Facilitating Collaborative Learning for Japanese Language Learners using Sketchpad

Abstract

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a collaborative learning tool called Sketchpad. The importance of collaborative learning in foreign language learning has been pointed out for a long time. Besides, one of the trends in a pedagogical field is the shift from teacher-centered to student-centered learning. Recent advancement of IT technology has accelerated its trend. With the spreads of educational application, it has enabled us to share information and knowledge in real time. In order to promote student-centered learning, it is necessary to facilitate interaction among students. For these purposes, Sketchpad was introduced in a language and culture class at university in Japan. The objectives of our research study is to examine whether Sketchpad contributes (i) to the facilitation of Japanese language learning as well as (ii) to the facilitation of interaction among students. Its effectiveness was compared with that of Blogger comment function. The result of the post-tests and the questionnaire conducted after evaluation showed that its more contribution to both (i) and (ii) than Blogger service. However, some user-unfriendliness was reported, and some editing function did not work properly. It will be dealt with in our future work.