An Architecture to Record Traces in Instrumented Collaborative Learning Environments

Supporting observation activity in a digital workspace environment is an idea that holds promise for improving groupware activity. In this paper, we focus on non-constraint equipped collective learning situations, that is to say without a given structure to the working process. We present a meta-model and an architecture of an observation station, to collect activity traces and to analyse them at different levels of abstraction. System traces, such as logs, are generally inadequate to identify pedagogical activities. Therefore, we have been working on a more accurate technique for observation instrumentation. Our initial experience has shown that this technique can significantly improve event trace processing for final user-oriented analysis.