Abstract
Research on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has traditionally investigated how student-, group-, task-, and technological characteristics affect the processes and outcomes of collaboration. On the other hand, cognitive load theory has traditionally been used to study individual learning processes and to investigate instructional effects that are present during individual learning (e.g., expertise reversal effect). In this contribution we will argue that cognitive load theory can be applied to CSCL. By incorporating concepts such as collective working memory (i.e., individuals share the burden of information processing), mutual cognitive interdependence (i.e., individuals learn about each other’s expertise and become dependent on their partners’ expertise), and transaction costs (i.e., the burden placed on individuals working memory capacity when communicating and coordinating collaborative activities), collaborative cognitive load theory (CCLT) can be used to formulate testable hypotheses for pressing issues in CSCL research. The aim of this paper is to develop a research agenda to guide future CSCL research from a CCLT perspective. We highlight how variables associated with student-, group-, task-, and technological characteristics may be investigated using CCLT. We also address important steps CSCL research needs to make with respect to the measurement of variables and the methodologies used to analyze data.
Highlights
Research on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) has a long tradition
In our contribution to this special issue we will argue that Collaborative Cognitive Load Theory (Kirschner et al 2018) may be used to inspire CSCL studies that can be used to answer important research questions around the design, implementation, and effects of CSCL and can further elucidate the conditions that determine effective CSCL
Kirschner et al (2018) described how cognitive load theory (Sweller 1988) can be applied to collaborative learning situations by expanding cognitive load theory to include concepts such as mutual cognitive interdependence, collective working memory, and transactive activities that elicit transaction costs. They refer to this expanded theory as Collaborative Cognitive Load Theory (CCLT)
Summary
After considering how CCLT may inspire new avenues of inquiry to study the antecedents, processes, and consequences of collaboration, we turn our attention to methodological issues. We see four pressing methodological developments that are necessary to reap the full benefit of using CCLT for new CSCL research These are: measurement of cognitive load, taking into account multiple levels of analysis, taking into account temporality, expanding the breadth of research methodologies. We point the interested reader toward the Group Actor-Partner Interdependence Model developed by Kenny et al (e.g., Garcia et al 2015; Kenny and Garcia 2012) Using this model, researchers may, for example, disentangle how individual prior knowledge, prior knowledge of the students’ collaboration partners, and the interaction between individual and partners’ prior knowledge affects the process of collaboration and its outcomes. As we have noted earlier, most research on CSCL from this perspective is rooted firmly in an experimental tradition This way of doing research will advance our knowledge of how the antecedents of collaboration affect the process of collaboration and its outcomes. This will be invaluable to instructional designers of CSCL scenarios
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