USE OF COLLABORATIVE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT CROSS-FACULTY GROUP LEARNING

The scope of applications of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has grown exponentially in recent years. This group of techniques has been found to be extremely effective as a collaborative tool to inspire scaffolding between students. It is also useful when several academic supervisors wish to view the same project work. This paper describes the process and the motivation behind the first implementation of a campus pack-based project in Year 3 of Dublin Institute of Technology's (DIT) BSc. in Product Design programme. Issues have been encountered in previous years with this cross-faculty managed project, but this work shows the potential that exists in harnessing technology to unlock the true learning potential of collaborative work at undergraduate level. The paper reviews the collaborative learning field and continues to describe the DIT implementation. This description includes initial hurdles encountered, approaches taken to resolve these, learning about the process of using Wikis for collaborative work and conclusions for future implementations.