Supporting Collaborative Learning in Recitation Sections Using an Ambient Awareness Tool

Abstract

We study the effect of an ambient awareness tool, named Lantern, on the quantity and structure of collaboration in recitation sections (i.e. when students work in small teams on the exercise sets with the help of teaching assistants). Lantern is an interactive lamp that with colors, intensity of light and blinking represents a piece of information. In a Lantern-equipped recitation section, every team is provided with one Lantern which shows the current status of that team: the exercise they are working on, if they called the teaching assistants for help, and since when. The results show that (1) Lantern increases intra-team collaboration while teams are waiting for teaching assistants and (2) it increases the diversity of inter-team communication, that is, each team communicates with a larger number of other teams, and there are fewer teams who never communicate with others.