Bridging the Gap - Towards a Graphical Modeling Language for Learning Designs and Collaboration Scripts of Various Granularities

Learning Processes in technology enhanced learning are utilized at very different granularity. This is especially striking in the field of Collaboration Scripts, where we find both the description of whole scenarios as well as very specific procedures for acquiring knowledge of a skill under the same term: a CSCL script (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning). This poses the problem that CSCL scripts are perceived very differently in the literature and that they are consequently represented very heterogeneously. The conceptual and computational integration of these different levels of granularity has been elaborated on only marginally up to now. In this contribution we present our conclusions on the properties a representational system should have to overcomes the gap between the different levels of learning processes. After a discussion and comparison of different notations for process modelling, both educational and technical approaches, we establish a uniform representation technique for the description of various levels of granularity. This will result in less effort for the designers of learning activities and provides the opportunity to combine scripts of the different levels opening up a large potential of supporting students in their learning processes much more flexibly. This is demonstrated in a practical example of combining CSCL scripts of macro and micro level.