Designing Collaborative Learning Sessions that
Promote Creative Problem Solving Using Design Patterns
University of Piraeus Department of Digital SystemsComputer Supported Learning Engineering Laboratoryhttp://cosy.ted.unipi.gr
Symeon Retalis ([email protected])
M. Katsamani, P. Georgiakakis, G. Lazakidou, O. Petropoulou &T. Kargidis
Overview
Motivation of our work Supporting Teachers/Practitioners
Designing effective scripts for supporting the computer supported collaborative creative (CSCC) process Learning Flow Design Patterns Variations of Design Patters
Adding recommendations to tools to support CSCC scripts
Concluding remarksidSpace project on Tooling and Training for collaborative product
innovation http://idspace-project.org
What Is Creativity?
Creativity is best described as the human capacity regularly to solve problems in a way that is initially novel but ultimately acceptable in a culture. Creativity process is an intense collaborative process of
generating and exploring ideas meant to contribute to innovative solution of particular problems
Innovation is transformation of existing knowledge and ideas into new or better commercial product that add value to the customer.” (Carter Evans & Koop 1990)
What Is Innovation?
Source: Ed Ashford, presentation by SAS Global
Collaboration for Innovation …
Source: Michael Beyerlein (2006), Keynote Address at American Creativity Association International Conference 2006
Unfocused activities and free collaboration does not
necessarily produce effective learning outcomes
Tools for supporting collaboration for innovation - Affordances
http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2005/08/the_skypeforumde_skype_picture.html
Need for better pedagogy
Explicit, dedicated pedagogical strategies to enhance of creative problem solving is relatively scarce (Baruah and Paulus, 2008). Collaborative Strategies: Jigsaw, TPS, Pyramid,
Role Playing, eARMA Creativity Strategies: Six Hats, SCAMPER, 5H1W
Creative & Collaborative strategies/techniques Creativity strategies like brainstorming & Mind mapping
encourages open and random creative thinking and communications Six thinking hats is an intuitive way to keep one’s thoughts
focused while problem solving Collaborative Strategies like Jigsaw, TAPS advocate that
there is no collaboration without communication Groups need not only communication, but also share information,
resources and knowledge
Source: http://gsic.tel.uva.es/collage
Needs when designing CSCC situations Dynamic learning scenarios need for:
Structured designs of collaborative creative problem solving situations
Flexible customizable designs of computer supported collaborative creativity situations (CSCC)
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Activity level (macro): Collaborative learning flow, i.e., sequence of activities that make up a learning process
Action level (micro): Detailed learning actions within an activity
A Solution to a Problem in a Context
Solution
Problem Context
Alexander defines a pattern as follows:
".... Each pattern describes a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice"
[Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M., Jacobson, M., Fiksdahl-King, I., & Angel, S. (1977). A Pattern Language. Oxford University Press, New York.]
What is a design pattern?
Patterns Can …
Capture expert practice in specific context Provide common nomenclature for designers Provide “shorthand” for effectively communicating
complex principles Help documentation and justification of the rationale Capture the most important aspects of a problem
solution in a standard format with a formalism Show multiple examples of solutions Become a tool for collaboration among peers who
are interested in designing activities
TPS CLFP Thinking, forming pairs and sharing
Source: http://gsic.tel.uva.es/collage
Problem Solving Steps1. Definition of the problem2. Constructing a strategy 3. Organizing information4. Allocation of resources5. Monitoring the solving process6. Evaluating the solving process
and outcomes (Sternberg, 2003)
eARMA CLFP for collaborative problem solving
The CLFP design pattern formatElement Explanation
Name Name of the FDPContext Environment type in which the CLFP could be appliedProblem Learning problem to be solved by the CLFPSolution Description of the proposal by the CLFP for solving the
problemActors and Actions Description of the actors involved in the collaborative
activity described by the CLFP as well as their activitiesTypes of Tasks Description of the types of groups of learners identified and
how they are related, types of tasks, together with their sequence, performed by the actors involved in the activity.
Example A real-world learning activity capable of being structured according to the CLFP
Related patterns Names of other interrelated patternsReferences List of resources for further reading
Variations of a strategy in a CLFP A new element needs to be added, entitled “variations”. This element will specify what to change and under
which conditions in the sequence of activities, the resources or the tools.
All these changes need to be justified in order to illuminate the rationale behind these variations. to give advice to designers on how to make effective mixtures of
strategies without harnessing the basic educational philosophy and added value
Example of Variations
Instead of the Sternberg’s model a teacher may select the IDEAL problem solving model (Bransford & Stein, 1984 which includes five steps.
Variations of a strategy in a CLFP – Preparation of a cocktail During the preparation of a cocktail,
the cornerstone is an understanding of the relationships between strong and weak, sour and sweet
in CSCL, a designer should blend the phases, the resources, and the tools (i.e. the ingredients) together cautiously. Otherwise, this scenario will resemble a weak or watery
development like a cocktail with inappropriate flavour, texture and colour.
Source: http://www.vincenzos.com/images/cocktail.gif
Recommendations during the CSCC process Higher order, which will help a practitioner to choose
among the most suitable creativity strategy for a specific scenario/case. This choice will be based on elements such as the type of learning objectives need to be accomplished, the complexity of implementing a strategy as a whole and as per activities of the strategy.
Organisational recommendations which will involve decisions about the formation of groups, leadership schema, etc.
Technological recommendations which will concern the use of specific tools, features for the implementation of the strategy into a real specific scenario/case.
Selection criteria based on the operations types and activities Learning objectives. An example TAPPS strategy can
help in accomplishing the procedural objective of “promoting analytical reasoning skills”.
Types of problems that are best served with the strategies. For example, Jigsaw is most appropriate when a problem to be solved is “complex and can be easily divided into sections or independent sub-problems”.
Complexity or risk in terms of collaborative learning experienced needed. For example Jigsaw is complex and is probably more appropriate for experienced participants
Selection criteria
complexity: low|high type-of-problem: closed|open physical-requirements: yes|no emotions-dependent: yes|no interactive: low|high supporting-action: exporation|combination|transformation|evaluation
// characterization by Boden distance: short|long // the distance between an given input and the
possibly resulting idea moderator: yes|no expert_participants: yes|no
Recommendations in computable format
The example of the eARMA strategyThe example eARMA strategy: complexity: high type-of-problem: closed physical-requirements: no emotions-dependent: no interactive: high supporting-action: exploration, combination, evaluation distance: short moderator: no expert_participants: no
Open Issues…
Are design patterns effective tools for guiding novice designers/practitioners?
Building recommender systems Usable & effective for novice designer s/ practitioners
Creating systems for supporting collaborative creativity processes based on design patterns
Source: http://images.wnec.edu/teamwork.gif
Collaboration for Innovation
The present work was carried out as part of • the IST FP 7 project “idSpace:Tooling and Training for collaborative product innovation http://idspace-project.org (ref FP7-IST-2007-1-41-216799)• the Leonardo da Vinci project “A Framework for Preparing Teachers to Teach with ICT” (ref LLP-LdV-TOI-09-CY-167918)
Symeon Retalis ([email protected])