# Learn-CIAM: A Model-Driven Approach for the Development of Collaborative Learning Tools
## 3 The Learn-CIAM Proposal: Supporting Model-Driven Development of Collaborative Learning Tools
### Conceptual Framework and Specification Language
#### 3.1.2. Workspace and Awareness Aspects  
The Learn-CIAN notation is therefore ready to support the design of flows of learning activities. However, it still does not include aspects related to awareness. To this end, we have developed the SpacEclipse plug-in, for the Eclipse IDE. SpacEclipse makes it possible to generate synchronous collaborative modeling systems adapted to many different domains. It incorporates a series of conceptual frameworks that contain, among other things, a broad set of awareness components (telepointers, radar views, session panels, etc.). Thus, its integration with Learn-CIAN (contemplating the generation of more tools than modeling) would allow the automatic generation of collaborative learning workspaces with an adequate awareness support. In this regard, up to three different learning workspaces have been determined in this work, respecting the rules established by the Learn-CIAN notation (Table 1) and the nature of the main tool to be chosen:  
* A _graphical modeling_ workspace, whose main tool is a synchronous collaborative graphical editor. It must contain a specific domain, i.e., a specific diagram on which students can work collaboratively. According to the rules established by the Learn-CIAN notation, a workspace with these characteristics would correspond to a group computer-supported and productive kind of learning activity. * A collaborative workspace in which _textual_ information is shared, providing, for instance, two types of editors: _plain text_ (if the students want to work collaboratively in the elaboration of a manuscript) and _code_ (if students want to address the implementation of a programming problem). This type of workspace would be related to group computer-supported and productive learning activities. * Finally, a _Web browsing_ workspace is provided, allowing students to collaborate in the search and consultation of information. A workspace of this kind would be a group computer-supported and information handling learning. Each of these workspaces can be enriched with a series of widgets and components to configure the final user interface and provide support for communication, coordination and awareness features (Table 2). However, it is important to note that, since the professor must be focused on the design of the flow of learning activities and/or the configuration of the collaborative tool that supports each one of the group activities, this configuration will be optional and not mandatory. Thus, the professors will receive some support recommendation messages indicating the steps they might take for the configuration of the workspace, without being it mandatory for the final generation of the collaborative  
Figure 2: Learn-CIAN notation concrete syntax, adapted from [45]. tool. In case that they ignore these advices, the final tool will be generated with its default configuration. On the other hand, if they finally decide to modify the default configuration, these components could be added respecting the nature of the component itself and the learning scenario to which it is desired to incorporate. So, a turn-taking panel, for example, makes no sense in a web browsing environment, since it basically performs visualization tasks and does not \"produce\" an artifact, as it does in a textual workspace. However, it would make sense to include a chat and a session panel to support this group task. In addition, each widget/component has its own configuration and awareness characteristics. To illustrate, a chat can be instantiated on the final user interface in different languages (English or Spanish), different sizes (Large or Small) and it can be free or structured (includes a series of phrases that helps in the decisions), whilst a telepointer has a unique color for each user. Specifically, the same color that the user possessed in the session panel.