Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is a pedagogical approach wherein learning takes place via social interaction using a computer or through the Internet. This kind of learning is characterized by the sharing and construction of knowledge among participants using technology as their primary means of communication or as a common resource.Stahl, G., Koschmann, T., & Suthers, D. (2006). Computer-supported collaborative learning: An historical perspective. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 409-426). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. CSCL can be implemented in online and classroom learning environments and can take place synchronously or asynchronously.
The study of computer-supported collaborative learning draws on a number of academic disciplines, including instructional technology, educational psychology, sociology, cognitive psychology, and social psychology.Hmelo-Silver, C.E. (2006). Analyzing collaborative learning: Multiple approaches to understanding processes and outcomes. Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Learning sciences, USA, 1059-1065. It is related to collaborative learning and Computer Supported Cooperative Work.
History Interactive computing technology was primarily conceived by academics, but the use of technology in education has historically been defined by contemporary research trends. The earliest instances of software in instruction drilled students using the behaviorist method that was popular throughout the mid-twentieth century. In the 1970s as cognitivism gained traction with educators, designers began to envision learning technology that employed artificial intelligence models that could adapt to individual learners.Koschmann, T. (1996) CSCL: Theory and practice of an emerging paradigm Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Computer-supported collaborative learning emerged as a strategy rich with research implications for the growing philosophies of constructivism and social cognitivism.
Though studies in collaborative learning and technology took place throughout the 1980s and 90s, the earliest public workshop directly addressing CSCL was "Joint Problem Solving and Microcomputers" which took place in San Diego in 1983. Six years later in 1989, the term "computer-supported collaborative learning" was used in a NATO-sponsored workshop in Maratea, Italy.Bannon, Liam J. (1989). Issues in computer supported collaborative learning. Chapter to appear in Proceedings of NATO Advanced Workshop on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (Claire O'Malley, Editor) held in Maratea, Italy, Sept. 1989. A biannual CSCL conference series began in 1995. At the 2002 and 2003 CSCL conferences, the International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) was established to run the CSCL and ICLS conference series and the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL) and JLS journals.International Society for the Learning Sciences. (2010). Conferences . Retrieved 10/20/2010.
The ijCSCL was established by the CSCL research community and ISLS. It began quarterly publication by Springer in 2006. It is peer reviewed and published both online and in print. Since 2009, it has been rated by ISI as being in the top 10% of educational research journals based on its impact factor.ijCSCL .
The rapid development of social media technologies and the increasing need of individuals to understand and use those technologies has brought researchers from many disciplines to the field of CSCL. CSCL is used today in traditional and online schools and knowledge-building communities such as Wikipedia.
Theories The field of CSCL draws heavily from a number of learning theories that emphasize that knowledge is the result of learners interacting with each other, sharing knowledge, and building knowledge as a group. Since the field focuses on collaborative activity and collaborative learning, it inherently takes much from constructivist and social cognitivist learning theories.
Precursor theories The roots of collaborative epistemology as related to CSCL can be found in Vygotsky's social learning theory. Of particular importance to CSCL is the theory's notion of internalization, or the idea that knowledge is developed by one's interaction with one's surrounding culture and society. The second key element is what Vygotsky called the Zone of proximal development. This refers to a range of tasks that can be too difficult for a learner to master by themselves but is made possible with the assistance of a more skilled individual or teacher.Kearsley, G. (13 Oct 10). The Theory Into Practice Database. These ideas feed into a notion central to CSCL: knowledge building is achieved through interaction with others.
Cooperative learning, though different in some ways from collaborative learning, also contributes to the success of teams in CSCL environments. The distinction can be stated as: cooperative learning focuses on the effects of group interaction on individual learning whereas collaborative learning is more concerned with the cognitive processes at the group unit of analysis such as shared meaning making and the joint problem space. The five elements for effective cooperative groups identified by the work of Johnson and Johnson are positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing.Johnson, D., Johnson, R., & Holubec, E. (2002). Circles of learning: Cooperation in the classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company, p. 95-118, . Because of the inherent relationship between cooperation and collaboration, understanding what encourages successful cooperation is essential to CSCL research.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter wrote seminal articles leading to the development of key CSCL concepts: knowledge-building communities and knowledge-building discourse, intentional learning, and expert processes. Their work led to an early collaboration-enabling technology known as the Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE). Characteristically for CSCL, their theories were integrated with the design, deployment, and study of the CSCL technology. CSILE later became Knowledge Forum, which is the most widely used CSCL technology worldwide to date.
Other learning theories that provide a foundation for CSCL include distributed cognition, problem-based learning, group cognition, cognitive apprenticeship, and situated learning. Each of these learning theories focuses on the social aspect of learning and knowledge building, and recognizes that learning and knowledge building involve inter-personal activities including conversation, argument, and negotiation.
Collaboration theory and group cognition Only in the last 15 to 20 years have researchers begun to explore the extent to which computer technology could enhance the collaborative learning process. While researchers, in general, have relied on learning theories developed without consideration of computer-support, some have suggested that the field needs to have a theory tailored and refined for the unique challenges that confront those trying to understand the complex interplay of technology and collaborative learning.Stahl, G. (2002). Contributions to a theoretical framework for CSCL. In G. Stahl (Ed.), Computer support for collaborative learning: Foundations for a CSCL community. Proceedings of CSCL 2002 (pp. 62-71). Boulder, CO: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Collaboration theory, suggested as a system of analysis for CSCL by Gerry Stahl in 2002–2006, postulates that knowledge is constructed in social interactions such as discourse. The theory suggests that learning is not a matter of accepting fixed facts, but is the dynamic, on-going, and evolving result of complex interactions primarily taking place within communities of people. It also emphasizes that collaborative learning is a process of constructing meaning and that meaning creation most often takes place and can be observed at the group unit of analysis.Stahl, G. (2004). Building collaborative knowing: Elements of a social theory of CSCL. In J.-W. Strijbos, P. Kirschner & R. Martens (Eds.), What we know about CSCL: And implementing it in higher education (pp. 53-86). Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. The goal of collaboration theory is to develop an understanding of how meaning is collaboratively constructed, preserved, and re-learned through the media of language and artifacts in group interaction. There are four crucial themes in collaboration theory: collaborative knowledge building (which is seen as a more concrete term than "learning"); group and personal perspectives intertwining to create group understanding; mediation by artifacts (or the use of resources which learners can share or imprint meaning on); and interaction analysis using captured examples that can be analyzed as proof that the knowledge building occurred.
Collaboration theory proposes that technology in support of CSCL should provide new types of media that foster the building of collaborative knowing; facilitate the comparison of knowledge built by different types and sizes of groups; and help collaborative groups with the act of negotiating the knowledge they are building. Further, these technologies and designs should strive to remove the teacher as the bottleneck in the communication process to the facilitator of student collaboration. In other words, the teacher should not have to act as the conduit for communication between students or as the avenue by which information is dispensed, but should structure the problem-solving tasks. Finally, collaboration theory-influenced technologies will strive to increase the quantity and quality of learning moments via computer-simulated situations.
Stahl extended his proposals about collaboration theory during the next decade with his research on group cognition . In his book on "Group Cognition",Stahl, G. (2006). Group Cognition: Computer support for building collaborative knowledge. Cambridge:MA. MIT Press. he provided a number of case studies of prototypes of collaboration technology, as well as a sample in-depth interaction analysis and several essays on theoretical issues related to re-conceptualizing cognition at the small-group unit of analysis. He then launched the Virtual Math Teams project at the Math Forum, which conducted more than 10 years of studies of students exploring mathematical topics collaboratively online. "Studying VMT"Stahl, G. (2009). Studying Virtual Math Teams. New York:NY. Springer. documented many issues of design, analysis and theory related to this project. The VMT later focused on supporting dynamic geometry by integrating a multi-user version of GeoGebra. All aspects of this phase of the VMT project were described in "Translating Euclid."Stahl, G. (2013). Translating Euclid: Creating a Human-Centered Mathematics. Morgan & Claypool Publishers. Then, "Constructing Dynamic Triangles Together"Stahl, G. (2016). Constructing dynamic triangles together: The development of mathematical group cognition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. provided a detailed analysis of how a group of four girls learned about dynamic geometry by enacting a series of group practices during an eight-session longitudinal case study. Finally, "Theoretical Investigations: Philosophical Foundations of Group Cognition"Stahl, G. (2021). Theoretical Investigations: Philosophical Foundations of Group Cognition. New York: NY. Springer. collected important articles on the theory of collaborative learning from the CSCL journal and from Stahl's publications. The VMT project generated and analyzed data at the small-group unit of analysis, to substantiate and refine the theory of group cognition and to offer a model of design-based CSCL research.
Strategies