Title: Learning through collaborative projects: the architecture of an environment

Authors: Flavia Maria Santoro, Marcos R.S. Borges, Neide Santos

Addresses: COPPE Sistemas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, PO Box 68511-21945270, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Nucleo de Computacao Eletronica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, PO Box 2324-20001-970, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Instituto de Matematica e Estatistica, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, PO Box 20550-013, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract: The analysis of the computer-supported collaborative learning research area reveals the existence of an expressive number of environments proposing learning by means of enabling students in collaborative development of projects. However, most environments neither provide support to the definition of the collaborative process, nor address all process stages. Teachers need flexible environments, where they can get support from the computing technology, and configure various alternative projects. In this work, a conceptual and computational infrastructure for collaborative project-based learning, composed by a collaborative environment is presented. The infrastructure includes a tool framework, a database of projects, and a library of references.

Keywords: computer-supported collaborative learning; educational groupware design; project-based environments.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2003.000320

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2003 Vol.16 No.2/3, pp.127-141

Published online: 16 Jul 2003 *

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