Activity and Interaction of Students in an Electronic Learning Environment for Problem-Based Learning

This paper contains the results of an experimental study in which students used a collaborative learning tool in the time between regular meetings of a tutorial group in problem-based learning. The analysis of the learning situation for which this tool was developed, as well as the evaluation of the experiment, is based on a model of collaborative learning that covers three sections. The first is the learning environment that mediates the second section learning behaviour and the third section learning mechanisms . From the perspective of the stimulation of productivity in collaborative learning, the relation between characteristics of the problem task (learning environment) and interactions (learning behavior) was explored. In problem-based learning students formulate learning issues after a brainstorm discussion in the group. Students formulate theoretical and practical learning issues. Two research questions are presented in this study: What types of learning issues generate most interactions? and What types of learning issues generate the highest level of information processing? The first question is concerned with an analysis of the number of interactions and the second with the quality of these interactions. Practical learning issues generated more interactions, as well as a higher level of information processing. These results are discussed in the context of social factors in learning.