CSCL script

Draft

Definition

Collaboration scripts are the most important design elements in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) and aim to support learning activities by structuring otherwise deficient interactions.

What is a script ?

Macro and micro scripts

Dillenbourg and Hong (submitted) distinguish two kinds of scripts:

1. Micro-scripts are dialogue models, e.g. an argumentation model that states that if student A makes and argument, Student B is prompted to propose a counter-argument.
2. Macro-scripts are pedagogical models, i.e. a sequence of activities that groups have to carry out (see also IMS Learning Design.

These kinds of scripts are embodied in different sorts of CSCL environments that shape group interaction, e.g.

• semi-structured interfaces
• representations of the task and the objects that students manipulate (collaborative manipulative microworlds)
• special group formation
• representatiosn of group member interactions (making them aware of what they perform)
• feedback on the quality of group interactions

CSCL scripts are usually integrated. They are not necessarily bound to computer-only or collaboration-only activities. “Macro scripts integrate within a workflow multiples activities distributed across multiple places and multiple social planes (individual, collaborative, collective)” (Dillenbourg and Hong).

Abstraction levels

Dillenbourg and Jermann (in press) distinguish four levels of abstraction, from highest to lowest: Script schemata, classes, instances and sessions.

• Script schemata describe the core design principle through which the script is expected to trigger specific interactions.

• A script class covers a range of scripts that represent a learning design (acceptable variations of a prototype). Script classes are highly generalizable, in particular with regard to the amount of participants, resources needed and contents.

• A script instance is a script that has been instantiated with a specific content. These are reusable scripts more or less "as is", e.g. by a teacher

• A script session makes use of concrete details in a given context (e.g. includes names of students, deadlines, etc.)

Kobbe / Kaleidoscope model and guidelines

Kobbe (2006) identifies components of CSCL script and also formulates a few guidelines for describing collaboration scripts (so that they can reused by other researchers or practitioners). This section is just a summary of the original Kaleidoscope report - Daniel K. Schneider.

The authors distinguish between:

• Script components, i.e. the individuals that participate in a script, the activities that they engage in, the roles they assume, the resources that they make use of and the groups they form.
• Script mechanisms, i.e. group formation (how individual learners are distributed over groups), component distribution (how components are distributed over participants) and sequencing (how both components and groups are distributed over time .

This reminds a bit the distinction between components and method in IMS Learning Design.

General guidelines

• The script should be self-explaining.
• Use keywords such as "each", "all", "at least" to describe participants.
• Point out interdependencies among components, such as "one case description per group", which is more general and works with any number of groups.

Components

Resources

Resources comprise virtual or physical objects that can be allocated to learners. As opposed to more traditional instructional design models, different learners can receive different materials in order manipulate social dependencies.

• Each resource that need to be prepared in advance must be specified (these are usually distributed before the script starts)
• Specify whether a set of resources is composed of equal or unequal items.

Participants

Participants are used in synonym with users, persons or people, i.e. it is used as a general abstraction of concrete individuals

• Specify the minimal amount of participants needed and the amount of participants recommended. Also specify the maximal number.
• If there a different roles ("At least 2 participants (3 recommended) for each xxx")

Groups

Groups form a hierarchical structure with larger groups (at least one, i.e. the class) composed of one or more smaller groups. Participants can be grouped according to various criteria defined by the design rationale.

Groups are created at start or during the script, they also can be recomposed during the script

• Different kinds of groups (e.g. expert group, case group) must be identified with a label (to be reused in the group composition definition)
• If the class is also a group, specify.

Roles

The main function of roles in collaboration scripts is to refer to specific participants when assigning activities or allocating resources. Roles are also associated with privileges, obligations and expectancies.

• There exists already a default roles, i.e. "participant" which you don't need to further specify.
• "Student" and "teacher" are special roles in CSCL and are reserved for peer tutoring scenarios.
• Define extra roles to define specific role parts in an activity, e.g. a "summarizer" or a "listener".
• You then can further differentiate like e.g. by referring to "all experts of xxx" or "one expert from each field of study".

Activities

CSCL is more interesting in higher level learning and in particular (but not exclusively) in activities that engage learners in collaboration. Specification of effective learning activities is an improvement to merely setting the conditions for collaborative learning, but doesn't guarantee adequate cognitive processing not to speak of effective learning results. Problems can be categorized in in lack of epistemic quality (appropriate strategy), elaborateness (richness and interrelation of information) and transactivity (operating on each other's reasoning).

Researchers of the Kaleidoscope project identified examples of learning activities recommended for collaboration scripts, e.g. asking thought-provoking questions, clarifying ideas and relations, comparing concepts, constructing arguments, critiquing proposals, drawing conclusions, elaborating on content, evaluating the significance of findings, explaining ideas and concepts, predicting consequences.

Activities form a hierarchical structure in which any greater activity can be decomposed into lesser, more fine-grained activities, and any lesser activity can be subsumed by one or more greater, more low-grained activities. For instance, discussing can be decomposed into explaining, constructing arguments, question asking, etc., and asking somebody to check a report for mistakes can be generalized as help-seeking.

• Kobbe suggest to start with the sequencing and the refine activities, e.g. in a sequencing description one can write "participants discuss xy" and then define precisely this activity in the activity section.

Group Formation

In most cases, group formation simple, such as forming groups by amount (e.g. dividing a class into four groups) or by size (e.g. dividing a class into groups of four). But some scripts require principled composition of groups, e.g. mix different nationalities or skill levels.

• Describe how group are to be formed, giving details on group size (min/max/desired), amount of groups (min/max/desired) and their group composition (such as males & females, nations, expert/novices, etc.).

• Usually, there suggestions for group size (not amount of groups), but if group formation is dependent on other variables such as resources (e.g. "case descriptions"), then try to formulate it like this: "For each xxx, form one group of ...".

Component Distribution

Components have been described above. In CSCL the most important components to think about are roles and role parts (associated activities). Decomposable activities can be distributed in a way that one learner engages a cognitive activity while the other learner engages in a supportive metacognitive activity. Resources also can be distributed in various ways, e.g. providing participants with only one part of the information that they need in order to foster knowledge exchange with each other.

• Consider each of the available components (in particular resources and roles) and describe which components are distributed over participants or groups of the script and how they are distributed.

• You also have to consider what could happen if there are more components than participants or groups or the other way round (be flexible)

• Component distribution only states how components are initially distributed. Whether or not they are redistributed later on is stated in the sequencing section.

Sequencing

Sequences specific linear sequence of activities, but also repetition of activities with minor variations. The most prominent principles underlying such repetitions are traversion, rotation and fading. A traversion describes a repetition in which all elements of one set are looped through, with only one element being in use at a time. A rotation permutates the order of elements in a given set Fading refers to features that are gradually added (faded in) or removed (faded out) from a script.

• You must convey what is happening in a short hand form that gives barely enough details to understand how the script is to be conducted.

• You may separate the sequencing into phases

• Then for each phase, describe loops (repetitions) in your script.

First of all, consider the kinds of loops or repetition in your script. Do the participants traverse through a series of elements in a set (e.g. chapters in a book, levels in a game)? Do the participants rotate roles or resources? Do you find a repetition with changes that resembles fading (in/out)? Once you have discovered these loops, try to distinguish between different social planes, i.e. classroom, small group (if you have more than one kind of small group, you need to distinguish these, such as the case group, theme group and country group in the Universanté script) and solitary (individual) work. Always try to describe the interaction within this social plane, i.e. if you refer to members of a small group, describe it as "Within each small group, all participants ...". If you refer to the interaction between small groups describe it as "Within the class, all small groups ...". Thus, the "within" clause defines the scope of activities that you talk about. This way, you use a group perspective to describe the sequence of events that takes place.

Now you assemble the sequence of blocks by stating the social plane and (if needed) the kind of repetition, such as "Within each country group, and for each theme group in turn, ....". Then use activities that produce something, such as "write a summary", "propose a solution", "fill out a questionnaire", "give an argument", etc. This way, you can refer to a product when you describe the next steps in the activity sequence, such as "reads the summary", "critiques the solution", "corrects the questionnaire", "responds to the argument", etc. Using such products allows you to describe some kind of "data flow" between the activities. Be careful to stick to the names and terms introduced. The general structure of the sequence begins with specifying the social plane that you are referring to (e.g. "Within the theme group") and then specifying the activity on this social plane. If there is a sequence of activities, form a paragraph like:
Within each country group, ...
... the members of the theme group present their fact sheet
... everybody else provides comments on the fact sheets
... the members of the theme group modify their fact sheet according to the comments

(Kobbe 2006:26).

Example scripts

(to be done later)

• ArgueGraph
• Jigsaws

References

• Dillenbourg and Hong (submitted), The Mechanics of Macro Scripts.

• Kobbe, Lars (2006). Framework on multiple goal dimensions for computer-supported scripts, Kaleidoscope, D21.2.1 (Final). PDF (TeLearn archive)

• O'Donnell, A. M. (1999). Structuring dyadic interaction through scripted cooperation. In A. M. O'Donnell & A. King (Eds.), Cognitive perspectives on peer learning. (pp. 179-196). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

• O'Donnell, A. M., & Dansereau, D. F. (1992). Scripted cooperation in student dyads: A method for analyzing and enhancing academic learning and performance. In R. Hertz-Lazarowitz & N. Miller (Eds.), Interaction in cooperative groups: The theoretical anatomy of group learning. (pp. 120-141). New York, NY, US: Cambridge University Press.

• O'Donnell, A. M., Dansereau, D. F., Hall, R. H., & Rocklin, T. R. (1987). Cognitive, social/affective, and metacognitive outcomes of scripted cooperative learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 79(4), 431-437.

• Schank, R. C., & Abelson, R. (1977). Scripts, Plans, Goals, and Understanding. Hillsdale, NJ: Earlbaum Assoc.