Abstract
Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has a history of being interdisciplinary from its conception. Its beginnings have included computer scientists, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and educational researchers. These collaborations have been fruitful but have also posed challenges (Suthers et al., 2013). This article builds on the authors’ extensive review of the CSCL literature to examine the nature of interdisciplinary collaboration in CSCL research as well as an interdisciplinary CSCL workshop. Using a corpus of more than 700 CSCL articles, we reported an updated analysis for the theories and methods used in CSCL research. In addition, bibliometric analyses examined journals that publish CSCL research and are cited by CSCL research. CSCL research is published in journals that are aligned with interdisciplinary research with large contributions from educational research followed by technology related fields and social sciences. The contributions from domain knowledge journals are relatively weak. These analyses revealed disciplinary influences and uptakes of CSCL research and how they might differ across CSCL research clusters. Lastly, we provide a case example of a CSCL workshop to further demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of the field. Through these analyses we aim to characterize the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration in CSCL research. Interdisciplinarity has helped CSCL research to adopt multiple theories and methods to understand CSCL. While cultivating diversity, we also need to be mindful that research outcomes are exchanged and appropriated actively across participating disciplines so that our understanding of CSCL rises above individual disciplines.
Highlights
Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has a history of being interdisciplinary from its conception (Stahl et al, 2014)
We will examine the interdisciplinarity of CSCL research from multiple perspectives: (1) composition of CSCL research methods and theoretical frameworks, (2) bibliometric research clusters that emerged based on shared reference citations, (3) disciplinary associations of the journals that publishes CSCL research and is cited by CSCL research, (4) disciplinary affiliations/compositions of the contributing authors to International Journal of ComputerSupported Collaborative Learning, and 5) a case example of an interdisciplinary CSCL workshop
The corpora used for the systematic reviews of CSCL literature were constructed based on two databases, ERIC and Web of Science, in addition to seven key journals regarded by experts (Jeong et al, 2014) to be leaders in publishing CSCL research: Computers and Education, Computers in Human Behavior, International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Journal of Learning Sciences, and Learning and Instruction
Summary
Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has a history of being interdisciplinary from its conception (Stahl et al, 2014). We will examine the interdisciplinarity of CSCL research from multiple perspectives: (1) composition of CSCL research methods and theoretical frameworks, (2) bibliometric research clusters that emerged based on shared reference citations, (3) disciplinary associations of the journals that publishes CSCL research and is cited by CSCL research, (4) disciplinary affiliations/compositions of the contributing authors to International Journal of ComputerSupported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL), and 5) a case example of an interdisciplinary CSCL workshop. To realize its promise, CSCL needs to build on both advanced technological innovation and deep understanding of how people learn These multiple motivations and visions for CSCL have made CSCL research interdisciplinary and prompted CSCL to adopt a diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches (Jeong et al, 2014). (2) How can different sources of evidence be used to paint a picture of interdisciplinary collaboration?
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