Assessing Virtual Collaborative Environment performance mediated by web-based conversational mechanisms

Abstract

The aim of this Work in Progress (WiP) is to assess the effect of using chat and thread discussion on effectiveness of collaboration through Web-Based Collaborative Environments (WBCEs), particularly platform wikis. In order to prove that, this WiP will describe the experiment with four different scenarios that will be conducted in the following days. Each scenario is formed by 16 groups of three random students from Technical studies at the ETSEIAT, an UPC Engineering School, particularly candidates from Industrial and Aeroespace Engineering. Some of the groups will work in face-to-face basis (control group) and the others will use the WBCEs. The groups that are using the WBCEs scenario will be using whether the wiki platform only or the wiki platform integrated with an online communication tool (chat or forum). In the last three scenarios, each member will have one computer and the communication among the members of the group will be made through the assigned WBCE. These groups have to deliver the final team collaboration report through the wiki space. On the other hand, the Face-to-Face group has to deliver the final collaboration report in a paper format. We expect that this WiP would bring up new insights on WBCEs effectiveness. We expect that the groupware performance will improve by means of the online communication tools, because they promote social interaction, discussion and collaboration in online environments. However, we are dealing with students that are “technology based learners” and a preliminary results conducted in a pre-pilot experiment show that some of our assumptions differ from what we expected.