The work-reflection-learning cycle - Department of Computer and ...

The work-reflection-learning cycle in SE student projects: Use of collaboration tools
3.2 Use of lightweight collaboration tools in SE student
projects
In project based learning, tools are used to support learning and work. Technology
introduced to support learning, what may be called learning technology, primarily has a
role within the education logics of PBL. Learning technology includes tools for
structuring learning activities (Xu 2007), having course staff communicate with,
monitor and evaluate students (Coates et al. 2005; Trentin 2009) or in other ways
support students‟ collaborative learning activities (e.g. building knowledge (Cress and
Kimmerle 2008), engaging in discussions (Zuhrieh 2009) and comparison with expert
thinking (Lin et al. 1999)). The use of software tools to support learners‟ construction of
knowledge representations to aid collaborative learning was addressed in Suthers and
Hundhausen (2001). Among the lightweight tools wikis are cited as particularly good
for collaborative knowledge construction and open, low-threshold participation
(Hickerson and Giglio 2009; Kim and Lee 2002; Lund and Smørdal 2006).
While acknowledging the relevance of learning technology for PBL, this thesis has a
focus on tools primarily used to support work, e.g. participation in SE practice. It is the
role and usage of a tool in a project that makes it a work tool: for instance a wiki may be
introduced by a SE team as a tool for project management.
An important part of effective project communication is to use appropriate technology
to support it (Burnett 2001). This points to the need for students in PBL not only to gain
experience with using collaboration technologies, for example in stakeholder
communication, but to the need to learn to judge the appropriateness of the technology
for the purpose.
The focus in the thesis is on the use of lightweight collaboration tools. These are tools
that can be acquired and used at low cost (e.g. money and time to learn) for individuals
and their organization. A lightweight collaboration tool typically provides a limited set
of features to support one aspect of collaborative work and may thus be relatively easily
integrated into existing work processes rather than imposing a certain process on the
user. Many lightweight collaboration tools are associated with Web 2.0 (Dohn 2009),
for example wikis, discussion forums, and instant messaging.
Lightweight collaboration tools are actively used in work life. Tools used to support
work practices include blogs, instant messaging, discussion forums and wikis (e.g.
Isaacs et al. 2002a; Lovejoy and Grudin 2003; Majchrzak et al. 2006; Muller et al.
2003; Nardi et al. 2000; Niinimaki 2008; Quan-Haase et al. 2005). In the area of
Software Engineering, textual chat and discussion forums have been found to be
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