Supporting Collaborative Learning with Augmented Group Awareness Tools

This article introduces the concept of awareness, which emerged in the field of computer-supported cooperative work and relates it to several psychological constructs. It reports the support of awareness by technological means and discusses potentialities of group awareness tools to support collaborative learning. A prototypical tool is introduced, which is intended to support online learning groups by indicating group conflicts. An experimental study is reported, which examined the benefit of this prototype regarding minority influence in learning groups. It shows that an augmented group awareness tool can lead to better individual and group performances in learning groups.