July 2002

1
Collaborative Modeling in Group Learning
Environments Lars Bollen, H. Ulrich Hoppe,
Marcelo Milrad and Niels Pinkwart Niels
Pinkwart Research Group COLLIDE Institute for
Computer Science and Interactive
Systems University of Duisburg, Germany
2
Collaborative Modeling in Group Learning
Environments

• COLLIDE Research Group
• CSCL
• Intelligent learning environments
• Modeling tools in learning context
• Ubiquitous computing
• Mobile, wireless scenarios

3

• Learning and (System Dynamics) Modeling
• Tendency Interactive tools for modeling
  simulation
• Learning by building and/or using models
• How to design learning scenarios, especially for
  learning in groups, that deal with modeling?

4

• Opportunities for collaborative modeling
• Share a running model
• Share the model building process
• Cooperate while reflecting about the envisaged
  model
• Build groups having different data and analyse
  results
• Supervision by sharing models with tutors
• (? MFL Model Facilitated Learning)

5
(No Transcript)
6
(No Transcript)
7
Collaborative Mind Tools for Modeling Typically
Shared workspace environments Co-constructive
elaboration of external representations
The portion of machine-interpretable content of
these representations may differ considerably
8
Formality of Semantics
low
high
9

• Cool Modes (Collaborative Open Learning and
  Modeling System)
• Shared workspace environment with focus on
• The possibility of mixing different types of
  visual languages or representations
• Plug-In approach for (modeling) languages,
  visualised by palettes
• Underlying communication mechanism to flexibly
  support collaboration

10

• Characteristics of Collaborative Mind Tools
• Paper and Pencil metaphor
• Easy to use, resource at hand
• Flexible in integrating representations
• Active and interactive, collaborative, archiving
  options
• Ideal use in unobstrusive, ubiquitous
  (potentially mobile) environments

11

• Examples
• Primary school (NIMIS) learning to read and
  write
• Secondary school (SEED) SD in a biology course
• Planned (COLDEX) real data, physical
  interfaces, collaborative modeling and 3D
  representations

12
The NIMIS Classroom
13
System Dynamics in Biology Lessons Target group
Class of students (age 18) TopicEnvironmental
Studies Biodiversity TaskResearch empirical
data for different subjects concerning
sustainable use of resources (e.g. coffee
plantings in brasil, oranges in portugal) and use
this data as a base for the creation of suitable
models
14
Meat Production on Territory of Rain Forest
(Students Solution)
15
Meat Production on Territory of Rain Forest
(Teachers Solution)
16
Impressions from the Lessons
17
Impressions from the Lessons
18
Typical Workflow in the Lessons
19

• Planned Scenario in COLDEX
• Real data (earthquakes in Chile, observatories)
• Physical models (e.g. Lego MindStorms)
• Use as input for collaborative modeling tools
• 3D Visualisation parameters as output
• Inter-cultural co-operations

20
Summary Co-constructive modeling in learning
scenarios Rich, multiple representations Learning
as a shared, collaborative activity Provision of
suitable environments
21
Questions? pinkwart_at_collide.info http//www.col
lide.info