Developing Cooperative Environment Web Services Based on Action Research

Current technology has disappointed many users of cooperative learning environments by its complexity and only slow and tough adaptability to specific users’ requirements. In order to compensate for these deficiencies, we use Action Research to guide us in a process in which we co-develop and improve open source, Web service based modules that directly and intuitively support learning, cooperation, and facilitation processes based on users’ experiences. In this paper we characterize selected services, sketch our environment and propose an accompanying research procedure that allows us to assess and cyclically improve and extend our tools to closely match both their underlying didactics and users’ needs.