Purpose: The objective of this study is to illustrate how participants in leaderless based projects communicate with each other. Several studies have focused on technology-supported projects, such as open source projects, with an established project manager and goal. There is a lack, to the best of our knowledge, in studies that deal with the communication pattern in a leaderless computer supported collaborative project.Method: We have chosen to use a quantitative method where we systematically group several messages according to their content. This method was used in a similar study to illustrate the communication between participants involved in an open source project. We have taken the same Kripendorff based method and adapted it to our study by adding more descriptive variables.Theoretical perspectives: Manuel Castell discusses the aspects of a new communication power that is rooted in the individual as part of a larger creative audience.

I rapporten undersöks problemställningen ?Hur kan teorin om Gemensam grund och specifikt ?gemensamt avslut? bidra till en ökad förståelse för betydelsen av social interaktion i flexibel undervisning via datorförmedlad kommunikation?? i en fallstudie med fokus på videokonferenssystem vilka används i lärandemiljöer. Resultaten som framkom tydliggjorde att då ett sociotekniskt glapp uppstår tvingas studenterna att skapa alternativa strategier för att kunna uppnå just det här gemensamma avslutet. Därmed uppvisar också resultaten att drivkraften att uppnå gemensamt avslut inte endast är stark vid kommunikation som sker ansikte mot ansikte utan även vid datorförmedlad kommunikation. Fallstudiens resultat kan därmed ses som ett bidrag till grundforskningen i det att betydelsen av att uppnå gemensamt avslut vid datorförmedlad kommunikation uppvisas, vilket också förstärker betydelsen av Clarks (1996) teori om gemensam grund.

The aim of this study is to highlight the computer as a learning resource in the education and give us knowledge about how the students uses the computer in year one in a selected High School where one computer per student were introduced in autumn 2011. The aim is also to contribute to the discussion about how the computer can become a natural learning resource for all students in all subjects, including the students in need of special support.How are the High School students using the computer?Are there differences in computer use, whether the student is in academic or vocational program?Are there differences in computer use between boys and girls?Do the student experience that the digital competence is increasing together with if they experience the computer as aid?In what degree do the teachers encourage the students to use the computer?How much do the students use the computer to learn mathematic?The study is based on a survey of all students in year one in a municipal High School.The result of the study is showing that the students first of all use the computer to play music, surf the Internet and to be logged in on social media (eg. Facebook). The students have learned to use the computer for the tasks they need, although the teachers don?t encourage the students to use the computer in any higher means, not in mathematics and not in other subjects.

Education in information seeking is often traditional and focused on technology. When it comes to this sort of education, research proves it is unusual to pay attention to the interaction between students. My intention has been to examine if it is possible to pay attention to the interaction between students, in order to create more and better situations of learning. The issues in this work are about describing the students? interaction.

Denna rapport behandlar en fältstudie genomförd på en kommunal teknisk förvaltning samt en analys av studiematerialet. En tekniklösning på konceptuell nivå arbetas fram. Metoder och synsätt för fältstudien beskrivs samt relationer till forskningsområden som CSCW och CSCL. Problembilden som kommer fram rör en åldrande personalkår där kunskap och erfarenhet önskas ta till vara. Kompetensutveckling och informationsspridning ligger högt på önskelistan hos personalen.

In today?s individualistic society, I experience a need to bring forward the importance of collaboration. From a sociocultural perspective, I have chosen to highlight the positive and negative aspects of collaborative learning, with the intention of illustrating the effects for the individual learning and development. I have therefore made an interview with an educationalist, who?s been a teacher all her grown up life, with the intent of illustrating her thoughts on collaborative learning.

This study investigates the effects that commercial computer games have on young individuals social comfort and learning progress. As a systematic study of literature, scholarly articles have been analysed in order to illuminate the positive as well as negative effects on social comfort and learning progress that may come with playing computer games. The social effects have mainly been discussed with role-playing games, such as World of Warcraft, as starting point, while the learning effects have been coupled with strategy games, such as Civilization IV. The study does not simply declare how these games can be good for these factors, but also in what respect computer games may prevent the development of young individuals socials skills and learning progress. The study showed that in spite of perpetual prejudices against computer games in the technological age, computer games might actually be good to use as a tool in order to authorize the development of young individuals regarding learning and social aspects.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the unintentional learning that happens during the use of computer games. With the use of interviews with students in the ages 13-15 who all have played the game series Assassin?s Creed, and then compared them with students who does not play the game, we have been able to identify that some learning is taking place, but that the student?s attitude towards the subject, and their maturity, also is vital for the learning. Even tough, the students who didn?t really enjoy history as a subject showed better knowledge after playing the game, than the students who hadn?t played at all, which indicates that computer games can be a good source for learning.

The gaming market has become the fastest growing market for leisure and is one of the most popular forms of homeentertainment. This has generated a media debate about how people are affected by gaming and concernes how we are affected by the violence that may occur in games. Games proponents argues that gaming is the future of teaching and computer games are becoming a sustainable and popular instruction strategy. Some studies have long used computer games for educational purposes. By interviewing high school students in focus groups as qualitative research, I studied their attitudes towards computer games as a learning tool.

Denna studie har genomförts för att ge en inblick i hur man kan använda digitala redskap för att främja elevers läsförståelse enligt metoden Reciprocal Teaching. Metoden som är framtagen av den amerikanska forskaren Ann Brown baseras på fyra olika aktiviteter. Dessa är sammanfattning, ifrågasättande, klargörande och förutsägelse. Genom att använda sig av aktiviteterna så får deltagarna visa att de har förstått innehållet samt att de kan kritiskt granska och utvärdera. Metoden används i gruppbaserat lärande, även kallat communities.Syftet med den här studien har varit att hitta digitala redskap som skulle kunna främja metoden och hypotetiskt kunna appliceras inom dagens informationssamhälle.

Denna rapport behandlar en fältstudie genomförd på en kommunal teknisk förvaltning samt en analys av studiematerialet. En tekniklösning på konceptuell nivå arbetas fram. Metoder och synsätt för fältstudien beskrivs samt relationer till forskningsområden som CSCW och CSCL. Problembilden som kommer fram rör en åldrande personalkår där kunskap och erfarenhet önskas ta till vara. Kompetensutveckling och informationsspridning ligger högt på önskelistan hos personalen.

The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the perceptions that ten 12-15 yearold pupils with special educational need, who had been assigned a personal computer, have about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the learning process. Data was collected by personal interviews and observations. Sociocultural perspective and phenomenographic research approach were used as theoretical and methodological frameworks in analyzing and understanding the result. The major conclusions were that most respondents perceived the computer as beneficial assistive technology for learning, but some felt singled out by having a computer to assist in learning. Students had various opportunities to succeed in using their tool depending on e.g.

Human-computer interaction is central for computer assisted development. The aim was to investigate the user experience of a new (U2) compared to an old (U1) computer system, within a cognitive psychology frame of reference. Six subjects, frequently using the system, participated in the study. It was shown that the new (U2) compared to the old system (U1) enhanced and supported more the users? system related procedures/tasks.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how high school students felt that the computer helped or hindered participation and self-esteem in the learning situation and if the students experienced any differences between when they had been relatively alone in using a computer compared to when everyone had their own computer. The starting point was the national one-to-one projects made to give every student access to a personal computer and how it affected students in special educational needs and previous research. The theoretical approach was based on socioculture/activity theory and theories of self-esteem. Ten high school students in grade one at a senior high school that previously had started up a one-to-one project was interviewed. The results showed that the students primarily used the computer to write and to search the Internet, but even as a alternative or compensatory tool.

Denna forskningsrapport undersöker hur nya teknologier kan verka som stöd för visuellt informationsutbyte och koordination för kreativa arbeten på distans. Arbetsgruppen genomförde denna undersökning för att kunna utbyta prototyper och annat visuellt material på regelbunden basis med en beställare av ett projekt som har sitt säte i New York. Projektet använde sig av en så kallad projektblogg som kanal för att förmedla utfört arbete samt för att föra en diskussion och ge feedback på det. Eftersom detta projekt skulle genomföras inom ramen för detta examensarbete valde arbetsgruppen att även undersöka hur examensarbetet skulle kunna koordineras genom projektbloggen. Dessa två undersökningar skedde genom en fallstudie under 8 av examensarbetets totala 10 veckor.