Complete thesis - Murdoch University

changing shared understanding within the group. In addition, the representation tools provided(mindmapping, models through the CASE tool Rational Rose from IBM Corporation(2006), etc) act as mediators for collaborative learning byproviding learners with the means to articulate their emerging knowledge in a persistentmedium, inspectable by all participants, where the knowledge then becomespart of the shared context.(Suthers, 2000, p 2)By this means, the accuracy or suitability of (individual) personal understanding is tunedthrough the group-oriented collaborative learning process (Stahl, 1999).A roleplay-simulation environment was developed to enhance the opportunity for collaborativeexperiential learning, in so far as the simulation acts as the context and structure withinwhich the roleplay occurs. Roleplays involve participants deliberately adopting a role fora specific purpose and simulations are simplifications of reality that maintain the essentialfunctions of the simulated environment. McLaughlan and Kirkpatrick (2004)’s analysis ofstudent performance in such an environment suggests it supports student learning aboutalternative perspectives on problems and encourages transfer of learning to new contexts.The environment is set up to provide students with an opportunity to deal with a complexprofessional problem by ‘living’ it, with the use of the Internet providing a richly developedcontext for the roleplaying in a blended mode (where online interaction and resourceprovision are supported by face-to-face activities). As McLaughlan and Kirkpatrick (2004)note, Internet-mediated roleplay-simulations can be designed to maintain effectively the interactionnecessary for individuals and groups to work in a way that is truly collaborativerather than simply supporting distributed individual effort. Although Internet-mediatedroleplay-simulations more commonly support learning in the social sciences, McLaughlanand Kirkpatrick (1999) has reported the success of this approach in Engineering.The scenario developed for the CreativePBL environment focuses on the secondment of theclass to a (virtual) organisation – collaboration between a software house and the university.MurSoft requires a team to work, on short-term placement, on a project to develop gamingsoftware to be used as an educational resource within a tertiary institute. This provides anauthentic context for learning: students will have an opportunity, within their final year ofstudy, to undertake an internship with a software-based organisation.In order for the additional time required to engage with the material in PBL mode (Albaneseand Mitchell, 1993), and to address the issue of loss of motivation in the second cycle of thespiral (some students in previous years had indicated they were bored by the spiral296