Contributing, exchanging and linking for learning: Supporting web co-discovery in one-to-one environments

While Web discovery is usually undertaken as a solitary activity, Web co-discovery may transform Web learning activities from the isolated individual search process into interactive and collaborative knowledge exploration. Recent studies have proposed Web co-search environments on a single computer, supported by multiple one-to-one technologies. However, how this hybrid model using one-to-one devices together with shared devices may facilitate reflecting upon web search results needs further investigation. This study therefore presents an integrative groupware model, CELL (Contributing, Exchanging, and Linking for Learning), which utilizes both personal mobile computers and a shared display in support of face-to-face Web co-discovery. Through gathering small group activity, it was found that this hybrid model was useful in supporting students to search the Web autonomously while simultaneously engaging in joint discussion. In addition, this study identified three collaborative discovery patterns in the use of the CELL groupware. In most instances, student groups demonstrated the iterative envisioning discovery pattern which indicates that the CELL groupware did help students to integrate their findings on the Web and thus gradually to broaden their understanding. However, a few instances of student groups exhibited different patterns of Web discovery which revealed potential problems that students may experience while learning collaboratively using the Web in one-to-one environments.