Search

The role of emotions in (computer-supported) collaborative learning has become an important research topic. However, research has mainly focused on the relationships between emotions and socio-emotional processes. Despite an extensive literature on the role of emotions in cognitive processes, socio-cognitive processes have been scarcely explored at this point. This article aims to investigate, using control-value theory (Pekrun, 2006) as a frame of reference, how task-achievement appraisals impact both self-experienced emotions and the perception of socio-cognitive processes. An experimental study involving 28 pairs of participants playing a collaborative problem-solving computer puzzle game was carried out. Depending on the experimental conditions, participants received different false feedback about group task mastery and ranking aiming at skewing in different ways how they appraised task achievement. At the end of the task, they reported self and partner's emotions as well as their perception of their socio-cognitive exchanges. The results indicate that 1) participants experienced a large variety of achievement emotions and some of them appear more closely related to specific task-achievement appraisals, 2) achievement emotions do not mediate the relationship between task-achievement appraisals and the perception of socio-cognitive processes, 3) the level of self-experienced activation as well as the perception of activation in the partner mediate the relationship between task-achievement appraisals and the perception of socio-cognitive processes and could be used as a heuristic of socio-cognitive collaborative involvement by problem solvers, 4) partner's emotions such as gratitude appear to increase the perception of socio-cognitive processes through the reinforcement of group mastery goal.

The present paper describes the MUPEMURE (Multiple Perspectives on Multiple Representations; Bodemer, Author, Kapur, Rummel, & Weinberger, 2011) model as a conceptual framework for collaborative learning with multiple external representations. Within this framework, a study was conducted to examine how learners working in dyads translated between self-generated concept maps of their own and partner's prior knowledge to create a collaborative concept map. Before individual and collaborative concept mapping (CCM) sessions, prior information on the learning topic was distributed between dyad members in such a way that they had either similar (“same/shared prior knowledge” or SK condition) or different but complementary knowledge (“different/unshared prior knowledge” or DK condition). The dual eye-tracking method was used in this study, and eye movement data was examined in two time periods, the first and second half of the CCM session. Eye movement analysis was complemented with the analysis of concept map measures, such as achievement, individual-to-group transfer and group creativity. In the first half of the CCM session, eye movement behavior across the three maps was interpreted as reflecting initial externalization and divergent processes through which learners mutually compare their knowledge and engage in a process of modeling each other. The second half of the CCM session was identified as a convergent phase characterized by a decrease in eye movement transitions between maps, and a convergence of attention on the collaborative map. The results also showed that in the first half of the collaboration, learners of the DK condition transitioned more between their own and partner maps, and therefore had more difficulty coordinating their respective prior knowledge compared to learners of the SK condition. Participants with different/unshared prior knowledge also focused their attention mainly in their own map and explored less their partner map in the first half of the collaboration. This suggests that they worked in a less collaborative way compared to those with same/shared prior knowledge during the divergent phase.

International audience; © 2016, International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc. Collaborative learning has often been associated with the construction of a shared understanding of the situation at hand. The psycholinguistics mechanisms at work while establishing common grounds are the object of scientific controversy. We postulate that collaborative tasks require some level of mutual modelling, i.e. that each partner needs some model of what the other partners know/want/intend at a given time. We use the term “some model” to stress the fact that this model is not necessarily detailed or complete, but that we acquire some representations of the persons we interact with. The question we address is: Does the quality of the partner model depend upon the modeler’s ability to represent his or her partner? Upon the modelee’s ability to make his state clear to the modeler? Or rather, upon the quality of their interactions? We address this question by comparing the respective accuracies of the models built by different team members. We report on 5 experiments on collaborative problem solving or collaborative learning that vary in terms of tasks (how important it is to build an accurate model) and settings (how difficult it is to build an accurate model). In 4 studies, the accuracy of the model that A built about B was correlated with the accuracy of the model that B built about A, which seems to imply that the quality of interactions matters more than individual abilities when building mutual models. However, these findings do not rule out the fact that individual abilities also contribute to the quality of modelling process.

We report an empirical study where we investigated the effects, on the collaborative outcomes and processes, of a cognition-related awareness tool providing learners with cues about their peer's level of prior knowledge. Sixty-four university students participated in a remote computer-mediated dyadic learning scenario. Co-learners were provided (or not) with a visual representation of their peer's level of prior knowledge through what we refer to as a knowledge awareness tool (KAT). The results show that, providing co-learners with objective cues about the level of their peer's prior knowledge positively impacts learning outcomes. In addition, this effect seems to be mediated by the fact that co-learners provided with these objective cues become more accurate in estimating their partner's knowledge - accuracy that predicts higher outcomes. Analyses on the process level of the verbal interactions indicate that the KAT seems to sensitize co-learners to the fragile nature of their partner's as well as their own prior knowledge. The beneficial effect of the KAT seems to mainly rely on this induction of epistemic uncertainty that implicitly triggers compensation socio-cognitive strategies; strategies that appear to be beneficial to the learning process.

The present study is part of a project aiming at empirically investigating the process of modeling the partner’s knowledge (Mutual Knowledge Modeling or MKM) in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) settings. In this study, a macro-collaborative script was used to produce knowledge interdependence (KI) among colearners by providing them with different but complementary information. Prior to collaboration, two students read the same text in the “Same Information” (SI) condition while each of them read one of two complementary texts in the “Complementary Information” (CI) condition. After the collaboration phase, a knowledge modeling questionnaire asked participants to estimate both their own — and their partner’s outcome knowledge thanks to Likert-type scales. The relation between the accuracy with which co-learners assess their partner’s knowledge and learning has been examined. In addition, we investigated the KI effect on (a) learning performance and (b) the MKM accuracy. Finally, we wondered to what extent the MKM accuracy could mediate the KI effect on learning. Results showed no difference in learning performance between participants who worked on same information and participants who worked on complementary information. We also found that participants were more accurate at assessing their partner’s knowledge in the SI condition than in the CI condition. The discussion focuses on methodological limitations and provides new directions for investigating the KI effect on MKM accuracy.

This paper focuses on the interaction patterns of learners studying in pairs who were provided with multimedia learning material. In a previous article, we reported that learning scores were higher for dyads of an ‘animations’ condition than for dyads of a ‘static pictures’ condition. Results also showed that offering a persistent display of one snapshot of each animated sequence hindered collaborative learning. In the present paper, further analyses of verbal interactions within learning dyads were performed in order to have a better understanding of both the beneficial effect of animations and the detrimental effect of the presence of persistent snapshots of critical steps on collaborative learning. Results did not show any differences in terms of verbal categories between the two versions of the instructional material, that is, static versus animated pictures. Pairs who were provided with persistent snapshots of the multimedia sequences produced fewer utterances compared to participants without the snapshots. In addition, the persistent snapshots were detrimental both in terms of providing information about the learning content and in terms of producing utterances solely for the purpose of managing the interaction. In this study, evidence also showed that these two verbal categories were positively related to learning performances. Finally, mediation analyses revealed that the negative effect of persistent snapshots was mediated by the fact that peers of the snapshots condition produced less information providing and interaction management utterances. Results are interpreted using a psycholinguistic framework applied to computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) literature and general guidelines are derived for the use of dynamic material and persistency tools in the design of CSCL environments.

In an empirical study, we provided (or not) pairs of students working in a remote collaborative learning situation with a knowledge awareness tool that provided learner A with learner B's level of knowledge measured through a pre-test. We analyzed the effect of the knowledge awareness tool on asymmetric pairs with regards to the prior-knowledge. Post-hoc analysis on the pairs' knowledge level showed that the knowledge awareness tool mainly affects the learning performances of asymmetric pairs. Further analysis on the learners' level showed that the knowledge awareness tool mainly affects the collaborative learning gain of the more-knowledgeable peers of asymmetric pairs. The results are discussed in light of socio-cognitive processes such as audience design and perspective taking.

Collaborative learning has been hypothesized to be related to the cognitive effort engaged by co-learners to build a shared understanding. The process of constructing this shared understanding requires each team member to build some kind of representation of the behavior, beliefs, knowledge or intentions of other group members. This contribution reports interesting findings regarding to the process of modeling each other. In two empirical studies, we measured the accuracy of the mutual model, i.e. the difference between what A believes B knows, has done or intends to do and what B actually knows, has done or intends to do. In both studies, we found a significant correlation between the accuracy of A's model of B and the accuracy of B's model of A. This leads us to think that the process of modeling one's partners does not simply reflect individual attitudes or skills but emerges as a property of group interactions. We describe on-going studies that explore these preliminary results.