Collaborative technologies offer a range of new ways of supporting learning by enabling learners to share and exchange both ideas and their own digital products. This paper considers how best to exploit these opportunities from the perspective of learners' needs. New technologies invariably excite a creative explosion of new ideas for ways of…

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the relations between Carl Bereiter's and Marlene Scardamalia's knowledge-building approach and social practices. It is argued that technology enhances learning through transformed social practices. In order to truly contribute to educational transformation, pedagogical approaches have to be embedded…

In an earlier study, we had tested if observing a collaboration model, or alternatively, following a collaboration script could improve students' subsequent collaboration in a computer-mediated setting and promote their knowledge of good collaboration. Both model and script showed positive effects. The current study was designed to further probe…

Using Vygotsky's notion of double stimulation as an analytical tool, we discuss the complex relationship between tasks, tools, and agency in CSCL environments. Empirically we examine how learners in a Norwegian senior high school class learning English as a foreign language approach and respond to an open-ended and collectively oriented task using…

Computer-supported discursive learning (CSDL) systems for the support of asynchronous discursive learning need to fulfill specific socio-technical conditions. To understand these conditions, we employed design experiments combining aspects of communication theory, empirical findings, and continuous improvement of the investigated prototypes. Our…

In this paper, I review both mathematics education and CSCL literature and discuss how we can better take advantage of CSCL tools for developing mathematical proof skills. I introduce a model of proof in school mathematics that incorporates both empirical and deductive ways of knowing. I argue that two major forces have given rise to this…

This paper presents results of a case study conducted in secondary mathematics classrooms using a new generation of networked classroom technology (Participatory Simulations). Potential for drawing on youths' cultural practices in networked learning environments is explored in terms of opportunities for traditionally underserved students to…

This article discusses the relationship between procedural and conceptual problem solving in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment designed within the field of science education. The contribution of this article, and our understanding of this phenomenon, is anchored in our socio-cultural interpretation, and that implies…

We describe the design of a knowledge-building environment and examine the role of knowledge-building portfolios in characterizing and scaffolding collaborative inquiry. Our goal is to examine collaborative knowledge building in the context of exploring the alignment of learning, collaboration, and assessment in computer forums. The key design…