Cognitive Science Applied to Education

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Speaker
Nikol Rummel
Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg

When
-

Where
Newell-Simon Hall 3305

Description

Computer-mediated collaboration among spatially distributed people is a precondition for success in many new learning and working contexts. However, the success of solving tasks and learning collaboratively in such settings is not easy to achieve. The challenge of working collaboratively is often aggravated by the distribution of information, resources, and expertise among the collaborating partners. Then, the remote computer-mediated scenario adds a new challenge because of the restricted possibilities for exchanging particular aspects of communication. Characteristic for such settings is that they require good communication and coordination in addition to individual problem-solving skills.

To meet the challenges encountered in computer-mediated collaboration settings, we have developed instructional approaches to improve collaboration by promoting the collaborative skills and knowledge of the people involved in jointly working on a task. The rationale is that strategies necessary for a good and effective computer-mediated collaboration may be conveyed to people by exposing them to adequate instructional measures. In a current research project we have investigated two instructional measures: (1) In a “model condition” we have provided people with an elaborated worked-out example of a good collaboration. The model consisted of recorded model dialog and animated text which allowed the observers to follow the development of the model solution on the shared text editor. (2) In the “script condition” we provided the collaborating partners with a script guiding them step by step through their collaboration on a first task.

The main hypothesis was that the instruction provided by the model and the script would promote people’s collaborative skills and increase their capability to collaborate in a fruitful way in subsequent collaboration. To test this hypothesis the experimental design consisted of two clearly separated phases: In the first phase (learning phase) the instructional treatments were implemented. The second phase (application phase) was the source for applying and testing the acquired skills. The partners collaborated freely on the second task. We analyzed the quality of the collaborative process and the joint work product.

The computer-mediated scenario consisted of a desktop-videoconferencing environment including audio- and video-connection, personal text-editors and a shared text-editor. The collaborative task was the interdisciplinary solution of psychiatric cases with combined psychological and physical pathology. Dyads of advanced medical and psychology students were asked to jointly diagnose the patients described in the cases and to develop a suitable therapy plan making use of their complementary expertise.

In an experimental study the two instructional conditions (model and script) were compared to a third condition in which the partners collaborated freely (without instruction) during both phases and a fourth (control) condition limited to the application phase. Both, the model and the script condition showed positive effects on process and outcome of the second collaboration in the application phase.

Speaker's Bio

Nikol Rummel studied psychology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg since 1995. In 2002 she finished her Diploma in Psychology there. In 1998 she received a Fulbright scholarship to study at the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. During the stay in Madison, her research focus was in the area of “Cognitive Science Applied to Education”. She worked with Professor Sharon Derry and Professor Joel Levin. Nikol received the Master of Science in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2000 with a thesis on mnemonic study strategies in the context of prose-learning. In November 2000 she received a scholarship of the virtual Ph.D. program “Knowledge Acquisition and Knowledge Exchange with New Media”. For the last three years Nikol has been working as a research assistant with Professor Hans Spada in a DFG-funded project on methods to support the collaboration of dyads with complementary expertise in a computer-mediated setting. Her PhD work was part of this project. She finished her doctoral thesis in January 2004.