tool5100: cscl intro to cscl, part 1 a. mørch, 16.02.2006 intro to cscl, part 1 anders mørch tool...

TOOL5100: CSCL Intro to CSCL, part 1

A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Intro to CSCL, part 1

Anders Mørch

TOOL 5100, 16.02.06


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Outline• Paradigms in educational research

– Computer-aided instruction (CAI)– ITS– Logo-as-Latin

• Evolution of theoretical positions on collaborative learning– From individual to social concerns– Key factors that influence research design

• Comparing evolution and paradigm shifts


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Paradigms in educational research

• Koschmann argues that CSCL is a new paradigm in computer-supported teaching and learning

• He gives examples of three other paradigms that are distinct from CSCL

• Paradigm, according to Kuhn (1972):– Goes beyond evolution and gradual change (change by

punctuated equilibrium, gestalt-switch)– Provides a new set of topics, tools, methodologies, and

premises to be researched– Members of different paradigms cannot easily communicate

using their own scientific terminology


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Paradigms of instructional technology

• Computer-aided instruction (CAI)– Since ca. 1960

• Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS)– Since ca. 1970

• Logo-as-Latin– Since ca. 1980

• Computer Supported Collaborative Learning– Since ca. 1990

• Note: these fields are active today, but sometimes under new umbrellas and evolved to meet new needs (e.g. instructional design, Lego/Logo, e-learning)


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Computer-Aided Instruction • Psychological roots in behavioral science• Focus on support for instruction in teaching

situations (e.g. classroom) with the computer • The teacher’s role is to acquire knowledge and

find efficient ways to share it with the students• Often referred to as to as the “acquisition-

transmission” metaphor of teaching and learning• Today often associated with instructional design,

such as reusable learning objects and domain-specific repositories that domain experts (e.g. teachers) can search to find teaching material


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Intelligent Tutoring Systems• The focus here, as often in CAI, is on computer

support for individual learning• More emphasis on the learner than the teacher• Psychological roots in cognitive science and

Artificial Intelligence (e.g. Newell & Simon, 1972)• The computer provides a cognitive model of

human information processing, representing novice and expert problem solving, and track performance

• An ITS provides expert advice to students as they solve problems in well-defined domains (e.g. physics, math, medical procedures)


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Logo-as-Latin• Instead of learning by being taught, this approach

focuses on “learning by doing”• Psychological roots in the developmental psych of

Piaget and the philosophy of education of Dewey• Constructionism is a term that is often used as a label

for this approach• The student “constructs” by creating and running

microworlds programmed in Logo (Papert, 1980)• Later efforts have extended this to higher level

languages, e.g. using Lego/Logo (e.g. Resnick, 1990)


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning

• Roots in several fields in the social sciences and socially oriented theories of learning (going back to Vygotsky, G H Mead, and others)

• Focus on overarching concerns that attempts to bridge the individual-social gap in interaction

• Common perspectives and sources of influence:– Social constructivism– Sociocultural theories– Situated and shared cognition

• We return to these in the next article


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Summary of 4 paradigms

• See Table 1.1(p. 16) in Koschmann’s article


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Evolution of research in CSCL• This paper, by Dillenbourg and colleagues,

addresses how research have changed within the field of CSCL

• The focus is on psychological concerns of collaborative learning and less on the role of computer as mediating artifact

• The computer is seen in the role of providing support of interaction analysis and modeling collaborative learning (we come back to these themes later in the course)


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Key characteristics of CSCL• A trend toward support of process rather than

primarily on outcome, as in other paradigms• Theoretically motivated, using empirical research

(this is to some extent a result of the authors background)

• Unit of analysis is a complex issue that is positioned on an axis between the individual and the social (‘group’ and ‘activity’ are two key ones)

• A trend has been to move from the inner (psychol) concerns to the outer (social) concerns


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Key characteristics cont’d• Research in CSCL need to be aware of the following

distinctions– Learning vs. problem solving– Collaboration vs. cooperation

• In many ways CSCL has moved:– From problem solving to learning (e.g. learning by joint

problem solving)– From cooperation to collaboration

• Priority on process rather than outcome• Joint interaction on common goal rather than strict division of

labor into subtasks


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Theoretical positions• Along an axis from individual to social the

following theoretical positions (or perspectives) has been identified as prerequisite for CSCL:– Social constructivism– Sociocultural approaches– Situated and shared cognition

• The two articles diverge slightly with regards to how they define the three perspectives

• Dillenbourg puts more emphasis on computational models and uses examples from DAI (Distributed AI) to propose models of collaborative learning


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Social constructivism• Also referred to as socio-cognitive approach • 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• Experimentation is often conducted by pre and post

tests, e,g, to assess the usefulness of collaborative learning compared to individual learning


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Sociocultural theories• Unit of analysis is the ‘activity’: individuals acting to

achieve goals within a community using artefacts and rules to mediate and guide the activity

• Vygotsky’s notion that inter-psychological (social) processes precedes intra-psychological processes (inner speech and thought) is important in this perspective (referred to as ‘internalization’)

• The role of mediating artifacts in these processes, from everyday tools and computers to language, are also important


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Situated and shared cognition• This is the most socially oriented of the three

perspectives • The environment is seen as an integrated part of the

individual (cognitive) activity• A focus is to identify the influence of the social plane

– Situated cognition and situated learning (e.g Suchman, Lave & Wenger)

– Distributed cognition (e.g. Hutchins)

• This perspective in CSCL has been stimulated by apprenticeship learning (e.g. Lave, Rogoff)


A. Mørch, 16.02.2006

Three factors that influence research design and experiments

• Effects• Conditions

– Group heterogeneity– Individual prerequisites– Task features

• Interactions– Explanation– Control


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Role of the computer

• Tool– Interaction analysis– Analysing and modeling collaborative

learning practices• Negotiation• Argumentation

• Mediating artifact– This is not addressed in this article


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Paradigm shift vs. Evolution• In philosophy of science there has been a debate

regarding the mechanisms behind the growth of scientific knowledge– Does it proceed according to paradigm shifts or by

incremental (evolutionary) development over time?– The answer can be either/or or both, depending on– How we distinguish between different components of a

research field and analyze how they change over time• Technologies, tools and language (artifacts) may have to be treated

differently from premises, practices, and perspectives• For those interested: Kuhn and Popper and others have debated the

development of Copernicus’ model of the solar system

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