Some Experiences with Collaborative Exercises

At the German Distance University, collaborative synchronous exercises are currently tested as a form of collaborative learning in the university’s virtual learning space. In this paper, we examine the impact of collaborative exercises on social contacts among distributed students. The main requirements of collaborative exercises in a distance learning university include support for preparation of exercises, learning group management, collaborative learning sessions, and learning management. We support such collaborative exercises in the FUB system by providing groupware tools for each phase of collaborative exercises. Results of two trials indicate that our approach works to some extent, and help to identify some needs for further improvement. The implications of our approach and our experiences for the design of the next generation of support for collaborative exercises are discussed.