The purpose of this study was to examine collaborative problem solving in a shared virtual space. The main question asked was: How will the performance and processes differ between collaborative problem solvers and independent problem solvers over time? A total of 104 university students (63 female and 41 male) participated in an experimental study. Participants were randomly assigned to four d...

In this article we will describe our research eeorts in coping with a trade-oo that can be often found in the control and optimization of todays business processes. Though centralized control may achieve near-to-optimum results in optimizing the system behavior, there are usually social, technical and security restrictions on applying centralized control. Distributed control on the other hand m...

A problem solving protocol is described and then applied to a teacher training problematic situation in science and technology education. The problem consists of improving a learning community involved in education research, development and communication. Some remarks concerning the strengths and limitations of using the protocol are made in connection with action learning and collaborative work.

Our aim is to improve problem selection and recommendation in intelligent tutoring systems by modeling students problem solving times. We describe a simple model which assumes a linear relationship between latent problem solving ability and a logarithm of time to solve a problem. We show that this model is related to models from two different areas: the item response theory and collaborative fi...

This paper presents a groupware-supported approach for business process re-engineering. Effective reengineering must balance data gathering, study, creativity exercises, problem solving, resource allocation, and design, so there is a need for a variely of tools and techniques to be productive. Our experiences in a series of three case studies show the use of groupware saved money in the re-engi...

An effective tutor—human or electronic—must determine what a student does and does not know. Inferring a student’s knowledge state is challenging because behavioral observations (e.g., correct vs. incorrect problem solution) provide only weak evidence. Two classes of models have been proposed to address the challenge. Latent-factor models employ a collaborative filtering approach in which data ...

Multi-touch interfaces are becoming popular with tablet PCs and other multi-touch surfaces increasingly used in classrooms. Several studies have focused on the development of learning and collaboration potentials of these tools. However, assessment and feedback processes are yet to leverage on the new technologies to capture problem solving steps and strategies. This paper describes a computer ...

Over a decade of face-to-face GSS research and practical experience suggests that facilitation skills maybe just as important as the collaborative support tools a team uses. Facilitation research in face-to-face environments has proven to be complex and the results have been varied. While insights have been gained through both research and real work experience, much of it remains ungeneralizeab...

Awareness of the need for business analysis has grown faster than the evolution of tools to support collaborative development of business analysis models. Involvement of key personnel is important for model accuracy and buyin, which is not trivial, especially if they are distributed geographically. Traditionally, models have been developed by individuals or small groups because of the complexit...