Supporting controversial CSCL discussions with augmented group awareness tools

• Published in: International journal of computer-supported collaborative learning Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 123 - 139
• Main Authors: Buder, Jürgen, Bodemer, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01-06-2008; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: CAI; Cognitive Psychology; Computer assisted instruction; Computer Mediated Communication; Computer Software; Computer Uses in Education; Computers; Computers and Education; Controversial Issues (Course Content); Cooperative Learning; Decision Support Systems; Discussion Groups; Education; Educational Technology; Feedback (Response); Group Behavior; Group Dynamics; Instructional Design; Instructional Materials; Interaction; Internet; Learning and Instruction; Navigation; Physics; Ratings & rankings; Social Environment; Social Influences; Studies; Synchronous Communication; Teaching Methods; User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction; Vignettes; Virtual Classrooms; Social navigation; Social influence; Awareness
• ISSN: 1556-1607; 1556-1615
• DOI: 10.1007/s11412-008-9037-5

This paper describes the development of augmented group awareness tools that take mutual user ratings of their online discussion contributions as input, aggregate these data, and visually feed these data back to the members in real time, thereby informing participants about how the group as a whole perceives their contributions. A specific group awareness tool was experimentally tested in a CSCL scenario using online controversies about a physics domain. The learning material was distributed across group members to create a situation where an individual minority member with a scientifically correct viewpoint faces a majority favoring a plausible, but incorrect viewpoint. It was hypothesized that in unsupported CSCL groups an incorrect majority would dominate a correct minority, whereas in groups that were supported by an augmented group awareness tool minority influence could be strengthened by making minority contributions salient. The paper reports results in support of this hypothesis, and discusses the mechanisms leading to the benefits of group awareness tools for collaborative learning.