Field Of Computer-supported Collaborative Learning Research Articles

Analyzing first-semester chemistry students’ transactive talk and problem-solving activities in an intervention study through a quantitative coding manual

IntroductionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, digital video conferencing formats temporarily became the new norm at universities. Due to social distancing, these environments were often the only way for students to work together. In the present study, we investigated how first-semester chemistry students dealt with new, challenging content, i.e., quantum theories of chemical bonding such as molecular orbital (MO) theory, in such an unfamiliar collaboration environment. Studies in the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) suggest that small groups working on complex tasks are particularly effective when students actively build on the ideas and reasoning of their peers, i.e., when they engage in transactive talk and when they structure their work on a metacognitive level by following typical problem-solving patterns.MethodsTo operationalize these constructs, we developed a coding manual through quantitative content analysis, that we used to analyze a total of N = 77 students working together in 21 small groups on two consecutive tasks: the creation of glossaries and the construction of concept maps on MO theory. Our manual showed very good characteristics in terms of internal consistency and inter-coder reliability. Based on the data obtained, it was possible to not only describe the student’s transactive communication and problem-solving activities, but to correlate it with other variables such as knowledge development in MO theory, which allowed us to compare the two different collaborative phases as well as different treatment groups.Results and discussionStudents showed a higher proportion of transactivity and problem-solving activities when constructing the concept maps than when creating glossaries. In terms of knowledge gains, a multiple linear regression analysis revealed that students in groups that derived consequences from their collaborative work showed greater improvements than students who did not, although the students’ prior knowledge remained the most influential factor. As for the different treatments, our data did not reveal any noticeable difference when students from a small group worked with either complementary or identical material before collaboration, neither in terms of transactive talk nor problem-solving patterns. All in all, we were able to develop and test a powerful tool to quantify transactive communication and problem-solving activities in a collaborative context.

Development of Design Principles of Group Awareness Tool for Facilitating Computer-supported Collaborative Argumentation

As one of the forms of collaborative learning, collaborative argumentation can improve students’ argumentation skills, promote effective content learning and cultivate critical thinking. Especially in the field of Computer-supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), such as conflicts between group members, free-riding behavior, and unequal participation occur frequently. At the same time, in the CSCL environment, it is difficult to coordinate one’s actions with other group members’ actions. These problems are mainly caused by learners who cannot obtain group awareness information about accompanying learners and the current group. Therefore, this study according to the previous research, the initial design principles and initial specific guidelines for the group awareness tool were identified. After that, three educational technology experts reviewed the initial design principles and guidelines. The modified specific guidelines were applied to the two-week classroom teaching of 45 first-year students in a class. In addition, a learners’ response survey was conducted on the students who actually participated in the computer-supported collaborative argumentation activities. Finally, the results of questionnaire surveys (n=45) and interviews (n=5) were analyzed, and the final specific guidelines were developed. According to the research results, collaborative argumentation based on group awareness tool solves the problem that general collaborative argumentation activities can’t obtain timely information on the cognitive, behavioral, and social awareness of accompanying learners and the current group study situation. It can continuously maintain their study motivation and promote interaction among learners to improve the quality of computer-supported collaborative learning.

Using Three Social Network Analysis Approaches to Understand Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

Sharing the same philosophy of “relations matter” with computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), social network analysis (SNA) has become a common methodology in the CSCL research. In this research, I use SNA methods from relational ties, network modes, and integrated methods perspectives to understand attributes of relations in CSCL. I design, conduct, and evaluate three SNA analytics on the same dataset from an online course to understand CSCL entities, relations, and processes. This online collaborative discussion in this course stresses students’ knowledge inquiry, construction, and building through peer interactions. Results show that compared to traditional SNA methods, these three SNA approaches can reveal more detailed, richer picture of the collaborative learning processes, particularly, the interactional, multi-modal, and temporal aspects. Moreover, these SNA approaches are generalizable for understanding similar CSCL settings. Based on the results, this research proposes methodological implications to further apply and develop SNA in the CSCL field.

Exploring the impact of teacher experience on questioning techniques in a Knowledge Building classroom

The Knowledge Building Community is a prominent pedagogy within the field of computer-supported collaborative learning. However, studies concerning the impact of Knowledge Building on the questioning behaviour of experienced and beginning teachers are limited. This study investigates the questioning behaviour of two Singapore teachers teaching Social Studies in two primary four classrooms employing the Knowledge Building pedagogy. The teachers have similar backgrounds, but different level of teaching experience. To better understand the teachers’ views, lesson observations were recorded, and in-depth interviews with each teacher are conducted. The findings indicate that the more experienced teacher is better able to adopt the Knowledge Building pedagogy and asks more high-order questions. The findings also indicate that enacting Knowledge Building lessons changed the teachers’ views with regards to their students’ ability to pursue inquiry on their own.

Technology Support for Discussion Based Learning: From Computer Supported Collaborative Learning to the Future of Massive Open Online Courses

This article offers a vision for technology supported collaborative and discussion-based learning at scale. It begins with historical work in the area of tutorial dialogue systems. It traces the history of that area of the field of Artificial Intelligence in Education as it has made an impact on the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning through the creation of forms of dynamic support for collaborative learning, and makes an argument for the importance of advances in the field of Language Technologies for this work. In particular, this support has been enabled by an integration of text mining and conversational agents to form a novel type of micro-script support for productive discussion processes. This research from the early part of the century has paved the way for emerging technologies that support discussion-based learning at scale in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). In the next 25 years, we expect to see this early, emerging work in MOOC contexts grow into ubiquitously available social learning approaches in free online learning environments like MOOCs, or what comes next in the online learning space. These ambitious social learning approaches include Problem Based Learning, Team Project Based Learning, and Collaborative Reflection. We expect to see the capability of drawing in and effectively supporting learners of all walks of life, especially impacting currently under-served learners. To that end, we describe the current exploratory efforts to deploy technology supported collaborative and discussion-based learning in MOOCs and offer a vision for work going forward into the next decade, where we envision learning communities and open collaborative work communities coming together as persistent technology supported and enhanced communities of practice.

A decade of CSCL

This issue of ijCSCL completes a decade of publication of CSCL research. When the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning emerged about a decade prior to the launching of the journal, there was a pervasive sense of a paradigm revolution in learning research (Koschmann 1996). It was time to transcend cognitive science’s critique of behaviorism, extending the unit of cognition beyond the boundaries of the individual mind (Stahl 2015c). For instance, new directions in theory surfaced around the influential Institute for Learning Research (Brown et al., 1989; Lave & Wenger 1991; Orr 1990; Suchman 1987; Teasley & Roschelle 1993; Winograd & Flores 1986), as well as in distributed cognition (Hutchins 1996), activity theory (Engestrom 1987) and conversation analysis (Goodwin D Damsa 2014; Jones et al., 2006; Overdijk et al., 2014; Stahl 2012; 2013a). Cognitive science argued that human behavior could not be modeled without hypothesizing cognitive structures like mental representations and computations, which mediated responses to the environment, particularly linguistic responses (Chomsky 1959). However, the cognitive approach did not consider structures of interaction at the dialogical, small-group and community level, where language is primarily learned and practiced. Artificial intelligence—which exerted an important influence on CSCL—had already conceptualized cognition as taking place outside the human mind, in software computations and digital representations. The new post-cognitive theories began to postulate structures and practices at the group level, although they did not always clearly distinguish small groups from larger social institutions. Dialogical, interactional and practice-oriented approaches in CSCL have elaborated these conceptions within the context of collaborative learning (Cress & Kimmerle 2008; Ligorio et al., 2013; Oner 2013; Stahl et al., 2014). While the post-cognitive paradigm dominates CSCL theory and seems particularly appropriate to a field focused on group collaboration, it has perhaps been less influential in the areas of technology design and analysis methodology. CSCL research often relies upon technologies designed on a model of individual learning and knowledge transfer, rather than on an Intern. J. Comput.-Support. Collab. Learn (2015) 10:337–344 DOI 10.1007/s11412-015-9222-2

Explaining authors’ contribution to pivotal artifacts during mass collaboration in the Wikipedia’s knowledge base

This article discusses the relevance of large-scale mass collaboration for computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) research, adhering to a theoretical perspective that views collective knowledge both as substance and as participatory activity. In an empirical study using the German Wikipedia as a data source, we explored collective knowledge as manifested in the structure of artifacts that were created through the collaborative activity of authors with different levels of contribution experience. Wikipedia’s interconnected articles were considered at the macro level as a network and analyzed using a network analysis approach. The focus of this investigation was the relation between the authors’ experience and their contribution to two types of articles: central pivotal articles within the artifact network of a single knowledge domain and boundary-crossing pivotal articles within the artifact network of two adjacent knowledge domains. Both types of pivotal articles were identified by measuring the network position of artifacts based on network analysis indices of topological centrality. The results showed that authors with specialized contribution experience in one domain predominantly contributed to central pivotal articles within that domain. Authors with generalized contribution experience in two domains predominantly contributed to boundary-crossing pivotal articles between the knowledge domains. Moreover, article experience (i.e., the number of articles in both domains an author had contributed to) was positively related to the contribution to both types of pivotal articles, regardless of whether an author had specialized or generalized domain experience. We discuss the implications of our findings for future studies in the field of CSCL.

Perspectives on Tools for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is a research field which emerged during the past 20 years. The research addressed questions in CSCL including – among others - how groups and individuals learn through peer interaction using specific tools, how small groups interact and develop shared meanings over time, how teachers orchestrate collaborative learning activities in the classroom with the support of technology, how institutions change and create new conditions for teaching and learning, and even how the opportunities for learning change as society adopts new models for education. Following the constructivistic and socio-cultural approaches in learning, numerous CSCL tools have been designed, developed and tested over the years. Although they can be classified in various ways, the distinction between systemic and dialogic types of tools and approaches is adopted in this paper. Following this categorization, four interesting research approaches, each focusing on a different kind of computer mediated tool are presented, designating the diversity of research within the CSCL field.

Connecting agents and artifacts in CSCL: Towards a rationale of mutual shaping

Studying how collaborative activity takes shape interactionally in the context of technological settings is one of the main challenges in the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). It requires us, amongst other things, to look into the ‘black box’ of how technical artifacts are brought into use, or rather, how they are attuned to, interacted with, and shaped in various and varied practices. This article explores the establishment of a purposeful connection of human agents and technical artifacts in CSCL, that we call ‘the agent-artifact connection’. In order to contribute to a grounded conception of this connection, we reviewed three theoretical positions: affordance, structures and instrument. Although these three positions differ in how they conceptualise the connection, they share the assumption that a technical artifact carries a potential for action that becomes available when artifact and agent connect, and that the availability of action opportunities is relative to the ones who interact with the artifact. In this article, we map out the conceptual and methodological implications for each of the positions. We argue that the rationale of ‘shaping’ collaborative interactions that underlies a part of CSCL research should be replaced by a rationale of ‘mutual shaping’ of human agents and technical artifacts.

CSCL@Work

The authors introduce Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) at the workplace (CSCL@Work) as a conceptual framework for bridging the knowledge of researchers in the field of CSCL to work-based learning. In contemporary firms, shepherding the creation of new knowledge is of equal importance, and is driven by two primary research questions. First, how do organizations create new knowledge when the answer to a particular problem is not available within the firm? Second, what cultures of learning must and do exist to support solving problems when the answer is not known within an organization? Contemporary answers to these questions must recognize that learning is an implicit, often invisible component of work, and explicitly decouple the construct of learning from its main western institutionalization, the school. To advance thinking in this area, the authors undertook a meta analysis of 8 CSCL@Work cases and developed 3 design theses: 1) Learning occurs in unexpected and unusual online learning places, especially through Social Media. 2) Learning activities incorporate feedback from diverse people, who are not available within traditional organizational boundaries; 3) learning must be made visible across established boundaries. Designing explicit construction of new knowledge needs to be integrated into workplace practices today through pedagogical and technological design.

Shared and personal learning spaces: Challenges for pedagogical design

The development of new tools for collaboration, such as social software, plays a crucial role in leisure time and work activities. The aim of this article is to summarize the research in the field of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). This is done particularly from the perspective of the blurred line between individual (personal) and group-level (shared) learning that the use of the new tools has forced us to re-think. First, individual and group-level perspectives to learning are discussed to make sense of the major notions of how learning is understood in CSCL research. Second, based on this theoretical grounding, it will be further elaborated what this means to the pedagogical design of educational practices utilizing emerging technological landscapes. And third, two different empirical examples will be presented to illustrate the variety of emerging technological landscapes meeting the needs of future learning.

Group awareness tools for learning: Current and future directions

Group awareness has become an important concept since it was introduced into the field of computer-supported collaborative learning. This paper discusses current trends and future directions in this research field. It is argued that the development and implementation of tools should be complemented by systematic explorations into the mechanisms that moderate the relationship between group awareness and learning. It is suggested that variations in tool design features are a starting point for furthering our understanding of the processes involved in group awareness. Based on the contributions in this special issue, eight areas for future empirical investigations are identified. The paper concludes with some theoretical considerations on the nature of group awareness.

A prism of CSCL research

Our field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning necessarily struggles to integrate contributions and perspectives from a diverse set of disciplines, technologies, practices, methodologies, and theories. First, based on its very name, CSCL must bridge the professional disparity between computer science and learning science. Then it has to function within the multiplicity of approaches to conducting research about computersupport technologies and collaborative-learning interactions. This presents an unavoidable challenge to people working in the field and to journals serving their needs. The current issue of ijCSCL presents an interdisciplinary prism of new CSCL research, illustrating multiple points across the spectrum of current work. Each of the papers investigates a distinctive CSCL-technology application, but does so in a way that emphasizes pedagogical aims and that investigates collaboration processes. We start with a report on innovative computer support for K-12 science education by Andri Ioannidou, Alexander Repenning, David Webb, Diane Keyser, Lisa Luhn and Christof Daetwyler. A simulation of the human body’s cardiovascular system of lungs and heart gives students a sense of the complexity of multiple organs working together. Based on a substantial extension of Agentsheets—a student-programmable simulation design environment—the Mr. Vetro simulation framework allows students to explore the effects of different variations of physiological parameters within an interdependent complex system. The students participate in highly engaging ways, interacting to collaboratively control the simulation of a complex organism under varying conditions by each simulating the role of individual organs or contextual parameters through handy mobile devices. The technology thereby addresses the currently popular theme of causality in complex systems in a way appropriate to K-12 science: It involves small groups of students in the complex interactions of collaboration, using an approach that the authors call “collective simulations.” A basic assessment through user studies of the software in classrooms shows Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (2010) 5:137–139 DOI 10.1007/s11412-010-9087-3

Students’ communicative behavior adaptability in CSCL environments

By the proliferation of online courses, the social dimension of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is becoming more important than before. Research shows that communicative behavior adaptation to the computer medium is a critical issue in CSCL social relationship development. Two dominant theories in the CSCL field, social information processing theory and adaptive structuration theory, argue that individuals do not simply receive the technology passively but they adapt their behavior to increase benefits from the technology. This paper develops an instrument in order to operationalize the notion of individual's communicative behavior adaptability in CSCL. Through an exploratory factor analysis performed on a small sample of post graduate students of an online degree in an Australian university, three factors have been unveiled: (1) individual perception of self-representation, (2) individual perception of compatibility, and (3) individual perception of the use of computer technology. Identification of these factors is expected to facilitate understanding of individuals' social behaviors in CSCL environment, which in turn will guide the design of CSCL systems. In addition, the paper examines the relationships between the extracted factors and four environmental factors: learner's characteristics, course characteristics, instructor characteristics, and technology characteristics. The results show that none of these characteristics strongly affect perception of self-representation or perception of the use of computer technology. On the other hand, a strong relationship was found between perception of compatibility and learner's and course characteristics. The reliability as well as validity of the study is examined and findings are discussed. These findings will provide further insights into the design process of CSCL systems.

Toward a dialectic relation between the results in CSCL: Three critical methodological aspects of content analysis schemes

The research field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) includes a large variety of approaches which present significant theoretical and methodological differences. This diversity complicates the articulation of the knowledge that is produced within this investigative framework. The paper addresses this problem from a dialectic view. We propose that the main reason for this problem is not the theoretical and methodological diversity itself, but rather the difficulty of situating one specific result within this diversity in a way that makes dialectic relations between results visible and mutual transformation of the approaches possible. In the present paper, we propose a set of indicators, applicable to content analysis approaches, aimed to facilitate this reciprocal positioning of the results in the field. These indicators come from what we term “critical methodological aspects”: those aspects of the methodological infrastructure that are directly related to theoretical positions. We consider three critical methodological aspects in content analysis schemes: the units of analysis, the relations to be established, and the dimensions of analysis. Indicators regarding these aspects are proposed and defined, and their use for facilitating dialectical relations between results is exemplified by means of the examination of five specific approaches.

Professional Development of Teachers for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning: A Knowledge-Building Approach

Background This study was situated in Singapore, which aims to achieve engaged learning in P–12 schools with the use of educational technology. One of the foci of study among Singaporean educational researchers on a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment that emphasizes collaboration among learners for the co-construction of knowledge. Although there is some evidence that CSCL enhances students’ learning, an identified gap in the field of CSCL is documented accounts of how knowledge building happens. Knowledge of how to facilitate sustained and in-depth knowledge-building discourse among teachers has also been identified as a gap in understanding in teacher education. Purpose This case study aims to gain insights into how negotiation and co-construction of knowledge occurs among eachers during their participation in a knowledge-building community. Participants It involves 7 Singaporean teachers who enrolled in an 18-month Advanced Diploma program. Intervention Three consecutive modules were conducted to develop the participants’ competencies in and dispositions toward facilitating student-centered learning in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. The modules engaged the teachers as coc-onstructors of knowledge in a knowledge-building community. Research Design This is a case study in which the first author, as a participant observer, acted as the facilitator for the modules. Data Analysis The main source of data was the teachers’ notes in Knowledge Forum, a CSCL environment. The teachers’ patterns of online interactions were analyzed through social network analysis and the interaction analysis model (IAM). Findings Our findings indicate that the teachers formed a socially cohesive community and participated rather actively, writing an average of 3.7 notes and 425 words per week. Further analysis of the notes using IAM shows a healthy distribution of notes at various phases of knowledge construction. Conclusion We conclude that the teacher knowledge-building community was successful in engaging the teachers in collaborative knowledge building, leading to a deep understanding among them about learning in a CSCL environment. We suggest the following factors as contributors to this advancement: (1) having a group of committed teachers as participants, (2) engaging the teachers to work on authentic problems faced in schools, (3) empowering the teachers with the agency to solve problems and reflect on their learning, (4) allocating adequate time for teachers to link theories to practice and to reflect on their implementation, and (5) having a facilitator who is experienced in facilitating this form of learning and in using a pedagogical model that is built on appropriate learning theories.

Technology affordances for intersubjective meaning making: A research agenda for CSCL

Now well into its second decade, the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) appears healthy, encompassing a diversity of topics of study, methodologies, and representatives of various research communities. It is an appropriate time to ask: what central questions can integrate our work into a coherent field? This paper proposes the study of technology affordances for intersubjective meaning making as an integrating research agenda for CSCL. A brief survey of epistemologies of collaborative learning and forms of computer support for that learning characterize the field to be integrated and motivate the proposal. A hybrid of experimental, descriptive and design methodologies is proposed in support of this agenda. A working definition of intersubjective meaning making as joint composition of interpretations of a dynamically evolving context is provided, and used to propose a framework around which dialogue between analytic approaches can take place.

Un environnement support de projets collectifs entre apprenants : SPLACH

Our research deals with collaborative learning at a distance and takes place in the field of CSCL (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning). To promote communications between people learning in a distance context, we think that it is important to involve these learners in collective activities. We suggest to set-up activities using project-based learning in order to favour collective learning. From a model of activities with steps constituted themselves of asynchronous and synchronous phases, we designed and developed a computer environment to support this project-based learning. This environment has been experimented in two different contexts : with pupils in a secondary school in the domain of technology and with students learning programming at the Télé-université of Québec. This article presents the model of collective activities, the computer environment and the experiments.