A preliminary investigation into role division and the design of collaborative learning environments

The aim of this paper was to investigate the design of multi-user collaborative learning environments. One goal of computer assisted learning has been to provide individualised tuition, but recently there has been a shift away from this goal to designing systems to support collaborative learning. Arguably, the most important reason for this shift is because peer interaction has been found, under certain circumstances, to facilitate computer based learning. Most of this research has been carried out using systems designed for single users, very little research has been carried out on machines designed for multiple users. This paper reports a study which compared children's problem solving when they used two different multi-user collaborative learning environments. The problems encountered by the children using these different systems are reported and the implications for the design of computer supported collaborative learning discussed.