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Tracing Interaction in Distributed Collaborative Learning

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Book cover Analyzing Interactions in CSCL

Part of the book series: Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series ((CULS,volume 12))

Abstract

In order to understand how entanglements of the activities of multiple individuals in technology-mediated environments result in learning, it is necessary to trace out activity that may be distributed across time, space and media. Multiple analytic challenges are encountered, including the distributed nature of the data, the contingent nature of human behavior, understanding nonverbal behavior, selective attention to large data sets, and multi-scale phenomena. This paper offers approach to analysis that was developed in our laboratory to address some of these challenges. In order to unify multiple data sources into one analytic artifact, we found it useful to abstract from media-specific units of analysis (e.g., adjacency pair, reply) and represent our data using “contingency graphs” that capture the potential ways in which one act can be contingent upon another. Contingency graphs serve as abstract transcripts that record distributed interaction in one representation. This chapter describes the contingency graph representation, gives an example of its use in analyzing the development of shared representational practices, and discusses further challenges. Important questions remain concerning the extent to which interactional accounts can remain productive as we grapple with larger data sets and emergent phenomena, and whether a productive interplay between interactional and aggregate accounts are possible that together inform design.

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Acknowledgments

The approach to analysis described in this paper was developed over several years in collaboration with Nathan Dwyer and Ravi Vatrapu. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under CAREER award 0093505.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Interactive Learning Technologies, Department of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Hawai’i, Manoa, HI, USA

    Daniel Suthers

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  1. Daniel Suthers
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  2. Richard Medina
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Correspondence to Daniel Suthers .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, W. Johnson Street 1025, Madison, 53706-1796, Wisconsin, USA

    Sadhana Puntambekar

  2. Dept. Educational Sciences, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, Utrecht, 3584 CS, Netherlands

    Gijsbert Erkens

  3. Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, Seminary Place 10, New Brunswick, 08901, New Jersey, USA

    Cindy Hmelo-Silver

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Suthers, D., Medina, R. (2011). Tracing Interaction in Distributed Collaborative Learning. In: Puntambekar, S., Erkens, G., Hmelo-Silver, C. (eds) Analyzing Interactions in CSCL. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series, vol 12. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7710-6_16

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