CONTENTS Overview Members Publications Collaborative Learning Ontology Overview Learning Goal Ontology Three kinds of Leaning Goals Conceptual Structure of Learning Goal Ontology Four Types of W-goals Structure of each W-goal Notation Last update: 5 May 2k

Conceptual Structure of W-goal To form a learning group means to pick up learners who join in the group as members and to assign a specific role in the group to each member. The formation should have rationale supported by learning theories. The structure of learning goals expresses the rationality. A W-goal, which is a learning goal as a whole group, provides the rationale for the interaction among the members. It means that a W-goal specifies a rational arrangement of Y<=I-goals. This figure shows a typical representation for the structure of a W-goal. It would be more easily to understand a learning theory by preparing the structure to represent the theory and filling in each component of the structure with suitable concepts according to the theory. Components of W-goal To describe the specification, we classify the members into two kinds of role-holders: the members who play Principal Role (PR-members) and the members who play Secondary Role (SR-members). Each role is defined as follows: Principal Role (PR) The most important role in a collaborative learning session. A PR-member is expected to gain main educational benefit through the session. PR is usually played by the learner who first proposed to have the collaborative learning. Secondary Role (SR) A supporting role for the PR. A SR-member helps the PR-member attains his/her I-goal. The body of specification of a W-goal is the rational arrangement of the goals for interaction among the PR-members and the SR-members. A W-goal has two kinds of goals of interaction as follows: SR<=PR-goal A Y<=I-goal which means how and for what purpose the PR-member interacts with the SR-member. PR<=SR-goal A Y<=I-goal which means how and for what purpose the SR-member interacts with the PR-member. In the collaborative learning session, all members of learning group are expected to get some educational benefits. So, the SR-member also has an I-goal, and the PR<=SR-goal should be effective to attain the I-goal. The entities of these goals refer to the concepts defined in the Y<=I-goal Ontology. The conditions, which are proper to each W-goal, can be added to the concepts, if necessary. Components of Y<=I-goal Each of the Y<=I-goals referred to by SR<=PR-goal and PR<=SR-goal consists of three components as follows: I A role to attain the Y<=I-goal. A member who plays ``I role'' (I-member) is expected to attain his/her I-goal by attaining the Y<=I-goal. You A role as a partner for the I-member. G:I(I) An I-goal which means what the I-member attains.