Web-Supported Emergent-Collaboration In Higher Education Courses

This study focused on the integration of a Web shell for supporting emergent-collaboration activities in six graduate courses (115 students) in the Tel-Aviv University School of Education. Emergent-collaboration is the process by which group configurations and transactional patterns evolve among participants during the course of learning. The research questions addressed in the study were related to: (a) the didactic modes that have been devised for supporting emergent-collaboration learning processes, and (b) the extent of participation of students and teachers in Websupported emergent-collaboration learning processes. Six Web-based instructional modes evolved during the study supporting: social interaction; critical group reading; studentsor teachers-moderated issue discussion; peer evaluation and review; collaborative construction of knowledge bases; and projects on-line presentation. Quantitative as well as qualitative dat a and analysis regarding the different modes is presented. The results indicated that the use of the technology affected learning and teaching processes in significant ways, increasing the students participation and involvement in the courses, supporting a wide range of transactional modes, and contributing to the groups' social climate and collaborative work.