The conflict schema triggers argumentation among group members by forming pairs with student with conflicting opinions (e.g. ArgueGraph), by providing them with conflicting evidence or by asking them to play conflicting roles.

Cool Modes is a graphical modeling and discussion support system developed in the COLLIDE lab of the university of Duisburg-Essen.

The free-rider effect describes the loss of productivity that results in groups because one or several members do not participate in the activity to the full extent of their capabilities. The free-rider takes advantage of other’s effort and anonymously hides in the crowd to avoid work. Free riding is based on the perceived dispensability, a rational decision not to contribute to the group because others are better placed to do so.

The Jigsaw schema build upon the partition of the knowledge or information necessary to solve the task, either by forming pairs who have complementary knowledge (Hoppe & Ploetzner, 1999) or by providing them with complementary information or by asking them to play complementary roles. The design principle is that no learner has the necessary information/knowledge to solve the problem aloe. It can only be achieve through intense interaction with the other team members.

We introduced the notion of script granularity as a continuous variable. There is however a qualitative difference between macro and micro scripts. Let us illustrate these differences with scripts that aim at raising argumentation. A micro-script scaffolds the interaction process per se: when learners state a hypothesis, the script will for instance prompt their peer to produce counter-evidence. A macro-script sets up pairs in which argumentation should occur, as in the ArgueGraph, by pairing students with opposite opinions. The micro-script reflects a psychological perspective, acting on the internal script (scripting as a goal), while the macro-script reflects an educational perspective, influencing the process more indirectly (scripting as a method).

We introduced the notion of script granularity as a continuous variable. There is however a qualitative difference between macro and micro scripts. Let us illustrate these differences with scripts that aim at raising argumentation. A micro-script scaffolds the interaction process per se: when learners state a hypothesis, the script will for instance prompt their peer to produce counter-evidence. A macro-script sets up pairs in which argumentation should occur, as in the ArgueGraph, by pairing students with opposite opinions. The micro-script reflects a psychological perspective, acting on the internal script (scripting as a goal), while the macro-script reflects an educational perspective, influencing the process more indirectly (scripting as a method).

Problem-based learning (Koschmann, Kelson, Feltovich, & Barrows, 1996) covers a variety of scripts that, despite differences, include similar phases: analysing the problem, defining learning objectives, acquiring the necessary knowledge and solving the problem collectively

The reciprocal schema defines two roles in teams, one of the peers regulating the other and then switching roles.

A geographical messaging system for the EPFL community as a segway to an ontology of spatial communication
ShoutSpace enables users with WiFi mobile devices (PDAs and notebooks) to see their position on the EPFL campus and to leave messages to other users. The message is then dispayed on the map at a desired location. Multiple threads are displayed graphically with connections among the messages. The system is used as a testbed to understand the cognitive implications of providing spatial references into a simple text messaging system, and as a segway into a general study on the links of geographical attributes and cognition. Particularly we are interested in the interconnections of place and meaning, where location signify something to the content and where it is signified by the context.

Social loafing refers to the finding that individuals exert less effort when their effort is combined with the effort of others than when it is considered individually.

The sucker effect consists in lowering one’s own effort in reaction to other’s free-riding attempts in order to re-establish equity.