Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning:
Best Practices
The Co-CREATE project, funded by Erasmus+, promotes inclusivity and digital
transformation in education across Croatia, Portugal, Serbia, and Spain. It uses
an interdisciplinary approach and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
(CSCL) to develop key competencies in students, including those with special
educational needs and disabilities (SEND), while enhancing digital and
collaborative skills for teachers and policymakers.
A key goal is to create innovative CSCL practices through participatory
research, engaging students and teachers as co-researchers, and upgrade an e-
learning platform to be multilingual, accessible, and collaborative.
Collaborative Learning
An instructional strategy where students work together in groups to solve problems,
complete tasks, or explore concepts. It involves exchange among peers, interaction
among equals, fruitful negotiation of power relationships inside the group and
exchange of roles.
PEER model
PERSONALITY EMOTIONAL EXCHANGE RESOURCES
INTELLIGENCE
Manage personality Develop emotional Introduce students to Utilize external
differences by intelligence through the dialogue rules and values resources,
promoting awareness interpretation and to foster collaboration specifically digital
and respect for regulation of emotions and prevent conflict or technologies
diversity during group work disengagement
Source
Find concrete activities to foster student collaboration through the
four PEER model elements in the handbook Collaborative
Solutions – Handbook for the Implementation of the PEER Model of
Collaborative Problem Solving.
Case Study
Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning
This interdisciplinary, hands-on, project-based learning activity
culminated in a tangible outcome and concluded with a
competition, effectively engaging students and enhancing their
learning experience. The project involved students from various
subjects, including Assembly and Maintenance of Equipment,
Sustainability Applied to the Production System, Office Applications,
Operating Systems, and Computer Security. It was carried out by
first-year vocational training students in computing, aged 16-17,
providing them with an opportunity to apply their knowledge in a
real-world context.
Source: Project teacher focus groups
Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
CSCL refers to the activity of peers interacting with each other for the purpose of
learning and with the support of information and communication technologies (ICT).
Source
Intra-group
emotional
Student
support The CSCL model emphasizes interaction
interaction in
work groups as the foundation of collaborative
learning, both in teacher-student
exchanges and peer group work.
Emotional support within groups plays a
Collaborative vital role in maintaining engagement and
Online
learning cooperation, and online collaborative
collaborative
tools tools help strengthen these interactions
and facilitate emotional support.
Teacher-
student Source
interaction
Good practices for CSCL
Type of task: Carefully designed tasks with clear guidance foster effective
collaboration (Source).
Group size: Smaller groups tend to have higher participation rates (Source).
Role allocation: Assigning specific roles encourages productive interaction
patterns (Source).
Peer assessment: Sharing peers' work helps students prepare for more meaningful
interactions (Source).
Collaboration scripts: Structured interaction flows enhance cognitive
engagement, support meaning negotiation, and promote knowledge co-
construction (Source).
Debriefing: Helps students reflect, address misunderstandings, and consolidate
learning (Source 1; Source 2).
Teachers’ role in CSCL
Digital tools complement but do not replace teacher guidance.
Teachers remain essential for:
Directing student focus
Providing context-specific support
Responding to individual or group needs
Sample Prompts for Guiding Students’ Synchronous
Discussions Online
Epistemic guidance: assist the group What do you mean? Can you clarify
yourself? Can you please elaborate this
in presenting clear, sound arguments
issue further?
and counterarguments and in What other alternative exist? Is there
considering different perspectives another point of view that hasn’t been
considered yet?
Does anyone like to respond to the
contribution of X? Does anyone want to
Interaction guidance: encourage students
oppose to X? Does anyone want to question to express their own views, engage with
the contribution made by X? Does anyone differing opinions, and respond through
want to strengthen X’s view or ask X a
agreement or disagreement.
question?
Source
CSCL: Advantages and Challenges
PERSONALIZED AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
INCLUSIVE LEARNING AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
A transversal, project-based approach that adapts Managing classroom discipline, maintaining student
to individual learning paces promotes inclusive, engagement in collaborative activities, and balancing
personalized education and supports gradual, freedom with structure to foster creativity while
collaborative knowledge building. ensuring focus can be challenging, especially when
transitioning between group work and quieter tasks.
INCREASED STUDENT
ENGAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION COLLABORATION AND
WORKLOAD DISTRIBUTION
Creative, gamified, and collaborative activities—
Uneven workload distribution, lack of collaborative
especially those involving friendly competition and
skills, and students forming friendship-based groups
group work—boost student engagement by reducing
hinder effective teamwork, making it challenging for
pressure and making learning more enjoyable than
teachers to ensure diversity and balanced
traditional assessments.
participation.
REAL-WORLD APPLICATION AND ASSESSMENT
WORKFORCE PREPARATION
Teachers find it challenging to assess individual
contributions in collaborative projects due to the lack
Integrating real-world simulations and project-
of standardized rubrics, concerns about unjust
based learning helps students apply theoretical
grading, and doubts over whether group work leads
knowledge to practical scenarios, preparing them
to in-depth learning.
for the workforce.
PEER LEARNING AND TIME AND RESOURCE
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION CONSTRAINTS
Collaborative learning is limited by the time-
Students enjoy peer learning, especially when older
consuming preparation, ongoing monitoring, and
students teach younger ones, and enthusiastic
coordination, as well as technical challenges, access
teachers can foster interdisciplinary lessons that
to digital tools, and the effort needed for
connect subjects like computer science with
intermodular projects and effective implementation
biology or sports with data science.
within curriculum constraints.
TIME EFFICIENCY IN ASSESSMENT
Some teachers claim that assessment of PBL
assignments takes less time than that of traditional
tasks. Source: Project teacher focus groups
Case Study
Minecraft-based Escape Room
In this project, the teacher and primary school students
transformed the entire computer science curriculum
into an immersive virtual world. Students explored
different scenarios, solved puzzles, answered questions,
and—supported by their peers—learned about internet
safety and responsible online behavior. This approach,
though engaging and innovative, is best suited to
specialized classes with highly capable students, as it
demands extra class time and a strong commitment to
working on the project beyond regular school hours.
Source: Project teacher focus groups Image generated using ChatGPT
Introduction to main concepts in computer networks course
e.g The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model
This example illustrates how LAMS (Learning Activity
Management System) can support collaborative learning in a
Basic Computer Networks course through a structured 60–90
minute session on the OSI model. The sequence begins with an
introductory video and a quick knowledge check, followed by
individual reflection on the model's relevance. Students then
work in small groups to analyze a real-world example (e.g.,
sending an email) and collaboratively create a diagram showing
how data moves through the OSI layers. Afterwards, they review
and vote on peer diagrams, promoting peer assessment and
critical thinking. The session concludes with instructor feedback
and a reflection activity to surface common challenges and
reinforce learning.
OSI Model Layers Source
Applications of CSCL and useful tools
Click each tool link
to explore
Learning Management & Assessment:
Moodle for submitting and receiving assignments, grading, evaluating other students'
work, and receiving feedback on those evaluations.
Collaborative Active Learning & Interactive Assessment:
Kahoot!, Gimkit, Quizizz as engaging tools for formative assessment and active learning, also
used to prepare students for exams.
Padlet for collaborative activities and enhancing student engagement.
PhET Interactive Simulations for scientific experimentation.
Collaborative Coding & Programming:
App Inventor to encourage learning through play and experimentation.
GitHub's real-time collaborative code editor, which is extensively used, allows students to
work on the same project, collaborate on coding, divide tasks, or work simultaneously, with
updates reflected automatically.
Scratch for block-based programming.
Visual Studio Code
Collaborative Mind Mapping & Problem-Solving:
Nimultism and mind-mapping applications like Miro, Coggle or MindMeister, which help in
resolving real-world problems through simulation and visual organization of concepts.
PyramidAPP authoring tool designed to support flexible collaborative learning using the
Pyramid or Snowball flow pattern.
Collaborative Design & Creation:
Figma to create collaboratively.
Tinkercad for hands-on simulation.
Collaborative Document & Resource Sharing:
Google Drive (Docs, Sheets, Slides) for collaborative work and sharing materials. It is
particularly useful for tracking each student’s contributions and progress through the
version history; for real-time collaboration and document sharing
Collaborative Project Management:
Trello for project planning and task organization, and idea mapping.
Source: Project teacher focus groups
Visit the project webpage
