Abstract:

Collaboration is generally defined as the work of two or more individuals who consciously participate and work towards a common goal. Collaboration in teaching, learning or work is definitely a trend nowadays, having been put in greater evidence during the COVID19 pandemic. The integration of collaborative technologies in teaching, allows teachers to motivate and capture students' attention. During the collaborative learning process, in general, students tend to present better results, showing an increase in their communication, social and coordination skills.

So, Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), integrated with incentive systems and social networks, can be a very important tool to motivate and encourage communication and cooperation, strengthening the learning process and thus increasing student performance.

The Epik quiz was an educational game with collaboration and participation rewards mechanisms. To add new mechanisms of collaboration and social perception the Epik2 quiz was developed.

Epik2 quiz is a group learning tool with:
(1) collaborative rules, in which students are encouraged to collaborate with each other through “tips” and controlled chats, in order to solve the exercises;
(2) mechanisms for social perception of group members, such as notifications and a panel with real-time information about the participation of group members and their moods; and
(3) rules to encourage participation, such as rewards for solving problems or helping others, penalties for unresolved problems, and rankings with final grades.

We verified that the Epik2 quiz contributed to motivate and involve the students in solving the proposed exercises. Collaboration and social perception mechanisms acted as a dynamic tool to stimulate communication and cooperation among students, which improved their learning behavior. Furthermore, these mechanisms are the basis for generating a sense of belonging and group responsibility. Epik2's incentive systems, based on scores and classifications, using different reinforcement strategies, were used as extrinsic motivators to improve students' learning behavior towards the proposed activities. All of these allow us to believe that the Epik2 quiz is an effective collaborative learning tool.

In this article we will describe the Epik2 quiz, with regard to its collaboration mechanisms, social perception and incentive system. We also present the evaluation that was made, based on a survey of a group of students, who solved some exercises in the Epik2 quiz.

Keywords:

Collaborative learning, social perception, learning incentives, quizzes, tools.