Collaborative learning system based on instant messaging

Instant Messaging (IM) applications such as Microsoft's MSN Messenger and Yahoo's Messenger have been growing in popularity in the general public for recently years. These applications provide functionality like text or voice messages exchange and file transfer. They are widely popularized on college campuses and used between students, but social interaction is the main purpose for the most part and may be viewed as cheating. Since students are much interested in the use of IM applications, integrating of teaching/learning mechanism will enliven and enrich the learning process and increase the effectiveness of the learning result. On the other hand, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is a teaching strategy in which students working together to accomplish shared learning goal and to maximize their own and their team members' achievements. In this paper we describe a collaborative learning environment base on instant messaging and present the architecture, framework and techniques of our developed prototype system. The system is basically like an instant messenger but integrated with the mechanism and functionality of collaborative learning to support students interacting with one or more collaborating peers to complete a learning process such as solving a given problem. In addition to the basic standard functionality of general IM applications, the prototype system provides six sets of key functionality related to collaborative learning: group discussion, resource sharing, broadcast presenting, team authoring, track recording, and system management.