A case study of interactive tabletops in education: Attitudes, issues of orientation and asymmetric collaboration

Andri Ioannou, Maria Christofi, Christina Vasiliou

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the exploration of an educational tabletop application designed to facilitate collaboration amongst young learners while they learn about the "Plants of Cyprus". The application was used by 28 third-graders during a scheduled visit at the Cyprus Center of Environmental Research and Education. We report empirical findings concerning the participants' interactions around the table as well as their attitudes regarding the activity. Findings demonstrated that the students collaborated intensively in completing the task and they were overwhelmingly positive about the experience. The paper discusses issues of orientation of the on-display learning artifacts, which encouraged learners to move at a new location around the table to "correct" the orientation. Also, the study raises concerns regarding asymmetrical forms of collaboration, where peers dominated the activity despite the equal access on the tabletop surface.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationScaling Up Learning for Sustained Impact - 8th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2013, Proceedings
PublisherSpringer
Pages466-471
Number of pages6
Volume8095
ISBN (Print)9783642408137
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Sept 2013
Externally publishedYes
Event8th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2013 - Paphos, Cyprus
Duration: 17 Sept 201321 Sept 2013

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume8095 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference8th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2013
Country/TerritoryCyprus
CityPaphos
Period17/09/1321/09/13

Keywords

  • Asymmetric Collaboration
  • Attitudes
  • Collaborative Learning
  • Interactions
  • Interactive Tabletops
  • Orientation

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