Abstract :
[en] The Collaborative Design and Build (CDB) activity addresses key STEM education challenges:
developing 21st century skills, scaling feedback for large classes, and enabling hybrid learning. In CDB sessions, teams of students form problem-solving chains where each team builds upon previous work. This approach suits any STEM course requiring multi-step problem solving.
Until this semester, CDB sessions were conducted using physical worksheets. We now use a digital module that manages the flow of step-by-step solutions and feedback between teams, while also supporting real-time collaboration on shared solutions within each team. In this module, instructors can configure problem statements, solution steps, criteria for feedback, group and team size, and timing of each step. When a session begins, problems are distributed among teams, solutions advance between teams with structured feedback periods, and the activity concludes with validation and retrospective analysis.
We used this module for the first time in our CS2 course where students tackled recursive problems through three steps: mathematical formulation, function specification, and implementation.
At the end of the session, we collected student perception data, mainly to compare digital versus paper-based approaches. Student feedback favored the digital CDB module (86% found its interface clear, 80% reported smoother workflow, and 83% noted improved collaboration) compared to paper-based approaches. The coding step was identified as the most suitable step for digitalization (90%). The primary challenges were time constraints and team interdependence, suggesting the need for flexible timing features and highlighting the inherent collaborative nature of the activity.
