Das Projekt „Ein Fall für zwei Hochschulen“ wurde vom Sächsischen Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Kultur und Tourismus (SMWK), im Rahmen der Initiative „Bildungsportal Sachsen“, in der Laufzeit von Mai 2019 bis Dezember 2020 gefördert. Projektbeteiligte waren Prof. Anne-Katrin Haubold - Professur für Human Resources Management und Prof. Ronny Baierl - Professur für Schlüsselqualifikationen der HTW Dresden, sowie Prof. Dr. Eric Schoop - Professur für Wirtschaftsinformatik, insbes. Informationsmanagement (WIIM) der TU Dresden. Ziel des Projektes war es, ein bereits erprobtes didaktisch-methodisches Framework weiterzuentwickeln und in einem Manual aufzuarbeiten. Dieses Manual soll Lehrende unterschiedlicher Hochschultypen und Fachdisziplinen unterstützen, Lehrmaterialien und Inhalte, sowie die organisatorische Struktur für eine fallstudienbasierte, hochschultypübergreifende und virtuelle Lehrveranstaltung zu erarbeiten und gewinnbringend einzusetzen. Das Manual beschreibt die an der Professur WIIM entwickelte virtuelle Fallstudiendidaktik des Virtual Collaborative Learning (VCL) in einer hochschultypübergreifenden Variante. VCL ist ein Best-Practice-Framework für innovative online Lern/Lehrformate, die sich gut in übergeordnete Blended Learning Arrangements integrieren lassen. Es basiert auf jahrelanger intensiver wissenschaftlicher Forschung im Rahmen mehrerer Dissertationen und Projekte. Blended Learning bezeichnet die didaktisch sinnvolle Kombination von traditionellem Präsenzlernen und Online-Lernen auf der Basis neuer Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien. VCL wird seit 2001 kontinuierlich in der formalen Lehre eingesetzt. Ziel ist es, das Lernen in studentischen Kleingruppen in den virtuellen Raum zu übertragen. Die Studierenden arbeiten über einen festgelegten Zeitraum an authentischen Business Cases mit klarem Praxisbezug. Sie werden in ihrer Zusammenarbeit von qualifizierten E-Tutoren unterstützt. Das VCL-Framework ist inhaltsunabhängig und bietet vielseitige Möglichkeiten für universitätsübergreifende Zusammenarbeit.

For many years universities communicated generic graduate attributes (e.g. global citizenship) their students have acquired after studying. Graduate attributes are skills and competencies that are relevant for both employability and other aspects of life (Barrie, 2004). Over the past years and due to the Bologna Process, the focus on competencies has also found its way into universities' curricula. As a consequence, curricula were adapted in order to convey students both in-depth knowledge of a particular area as well as generic competences (Bologna Working Group on Qualifications Framework, 2005, Appendix 8). For example, students with a Master's degree should be able to “communicate their conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these, to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously” (p. 196). This shift has been supported by the demand of the labour market for students that have achieved social and personal competencies, in addition to in-depth knowledge (Heidenreich, 2011). On course level, this placed emphasis on collaborative learning, which had led to “greater autonomy for the learner, but also to greater emphasis on active learning, with creation, communication and participation” (Downes, 2005). The shift to collaborative learning has been supported by existing learning theories and models (Brown et al., 1989; Lave and Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978), which could explain the educational advantages. For example, collaborative learning has proved to promote critical thinking and communications skills (Johnson and Johnson, 1994; Laal and Ghodsi, 2012). As Haythornthwaite (2006) advocates: “collaborative learning holds the promise of active construction of knowledge, enhanced problem articulation, and benefits exploring and sharing information and knowledge gained from peer-to-peer communication” (p. 10). The term collaboration defies clear definition (Dillenbourg, 1999). In this article, cooperation is seen as the division of labour in tasks, which allows group members to work independently, whereas collaboration needs continuous synchronisation and coordination of labour (Dillenbourg et al., 1996; Haythornthwaite, 2006). Therefore, cooperation allows students to subdivide task assignments, work relatively independent, and to piece the results together to one final product. In contrast, collaboration is seen as a synchronous and coordinated effort of all students to accomplish their task assignment resulting in a final product where “no single hand is visible” (Haythornthwaite, 2006, p. 12). Due to the debate about digital natives (Prensky, 2001) and “students' heavy use of technology” in private life (Luo, 2010, p. 32), teachers have started to explore possible applications of modern technology in teaching and learning. Especially wikis have become popular and gained reasonable attention in higher education. Wikis have been used to support collaborative learning (e.g. Cress and Kimmerle, 2008), collaborative writing (e.g. Naismith et al., 2011), and student engagement (e.g. Neumann and Hood, 2009). A wiki is a “freely expandable collection of interlinked Web ‘pages’, a hypertext system for storing and modifying information - a database, where each page is easily editable by any user” (Leuf and Cunningham, 2001, p. 14; italics in original). Thereby, wikis enable the collaborative construction of knowledge (Alexander, 2006). With the intention to take advantage of the benefits connected with collaborative learning, this doctoral thesis focuses on the facilitation of collaboration in wikis to leverage collaborative learning. The doctoral thesis was founded on a constructivist understanding of reality. The research is associated with three different research areas: adoption of IT, computer-supported collaborative learning, and learning analytics. After reviewing existing literature, three focal points were identified that correspond to the research gaps in these research areas: factors influencing students' use of wikis, assessment of collaborative learning, and monitoring of collaboration. The aims of this doctoral thesis were (1) to investigate students' intentions to adopt and barriers to use wikis in higher education, (2) to develop and evaluate a method for assessing computer-supported collaborative learning, and (3) to map educational objectives onto learning-related data in order to establish indicators for collaboration. Based on the research aims, four studies were carried out. Each study raised unique research questions that has been addressed by different methods. Thereby, this doctoral thesis presents findings covering the complete process of the use of wikis to support collaboration and thus provides a holistic view on the use of wikis in higher education.:Introduction Theoretical foundation Research areas and focal points Research aims and questions Methods Findings Conclusions References Essay 1: Factors influencing wiki collaboration in higher education Essay 2: Students' intentions to use wikis in higher education Essay 3: Facilitating collaboration in wikis Essay 4: Using fsQCA to identify indicators for wiki collaboration

Im Rahmen des Bologna-Prozesses wird verstärkt auf Gruppenlernen und Virtualisierung gesetzt. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist eine Aussage über die Effektivität von Gruppenlernen im Virtual Classroom (VC) aus sozialwissenschaftlich-theoretischer Perspektive zu treffen.

Virtual Collaborative Learning (VCL) beschäftigt sich mit einer Möglichkeit, Lernenden eine virtuelle Lernumgebung zu bieten, in der sie die Vorteile von E-Learning, wie zeitliche Flexibilität oder Ortsunabhängigkeit, mit den Vorteilen einer kollaborativen Zusammenarbeit kombinieren können. Hierbei steht die systematisch vorbereitete, tutoriell begleitete, unter Projektbedingungen (klare Zielvorgabe, offener Lösungsweg, begrenzte personelle und zeitliche Ressourcen) realisierte und mit Hilfe von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie hauptsächlich in virtueller Umgebung stattfindende, selbstorganisierte Kleingruppenarbeit an authentischen Problemstellungen im Mittelpunkt. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Unterstützung eines Entscheidungsträgers beim Treffen von VCL-bezogenen Planungsentscheidungen und somit die Erhöhung der Wahrscheinlichkeit eines erfolgreichen Einsatzes dieser Lehrform. Hierfür wurden basierend auf den Erfahrungen und Daten, die innerhalb von sieben VCL Projekten zwischen 2001 und 2003 am Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsinformatik, insb. Informationsmanagement, der Technischen Universität Dresden gesammelt und ausgewertet wurden, die Besonderheiten eines VCL Einsatzes systematisiert und ein Vorgehensmodell zur Unterstützung des Entscheidungsträgers abstrahiert. Die im Teil A der Arbeit vorgestellten Informationen ermöglichen dem Leser, Virtual Collaborative Learning in die Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Lehrformen der virtuellen Gruppenarbeit einzuordnen, eine präzise Vorstellung über die mit VCL erreichbaren Ziele zu gewinnen und VCL im Detail kennen zu lernen. Dieses Wissen ist notwendig, um das im Teil B vorgestellte Vorgehensmodell erfolgversprechend nutzen zu können. Das Vorgehensmodell teilt den gesamten Entscheidungsprozess in einzelne Phasen, die Phasen in mehrere Schritte und die Ermittlung möglicher Alternativen in mehrere aufeinander aufbauende Module auf. Zu den einzelnen Vorgehensschritten stehen dem Entscheidungsträger im Anhang unterstützende Informationen, abgeleiteten Empfehlungen, Checklisten und abstrahierte Regeln zur Verfügung.

Learning collaboratively in virtual groups is seen as a promising alternative to the outcome of an individual (Breen,2013). However, working in a virtual group does not guarantee a good solution and performance of the individuals. Rather, working in groups presents several hurdles that need to be overcome to realize the full potential of the group and allow it to focus on performance (Peters & Manz, 2008). Franceschi et al. (2007) also state that learning in virtual groups has a positive impact on student learning and engagement, but that there is a lack of pedagogical concepts to guide the groups on their way to performance. Also Gabelica et al. 2012 state:” providing teams with adequate support is needed to secure teamwork. Research on team learning and performance has increased our understanding of how teams learn but is still in its development phase and in search for leverage points that can be used to trigger team learning” (Gabelica et al., 2012, p.124). Within this scope, Krause et al. (2009) make clear that groups use feedback more efectively than individuals and that this has a benefcial efect on the learning behavior of the group members. Concerning feedback research, it should be noted that feedback can have a positive efect on learning behavior and outcome, provided that it is implemented correctly (Shute,2007). ... To include multiple perspectives, an explanatory mixed methods approach from Hanson et al. (2005) with the support of Ivankova et al. (2006) has been chosen. In the frst step, a superordinate quantitative survey was conducted among the students of the virtual collaboration case study work in the virtual classroom. The results of the survey have then been examined and explained in more detail by e-tutors in a qualitative focus group discussion to deepen the understanding. Subsequently, the results were classifed and interpreted within the scope of recent feedback research. Based on the combination of a quantitative survey and the qualitative focus group discussion, seven concrete recommendations for the design of feedback guidelines in virtual group work were subsequently derived. ... [Aus: Introduction]

In recent years, the adoption of digital learning environments has been proven as a suitable complement to traditional lectures, allowing to involve students more actively. However, current approaches lack at supporting both lecturers' individual teaching scenarios and collaborative activities. Thus, this thesis introduces an adaptable collaborative learning environment that enables lecturers to model and execute customized teaching scenarios. In addition to expressive means of adaptation, it includes collaborative functions which support group and peer interactions. The approach was implemented in a role-based prototype called scenario-tailored Audience Response System (stARS), demonstrating its applicability through seven well-known teaching scenarios. Furthermore, a thorough evaluation based on various user studies and lecture experiments confirmed the ability to support lecturers' individual teaching scenarios and integrate advanced collaborative activities into digital learning environments.

Learning Analytics plays an increasing role in the analysis of virtual learning activities. This article addresses the gap between educational needs and technical supply. By means of a Systematic Literature Review of the LAK conferences the authors extracted observations, methods and tools which represent potential solutions for a given eCollaboration scenario. Based on three prioritised examples of an observation sheet, methods are derived and recommendations for the use of Learning Analytics tools are given. The result is a catalogue that enable users to select suitable methods and tools for an implementation. The (semi-) automation can increase the efficiency of Community Managers in monitoring the participants and hence make real-time intervention feasible.

No description available.

Higher education is still mainly based on traditional face-to-face teaching formats such as lectures. Although known for a long time, the demand for alternative lecture designs has only recently grown significantly due to the present pandemic crisis, which requires a physical separation between the students and also the lecturer. This separation results in challenges of its own: While most solutions already allow the lecture to be held via streaming, it is even more challenging to involve students, or to create interactions with them or between them. Some approaches allow to activate students through simple polls, chats, or collaboration in breakout sessions. However, either the functional scope of these activities is severely limited or they are restricted to small scenarios. The contents of this paper have been under investigation for some time, but in lieu of the current CoViD-19 pandemic, the authors have decided to apply their preliminary findings in actual lectures and present the results here. The main goal is to investigate the addition of more advanced activities that can be adapted to the current scenario. Therefore, an approach is presented that enables lecturers to create custom workflows of interactive activities such as several types of polls, question and answer, instant feedback, or group formations with corresponding interactions. The application in real scenarios is currently being investigated.

No description available.