The importance of interaction mechanisms in blended learning courses involving problem solving e-tivities

Abstract

Blended learning is widely adopted by education agencies and organizations, as it is a flexible model in which face-to-face classroom practices are combined with computer-mediated activities. To overcome the limits of the loss of interaction between teacher and students and among students in distance learning, researchers proposed several solutions, conducting experiments in several teaching areas. Our interest is aimed at studying blended learning with a specific focus on those courses involving problem solving activities, through collaboration among students.Modern Learning Management Systems (LMS) allow to define virtual classrooms and offer various functionalities to support the class. At the same time, they are not designed to fully support all type of activities. Thus, they provide the possibility of integrating other more useful systems for more specific activities. A standard LMS has to be integrated using specific tools when problem solving activities are planned, to ensure effective collaboration among students. In this regard, there is no convergence towards a specific tool that can be used to carry out problem solving activities in collaboration.This paper aims to propose a minimal set of requirements for interaction mechanisms to support problem solving activities in a collaborative environment, in order to obtain better quality artifacts. We also report the results of a three-month experimental course (12 weeks) entitled ”Project Management: a look ahead”, based on blended learning and problem solving activities. The minimal set of requirements for interaction mechanisms was implemented using GitHub, that is not a teaching software, but it is a global software development tool which has powerful communication mechanisms. The results show that the aid of the proposed minimal set of requirements for interaction mechanisms significantly improves the quality of artifacts when problem solving activities are carried out.