G_Creativity: A Tool for Answering Subjective Questions Collaboratively

1

Siti Salwah Salim, Low Sai Kit

Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya

Raja Maznah Raja Hussain

Faculty of Education, University of Malaya

1

Abstract

G_Creativity is a web-based tool designed for students to collaboratively participate in answering subjective questions that are based on graphics such as diagrams, pictures, charts and images, prepared by the teachers. Students are provided with a working space for them to contribute their understanding of the problems; to respond to others’ questions, thoughts and insights; and to be accountable to each other so as to accomplish the task. Completed collaborative activities are available in a shared repository for the entire classroom understanding on the learning topic assigned by the teacher. G_Creativity is equipped with the facilities for teachers to prepare, execute and monitor group activities. Teachers and students participated in the early evaluation of G_Creativity. The teachers viewed G_Creativity as a useful tool to ease them in carrying out collaborative learning activities in the classroom setting or at a distance, while the students found G_Creativity to be interesting and motivating in group learning.

Keywords:

Collaborative Learning, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, Internet and WWW, classroom, primary and secondary schools

1. Introduction and the Research Approach

Collaborative learning is a term associated with a teaching style in which students work together in small groups to accomplish or solve a common learning goal. It emphasizes the collaborative efforts among students in their group along with the teacher’s guidance. Students are accountable for their group members’ learning as well as their own. Hence, the success of one student helps other students to be successful [1]. Group discussions, collaborative projects, group presentations and notes sharing are some of the common collaborative learning activities carried out in schools [2]. For example, in a group discussion activity, students in a classroom are divided into smaller groups. These groups are given some reading materials and the students are required to discuss them in their group. Then, students of each group must present the discussion outcomes to the whole class.

Traditionally, collaborative learning activities are carried out face-to-face in a classroom. Fortunately, the rapid expansion and availability of communication and information technologies have made these collaborative learning activities possible to be carried out with the use of technologies. Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) offers promising innovations and tools to support students’ group learning. The main purpose of CSCL is to support students in learning together effectively by the use of computer supported systems especially designed to facilitate group process and collaboration.

Even though there are many CSCL systems that have been developed to support collaborative learning activities, nevertheless, little attention has been given to students in the primary and secondary schools [3]. Studies on most of the well-known CSCL applications indicated that most of these applications emphasized more on higher education and distance learning collaboration. Investigations carried out in Malaysia on CSCL applications for schools also highlighted the same result [4]. There is a need to identify, design and develop CSCL applications for teachers and students to carry out collaborative learning activities in schools. Teachers should not be limited to emails, discussion databases or project spaces to carry out collaborative activities. If teachers are provided with adequate CSCL applications, they will be able to carry out the collaborative learning activities in their teaching curriculum, thus promoting the collaborative learning practice in schools.

We undertook a research to design and implement a web-based tool, named G_Creativity, for students to collaboratively participate in answering subjective questions that were based on graphics such as diagrams, pictures, charts and images, prepared by the teachers. G_Creativity was proposed by a group of teachers from the workshop[5]. The workshop aimed to brainstorm on the collaborative learning activities that were suitable to be carried out in the classroom. Figure 1 summarizes the research approach applied in producing G_Creativity.

Figure 1. The Research Approach

2. G_Creativity Tool

G_Creativity consists of three libraries and one collaborative workspace. The three libraries are the Graphic Library, Task Library, and Completed Task Library. Graphic Library functions as a graphic management where teachers are able to organize and share graphic resources with other teachers. Graphic resources include diagrams, charts, pictures and images. Teachers use these resources when they are preparing the subjective questions. Teachers can upload new graphics to the library, modify or delete an existing graphic, view all the graphics stored, or view a particular type of graphics in the library.

Task Library serves several functions to the teachers. It enables teachers to prepare tasks to be carried out by their students, divide students in their classroom into smaller groups and assign tasks to these groups of students. The term task is used throughout this paper to refer to the subjective questions prepared by the teachers. Teachers are provided with templates to ease the preparation of the tasks and these templates enable the teachers to directly retrieve graphic resources from the Graphic Library. The teachers are able to prepare a maximum of three subjective questions per task. Each question can support up to three graphics. The entire tasks created by the teachers in a school are stored in a shared repository to allow the teachers to share or reuse their completed tasks. This will reduce the teachers’ time to create a new task from scratch when they can upload a completed task that is similar to what they want to carry out and modify it accordingly. The Graphic and Task libraries create a collaborative environment among the teachers. Teachers are able to share graphical resources in the Graphic Library and the learning tasks in the Task Library. Figure 2 shows the roles of a teacher in the Graphic and Task Libraries.

6

Figure 2. The Roles of a teacher in the Graphic and Task Libraries

6

The collaborative workspace provided by G_Creativity is called Given Task Area. It is an area for students to participate in the learning task published by their teacher. Students read the assigned questions and view the associated graphics before they start to give and share their ideas (i.e. opinions, point of views, and solutions towards the questions). Students are able to view their group members’ ideas and they can raise questions, elaborate on the ideas or support the ideas by giving more examples. Thus, students are engaged in a more active learning process. With G_Creativity, teachers are able to prepare thought-provoking questions with the help of various graphics as well as questions that seem to have right and wrong answers depending on the subjects taught.

While students are collaborating with their group members, the teacher is able to monitor their progress. The teacher views the group’s answers and provides assistance, if necessary, to the groups. The teacher can intervene the group’s session, by sending messages. Figure 3 shows the students’ participation in the Given Task Area, while figure 4 shows the teacher’s roles in the Given Task Area.

Figure 3. Students’ Participation in the Given Task Area /
Figure 4. Teacher’s Roles in The Given Task Area

When students have completed answering the questions according to the given time limit, the teacher evaluates the group’s answers by preparing a summary. Subsequently, the completed task will be stored in the Completed Task library for the students and teachers references. Students are able to review their answers and compare them with other groups’ answers, as shown in figure 5. G_Creativity is implemented using client-server architecture. The libraries and the collaborative working spaces are resided on a web server that can be accessed online through a web-browser by the teachers and students.

Figure 5. The Completed Task Library

3. Scenarios of G_Creativity

Figure 6 illustrates a sample of learning task prepared by a teacher and the collaborative activities carried out by the students.

Figure 6. A Sample of G_Creativity Task and the Collaborative Activities

6

6

Task details are given at the top of the task page that includes the subject, title, date created and the assigned group. Teachers can assign the same learning tasks to the entire groups or different tasks to different groups. The sample task is about ‘How we travel’ for a year 4 English subject. Following the task details are the graphics for Question 1. Students spend a few minutes reading the question before answering them, enter their ideas at the ‘Your Ideas’ section and click on the submit button upon completion. Students are able to view their group members’ ideas at the ‘Your Group Ideas’ section. Based on these ideas, students start to engage in the collaborative process towards accomplishing the assigned questions by their teachers. When students have completed the activity session, teacher evaluates the group’s answers by writing a summary. The summary will be displayed at the ‘Teacher’s summary’ section which can be viewed by all group members.

4. Evaluation of G_Creativity and Conclusion

G_Creativity has undergone its early evaluation that comprises of two stages. The first stage was a pilot test by primary school teachers and the second stage was a hands-on testing by primary school students. Results from the pilot test were used to improve G_Creativity performance and usability before carrying out the evaluation with the students. This paper discussed the pilot test results that involved twelve primary school teachers. These teachers were selected by the Selangor State Department of Education based on their expertise in the use of IT in schools. The teachers were asked to create learning materials, highlight the difficulties, participate in the activities that they have created and predict problems students would face when interacting with G_Creativity. After getting familiar with G_Creativity, the teachers answered an evaluation questionnaire that focuses on the suitability and usability aspects of G_Creativity. This is followed by a debriefing session on the evaluation task and the questionnaire.

Table 7. G_Creativity and the Subjects

Subjects / No of teachers
Malay / 9 (75%)
English / 8 (67%)
Maths / 6 (50%)
Science / 8 (67%)

Table 7 shows the results of teachers’ evaluation of the suitability of G_Creativity to carry out activities for the four main subjects i.e. the English Language, Malay Language, Science and Mathematics. Generally, the results show that G_Creativity is suitable for all the four subjects, however, teachers preferred G_Creativity to be used in the language and science subjects as compared to Mathematics. The English teachers acknowledged that G_Creativity can be used to support and motivate students to formulate sentences in English since students have to type the answers in sentences when answering subjective questions. The teachers pointed out that for successfully use of the tool in Mathematics subject, sufficient symbols and formulas need to be incorporated. Teachers also indicated that they have to be creative in formulating the learning materials so that students are able to discuss collaboratively in accomplishing the mathematics solution. However, for teaching of the science subject teachers indicated that they can easily use G_Creativity to teach students to explore and discover the results collaboratively with their friends.

.

Table 8(a). G_Creativity and Learning Outcomes / Table 8(b). G_Creativity and Learning Contents / Table 8(c). G_Creativity and Learning Preferences

Learning Outcomes

/ No of teachers /

Learning Contents

/ No of teachers / Learning Preferences / No of teachers
Knowledge / 8 (67%) / Facts / 2 (17%) / Linguistic / 7 (58%)
Comprehension / 9 (75%) / Concepts / 7 (58%) / Logical Mathematical / 7 (58%)
Application / 7 (58%) / Procedure / 2 (12%) / Visual Spatial / 12 (100%)
Analysis / 7 (58%) / Process / 7 (58%) / Bodily Kinaesthetic / 2 (17%)
Synthesis / 4 (33%) / Principles / 3 (25%) / Interpersonal / 9 (75%)
Evaluation / 6 (50%) / Intrapersonal / 8 (67%)
Musical / 6 (50%)

Table 8(a) shows that teachers are comfortable with the use of G_Creativity tool for achieving the different learning outcomes based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Except for the synthesis, which is scored 33%, the teachers indicated a good suitability for other learning outcomes. Teachers also evaluated the tool for its suitability to teach different types of content, as shown in table 8(b). Teachers indicated that the tool is less suitable (<20%) for teaching facts, procedures and principles, as compared to concepts and processes which are scored more than 50%. Teachers were also asked to assess the tool for its suitability to support the different learning preferences, as shown in table 8(c). Except for the bodily kinaesthetic, which is scored 17%, the teachers indicated a good suitability for other learning preferences. Interestingly, nine teachers (75%) indicated that the tool is suitable for interpersonal learning, which inevitably would encourage collaborative learning. All teachers indicated that the tool is most suitable for use with the visual spatial type of learning since it has graphics capability.

Table 9 shows the suitability of G_Creativity tool in supporting the education levels of primary school students. All teachers agreed that G_Creativity is suitabile for use by the year 4, 5 and 6 students (10–12 years old students) compared to year 1 – 3 students (7 - 9 years old). Table 10 shows the suitability of G_Creativity tool for use in the classroom setting or at a distance (i.e. students carry out their tasks anywhere such as in homes, at anytime with their group members). Again, all teachers agreed that G_Creativity is suitable for both modes of collaboration.

Table 9. G_Creativity and Education Levels / Table 10. G_Creativity and Modes of Collaboration
Education level / No of teachers / Modes of collaboration / No of teachers
1 / 5 / Classroom / 12
2 / 6 / Distance / 12
3 / 9
4 / 12
5 / 12
6 / 12

Teachers also gave suggestions to improve G_Creativity:

§  Increase the use of sounds and graphics to make the tool more interactive and lively

§  The monitoring and evaluation (i.e. summarization) aspects of G_Creativity can be enhanced to include more facilities for the teachers

§  The number of instructions and steps given to the students to carry out the task can be simplified