Effectiveness of peertopeer collaborative learning as a teaching and learning method for ICT in Sout

1
Effectiveness of peer-to-peer collaborative
learning as a teaching and learning method for
ICT in South African higher education
challenges and tools

• Sam Ssemugabi
• Ruth de Villiers
• School of Computing

2
CMC
e-Learning
3
Content

• Aim of this exploratory study
• Background
• Literature on collaborative learning
• Questions/challenges in the context of higher
  education
• Methods used in this study
• Case study
• Computer-mediated communication(CMC) tools for
  teaching and learning
• Conclusion and future research

4
Aim of this exploratory study

• To synergistically integrate collaborative group
  work into distance learning
• To illustrate the role of peer-to-peer (p2p)
  collaborative learning
• To highlight the educators challenges
• To note CMC tools that support p2p learning

5
Background

• The presenter recently moved from 6 years of
  contact-teaching to a distance-teaching
  environment
• Experience ICT learners naturally turn to their
  peers and discuss problems in groups of two or
  more. This occurs in different contact subjects.
• Learners gained knowledge/skills from this
  interaction
• The presenter seeks ways promote this enrichment
  at UNISA

6
Literature on collaborative learning

• An effective method for teaching and learning,
  since learning occurs in a social context.
  Interactions support and extend the learning
  process
• (McManus, 1997 Kizito,2002).
• Peer-to-peer collaborative learning
• enhances content understanding
• supports development of technological skills
• fosters development of generic skills required in
  21st century workplace (research, interpersonal
  communication, negotiation, etc)
• (Chan, Frydenberg Lee, 2007).

7
Questions/challenges in the context of higher
education

• Is p2p collaboration effective in the teaching
  and learning of ICT subjects?
• How can p2p collaboration be optimally used?
• What CMC methods/tools/technologies can be or
  have been used in supporting p2p learning?
• In particular What CMC technologies can be or
  have been used in supporting p2p learning?

8
Methods used in this study

• Observations
• Document analysis
• Mini survey

Case Study
9
Observations

• Face-to-face (f2f) learners tend to form groups
  to solve problems (theoretical or practical).
• Occurs more in subjects with practical work,
• e.g. program coding, database design, project
  scheduling, etc.
• Have you observed this too?

10
Case study in 2008

• School of Computing, UNISA 1st level students
• Osprey the Schools web portal
• Mini survey on the discussion forum
• (5 responses)
• Analysis of discussion forum
• Statistical analysis of student registration with
  respect to collaboration

11
Osprey mini survey Question 1

• On UNISA registration form May your name,
  e-mail, and contact numbers be given to fellow
  students for academic purposes?
• We asked students for their response and the
  reason.
• It is nice to interact that way, But I am
  thinking of removing it because every time I am
  contacted by fellow students via e-mail, the
  student in need send an e-mail to 1000s, then
  someone reply to all and I go grrr!
• I responded "Yes", because I thought study
  groups would help. But it was mostly
  unsuccessful, since most of the students who
  initiated contact did not seem to know good email
  etiquette, and often sent an email to every name
  on the list, regardless of location.
• I said yes in the registration form.

12
Osprey Mini survey Question 2

• Discussing subject-related problems with other
  students in the same course, helps me to learn
  better. This is especially the case in technical
  subjects such as those that involve programming.
  Comment on these statements.
• Working with other students honestly helps a
  lot. You get to see ideas from their perspective
  and when you combine that with your own it makes
  for some amazing learning.
• I strongly agree that discussing problems with
  other students helps with learning, and not only
  in technical subjects.
• I suspect that it's more successful in the
  "technical subjects" because those doing
  technical subjects already know how to use the
  Internet.
• Agree. Sometimes explaining something to
  somebody else shows you what you understand about
  the topic.

13
Osprey Mini survey Question 3

• Which of the following would you prefer to use
  for collaborative learning? Face-to-face
  telephone email discussion forum (like on
  MyUnisa Osprey) Instant Messaging Video
  conferencing Blogs Wikis Social networks
  such as MySpace and Facebook.
• The Forum works great! IM and Video
  conferencing would be nice. Email and Telephone
  should be a secondary methods after you've
  invited or requested a fellow student to
  communicate through those other means.
• I think some forms of communications is an
  invasion of ones time but with others like
  forums, IM etc I AM are in control of my time.
• E-mail / IM / Video Conferences / WIKI
• A well-designed online community site
  (philip.greenspun.com) could enable students to
  form a community, organize and schedule study
  groups, discuss subjects, help one another and
  share resources.

14
Osprey Mini survey Question 3

• Discussion forums (like Osprey, NOT like
  myUNISA), wikis, online community sites, content
  management systems (like Drupal or Joomla).
  Lecturers might find blogs useful to communicate
  to students. Osprey has much better forum
  software, but could be improved by having more
  experienced moderators around, and a published
  set of etiquette rules to help new users learn
  the medium. Wikis are simple to use, and
  especially useful for creating subject-related
  concept networks. A generic content management
  system (CMS) could provide some of the features
  of a custom community site. While not be as
  efficient as a custom designed community site, it
  would be cheaper to implement since there already
  exist many modular CMS/community packages like
  Drupal or Joomla.

15
Osprey discussion forumExtract 1 need for
collaboration

• Originator (O) This is quite a wrong and late
  time to do this, but it just became critical. I
  need a study group for COS113, anyone willing to
  invite me? Thanks.
• Response (R) It might help if you specify who
  you are, where you are able to attend, and what
  days you have available for a study group.
• O Thanks, Sorry I wasn't clear on that. I'm a
  COS113W student - first year BSc (IT). I stay
  around Arcadia/Sunnyside but I'm willing to join
  study groups at the main and Sunnyside campus, as
  well as Vudec building. Thanks.

16
Osprey discussion forumExtract 2 peer-teaching
and learning

• O Please guys, could you assist with Question 4,
  5 and 6, I just don't have a clue on how to
  create the formula for question 4. Please assist,
  the due date is around the corner
• R Ah, welcome to the joys of programming. It's
  not about learning how to talk the language, it's
  about figuring out how to solve a problem and
  then translating that into a language. Question
  4 is a good one for teaching you how to break
  things up into lots of small steps. That is the
  hardest transition to make when learning how to
  program. At school and in life you learn
  shortcuts. In programming, you have to do things
  the long way. First of all, the formula is
  given to you digit1 3 digit2 digit3 -
  digit4 That's the last step you need to do.
  Before that, you need to be able to split a four
  digit number up so you know what those individual
  digits are. The solution to this lies in the hint
  that was given in the tut letter. If you get
  question 4 right, you'll be familiar enough with
  the thinking process to get question 5 and
  questing 6 right. They're a bit easier albeit a
  bit longer.
•  
•  O Thanks. You are a star.

17
UNISA Registration 2008May your name and
address be given to fellow students for academic
purposes?
In all cases more students prefer NOT to be
contacted by fellow students !!!!
18
UNISA Registration 2008May your name and
address be given to fellow students for academic
purposes?

• - Number of posts refer to subject-related
  discussions on Osprey.
• - Last column shows low use of Osprey discussion
  forum.
• More posts in practical subjects (e.g.
  programming modules).
• Students may use another discussion forum
  (myUnisa student portal),
• but IT students prefer to use the Osprey
  discussion forum.

19
Computer-mediated communication tools for
teaching and learning

• CMC technologies for supporting p2p learning
• E-mail, Discussion forums, Blogs, Podcasts,
  Wikis, Twitters, VoIP, Instant messaging (IM),
  Video conferencing, Social networks e.g. Myspace
  and Facebook (used more for social issues than
  for studies - hobbies, friends, photos).
• CMC tools used in UNISA teaching and learning
  environment emails and discussion forums.
• Ultimate goal also to use newer tools, e.g.
  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts. Facilities currently in
  place for for Wikis and Blogs on MyUnisa.

20
Conclusion

• Peer-to-peer collaboration is effective for
  teaching and learning
• Learners seek to engaging in this form of
  learning
• This is more so in practical-based subjects
• Actual teaching and learning occurs
• A number of computer-mediated communication
  methods/tools/technologies exit to support p2p
  collaborative learning

21
Future research

• Why does a majority of the School of Computing
• 1st-level students prefer NOT to be contacted by
  fellow students?
• more in practical-based subjects ???
• Challenge to educators in higher education
• What CMC tools in contact-teaching?
• What CMC tools in distance-learning?
• How? ? e-Learning
• In SA Issue of accessibility

22
Thank you! Questions?