Teaching Collaborative Problem-Solving for a Ubiquitously Connected Future: The GlobalLab Experience
Abstract: This paper considers the needs and means for teaching telecollaborative problem-solving in mainstream classrooms. Educators have long called for teaching students problem-solving, but science and industry today require collaborative problem-solving (CPS) skills. Moreover, these collaborations are increasingly distributed, resulting in telecollaborations. Although they can enhance learning, as they do real-world problem-solving, telecollaborations, let along CPS, are rarely taught in schools. They require a shift in how instruction is delivered as well as scaffolding for both students and teachers. GlobalLab has pioneered telecollaborative inquiry in classrooms for over twenty years. Available for both English- and Russian-speaking schools, GlobalLab delivers a scaffolded, web-based learning environment that leverages such technologies as mobile devices, probes, and clouds to bring telecollaborative inquiry to classroom instruction.
Presider: Hanna Teräs, Tampere University of Applied Sciences