A Short History of the Learning Sciences

Abstract

The pursuit of understanding and promoting computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has attracted researchers from a variety of fields with varying interests, theoretical perspectives, and methodological practices. The diversity has enabled the field to deepen our understanding of collaborative learning and help CSCL researchers to design technological tools and environments to support effective collaborative learning from a wider perspective. The chapter examines recent theoretical and methodological practices of CSCL and reflects on how the diversity of CSCL research has contributed to the advancement of the field. We argue that CSCL research be not only theoretically guided but also theoretically informative so that the field can further refine and build more sophisticated theories of CSCL. This requires honoring and yet integrating different research traditions in CSCL so that the field can advance in a more coherent manner.