LMS Research for Claned

• Client: Claned Group Oy

• Time Period: 01.2017 - 05.2017

• Role: Researcher

• Responsibility: Create a rubric to evaluate Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) among adults / Document and present research findings to Claned

Background

The course Educational Project, which aims to solve a practical problem for a client. My classmates Min, Maria, Kati, Adrian and I were interested in online collaborative learning, so we teamed up and joined the Claned project.

Claned is a Finnish Ed-tech company, and its online collaborative learning platform has been adopted by 25 different countries. As many of Claned's clients are more making a shift to a collaborative and learner-driven learning, the company needs set up a rubric to assess Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) so as to provide users feedback for their learning process and outcomes.

Our task includes:

• Create a rubric to assess CSCL among adults

• Suggest metrics that can support assessment for individuals base on the rubric

Challenge

Our team needed to develop the rubric within four months. For us, the challenges were:

1. How to set project goals and finish them timely?

2. How to conduct effective team meetings to push the project forward?

3. How to create a comprehensive and scientifically-based rubric?

Solution

Challenge 1 was solved by setting up weekly action plans and completing them.

In the first meeting, our team agreed to break down this four months project into weekly pieces, as to facilitate task completion. Therefore we created a shared document named weekly report (Figure 1). It was used to monitor our project process as well as collect feedback from the client.

Figure 1. An example of weekly report

Challenge 2 was solved by following the ground rules of good meetings (Figure 2).

• We set clear goals for each meeting, and used meeting agenda and different roles to ensure goal completion. For example, we took turns to be the chairing person of weekly meeting, who was responsible for maintaining discussion and booking meeting rooms.

• We had an open and respectful atmosphere to engage everyone in discussion.

• We recorded outcomes and followed up assigned actions.

Figure 2. An example of meeting memo

Challenge 3 was solved by conducting detailed research on previous studies and critically integrated them.

Our team studied 30 academic publications. Based on them, we created a comprehensive and scientifically-based rubric to asses CSCL among adults. This rubric consists of 3 dimensions and three assessment levels. The dimensions are Participation, Cognition and Metacognition, and Interaction. The assessment levels are Limited evidence, Fair evidence, and Rigorous evidence. For each dimension, there are sufficient descriptors (=metrics) to support assessment for individuals in relation to this rubric.

Figure 3. The overview of the CSCL rubric

Figure 4. The details in the CSCL rubric (Take the dimension of participation as an example)

Results

"During the project, Lei displayed expertise in the learning sciences as well as excellent communication and project management skills. The final products add significant value to our business, bridging academic knowledge to a practically relevant framework that we can directly use in both product development and consulting. We gladly recommend Lei for similar work in other organizations."."

- Mervi Palander, CEO of CLANED Group

1. This rubric was adopted by United Nation (Claned's customer) to assess CSCL.

2. In the course, our solution was rated as 5/5 ( 5 - Excellent ).

Wall of Gratitude

I would like to express my gratitude for the people involved in this project.

• My teammates María Carrasco Orozco, Kati Pitkänen, Min Qu and Adrian Agus Setiawan. When it comes to you guys, the word TEAM is actually the acronym for Terrific Enthusiastic Ambitious and Motivating. Thanks for being the best TEAM ever.

• Our client Claned, classmates and teachers, who gave valuable feedback to help us optimize the rubric.

My heartiest thanks to each one of you for your great support, and it's truly a pleasure working with you!