Abstract. We present KnowBrain (KB), an open source Dropbox-like knowledge repository with social features for informal workplace learning. KB enables users (i) to share and collaboratively structure knowledge, (ii) to access knowledge via sophisticated content-and metadatabased search and recommendation, and (iii) to discuss artefacts by means of multimedia-enriched Q&A. As such, KB can support, integrate and foster various collaborative learning processes related to daily work-tasks.

Online communities (OC) offer teachers a context for mutual inspiration, collaboration, and professional development. Yet, despite there being several studies analyzing teachers' motivations to participate in these communities, it is still unclear how these motivations relate with the supporting collaborative platforms and how they can serve as an input for defining and prioritizing design requirements. A survey study was conducted with the participants of an open online and a face-toface training course in the different phases of a 'Maker' educational activity, which were introduced to a supporting platform for sharing, exploring, and co-creating learning designs. Information about 170 teachers' self-reported motivations to participate in a collaborative environment and their perceptions about the usefulness of the implemented features was gathered. Findings show that participants' main motivations are not only to gain knowledge, but also include to have fun or to collaborate with the community development. Regarding their perception about the supporting platform, more than the 30% of the participants acknowledged the usefulness of the features implemented and identified the lack of resources and training as the main limitations to participate. Results provide evidence of the importance of the participants motivations to determine design requirements for a platform to enhance collaboration within an OC of teachers.

Efforts are being made to add Computational Thinking (CT) to the curriculum of primary schools in order to develop student abilities to use computational tools to solve problems and better prepare them for an increasingly digital society. Distributed Practice (DP) and Retrieval Practice (RP) are evidence-based practices that have shown to lead to efficient and durable learning. Studies investigating Distributed Retrieval Practice (DRP), a combination of the two evidence-based practices, have found positive effects of DRP on university student learning of anatomy and vocabulary items. As CT is considered to be a complex thinking skill, one that is acquired over time with practice, we investigated whether DRP had durable effects on primary student learning of CT concepts. We conducted a quasi-experimental study involving 20 primary school students between 11 and 12 years of age. The students participated in 6 weekly sessions on CT and completed two testsone at the end of the fifth session (immediate) and the other a week later (delayed). At the end of each of the first 4 sessions, students performed DRP by completing a class-wide review quiz consisting of 5 multiple-choice questions. The results of the study show that students attained higher scores on the delayed test (72.6% ± 19.2) in comparison to the immediate test (67.9% ± 20.7). However, the difference in scores was not significant. The results suggest that DRP may play a role in helping students overcome the natural decay of memory, however, studies with a larger sample size are required. Further, this study demonstrates that DRP can be applied in an authentic classroom environment that involves primary school student learning of a complex subject such as CT.

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