Despite their potential to deliver a high-quality learning experience, massive open online courses (MOOCs) pose several issues, such as high dropout rates, difficulties in collaboration between students, low teaching involvement, and limited teacher-student interaction. Most of these issues can be attributed to the large number, diversity, and…

In order to promote the practice of co-creation, a real-time collaboration (RTC) version of the popular block-based programming (BBP) learning environment, MIT App Inventor (MAI), was proposed and implemented. RTC overcomes challenges related to non-collocated group work, thus lowering barriers to cross-region and multi-user collaborative software…

AMOEBA is a unique tool to support teachers' orchestration of collaboration among novice programmers in a non-traditional programming environment. The AMOEBA tool was designed and utilized to facilitate collaboration in a classroom setting in real time among novice middle school and high school programmers utilizing the IPRO programming…

Conversational agents that draw on the framework of academically productive talk (APT) have been lately shown to be effective in helping learners sustain productive forms of peer dialogue in diverse learning settings. Yet, literature suggests that more research is required on how learners respond to and benefit from such flexible agents in order…

This study reports findings from an experimental field study of scripted collaboration for net-based learning in the context of a one-semester university course on operating systems. In scripted collaboration, activities of learners are coordinated and guided according to particular rules, implemented via respective tools in the learning…

Traditionally, universities focus primarily on instructionist teaching. Such an understanding has been criticized from theoretical and practical points of view. We believe that "socio-cultural theories of learning" and the concepts of "social capital" and "social creativity" hold considerable promise as a theoretical…