Developing the role concept for computer-supported collaborative learning: An explorative synthesis

Abstract

The role concept has attracted a lot of attention as a construct for facilitating and analysing interactions in the context of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). So far much of this research has been carried out in isolation and the focus on roles lacks cohesion. In this article we present a conceptual framework to synthesise the contemporary conceptualisation of roles, by discerning three levels of the role concept: micro (role as task), meso (role as pattern) and macro (role as stance). As a first step to further conceptualise 'role as a stance', we present a framework of eight participative stances defined along three dimensions: group size, orientation and effort. The participative stances -Captain, Over-rider, Free-rider, Ghost, Pillar, Generator, Hanger-on and Lurker -were scrutinised on two data sets using qualitative analysis. The stances aim to facilitate meaningful description of student behaviour, stimulate both teacher and student awareness of roles at the macro-level in terms of participative stances, and evaluate or possibly change the participation to collaborative learning on all levels.

Modelling and Analysis of User Behaviour in Online Communities

“…The polarity of the user contribution has also been used to distinguish the negative roles of troll and flamer who exhibit disruptive behaviour similar to the ranter. Like celebrities, ranters also demonstrate high intensity and persistence yet their primary goal is to raise discussions on the topic of their interest for some personal goals, same as over-riders and generators [14].…”

“…Another type of prolific, but not as widely popular, user is the elitist, who demonstrates high values for the above dimensions but communicates with a smaller group of users. On the lower end of the activity scale the lurker is the most frequently observed role and is defined as a participant who consumes but does not contribute and usually has a strong personal focus [4,10,14]. Similarly described roles are those of content consumers [9], grunts and taciturns [3] who do contribute but with low intensity.…”

“…For instance, users who contribute with high intensity, reciprocity and persistence, positive polarity and are focused on supporting and contributing to the community are characterised as moderators, mediators [10], captains and pillars [14]. When such users are able to set the standard for community interactions, they get labelled as celebrities [4].…”

What Makes Communities Tick? Community Health Analysis Using Role Compositions

“…have aimed to capture the set of roles and behaviours present in online communities: captain, pillar, moderator and mediator [16], [17], celebrity [18], popular initiator, popular participant and joining conversationalist (who have medium initiation and participation) [19], lurker (consume but not contribute) [16]- [18], and content consumer [20], grunt and taciturn [19] (contribute with low intensity). Although there is no standard subset of roles and associated behaviours across communities, there is a clear tendency in the literature to use certain behaviours like: popularity, engagement, contribution, initiation and focus.…”

Challenge of supporting vocational learning: Empowering collaboration in a scripted 3D game – How does teachers’ real-time orchestration make a difference?

“…These challenges often resolve to problems in collaborative group work (Järvelä, Volet & Järvenoja 2010). Moreover, recent studies have pointed to certain reasons for these failures, such as unevenly divided work tasks (Strijbos & De Laat 2010), the poor working methods of individual group members (e.g. problems in argumentation) (Hämäläinen & Häkkinen 2010;Kollar, Fischer & Slotta 2007), problems in skills to regulate learning (Järvelä & Järvenoja 2011), fragile group dynamics (Kreijins, Kirschner, Jochems & Buuren 2007), weak teamwork strategies (Hadwin & Järvelä, 2011), the inappropriate use of learning resources (Arvaja 2007;Jeong & Hmelo-Silver 2010) or the lack teachers to inspire and orchestrate learning processes (Arvaja, Hämäläinen & Rasku-Puttonen 2009).…”