Abstract:

Technological innovations have transformed and renovated teaching-learning processes. The merging of technology and pedagogy is patent, for example, in collaborative learning mediated by ICT.

The presence of ICT in the classroom poses the need for new learning methods that can take full advantage of the value added contributed by ICT, since new skills and competences relating to the new technologies have to be developed For this reason, ICT-mediated collaborative learning methodologies are becoming increasingly important in the context of educational innovation and their study is fundamental for creating new initiatives to foster them.

The University of Salamanca and the International Centre for Advanced Technologies (Centro Internacional de Tecnologías Avanzadas –CITA) are carrying out ICT-mediated collaborative work in the context of School 2.0. One example of this work is the ACOTIC (Collaborative Learning through ICT) project, aimed at studying cases of collaborative learning in the third cycle of Primary Education (ages 10-11), in order to gain an understanding of these learning processes and the role played by ICT in them. To carry out this study, a series of data collection tools were created that allow these collaborative processes to be analysed. The instrument consists of an observation scale the dimensions of which are related to study of the context, characteristics of the ICT elements present in the classroom, location of the resources, methodology, role study, assessment and communicative competences. Within each of these dimensions a series of observable items is established in an attempt to determine the quality, consistency, efficiency, motivation and level of cooperation present in the collaborative project under scrutiny.

This paper is presented by the teams of GITE (Research Group in Educational Technology) and CITA in order to present the scale created ad hoc to interpret the evidence obtained from the observations. It was constructed taking into account the study and decision-making of the most significant items when compiling concrete data on these ICT-mediated collaborative learning processes.

The data collected through the tool we designed has made it possible for us to confirm the results of observation of the collaborative working dynamics using ICT in the classroom of the last two years of Primary Education. To date we are able to affirm that learning processes carried out using apps on digital tablets enable collaborative learning and knowledge management through ICT.

Keywords:

ICT-mediated Collaborative Learning, Teaching Methodology with 2.0 Web Technology, digital tablets, research, Primary education.