Desktop multimedia environments to support collaborative distance learning

Desktop multimedia conferencing, when two or more persons can communicate among themselves via personal computers with the opportunity to see and hear one another as well as communicate via text messages while working with commonly available stored resources, appears to have important applications to the support of collaborative learning. In this paper we explore this potential in three ways: (a) through an analysis of particular learner needs when learning and working collaboratively with others outside of face-to-face situations; (b) through an analysis of different forms of conferencing environments, including desktop multimedia environments, relative to their effectiveness in terms of meeting learner needs for distributed collaboration; and (c) through reporting the results of a formative evaluation of a prototype desktop multimedia conferencing system developed especially for the support of collaborative learning. Via these analyses, suggestions are offered relating to the functionalities of desktop multimedia conferencing systems for the support of collaborative learning, reflecting new developments in both the technologies available for such systems and in our awareness of learner needs when working collaboratively with one other outside of face-to-face situations. Collaborative distance learning What is collaborative distance learning? Why is it important? What are major questions that need to be addressed relative to its effective implementation? In this section, we introduce the analysis that follows by some definitions, some orienting comments, and some core research questions. What is collaborative distance learning? Collaborative learning can be defined in various ways, as can the characteristics that distinguish it from cooperative learning and group learning (Heeren, Portions of the research reported in this document were funded by the DELTA Programme, Directorate General XIII, Commission of the European Community. The opinions given in this paper are those of the authors and not of the funding agencies involved. For further information, contact the first author at: Dr. B. Collis, Faculty of Educational Science and Technology, University of Twente, Postbus 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands, email: [email protected]