coMentorcoMentorhttp://comentor.hud.ac.uk

A WWW-based multi-user virtual environment to facilitate collaborative

learning amongst students.

Supported by JTAP

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Rationale behindRationale behind coMentorcoMentor Developed from the needs of philosophy

students - a subject perceived as difficult Need to support debate, discussion, group

work, resource sharing and vicarious learning

Need to support peer mentoring Need to support part-time and distance-

learning students

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coMentor coMentor TechnologyTechnology MOO adapted to serve WWW pages -

looks like a normal Web site, but has multi-user functionality

Additional functionality from Java applets and Perl scripts

System is accessible over the WWW without special client-side software

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coMentorcoMentor FeaturesFeatures Accessible over the WWW without needing

to download any special client software Visual and easy to use: looks like a WWW

site Real-time discussion (and recording) Email Asynchronous discussion groups Students can easily set up groups and

discussion lists and choose who has access Concept mapping tools

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MoreMore coMentorcoMentor FeaturesFeatures Students can leave and annotate work and

choose who can read it Role-playing facility Users have their own home page to record

interests and expertise Includes useful text resources Over time, system grows into a repository

of resources developed by students Easy administration over the Web

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coMentorcoMentor Screen-shotScreen-shot

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Evaluation ofEvaluation of coMentor coMentor 2nd year philosophy course (106 students) Course redesigned to integrate coMentor The system proved popular with students…

...they thought it was easy to use, and they liked the interface

…they thought the resource area was useful

...94% recommended it should be used with the following year’s students

...67% said that they would have used the system more than they did

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coMentor coMentor FindingsFindings The students learned from seeing each

other’s work They also learned from having to ‘write’

down and sharing their ideas with others The students attained high levels of deep

and strategic learning

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What students think about What students think about usingusing coMentor coMentor ......

“…an enjoyable learning experience”

“coMentor helped me realise where I was going wrong by looking at other people’s

work”

“I think coMentor is an extremely useful tool”

“My experience has convinced me that I do need to be connected to the Internet”

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coMentorcoMentor DevelopmentDevelopment Regular newsletter Expansion of use into other UK HEIs Expansion into new subject areas A multi-course version of the software A mutual support group of coMentor users A hand-book of teaching experiences to

illustrate the pedagogic uses of coMentor Collaboration with other successful JTAP-

supported projects

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How to getHow to get coMentor coMentor Version 1.1 released October 1999 Free to UK HEIs Download the software from:

http://comentor.hud.ac.uk/download.htm coMentor Manual available on-line or to

download from: http://comentor.hud.ac.uk/manual.htm

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Contacts & informationContacts & informationWeb site:

http://comentor.hud.ac.uk

Contact:

comentor@hud.ac.ukcoMentor, Dept. of Behavioural Sciences, School of Human and

Health Sciences, The University of Huddersfield, HD1 3DH

01484 473302