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Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

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Synonyms

Computer-supported cooperative learning

Definition

Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) refers to the activity of peers interacting with each other for the purpose of learning and with the support of information and communication technologies (ICT). CSCL also refers to the learning that results from such activity, and to the research field that studies such activity. We examine the components of “learning,” “collaborative,” “computer,” and “supported” in turn, before commenting briefly on the scope of the research field.

Learning generally involves changes in behavior of some agent as a result of experience, but CSCL includes various conceptions of learning that differ on (for example) what is taken to be the agent of learning. These differences are consequential for CSCL, so are summarized in the theoretical discussion of the next section.

Collaborativeactivity is most strictly defined as tightly coordinated activity in which participants seek to maintain a...

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References

  • Andriessen, J., Baker, M., & Suthers, D. (Eds.). (2003). Arguing to learn: Confronting cognitions in computer-supported collaborative learning environments. Boston: Kluwer.

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  • Fischer, F., Kollar, I., Mandl, H., & Jaake, J. M. (2007). Scripting computer-supported collaborative learning: Cognitive, computational and educational perspectives. New York: Springer.

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  • Jones, C., Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L., & Lindstrom, B. (2006). A relational, indirect, meso-level approach to CSCL design in the next decade. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 1(1), 35–56.

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  • Koschmann, T., Hall, R., & Miyake, N. (Eds.). (2001). CSCL II. Carrying forward the conversation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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  • Stahl, G., Koschmann, T., & Suthers, D. D. (2006). Computer-supported collaborative learning: An historical perspective. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 409–426). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Suthers, D. D. (2006). Technology affordances for intersubjective meaning-making: A research agenda for CSCL. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 1(3), 315–337.

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Correspondence to Daniel D. Suthers .

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Suthers, D.D. (2012). Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_389

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_389

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1427-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1428-6

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