Can We Solve Low Participation, Distraction, and Inefficiency? A Case Study of Distributed Collaborative Learning in Industries

In a collaborative learning environment, people face obstacles including low participation, distractions and inefficiency. With the development of collaborative systems, people in distributed group prefer Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), making the obstacles even harder than obstacles in face to face meetings. Although Collaborative Support System (CSS), which is developed on Collaboration Engineering (CE) theories, can support teamwork effectively and efficiently, there is little research on how CSS can support collaborative learning. In our study, we made experimental case studies on 33 experts coming from different industries. These experts were asked to do collaborative learning using our designed CSS and then interviewed. Finally, survey data were collected to evaluate the system and generate the conclusion. We find that 1) compared to face to face meetings and other online meetings, CSS will receive high satisfaction in solving low participation, distraction and inefficiency, 2) several factors, which are related to participation, attention (minimize distraction) and efficiency, play crucial roles in collaborative learning.