Introducing a dedicated tool for facilitating a semi-structured approach to CMC messaging

This paper reports on preliminary findings from the evaluation of the first in-house prototype of a tool designed to support a semi­ structured approach to CMC messaging. The SQUAQgroups software tool is dedicated to supporting and enhancing students' cognition, participation and interaction when working as part of a team collaboratively online in order to deliver relevant artefacts for the group's common goal. The evaluation revealed that although this first prototype is usable, the interface feels sparse and overly minimal in comparison to publicly available tools, which

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