External representations can be powerful for supporting learners in both individual and collaborative learning scenarios. They encourage learners to focus on important instructional elements. In this study, we investigate two different forms of external representations: textually represented collaboration scripts and graphically represented…

This study examined whether cooperative learning and feedback facilitate situated, example-based e-learning in the field of statistics. The factors "social context" (individual vs. cooperative) and "feedback intervention" (available vs. not available) were varied; participants were 137 university students. Results showed that…

Collaborative learning in computer-supported learning environments typically means that learners work on tasks together, discussing their individual perspectives via text-based media or videoconferencing, and consequently acquire knowledge. Collaborative learning, however, is often sub-optimal with respect to how learners work on the concepts that…

This study examined how learners constructed and used shared knowledge in computer-mediated and face-to-face cooperative learning, investigating how to facilitate the construction and use of shared knowledge through dynamic visualization. Forty-eight college students were separated into dyads and assigned to one of four experimental conditions…

This article focuses on facilitating learners' collaborative knowledge construction in case-based learning scenarios. The article first describes how case-based learning can promote knowledge acquisition and then discusses the characteristics of videoconferencing in such scenarios. Then we focus our attention on the process and outcomes of the…

A method to facilitate collaborative learning in complex learning environments was developed and evaluated. Sixteen college students of educational science were given the CoStructure-Tool, a task-specific computer-based tool developed on the basis of concept mapping techniques to support the processes of knowledge construction in collaborative…