Interaction Analysis as a Tool for Supporting Collaboration: An Overview

This chapter constitutes an overview of logfile-based interaction analysis techniques that can be used for the support of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) activities. Interaction analysis is central in the study of CSCL activities, since in such activities through interactions between partners the state of evolving group knowledge is communicated. This interaction is facilitated by tools that allow logging of events that take place, capturing thus information about the content and the process of collaboration. Automated analysis techniques of this information can be developed. The objective of this analysis is often to support participants, in several ways: explicitly, by providing feedback to them in order to regulate their practices, or by making adaptive changes to some aspects of the collaborative setting; or implicitly, by making available to them representations of their activities. This chapter presents the most common approaches used in interaction analysis, while it particularly emphasizes recent innovative efforts to reap the advantages of machine learning techniques in order to overcome common shortcomings of previous approaches.