Distributed computer supported collaborative learning through shared practice and social participation

• Authors: Lone Dirckinck-Holmfeld;Elsebeth K. Sorensen
• Venue: CSCL '99 Proceedings of the 1999 conference on Computer support for collaborative learning
• Year: 1999

As an educational approach, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning is often interpreted as a restricted concept concerning shared knowledge acquisition rather than, more broadly, as a holistic process of shared formation and socialization. Several aspects of learning and cases of research, however, indicate that we need to consider the idea of educational processes as processes of socialization, e.g. Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991) who work from a concept of learning as social participation.In physical institutions there are different socialization structures at work which support the learning process: the buildings, the course plan, the schedule, the pedagogical principles, the physical gatherings, the evaluation system, etc., all of which are elements in the socialization process. Normally, these socialization structures work "tacitly" and, as such, they are not reflected. However, when establishing virtual educational programs, we need to make explicit the socialization structures which may support the learning processes and the shared knowledge construction.This paper presents an educational design of Distributed CSCL. From central key concepts in the social, analytical framework of Situated Learning (Lave & Wenger 1991), the paper discusses how - and to what extent the request of supporting socialization structures in the virtual distributed learning process are dealt with.