This introduction to CSCL by Gerry Stahl, Tim Koschmann and Dan Suthers is perhaps the most quoted paper in the CSCL field. Here are both the 2020 third version and the original version from the Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (first edition). Accompanying it are translations into Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Romanian and German.
This book, about a newly emerging area of research in instructional technology, has as its title the acronym "CSCL." Initially, CSCL was chosen as an acronym for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. However, some would argue that "collaborative" is often not a descriptive term for what learners do in instructional settings; further, as the field develops, the technology used to support collaboration may not always involve computers, at least not in the direct ways they have been used to support instruction in the past. To avoid getting bogged down in this terminological debate, this book uses CSCL as a designation in its own right, leaving open to interpretation precisely what words it stands for. The authors talk a great deal about the theory underlying their work. In part, this is because that is what they were asked to do, but it is also an indication of the state of the field. In an established paradigm in which the theories and methods are well agreed upon, such discussion is less central. CSCL, however, has not yet reached the stage of "normal" science. There is much to be worked out yet. This book is offered with the hope that it will help to define a direction for future work in this field. The chapters appear in alphabetical order (except for the introductory chapter and the afterword) -- not for lack of a better way to organize the chapters, but rather because the organizational possibilities are too numerous and this order does not privilege one over another. By not imposing a topical organizing structure on this collection, it is hoped that readers will feel freer to explore the chapters in a way that best suits their needs. COPY FOR BIND-CARD CD-ROM info ................................. There is an accompanying CD-Rom for this proceedings that will become available September 1998. Purchasers of the proceedings may obtain a copy of this CD-ROM at no cost by contacting Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. phone: (201) 236-9500 toll-free: 1-800-9-BOOKS-9 (1-800-926-6579) 9am-5pm EST fax: (201) 236-0072 e-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.erlbaum.com address: 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262 The CD-ROM was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation.
A Dutch policy scientist once said the information and knowledge in the twenty-first century has the shelf life of fresh fish, and learning in this age often means learning where and how to find something and how to relate it to a specific situation instead of knowing everything one needs to know. On top of this, the world has become so highly interconnected that we have come to realise that every decision that we make can have repercussions somewhere else. To touch as many bases as possible, we need to work with knowledgeable others from different fields (multiple agents) and take heed of their points of view (multiple representations). To do this, we make increasing use of computers and computer-mediated communication. If computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is not simply a newly discovered hype in education, what is it and why are we writing a book about it? Dissecting the phrase into its constituent parts, we see that first of all CSCL is about learning, and in the twenty-first century this usually means constructivist learning.
Analyzing Interactions in CSCL: Methodology, Approaches, and Issues deepens the understanding of ways to document and analyze interactions in CSCL and informs the design of the next generation of CSCL tools. It provides researchers with several alternative methodologies, theoretical underpinnings of the methods used, data indicating how the method worked, guidance for using the methods, implications for understanding collaborative processes and their effect on learning outcomes and implications for design. CSCL research tends to span across several disciplines such as education, psychology, computer science and artificial intelligence. As a result, the methods for data collection and analysis are interdisciplinary, from fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, computer science, and artificial intelligence. This book brings perspectives together, and provides researchers with an array of methodologies to document and analyze collaborative interactions.
CSCL 2: Carrying Forward the Conversation is a thorough and up-to-date survey of recent developments in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, one of the fastest growing areas of research in the learning sciences. A follow-up to CSCL: Theory and Practice of an Emerging Paradigm (1996), this volume both documents how the field has grown and fosters a meaningful discussion of how the research program might be advanced in substantive ways. Recognizing the long-standing traditions of CSCL work in Europe and Japan, the editors sought to broaden and expand the conversation both geographically and topically. The 45 participating authors represent a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including anthropology, communication studies, computer science, education, psychology, and philosophy, and offer international perspectives on the field. For each chapter, the goal was not only to show how it connects to past and future work in CSCL, but also how it contributes to the interests of other research communities. Toward this end, the volume features a "conversational structure" consisting of target chapters, invited commentaries, and author responses. The commentaries on each chapter were solicited from a diverse collection of writers, including prominent scholars in anthropology of education, social studies of science, CSCW, argumentation, activity theory, language and social interaction, ecological psychology, and other areas. The volume is divided into three sections: *Part I explores four case studies of technology transfer involving CSILE, one of the most prominent CSCL projects. *Part II focuses on empirical studies of learning in collaborative settings. *Part III describes novel CSCL technologies and the theories underlying their design. Historically, there has been a certain amount of controversy as to what the second "C" in CSCL should represent. The conventional meaning is "collaborative" but there are many C-words that can be seen as relevant. With the publication of this volume, "conversational" might be added to the list and, in this spirit, the book might be viewed as an invitation to join a conversation in progress and to carry it forward.
This book relates contemporary information and communication technologies (ICT) to their specific teaching and learning functions, including how ICT is appropriated for and by educational or learning communities. The technological "hot spots" of interest in this book include: groupware or multi-user technologies such as group archives or synchronous co-construction environments, embedded interactive technologies in the spirit of ubiquitous computing, and modeling tools based on rich representations.
