Stahl, G.,
Koschmann, T., & Suthers, D. (2006)
Computer-
supported. Collaborative learning: An historical perspective
In R.K.Sawyer
(Ed) , Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp 409- 426). Cambridge, UK
http://GerryStahl.net/cscl/CSCL_English.pdf
CSCL within education
Computers
within education
p
2 ' As CSCL developed, unforeseen barriers to designing, disseminating and
effectively taking advantage of innovative educational software became more and
more apparent. A transformation of the whole concept of learning was
required......'
E-learning
at a distance
'CSCL
too often conflated with e-learning, the organisation of instruction across
computer networks'
Co-operative
learning in groups
Dillenbourg
1999 defined the distinction between
cooperative and collaborative learning roughly as follows. p3 'In cooperation,
partners. Split the work, solve sub-Tasks individually and then assemble the
partial results into the final output. In collaboration, partners do the work
together'. i e learning cooperatively can be studied with traditional cf .CSCL
methods
Collaboration
and individual learning
p
3 ' The relationship between viewing collaborative learning as a group process
versus an aggregation of individual change is a tension at the heart of CSCL'
'
In CSCL, by contrast, learning is analysed as a group process; analysis of
learning at both the individual and the group unit of analysis is necessary'
The Historical Evolution of CSCL
The
beginnings
Three
projects in the 90s. All shared the goal of making instruction more orientated
towards meaning making. All turned to computers as resources, all three
introduced some organised social activity.
From
conferences to global community
Key
Books p 5
From
AI to collaborative support
p
6 'AI is computer software that closely mimics behaviours that might be
considered intelligent if done by a human' 'Intelligent tutoring systems are a
prime example of AI, because they replicate the actions of a human tutor' 'This
is still an active research area within the learning sciences, but is limited
to domains of knowledge where mental models can be algorithmically defined'
The
role of the computer has shifted from 'providing instruction - either in the
form of facts in computer-aided instruction or in the form if feedback from intelligent
tutoring systems - to supporting collaboration by providing media of
communication and scaffolding for
productive social interaction' - scaffolding can involve AI techniques eg by offering
alternative views.
From
individuals to interacting groups
The
other group members no longer seen merely as a social background p7 ' the group
itself has become the unit of analysis and the
focus has shifted to more emergent, socially constructed, properties of the
interaction'
Collaboration
involves complex interacting factors therefore empirical research that
investigated causal factors by controlling for other factors is generally not
very successful. p7 for page 189 of Dillenbourgh et al,1996 ' Hence, empirical
studies have more recently started to focus less on establishing parameters for
effective collaboration and more on trying to understand the role that such
variables play in mediating interaction. This shift to a more
process-orientated account requires new tools for analysing and modelling
interactions'
From
mental representations to interactional meaning making
p
8. ' meaning making not assumed to be an expression of mental representation of
the individual participants, but is an interactional achievement'
From
quantitative comparisons to micro case studies
In collaborative contexts individuals
visibly show their learning p 8 'the methods that people use to interact are
widely shared ( at least within appropriately defined communities or cultures)'
therefore case study method is popular.
p8/9
' how can the analysis of interactional methods help guide the design of CSCL
technologies and pedagogues? This question points to the complex interplay
between education and computers in CSCL.
The interplay of learning and technology in CSCL
The
traditional conception of learning
Thorndike
- learning is measurable
Learning
as a psychological phenomena with three essential features, it represents a
response and recording of experience, it is change that occurs over time, it is
a process that is not available to direct inspection
CSCl
embraces a more situated view, p 9 'locates it in meaning negotiation carried
out in the social world rather than in people 's heads'
Designing
technology to support Grouo meaning making
p
9 ' No form of technology, however, no matter how cleverly designed or
sophisticated, has the capacity, in and of itself, to change practice. To
create the possibility of an enhanced form of practice requires more
multifaceted forms of design (bringing in theories and practices from various
disciplines').
p
10 ' An environment for a desired form of practice becomes so through the
organised actions of its inhabitants '. i e an environment is constructed by
the people who use it' and therefore in order to design we need to understand
how people use these environments.
'CSCL
research has both analytic and design
components. Analysis of meaning making is inductive and indifferent to reform
goals. It seeks only to discover what people are doing in moment to moment
interaction without prescription or assessment. Design, on the other hand, is
inherently prescriptive ' therefore the relationship between praxis and design
needs to be a symbiotic one.
The
analysis of collaborative learning
p
11 ' The aspect of collaborative learning that is perhaps hardest to understand
in detail is what may be called " practices of meaning - making in the
context of joint activity " inter subjectivity learning (Suthers, 2005) or
group cognition (Stahl, 2006) 'This is learning that is not merely accomplished
interactionally, but is actually constituted of the interactions between
participants'
Most
research use codes and categories
'the
knowledge building that takes place within small groups becomes
"internalised by their members as individual learning and externalised in
their communities as certifiable knowledge"' Stahl (2006)
The
analysis of computer support
p
12 'Computer support for inter subjective meaning making is what makes CSCL unique' ......'Design
should leverage the unique opportunities provided by technology rather than
replicate support for learning that could be done through other means'
.......'We should explore the
potential of adaptive media as an influence on the course of subjective
processes, and take advantage of its ability to prompt, analyse and selectively
respond
The multidisciplinarity of CSCL
Hence
the different methodologies
Quant
Experimentally
based studies based in controlled factors
p13 ' do not directly analyse the accomplishment of inter subjective
learning'
QualCrosby
'The
grounded approach is data driven, seeking to discover patterns in the data
rather than imposing theoretical categories. The analysis is often
micro-analytical, examining brief episodes in great detail' '
KRo
but then misses the evolving nature
Suggestion
Use
data from qual to inform quant and then
quant to focus the detail work of qual ie an iterative approach. A quisitive approach (Goldman, Crisby, & Shea, 2004) p 14 ' a purely data driven
approach that dives theory, but never applies it, won't be adequate.......
'Having identified where successful methods were not applied , we then examine
the situation to determine what contingency was missing or responsible
