SCAN tools for collaborative learning

Abstract

SCAN tools (Social and Cognitive Awareness and Navigation tools) inform participants about social and/or cognitive variables with respect to a group and its members. This paper describes how SCAN tools facilitate and "institutionalize" the natural processes of becoming aware about social and cognitive variables, thereby leading to adaptive behavior in collaboration. The notion of person-object relations (PORs) is introduced as the basic building block underlying both group awareness and social navigation. Four design principles of SCAN tools (response formatting, juxtaposition, aggregation/transformation, and prediction/recommendation) are discussed, and their application in CSCL scenarios is described. Finally, issues for both practical implications and use-inspired basic research on SCAN mechanisms will be explored.

Net-Based Knowledge Communication in Groups

“…Finally, an approach relying on permanent storage, representational flexibility, and computational power was introduced by Buder and Bodemer (2007). They developed a class of group awareness tools that request learners in online controversies to rate the discussion contributions made by their interaction partners.…”