Affiliations: Institute for Defense Analyses, 4850 Mark Center
Drive, Alexandria, VA 22311, USA. E-mail: asoller@ida.org | Department of Computer Science, University of
Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain. E-mail: amartine@infor.uva.es | Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale
de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. E-mail: Patrick.Jermann@epfl.ch | DFKI, German Research Center for Artificial
Intelligence, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany. E-mail: Martin.Muehlenbrock@dfki.de
Abstract: We review a representative selection of systems that support the
management of collaborative learning interaction, and characterize them within
a simple classification framework. The framework distinguishes between
mirroring systems, which display basic actions to collaborators, metacognitive
tools, which represent the state of interaction via a set of key indicators,
and coaching systems, which offer advice based on an interpretation of those
indicators. The reviewed systems are further characterized by the type of
interaction data they assimilate, the processes they use for deriving
higher-level data representations, the variables or indicators that
characterize these representations, and the type of feedback they provide to
students and teachers. This overview of technological capabilities is designed
to lay the groundwork for further research into which technological solutions
are appropriate for which learning situations.
