Estudio y análisis de la conciencia de espacio de trabajo en cdebate: Una aplicación groupware para debates colaborativos

In this paper, we studied and analyzed the workspace awareness in a groupware application that allows the development of an information task through collaborative debates. The application, called CDebate, is based on the APRI (Action-Perception-Reflection-Intention) model, which establishes a cognitive and motor states formalization that happen in the human being when s/he interacts with others in a constructivist learning situation. In CDebate, the interactions among students occur through a graphical language that reflects the mental operations appropriated for a debate. As evaluation method, we used the analytical framework from Gutwin, Stark and Greenberg, which provides a set of elements that give information about the up-to-date knowledge about participants' location and actions. The results of our study allow us to confirm that group awareness information, only supported through a graphical language, and a window showing the participants' presence (informal awareness), were enough for the collaborative learning situation. We consider that our experience could be useful for interface designers of groupware applications, in particular, for collaborative debate interfaces.