Design for articulating and sharing rationales in virtual group learning activities

Research on collaborative learning has shown that working together for a common task can outperform individuals working alone by producing higher achievement and greater productivity. This research program studies the design of shared rationale space to support collaborative learning activities in virtual environment. The paper presents a field study of the use of a free form shared rationale space in virtual group learning activities in an undergraduate class, as well as the design of a software prototype that offers a structured rationale space based on the findings from the classroom study. The paper contributes to the design of virtual environment to support collaborative learning activities.