Understanding children's collaborative interactions in shared environments

Traditional computer technology offers limited support for face‐to‐face, synchronous collaboration. Consequently, children who wish to collaborate while using computers must adapt their interactions to the single‐user paradigm of most personal computers. Recent technological advances have enabled th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of computer assisted learning 2003-06, Vol.19 (2), p.220-228
Main Authors: Scott, S.D., Mandryk, R.L., Inkpen, K.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Childhood Needs
Collaboration
Collaborative Learning
Computer System Design
Educational psychology
Educational Technology
Elementary Education
Elementary Schools
Face-to-face
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Games
Groupware
Interaction
Interface
IT-use
Learning Activities
Primary
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychopedagogics. Didactics
Puzzles
Qualitative
Quantitative
Satisfaction
Secondary
Statistical Analysis
Synchronous
Technology Uses in Education
Video Games
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Summary:Traditional computer technology offers limited support for face‐to‐face, synchronous collaboration. Consequently, children who wish to collaborate while using computers must adapt their interactions to the single‐user paradigm of most personal computers. Recent technological advances have enabled the development of co‐located groupware systems offering support for concurrent, multi–user interactions around a shared display. These systems provide a unique collaboration environment in which users share both the physical and the virtual workspace. This paper examines how such technology impacts children's collaboration. Findings from this research show that when concurrent, multi–user interaction is supported on a shared display, children exhibit collaborative behaviour similar to their interactions during paper‐based activities. The findings also suggest strengths and weaknesses of various mechanisms for supporting synchronous interactions that have implications for the design of computer systems to support children's face‐to‐face collaboration.
ISSN:0266-4909
1365-2729
DOI:10.1046/j.0266-4909.2003.00022.x