Collaboration within large groups in the classroom. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11412-011-9123-y

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show how a large group of students can workcollaboratively in a synchronous way within the classroom using the cheapest possibletechnological support. Making use of the features of Single Display Groupware and ofMultiple Mice we propose a computer-supported collaborative learning approach for biggroups within the classroom. The approach uses a multiple classification matrix and ourapplication was built for language-learning (in this case Spanish). The basic collaborationmechanism 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 qualitativestudy that analyzed ease of use of the software, described how the conditions forcollaborative learning were achieved, evaluated the achievements in learning under thedefined language objectives, and analyzed the impact of silent and spoken collaboration.Our initial findings are that silent collaboration proved to be an effective mechanism toachieve learning in large groups in the classroom.