The use of the collaboration awareness tool EUROCAT in computer supported collaborative learning

It is often found that distributed learning teams are confronted by several difficulties during the process of knowledge construction. When compared to face-to-face contexts, learners and their teams are offered a higher degree of flexibility in the context of distance learning.. When engaged in Computer Supported Collaborative eLearning (CSCeL), students must also face Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) difficulties and time flexibility challenges. Within this context, we consider it to be essential that the members of the group develop the correct level of interpersonal knowledge about one another so as to help them develop the feeling that they belong and are part of a team. Given that in Computer Learning Environments (CLE), the contextual cues available in Face-to-Face (F2F) contexts are not available to students, certain tools such as Group Awareness widgets (GAw) have been developed to help compensate for the short comings of the CLE and thus enhance the Group Awareness in the distributed learning teams. In this paper we describe the design principles of the GAw EuroCAT, which aims to support the Group Awareness development process in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning activities developed in a virtual campus. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu