The Role of Technology in CSCL: Studies in Technology Enhanced Collaborative Learning (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series)

This book relates "new" information and communication technologies (ICT) to their specific teaching and learning functions, in particular how ICT is appropriated for and/or by educational or learning communities. We categorize consumer-oriented educational multimedia as established technologies, not of primary importance for innovative approaches to collaborative learning. Internet connections in schools and academic institutions are no longer new, though the learning culture originating from this technology may still lack a sufficiently rich definition. The technological "hot spots" of interest in this book are in turn: groupware or multi-user technologies such as group archives or synchronous co-construction environments, embedded interactive technologies in the spirit of ubiquitous computing, and modeling tools based on rich representations.