Analysing Participation in Collaborative Design Environments

Computer-supported collaborative design can be realised by a broad range of collaborative environments, each facilitating a different kind of collaboration. Understanding the style of collaboration and the potential for each environment is important when choosing a particular technology. We have developed a virtual world approach to teaching design computing in which students learn through traditional lectures, online seminars, and collaborative design projects. The environment integrates both synchronous and asynchronous communication as well as shared documentation. One side effect of using this environment is the incremental development of a record of the communication and collaboration. This record can be the basis for the analysis of participation in collaboration. We show how text analysis as a part of data mining can be used to analyse different aspects of participation. Specifically, we analyse participation in synchronous communication to evaluate individual contribution. We then analyse asynchronous communication to evaluate the extent of collaboration. The methods presented can be an automated part of the collaborative environment providing information for student evaluation in an educational environment or individual contribution in a professional environment.