1. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Computer Supported Collaborative Learning: Pedagogical and Technological Scaffolding Anders Mørch and Kathrine Nygård TOOL 5100, 27.02.07

2. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Outline What is CSCL Approaches and perspectives Basic concepts Intersubjectivity and related terms Methodological concerns The role of the computer

3. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 What is CSCL CSCL: Computer Supported Collaborative Learning A field concerned with collaborative learning and how it can be supported by computers The role of technology as “mediating artifact”, i.e. mediation becomes a key concern It has been compared to the role of language in conventional education (e.g. Vygotsky)

4. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Computational implications The computer is as a information processing device (it is built as such) –Support design of tools and environments From the point of use ICT is mediating artifact not unlike other tools we interact with in everyday activity –Concrete tools (chairs, pencils, screens) –Abstract tools (language, symbols, ideas)

5. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Collaborative learning Learning in groups and learning through virtual collaboration Involves 2 or more participants –Usually 2 or more students, but can also be one teacher and students An goal of CL is to reach a learning objective or take part in in a knowledge creation process that exceeds the sum of what the individuals can achieve on their own Group cognition (Stahl, 2006)

6. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Cited shortcomings of CL Collaborative learning have been criticized as having similar problems to those identified in problem-based learning and cased-based instruction (where learners work in groups) –The problem of lurkers (free passengers) –The complexity of modeling real situations –Reaching closure and scaling up –Process becomes more important than outcome Many of these issues can be addressed by improvements to CSCL tools and environments

7. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Factors impacting collaboration The nature of the collaborative task: e.g. physics problem solving vs. editing a school newspaper The nature of collaborators (peer, teacher-student, student- computer, etc.) The unit of analysis (individual, activity, group, classroom) The number of collaborators The previous relationship between collaborators The motivation of collaborators The setting of collaboration: classroom, workplace, home The time period of collaboration: from minutes to years

8. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Approaches and perspectives in CSCL According to Ludvigsen and Mørch (2007): Systemic approach –Cognitive science perspective Dialogical approach –Socio-cultural perspective Both approaches are important to understand and design for CSCL

9. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Systemic approach The systemic approach gives useful guidelines for how we can build scaffolds for cognitive processes like hypothesis generation, data interpretation, and scientific explanation. However, this model-based approach to learning and cognition needs to be supplemented by a situated approach from a social and cultural perspective to provide a full account of CSCL.

10. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Dialogical approach The dialogical approach to CSCL provides new analytic concepts to analyze how students and teachers interact in collaborative learning. The dialogic approach gives broader insights and explanations concerning the development of traditional skills, and pays particular attention to skills such as those for communication, coordination, information sharing, collaboration, negotiation, critiquing, and decision-making, and how to design CSCL tools to support these activities

11. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Related approaches and perspectives Following Rommetveit –Monological and dialogical Following Hakkarainen et al. –Monological, dialogical, trialogical Following Kaleidoscope EU Network of Excellence –The cognitive perspective –The social and cultural perspective –The design perspective and computational perspective

12. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Rommetveit’s distinctions (from F3) Monological approach –Associated with the cognitive science, thought is monologue with one self –Thought can be modeled to high accuracy and the computer is well equipped for thus purpose –Key proponents: Simon and Newell; Anderson Dialogical approach –Mind embedded in a social context and mediated by a cultural collective –Additional proponents: Wertsch; Säljö

13. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Key trends and characteristics A trend toward support of process rather than outcome, differs thus from cognitive perspective Theoretically motivated empirical studies and methodological informed by design experiments Unit of analysis is complex and positioned on an axis between the individual and the social Time scale varies from a few seconds of an exchange of utterances to a school year Internalization, externalization, trajectories

14. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Basic concepts and terms Socio-cultural perspectives Socio-cognitive studies –Piaget; Dillenbourg Intersubjectivity and common ground –Rommetveit; Clark; Baker Computational –Exploring the potential of the computer to support learning in groups and virtual collaboration

15. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Socio-cultural perspectives Unit of analysis is ‘activity’: individuals acting together to achieve goals mediated by artifacts and rules to guide the activity Vygotsky’s ‘genetic law’ which says that inter- psychological (social) processes precedes intra- psychological (thought) processes is central to this perspective The role of mediating artifacts in these processes, from everyday physical tools and computers to abstract tools like language play important roles

16. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Socio-cognitive studies Originated with Piaget and later extended to include social influences on individual development Unit of analysis is individual development in the context of social interaction, implying two planes: social and individual An issue becomes how to intertwine the two planes Studies by experimentation often using by pre- and post tests to e.g. assess the relative usefulness of collaborative learning to individual learning

17. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Intersubjectivity and related terms (from Rommetveit) Intersubjectivity –Spoken utterances driven by speaker and listener’s goal of “mutual attunement,” reaching for a shared social reality (external state of affairs) –Neither private nor public (objective), but shared by two or more people who (get to) know(s) each other Grounding (e.g. Clark) –This is related to intersubjectivity but not the same –Deliberately contributing to creating shared meaning rather than adaptation in everyday communication –Shared subjective reality rather than social reality

18. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Methodological concerns Empirical approaches –Identify existing technology in use in a setting (e.g. classroom) –Study technology in use as part of an ongoing practice –Theoretical understanding of the learning activities Design-based research –Introduce a new technology to an existing practice –Study technology in use and changes in practice –Lessons learned and design principles –Repeat if necessary

19. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Design-based research Pedagogical design –Technology is only one component out of many and the focus in on creating use around technology and developing knowledge practices Technology design –Developing new tools and environments –Improving existing tools (e.g. CSCW —> CSCL)

20. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 DBR methodology Partnerships among researchers and educators with the goals of conducting rigorous and reflective inquiry in classrooms, Testing and refining innovative learning environments, and Defining new design principles based on previous research

21. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 DBR theoretical approach Suggesting design principles based on theories of learning Applying these principles to the design of learning environments Refining the principles based on empirical findings and iterating the design experiment

22. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 The role of the computer in CSCL Provide shared spaces (groupware for learning) Peer-to-peer (handheld devices for classroom interaction) Mediating artifact (ICT seen from the point of view of use) Design of new functionalities into tools and environments (e.g. software agents; awareness) Innovative new tools New collaborative environments

23. TOOL5100: CSCL Introduction to CSCL Lecture 4, 27.02.2007 Examples of CSCL functionalities Scaffolding –Subject domains –Scientific inquiry –Presence of others –Principles of virtual collaboration Levels of feedback –Mirroring, meta-cognitive support, guidance Intervention technique –Pro-active, re-active, passive