A Study of Peer Interactions between One-to-one and Shared display Collaborative Learning in a Technology-enriched classroom

Collaborative learning is widely used in classroom activities. The screens of handheld devices, designed for individual-user mobile application, which may constrain the interactions among group learners. The small size of screen may lead to fragmented and tête-à-tête communication pattern, and frequently obstacle the externalization of student learning process. This study proposes a shared display groupware with handheld devices in order to support the externalization and articulation of student thinking. The groupware is designed for exploring whether the shared display system in classrooms can augment the handheld devices to promote the student articulation process and communication among participants. This study involved 15 graduate students enrolled in a course. Students searched for relevant information from the Internet through handheld devices and tried to organize their own answers by using shared display groupware. This study analyzed the dialogue interactions in tablet-PC-only and shared-display settings by qualitative methodology. By a series of content analysis of dialogue interactions, experimental results showed that the shared display groupware could not only promote knowledge externalization and articulation of student’s thinking, but also enhance student engagement via better communication patterns to achieve effective collaboration.