Applying a process for the shared understanding construction in computer-supported collaborative work: an experiment

When a group of people works to achieve a common goal, they refer to collaborative work, which is based on the philosophy of interaction and collaboration, that is about working in conjunction with other individuals to achieve that goal and seeking to reach effective results. For this, it is necessary to start from effective communication, which will lay on the foundations to achieve true collaboration, a non-easy task. A pillar of having such communication is having a shared understanding within the group, since group members may be using the same words for different concepts or different words for the same concepts without realizing. It is for this reason that this paper presents the validation of a process for the shared understanding construction in a problem-solving activity. Specifically, the validation consisted of executing an experiment to statistically contrast whether with the use of the process it is possible to achieve the shared understanding construction when the participants solved a problem related to software process lines. From the statistical analysis, it could be determined that the process is feasible and partly useful. However, some aspects to improve were identified, such as the reduction of the cognitive load that the process involved in its use, and also the incorporation of elements to monitor and assist in the shared understanding construction in such a way that it is maintained throughout the development of the activity.