Abstract
This study developed a framework that can be used to build a forum environment, referred to as a Collaborative Interaction Management System (CIMS) that incorporates an automated method of assessing student’s individual contributions and group collaborative learning. The framework was fine-tuned by conducting a survey that identified 20 major features that faculty and students from various universities in the National Capital Region of the Philippines mostly prefer to be included in a forum environment. A web-based prototype software was then developed that implements the framework along with the assessment method and the 20 top features. To determine the validity of the main feature of CIMS (i.e., the assessment method), sample forum data consisting of 28 threads with a total of more than 1000 messages spanning various topic domains was collected from the Slashdot forum and the numeric ratings assigned to messages in this data was used to measure accuracy and reliability of the numeric ratings assigned by CIMS by analyzing it using Cohen’s Kappa. Based on the results of the survey, the overall means have identified that both faculty and students feel that the prototype software are functional, reliable, and usable enough.
Keywords: CIMS, Collaborative Interaction Management System, educational forum, prototype web-based software
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