around 20 participants per pyramid of 3–4 levels, with several pyramids running in parallel depending on the classroom size. An underpinning algorithm enabling elastic creation of multiple pyramids, using control timers and triggering flow awareness facilitated scalability, dynamism and overall user satisfaction in the experience.
Open Access
Teacher-Led Debriefing in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Pyramid Scripts
(International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS), 2022-06-06) Amarasinghe, I; Hernández-Leo, D; Manathunga, K; Pérez, J. C; Dimitriadis, Y
Debriefing is an integral part of orchestration and provides a space for teachers to review the learning experience. Although this concept is not new, little is known about how debriefing is conducted in scripted computer-supported collaborative learning situations, and its effects on students’ learning gains. Moreover, there is a lack of studies providing evidence of how learning analytics can be effectively utilised to support teacher-led debriefing. The objective of this study is twofold: Firstly, it studies how debriefing impacts students’ learning gains in Pyramid pattern-based learning situations. Secondly, it explores the types of learning analytics indicators that can support debriefing. Results indicated that debriefing can contribute to improve students’ learning gains, however, it does not always lead to the optimal outcomes and the type of task can have a major influence. Mechanisms such as semantic similarity score, knowledge graph visualisations and flag features are scrutinized as options to support debriefing