Cognitive Tutoring of Collaboration: Developmental and Empirical Steps Towards Realization

In this paper, we describe developmental and empirical steps we have taken toward providing Cognitive Tutoring to students within a collaborative software environment. We have taken two important steps toward realizing this goal. First, we have integrated a collaborative software tool, Cool Modes, with software designed to develop Cognitive Tutors (the Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tool). Our initial integration does not provide tutoring per se but rather acts as a means to capture data that provides the beginnings of a tutor for collaboration. Second, we have performed an initial study in which dyads of students used our software to collaborate in solving a classification / composition problem. This study uncovered five dimensions of analysis that our approach must use to help us better understand student collaborative behavior and lead to the eventual development of a Cognitive Tutor for collaboration. We discuss our plans to incorporate such analysis into our approach and to run further studies.