Socially organized learning activities with digital technologies are everyday life in small study groups and work teams, as well as in broader social networks and communities. Still, the assessment practices of collaborative learning have remained relatively vague. Collaborative problem solving (CPS), a specific type of collaboration, has received increasing interest in large-scale international assessments and educational policy discussions (e.g. PISA’2015, ATC21s).
In contrast to individual problem solving, CPS is an externalized and measurable activity that integrates both cognitive and social processes. Our research on collaborative problem solving has integrated large-scale assessment of CPS skills with accurate measurements of micro-level processes, such as joint attention captured by dual eye-tracking methods. Furthermore, we are interested in how methods and tools of learning analytics can be utilized in supporting formative assessment, particularly in collaborative settings. In this talk, I will illustrate the possibilities of learning analytics in assessment of CPS skills and processes, as well as perceived learner agency.
Päivi Häkkinen is Professor of Educational Technology and Vice-director at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. With her research group, she has studied technology-enhanced learning and has established a systematic research line on processes, outcomes and contexts of computer-supported collaborative learning.
Professor Häkkinen’s current research focuses on the progression of computer-supported collaborative problem solving (CPS) skills, the possibilities of learning analytics in supporting student-centred learning, and the added value of virtual and augmented reality environments, especially in STEAM settings. Professor Häkkinen has extensive experience of leading research projects, she has actively published in international journals, and has been involved in many national and international scientific tasks.
