Supporting Educators to Design Collaborative Learning Scenarios

Collaborative learning (CL) processes are not always effective and the inadequate design of CL scenarios is one of the main causes of its unsuccess. Designing CL scenarios is a complex task, since it involves countless requirements and constraints that affect learning process and, hence, the learning outcomes. Consequently, CL scenarios are usually inappropriately structured. This study is particularly interested in the complexities inherent to the process of designing CL scenarios. Its objective is to propose a framework, composed of a conceptual metamodel and a computational tool, in order to support/guide educators throughout the process. The proposed framework was evaluated through a case study with 22 professors of a federal university. The results showed that with the framework it is possible to expose educators to design parameters in a way that they can effectively and systematically be specified.