Computer Supported Collaborative Learning and SLA

Computer SupportedCollaborativeLearning and SLAModule 4 – Topic 5Group 1Lisa McHenryCarmen Collado OrtegaVeronica GiannettiDavid Cowel

About CSCL and SLA1.What is Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)?Although a distinction can be made between co-operative and collaborativelearning (Stahl, 2006), the two terms are often treated as meaning the sameand they are regarded as synonymous in the presentation.Although CSCL is a relatively recent educational trend, teachers familiar withpair work, group work, or role-playing activities will recognise that Co-operative learning in one form or another has taken place in classrooms forover thirty years.Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) also made its debut aroundabout the same time. However, early CALL practices were built upon strongbehaviourist and cognitivist principles and were centred around learnersworking in isolation, making progress through individual interaction witha computer.More recently, when digital technologies were added to co-operative activitiesand co-operative activities were added to the use of digital technology in theclassroom, CSCL was born.The outcome of most CSCL activities is the \"development of sharedknowledge artifacts\" , like a power-point or video presentation, or a report,based upon \"knowledge negotiation and iterative group design, [and]discussion\" (Roggenkamp, 2009).What learning theory underlies CSCL?The main learning theory which underlies CSCL is social constructivismderived from Vygotsky's ZPD (1978) which sees social interaction as a key tosuccessful learning. It also involves problem-based learning andcollaborations theories.Basic Principles of Cooperative LearningAccording to Apple (2006), following eight CL principles will promote learners'autonomy and encourage them to take responsibility for theirlearning. Cooperation, because of its high community and workplace valueis the first of these principles. Heterogeneous Grouping provides situationswhich afford more learning opportunities because of different skill levels,interests motivation, experience, and social backgrounds amongst groupmembers. Positive Interdependence and Individual Accountability encouragea sense of 'all for one, one for all.' Likewise, Simultaneous Interaction andEqual Participation are fundamental to successful collaboration. Finally, a

certain degree of Group Autonomy transfers responsibility onto learners for,and allows them to make, real choices and decisions.The eight basic principles of collaborative learning in the classroom (Jacobs,Power, & Loh, 2002, cited in Apple, 2006) are: 1 Cooperation as a value; 2 Heterogeneous grouping; 3 Positive interdependence; 4 Individualaccountability; 5 Simultaneous interaction; 6 Equal participation; 7Collaborative skills; 8 Group autonomyProblem solving, or as often the case in CSCL projects, a tangible goal suchas the development of an artifact, can lead to enhanced learning . It increaseslearners' self-motivation, and the motivation to help and encourage groupmembers. In turns, this can lead to greater cognitive elaboration and morepeer teaching, modelling, assessment, and correction.

CSCL and SLAIn an SLA context, a learner's ZPD is constituted by “the difference betweenthe second language (L2) learner’s development level as determined byindependent language use, and the higher level of potential development asdetermined by how language is used in collaboration with a more capableinterlocutor”(Otha, 1995, p. 96).Carrying out CSCL activities in a second language allows meaningfulcommunication between peers. From a social-constructivist perspective,learning is understood to be a the result of social interaction betweenmembers of a discourse community made up of fellow learners and /orspeakers of the second language. The second language is not simply anintellectual commodity, but a medium for meaningful communication and self-expression.Greater use of CSCL in the classroom implies more student - studentinteraction and a shift away from teacher-centred learning. This shift from anautocratic to a more democratic model may be initially uncomfortable forstudents and teachers alike (Dornyei and Murphy, 2003), but it aligns wellwith the aims of communicative language teaching and is a very effectivefrom a motivational perspective (Dornyei, 1997).Suitably managed active collaborative participation in the languageclassroom, or within the discourse community it represents, gives learnersaccess to a valuable resource in addition to themselves, the textbook, or theteacher. CSCL gives access to the resources of their fellow learners.It can “can help students feel less isolated as learners and form a moreeffective “classroom culture” in which collaboration towards a commonemergent goal plays a significant role in their emotional and linguisticdevelopment as a legitimized member of a social learning community.”(Apple,2006)

SLA and CSCL in contextWhat kind of different CSCL projects and activities canwe use in different contexts - for example primary, EFL,higher education, workplace etc.?E-learning at a distanceLearning Goals:- Learners learn how to use google slides- learners collaborate the best designs of slides to present their class- learners simple English on self-introductionTarget Learner Group: Age 11-12Subject Content: EnglishCSCL is often conflated with e-learning, the organization of instruction acrosscomputer networks. E-learning is too often motivated by a naïve belief thatclassroom content can be digitized and disseminated to large numbers ofstudents with little continuing involvement of teachers or other costs, such asbuildings and transportation. There are a number of problems with this view.First, it is simply not true that the posting of content, such as slides, texts orvideos, makes for compelling instruction. Such content may provide importantresources for students, just as textbooks always have, but they can only beeffective within a larger motivational and interactive context.Second, online teaching requires at least as much effort by human teachersas classroom teaching. Not only must the teacher prepare materials andmake them available by computer, the teacher must motivate and guide eachstudent, through on-going interaction and a sense of social presence. Whileonline teaching allows students from around the world to participate andallows teachers to work from any place with Internet connectivity, it generallysignificantly increases the teacher effort per student.Third, CSCL stresses collaboration among the students, so that they are notsimply reacting in isolation to posted materials. The learning takes placelargely through interactions among students. Students learn by expressingtheir questions, pursuing lines of inquiry together, teaching each other and

seeing how others are learning. Computer support for such collaboration iscentral to a CSCL approach to e-learning. Stimulating and sustainingproductive student interaction is difficult to achieve, requiring skillful planning,coordination and implementation of curriculum, pedagogy and technology.Fourth, CSCL is also concerned with face-to-face (F2F) collaboration.Computer support of learning does not always take the form of an onlinecommunication medium; the computer support may involve, for instance, acomputer simulation of a scientific model or a shared interactiverepresentation. In this case, the collaboration focuses on the construction andexploration of the simulation or representation. Alternatively, a group ofstudents might use a computer to browse through information on the Internetand to discuss, debate, gather and present what they found collaboratively.Computer support can take the form of distant or F2F interaction, eithersynchronously or asynchronously.

Starting a CSCL projectSome things to consider before you start a CSCLproject.What will the CSCL collaboration produce?What kind of artifact will the students produce – for example a video, apresentation, a written report?Give clear instructions. You can also say what kind of assessment ,if any, youwill use for the collaboration , what you will be assessing, and what theassessment criteria are.None; will it be assessed as a group effort, will individual contributions beassessed, is assessment formative or summative; what will you assess, howwill you assess it.How will collaboration in producing this object help achieve any particularlearning goals?How will you make it clear to the students what the expected benefits are?Where and when will the CSCL collaboration take place?WhereWill it be in the classroom?Will it be outside of the class? If so, where?Will it be online?Will it be a mixture?If it is in the class, think about things like how you can arrange furniture andwhether there are enough computers.If it is outside of the class, think about the places the students can meet- likea library, a cafe, at home.If it is online, what platforms and shared workplace can the students use? Willyou use an LMS, like Canvas, Wikispaces? Make sure all of the students areable to access their virtual collaborative environment. How will they access it

(pc, mobile phone etc.) and from where ( home, school)? Also considerwhether the students are familiar with any environment you choose.WhenWill the collaboration be synchronous?Will the collaboration be asynchronous?Will it be a mixture of both?What kind of tools will the students use?What kind of tools do the students need to use to collaborate and produce thecollaboration artifact?Are the students familiar with these tools?Do all of the students have access to the tools?Do the students prefer or like these tools?Forming groups -Who will collaborate with who?How many groups? How big will they be?Will the students themselves decide the composition of the groups?If you decide, how will you decide – for example: based on ability, time zone,cultural affinity or differences?What role, if any, will you take in the groups?How long will the CSCL take?How much time is available?How much time do the students have?How much time do you have to monitor, give feedback to, and providetechnical support?

Shall I set a deadline? - It is probably useful to set a deadline for completionof a collaborative project. It helps motivate the students and makes it easierto integrate the collaboration into a larger program or curriculum.How much time should I allow? -Before setting any deadline think about thepoints above and also consider the amount of experience students have ofcollaboration, and any previous experience they may or may not have usingthe collaborative environment and collaborative tools they will require.Asynchronous collaborations may require more time because the intervalbetween interactions between group members cannot easily be predicted andthe rate of interaction, or amount of collaboration, will probably be much lessconcentrated than that of synchronous CSCL projects.CSCL and SLAHow can you make sure the target language is used?How can you focus collaborations on specific target language?[artifact = What we did = report on a field trip = narrative= simple past, pastcontinuous;artifact = Where have we been, where shall we go?= report on a possiblefield trip = present perfect, suggestions; artifact = video of mock job interview= functional language, real world rehearsal]

Tools and activitiesWhat kind of tools and activities can we use for CSCL inSLA contexts?It includes: - authentic foreign language material such as video clips, flash- animations, web-quests, pod-casts, web-casts; - online environments where learners can communicate with foreign language speakers, thruogh email, text-based computer-mediated communication (syncronous and asyncronous), social media, or voice/video conferencing; - language-learning tools (online apps or software) such as for phonetics, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and clause analysis, which may include a text-to-speech function or speach recognition, and often icludes interactive and guided exercises; - online property virtual learning environments, which offer teacher- student and peer-to-peer communication; - game based learning.Tools: linkshttp://www.emergingedtech.com/2014/05/20-excellent-free-tools-for-interactive-collaboration-experiences-in-the-classroom/http://www.teachthought.com/learning/project-based-learning/digital-project-based-learning-7-tools-student-collaboration/Examples of CL ActivitiesCarouselCarousel can be used with group presentations such as posters. Each groupcreates a poster and attaches it to a wall of the classroom. Other groups taketurns walking around the room, looking at their classmates’ posters andassessing them (Nicoll, in press). There are many variations of Carousel,including different ways that groups make presentations (oral, written,

videorecorded, on paper or on computer) and alternate ways for commentingor assessing (simple notes, lengthy summaries, special forms forassessment,etc.).RolesCL activities also ensure that each learner within the group has a specificrole, and that if each learner does not fulfill his or her role, the group effortfails to meet its overall objective. There are many potential roles, but the mostcommon include: Facilitator—a person responsible for ensuring that the group stays on task Recorder—a person responsible for writing down group answers and decisions Summarizer—a person responsible for summarizing the group answers Reporter—a person responsible for conveying the group’s ideas to another group Time-keeper—a person responsible for checking the time left to finish the taskOther roles are possible, depending on the nature of the task and the timenecessary to complete it. When first employing CL roles in the classroom,instructors may choose to appoint roles to students; however, students canbecome more motivated if they are allowed to choose their role within thegroup. Instructors should make sure, however, that the same student doesnot always choose the same role each time roles are assigned. One ruleinstructors might consider is that students must all take different roles eachtime a task is performed, until they have done all roles possible.Tasks using CL techniquesAn example of a longer task using cooperative learning techniques is theTourist Skit. The instructor assigns (or lets students choose) groups of fourto research and present information about a specific city or country. Duringthe presentations, students will take turns presenting in “carousel” fashionSemester-long tasks such as the tourist skit can encourage students tobecome more autonomous, learn library and research skills, and combine

writing and speaking (output), reading and listening (input), and presentationskills.Such tasks can be done as an alternative assessment to final exams, or as asupplement or complement to exams and other in-class activities.Examples of CSCL activitiesAdventure games Adventure games are computer managed role plays whereusers are presented with situations that they have to deal with. Users choosewhat to do and input the result as text, speech (speech recognition software),or by clicking on options. Based on the input, the program branches out toresulting situations / gives feed-back. Adventure games can be veryentertaining when constructed for language learners, but unfortunately onlyvery few have been designed for the less taught languages. An entertainingPortuguese example, Uma Aventura na União Europeia, by Mrs TeresaPacheco, a teacher in the ESES - Escola Superior de Educação de Santarémcan be found here: http://nonio. eses.pt/asp/europa/index.htmBlogsBlogs have a number of typical features that make online publishingextremely effective and versatile.Blogs are not only about text files, they may contain virtually all kinds of datasuch as hyperlinks, graphics, presentations, spreadsheets and – whichmakes them especially interesting for language teachers – audio and videofiles.As a language teacher you might want to start a class blog which enables youto • provide online reading texts for your students • provide additionalmaterials like audio or video clips, images, charts etc • organise Internetresources for the class by providing useful links • give instructions, assigntasks • make the students practice writing (for an audience) • give teacherfeedback • stimulate student discussion • encourage peer evaluation andpeer support • carry out project work and make students document theirprogress • experiment to find still more uses of blogs…Chat onlineChat centres can be a rewarding experience for the language learner. Theuser meets other learners online and can communicate with them throughtext, speech, and video. It is easy to set up a chat server, but difficult to gainusers: it is a very lonely feeling to be the only visitor in a chat room;-) Themain problems with chats are the lack of content and the difficultiesencountered in organising and arranging chats using the less taught

languages. However, when combined with tasks and suitable groups ofstudents (age groups, interests etc.), chats can lead to real communicationand, when followed by post task work, language learning.Electronic PortfoliosAn electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio, e-folio, or digital portfoliocan be a simple collection of work on a diskette or, in the more advancedversion, a student website where the student presents selected pieces ofwork. Some of the work may still be in progress thus demonstrating thelearning process.

ReferencesApple, M. (2006).Language Learning Theories and Cooperative Learning Techniques in the EFLClassroom.Doshisha Studies in Language and Culture, 9(2), 277 – 301.Dornyei, Z. (1997). Psychological process in cooperative language learning: Groupdynamics and motivation. The Modern Language Journal, 81, iv, 482-493.Dornyei, Z., & Murphey, T. (2003). Group dynamics in the language classroom.Cambridge: Cambridge University PressOtha, A. S. (1995). Applying sociocultural theory to an analysis of learner discourse: Learner-learnercollaborative interactionin the zone of proximal development. Issues in Applied Linguistics 6(2): 93-121.Roggenkamp, D. (2009). Applying Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Principles toTelecollaboration, Prepared for LLMC Conference, National Foreign Language Resource Center,University of Hawaii at ManoaStahl, G., Koschmann, T., & Suthers, D. (2006). Computer-supported collaborative learning: Anhistorical perspective. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 409-426). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Available athttp://GerryStahl.net/cscl/CSCL_English.pdf in EnglishVygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press