Multi-touch technology to support multiple levels of collaborative learning in the classroom

While much research on collaborative learning has focused on what goes on within groups to lead to success, in this paper, we consider the classroom context within which collaborative learning occurs. Drawing on concepts of classroom orchestration and repertoires of collaborative practices we discuss how multi-touch technology can be used to support collaborative learning in classroom settings. Data drawn from three classes of sixteen students, organized in four groups of four, is examined to identify how the movement between small group and whole class interaction supports the collaborative engagement, finding that the whole-class discussion prompts a move to higher levels of reasoning within the groups.