An Agent Infrastructure to set Collaborative Environments

Collaborative learning supported through computers seems to be very promising, since advances in computational technology enable the widespread use of tools such as bulletin boards, chats, whiteboards and even video-conference. However, it is not clear which approach for on-line learning – individual or collaborative – is more effective for the students. This paper addresses a proposal to combine both approaches, taking in account that some advantages related to individual learning, such as self-pacing and establishment of learning goals by the learner, imply in difficulties to establish collaborative settings. This proposal is based upon the dynamic creation and management of study groups of distributed learners sharing on-line material. A model is proposed to set collaboration profiles that would enable to identify potential collaborators, and an agent-based infrastructure is presented to support this model in an on-line learning environment. Finally, an example of use of this infrastructure is presented using CALM, a learning environment developed on top of the Web architecture.