Getting in on the (inter)action: exploring affordances for collaborative learning in a context of informed participation

Although considerable attention in the CSCL community has been on distributed-, Web-, or distance-learning applications, there is evidence suggesting that much of learning, particularly in open-ended problem-solving activities based on tacit information, does not occur in isolation but in face-to-face settings. This has led our research to explore ways to develop technologies and media that enhance participation, collaboration, and learning in face-to-face, copresent settings. This paper explores the history of our research on developing such technologies in the context of our Envisionment and Discovery Collaboratory at the Center for LifeLong Learning & Design at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and discusses my research on interface design to support learning and participation in collaborative settings.

[1]  Robert A. DeVillar.  Cultural Diversity in Schools: From Rhetoric to Practice. , 1994 .

[2]  Y. Engeström,et al.  Expansive Learning at Work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization , 2001 .

[3]  Gerhard Fischer,et al.  Beyond access: informed participation and empowerment , 1999, CSCL.

[4]  Pelle Ehn,et al.  Work-oriented design of computer artifacts , 1989 .

[5]  Max Jacobson,et al.  A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction , 1981 .

[6]  H. W. Rittel,et al.  Second-generation design methods , 1984 .

[7]  Gerhard Fischer,et al.  Transcending the individual human mind—creating shared understanding through collaborative design , 2000, TCHI.

[8]  G. Fischer.  Communities of Interest: Learning through the Interaction of Multiple Knowledge Systems , 2001 .

[9]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[10]  Ernesto Arias,et al.  Mr. Rogers Sustainable Neighborhood: a visual language case study for community education , 1997, Proceedings. 1997 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages (Cat. No.97TB100180).

[11]  Herbert H. Clark,et al.  Grounding in communication , 1991, Perspectives on socially shared cognition.

[12]  J. Brown,et al.  Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation , 1991 .

[13]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 1991 .

[14]  Paul W. Richardson.  The culture of education , 1996 .

[15]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Designing for error , 1987 .

[16]  Gerhard Fischer,et al.  Enhancing communication, facilitating shared understanding, and creating better artifacts by integrating physical and computational media for design , 1997, DIS '97.

[17]  Susan Leigh Star,et al.  The Structure of Ill-Structured Solutions: Boundary Objects and Heterogeneous Distributed Problem Solving , 1989, Distributed Artificial Intelligence.