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Collaborative Learning with Real-time Learning Interventions

Authors:

Abstract

This paper describes the process of collaborative learning and project design work using various collaborative tools. Teachers use “doKumaran”, within the LAMS * Learning Activity Management System, to manage collaboration within different groups of students in the learning process. Outside the learning process, collaborative tools available in the market ("JIRA" and "Slack") can also be used that also offer the ability to be used to create project tasks in a group. The paper demonstrates the use of “doKumaran” LAMS collaborative activities within the learning process and the application of "JIRA" and "Slack" collaborative tools used in the software development industry. Outside the learning process, collaborative tools available in the market ("JIRA" and "Slack") can also be used, and they also offer the ability to be used to create project tasks in a group. The paper demonstrates the use of “doKumaran” LAMS collaborative activities within the learning process and the application of "JIRA" and "Slack" collaborative tools used in the software development industry.
COLABORATIVE LEARNING WITH REAL-TIME LEARNING
INTERVENTIONS
NEBOJŠA GAVRILOVIĆ
Belgrade Metropolitan University, Faculty of Information Technologies, nebojsa.gavrilovic@metropolitan.ac.rs
DRAGAN DOMAZET
Belgrade Metropolitan University, Faculty of Information Technologies, dragan.domazet@metropolitan.ac.rs
JOVANA JOVIĆ
Belgrade Metropolitan University, Faculty of Information Technologies, jovana.jovic@metropolitan.ac.rs
Abstract: This paper describes the process of collaborative learning and project design work using various
collaborative tools. Teachers use “doKumaran”, within the LAMS * Learning Activity Management System, to manage
collaboration within different groups of students in the learning process. Outside the learning process, collaborative
tools available in the market ("JIRA" and "Slack") can also be used that also offer the ability to be used to create project
tasks in a group. The paper demonstrates the use of “doKumaran” LAMS collaborative activities within the learning
process and the application of "JIRA" and "Slack" collaborative tools used in the software development industry.
Outside the learning process, collaborative tools available in the market ("JIRA" and "Slack") can also be used, and they
also offer the ability to be used to create project tasks in a group. The paper demonstrates the use of “doKumaran”
LAMS collaborative activities within the learning process and the application of "JIRA" and "Slack" collaborative tools
used in the software development industry.
Keywords: Colaborative learning, Colaborative tools, E-Learning, Distance learning, LAMS, JIRA, Slack
The 10th International Conference on eLearning (eLearning-2019),
26 - 27 September 2019, Belgrade, Serbia
1. INTRODUCTION
Collaborative learning enables communication, exchange
of knowledge, ideas, and the students' joint work to
accomplish a particular task. It is often the case that the
group is made up of students with different levels of
knowledge, learning style, different grades and the degree
of motivation. The difference between students in a group
may also be geographical distance or type of study (the
traditional way of studying or studying online).
The initial goal of the group must be set by the author of
the teaching material (the teacher), who forms the
learning process and the tasks that need to be solved. The
next step is for a group of students to set their goals and
how they will solve the task while solving the problem.
The goal of collaborative learning is to enable
unobstructed and real-time work in the chosen
environment, regardless of the possible differences
between the students of the group members [3]. Teacher
involvement is desirable in order to provide guidance and
instruction for solving a particular task. This paper will
introduce some of the possible environments for
supporting collaborative learning and the development of
different types of assignments (project assignments,
writing documents, programming a specific part of the
application) of students in a group at Belgrade
Metropolitan University (BMU). Some of the
collaborative tools that will be described are popular in
the software development industry and are used for
different types of projects.
2. CURRENT BMU LMS
Belgrade Metropolitan University uses LAMS (Learning
Activity Management System) [5] to display teaching
materials. The teaching materials are created in the form
of learning objects using the mDita editor tool [4]
developed at Belgrade Metropolitan University. LAMS
enables the creation of an interactive learning process and
the addition of additional activities to the process itself.
Studying at Belgrade Metropolitan University is possible
in the traditional way (fifteen weeks of classroom lectures
during the semester) and online (using the LAMS learning
management system). In addition to classroom teaching,
traditional students have access to the LAMS system as
well as internet students. Teachers create learning
processes (Fig.1) that are visible on LAMS for both types
of students. Accordingly, students are given access to
teaching materials [1] anywhere, anytime, while before
using collaboration tools students can also use:
Audio and video materials within the learning
process: making it easier to understand the
teaching topic being covered
Self-test tests: which help the student to test his /
her knowledge in several different places in the
learning process. The student may run the test
several times (within which he/she will receive a
different set of questions each time) and test his /
her knowledge until he/she is satisfied with the
results obtained on the test. The test shows
several questions that were randomly selected
from the test bank of that test.
Additional resources: additional materials
provided by teachers in the form of case studies,
scientific papers, documents that allow students
to gain a real-life example of what is being
processed in the learning process
Mind maps: by means of which they can freely
move through the learning process and read the
contents of learning objects [2]
Forums: where students can exchange views
with other students on a teaching topic
Figure 1: An example of a learning process with
LAMS activities and a mind map
3. LAMS TOOL FOR COLABORATIVE
LEARNING
LAMS since version 3.2 allows the implementation of
collaborative activities between students. The
“doKumaran” activity is an integrated tool with the
LAMS system that allows teachers to easily create a
collaborative learning process within which they can track
student activities in real-time [6].
The tool allows students to collaborate on writing one or
more different documents in real time according to the
learning outcome set by the teacher for that part of the
learning process.
The benefits of the “doKumaran” tool are:
Possibility of real-time collaboration between
students with the supervision of teacher
involvement in work
Archiving students' discussions and decisions
during collaborative work
Increasing the level of engagement of each
student regardless of the level of knowledge
Improving students' critical thinking according to
the learning process
Following these activities, which are part of one learning
process, students can do the tasks using a collaboration
tool. It is up to the author of the instructional material to
assign a task (whether students will do an example
exercise, homework or project assignment) through a
collaboration tool. Also, the author of the teaching
materials creates groups of students who will work
together on a defined assignment. Groups of students can
communicate with each other, exchange task solutions,
and work together to solve problems when needed.
Fig.2 shows the lesson of the subject “Software Design
and Architecture”. After going through the learning
process, students are tasked (in colaborative tool) with
defining functional and non-functional requirements for
the system within a common project assignment. Students
are divided into groups of three students (it is possible to
place more students in a group).
Figure 2: Adding collaborative activities to a previously
created learning process
Fig.3 shows the lesson of the subject “Software Design
and Architecture”. After going through the learning
process, students are tasked ("doKumaran" activity) with
defining functional and non-functional requirements for
the system within a common project assignment. Students
are divided into groups of three students (it is possible to
place more students in a group).
Figure 3: Part of learning process for "Software Design
and Architecture" subject with doKumaran activity
Students must go through the complete learning process
in Fig.3 and all activities in order to arrive at collaborative
activity. At the beginning of the learning process, there is
a mind map that students can access or any learning
object in the learning process while they are on a project
assignment if they need it. The student approaches a
collaborative tool as part of the learning process and
enters the first sentence: “List of functional
requirements:” (Fig.4). The rest of the students in the
group enter the text of the first student shown in green
(Fig.5).
Figure 4: User interface for student 1
The second student who has accessed the collaborative
tool enters a section of text under serial number 1 which
is now displayed to the first student in green (Fig.4).
Figure 5: User interface for student 2
Text input by a third student within the group is indicated
by a purple color. Students can change the previously
entered part of the text, which after the change will be
marked by their color for other students. (Fig.6).
Figure 6: Example of text entry by a third student in a
group
The author of the teaching material can at any time
monitor students' activities in real-time in a collaborative
tool, engage in a chat option in discussions between
students, or directly correct part of the text that students
have previously written. The written text can be saved as
HTML or text file which can later be opened and
modified in another word processor.
4. JIRA AND SLACK COLLABORATION
TOOLS
JIRA [7] is a collaboration tool that incorporates various
toolset according to project needs. It is widespread and is
used in combination with other available tools. It is
possible to create different fields, types of problems, data
flows, notifications and generate different reports and
diagrams to view the activities of project participants.
Also, the tool is used as an issue tracking system and for
workflow modeling.
For the purpose of working together students on a specific
assignment, it is possible to define a task list for each
student. The advantage of this tool is that the teacher can
define assignments for each student and also the students
themselves can select assignments from the to-do list and
thus choose what suits them best. Students in the group
can follow the progress of the project and the activities of
other group members and, if necessary, get directly
involved in its design.
An example is the creation of a part of a project
assignment from the subject "Software Design and
Architecture" within which a group of students has certain
tasks that they need to distribute among themselves and
complete within a certain time interval. The teacher
created a to-do list, distributed them to students, and
defined the estimated time each task was required to
complete (Fig.7). Students, if they see a need for it, can
create new tasks, split existing ones, and assign them
within a group to other members to successfully complete
the task.
Figure 7: List of student activities on the project
Fig.8 shows the list of assignments, the students to whom
the assignments were assigned, and the current status of
the assignments. Students, when they complete a
particular task (which is in progress), can move the task
into the "done" section, after which they must enter the
time they need to complete the task.
Figure 8: List of active and completed tasks
Jira is used in this case to create and assign tasks to a
specific student. Slack [8] is used to communicate and
inform students in a group while working on assignments.
Slack works on the principle of different channels for
communication and the main channel is connected to the
Jira application in which the tasks are predefined. Any
changes to the Jira Task are automatically displayed on
the Slack General Channel. It is possible to use Bitbucket
[10] or GitHub [11] to store code in combination with
these tools.
When students update the program code, a notification is
automatically created on Slack and all group members can
comment on that notification or the program code entered
by the student. Students within a group can be members
of several different channels and the main channel
contains all members of the group. It is also possible to
create channels for each of the defined tasks and it is also
possible to use a direct message for private
communication.
Communication with the teacher through channels or
direct messages is also possible at any time. Fig.9 shows
Slack communication between students and teachers
about predefined assignments through the JIRA tool.
Students can comment on assignments, refer to them
during the discussion, or assign a question to a particular
group member. Also, the teacher can control
communication and, if necessary, answer students'
questions.
Figure 9: Slack Student Communication on Defined
Assignments
The teacher as project manager can control the complete
project work and generate different types of reports in
which he can see all the activities of the students, the time
it took them to complete a specific task and assign the
following tasks accordingly. Fig.10 shows the status of
project assignments and the time it takes students to
complete a particular task.
Figure 10: Diagram of the status of tasks within the JIRA
project
5. RESULTS OF COMPARISON OF APPLIED
COLLABORATION TOOLS
The collaboration tools described providing students with
the ability to solve project assignments in a defined group
in different ways. The LAMS tool (doKumaran) allows
you to write project documentation and documents that
are important during software design with the direct
supervision and participation of group members and
teachers.
JIRA as a tool allows you to define tasks and assign tasks
to a specific group member. Also, JIRA has the ability to
include a Confluence tool [9] that allows group members
to participate together in writing a specific document. The
advantage of the doKumaran tool is that it is directly
integrated into the learning process and the student has
the ability to read instructional materials and see case
studies without using another tool or a new user account.
Slack allows you to directly associate a specific JIRA tool
task with a chat discussion.
The LAMS Collaboration Tool does not have this
capability in chat, it is already necessary to emphasize
what task is being discussed.
Based on the analysis of the collaboration tool, it is
recommended that the “doKumaran” tool be used as part
of the learning process and that students communicate
with each other via teacher chat about the assignments
given by the teacher. The JIRA and Slack tools in
combination with a “Bitbucket” or “GitHub” account
must be used for tasks involving programming.
6. CONCLUSION
This paper analyzes collaboration tools that can be used
by a teacher to track student activity on a collaborative
project. The teacher can:
Controls student work in real-time
Corrects program code or document in real-time
Advise students through chat through student
assignments
Has insight into the time it takes students to
complete a particular assignment
Evaluates the performance of a particular student
Monitor communication and collaboration within
the group
The integration of collaboration tools within the learning
process enables the student to have insight at any time
into the teaching materials he / she has previously read
and, if necessary, to go through the same and recall
certain parts. Collaboration tools used in the software
industry often require multiple different user accounts that
need to be linked and verified before getting started.
The result of the analysis of this paper concludes that
future research in the field of collaborative learning can
be based on the integration of LMS systems and
collaborative tools so that both students and teachers
within one system have all the opportunities that available
collaborative tools on the market offer (program code
storage, updated program code, discussion of updated
program code, etc.).
REFERENCES
Articles from Conference Proceedings (published):
[1] D. Domazet, N. Gavrilović, “Personalization of e-
learning by using of alternative learning paths for three
categories of students”, in Proc. of the 8th International
Conference on eLearining (eLearning-2017), Belgrade,
Serbia, Sep. 28-29, 2017, pp.16-21
[2] N.Gavrilovic, D. Domazet, "Use of mind maps in
adaptive e-learning processes" in Proc. of the 9th
International Conference on eLearining (eLearning-2018),
Belgrade, Serbia, Sep. 26-27, 2018
[3] Rajaram, K. (2019). Flipped Classrooms: Scaffolding
Support System with Real-time Learning Interventions.
Asian Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning, 9(1). 30-58.
Technical Reports:
[4] mDita Editor, Users Instructions Manual, Belgrade
Metropolitan University, http://pt-
sche.metropolitan.ac.rs/files/wp-3-4/mDita-Editor-Users-
Instructions-v12.pdf
[5] LAMS-Learning Activity Management System,
https://www.lamsinternational.com/
[6] doKumaran,colaborative tool,
https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/learning-innovations/dokumaran/
[7] JIRA, software development tool,
https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
[8] Slack, colaboration hub,
https://slack.com
[9] Confluence, shared workspace,
https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence
[10] Bitbucket, code management tool.
https://bitbucket.org
[11] GitHub, code management tool,
https://github.com/
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