Emerging Collaborative and Cooperative Practices in 1:1 Schools

Annika AnderssonMatilda WiklundMathias Hatakka

Educational Science and InformaticsÖrebro University, Sweden

firstname.lastname@oru.se

UnosUno• 2010-2013• 23 schools in 10 municipalities

• 12.000 students (age 6-19) and 1.200 teachers• The aim of the project is to monitor and analyze the effects and

results of the implementation of 1:1 from different perspectives: students' learning and development, teachers' roles and methods, school management's guidance and steering, as well as cooperation and relation between the school and the home. All factors are to be analyzed through various demographic lenses such as gender, socio-economic background and ethnicity.

Focus of this paper

• Exploration of how laptops used in 1:1 classrooms affect cooperation and collaboration practices

• Builds on a Deweyan

social and interactional constructivist strand and collaborative theories of learning

• Observational time study

”Groupwork”Collaboration

• Collaborative theories of learning focus specifically on learning as a collaborative, social enterprise where independent groups of students work together to solve problems or accomplish tasks collectively (Johnson & Johnson, 1999).

Cooperation

• … as opposed to cooperative work where group work tasks are divided between the participants

Research questions• Which time distribution patterns are

found in terms of individual- vs. group work in our observed 1:1 classrooms?

• Which time distribution patterns are found in terms of computer use vs. non-computer use?

• Which collaboration practices are found in groupwork constellations?

• Which implications for learning opportunities does this suggest from a constructivist and collaborative perspective?

Method-Materials• Observational study in 1:1

schools

• Spring- and Fall-semesters 2013

• 36 classroom observations were conducted and 2509 minutes were documented in field notes.

• In total 650 unique students were observed

Which time distribution patterns are found in terms of individual- vs. group work in our observed 1:1 classrooms?

Groupwork

Individual w

ork

Teach

er lec

turing

Setup time

Studen

t pres

entati

ons

Watching m

ovie0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

% of time

Which time distribution patterns are found in terms of computer use vs. non-computer use?

Groupwork usin

g computer

s

Teacher

lecturin

g with

out computer

Individual w

ork usin

g computer

Individual w

ork co

mputer optional

Groupwork with

out computer

s

Teacher

lecturin

g with

out computer

Setup time

Studen

t pres

entati

ons usin

g computer

Individual w

ork with

out computer

Watching m

ovie

Studen

t pres

entati

ons with

out computer

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

% of time

Which collaboration practices are found in groupwork constellations?

1:1 1:2 2:2 1:3 3:3 2:3 2:4 1:N0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Minutes observed

Which implications for learning opportunities does this suggest from a constructivist and collaborative perspective?

• Most classroom collaboration was face-to-face

• Computers used mainly for cooperation - a division of labour

• Exception 1: file sharing programs (writing in the same document at the same time, more in accordance with definitions of collaboration)

• Exception 2: one group-member in distance mode

Group size of students matters • Some constellations, such as 1:2,

2:2 and 2:4, kept all the students more active than constellations with three members (e.g., 1:3, 3:3, 2:3) where at least one of the students sooner or later turned inactive

• If teachers want the students to work in larger groups, our study indicates a need for them to thoroughly prepare learning situations and assignments that encourages every member of the group to participate and be active

More research needed…

• A continuation of this research would benefit from comparing collaborative and cooperative practices when then the laptop is used as opposed to when it is not

• Also – collaborative and cooperative practices outside the classroom…

Thank you!