Ecology of Collaboration E C O L: Collaboration as Motivated and Co-ordinated Activity in Learning at Higher Education and Work-Place Contexts Consortium (ECOL): Professor Päivi Häkkinen, University of Jyväskylä and Professor Sanna Järvelä, University of Oulu

Background Collaborative learning as a complex phenomenon Research results of CSCL contradictory and collaborative processes are often over- generalized The detailed mechanism of a process of collaboration has not been well understood, nor has motivational interpretations associated with collaborative theory and practice. Needs to improve work quality, creativity and performance in knowledge-intensive work and studying deals with motivation.

Aims ECOLOGY OF COLLABORATION: collaborative and motivational processes of learning, as well as technological tools mediating social interactions are seen as a merged unit uniquely situated in a particular context combining theories of collaborative learning (Baker, 2002; Barron, 2000; Crook, 2000; Dillenbourg, 1999; Häkkinen, 2001) as well as recent theoretical views on contextual motivation (Järvelä et al., 1999; Pintrich, 2000; Volet & Järvelä, 2001)

Research task 1: Collaboration as co-ordinated activity: seeking after shared understanding What is the process of collaborative interaction itself and its’ contribution to learning? particular collaborative activities in context How do distributed teams manage, monitor and co-ordinate their joint activities? co-ordination of knowledge, sense of co- presense

Research task 2: Motivational processes and shared understanding in collaborative learning What is the role of social context in student motivation and action in learning? How motivation is constructed in socially shared and collaborative learning setting? How the changing study or working-life context from conventional to distributed collaborative setting effects on learner’s motivation and adaptation to the learning? In collaboration with MOREL

Research task 3 : Technological tools to create spaces for collaboration and increase awareness of social processes How can technology better enable participants to find each other and form collaborative groups around mutual interests, skills, and needs in distributed teams? What is the role of awareness tools in virtual spaces meant for supporting productive joint engagement and shared understanding? Multidisciplinary collaboration

Design design experiments – multiple methods – context sensitive data – continuous data collection – computer-generated data and methods

Research network Dr. Michael Baker, CNRS & Université Lumière Lyon 2, France Prof. Director Pierre Dillenbourg, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Technical University of Lausenne, Switzerland Prof. Frank Fischer, Institute of Educational Psychology and Empirical Pedagogy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany Ass. Prof. Simone Volet, Murdoch University, Australia Prof. Kari Kuutti, Dept. of Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, Prof. Tommi Kärkkäinen, Dept. of MIT, University of Jyväskylä Learn / MOREL - University of Turku, prof. Marja Vauras et al. Researchers: Johanna Bluemink, Piritta Leinonen, Hanna Järvenoja, Kati Mäkitalo, Johanna Pöysä