The use of computational scaffolding is a crucial strategy to foster students' regulation of learning skills, which is associated with increased learning achievement. However, most interventions treat the regulatory processes as individual actions isolated from a social context. This view contradicts the most recent research that points to the…

Self-regulated learning theory is central to computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) and depends on learner autonomy to create socially shared learning, and yet function within the restraints and goals of a specific class pedagogy. By integrating the rich theoretical CSCL literature with an inductively derived theory of role-playing game…

This qualitative case study illustrates barriers to informal argumentation and reasoned debate, i.e., "critical discourse," in online forums. The case is the computer conference of a 15-week, graduate-level humanities course offered entirely at a distance. Twelve students, all with families and careers, were enrolled in the course. We read all…

This paper presents a methodology designed to explore the role of context in collaborative knowledge construction activity in asynchronous web-based discussion. The discussions of two student groups participating in a web-based teacher education course were compared. The comparison aimed to highlight the differences and similarities between the…

The authors work as online tutors for a BSc (Hons) physiotherapy programme at Coventry University in the United Kingdom. This paper represents a stage in our developing understanding, over a 3 year period, of the impact of group dynamics on online interaction among physiotherapy students engaged in sharing with their peers their first experiences…