Enhancing collaborative reasoning skills in online learning

Online collaborative learning is frequently discussed and the advantages for students' learning are often reported. However, discussion on the information content processing on students' ability for collaborative reasoning is relatively scarce. Collaborative reasoning, which is related to critical thinking and reasoning skills during collaboration, further complicates the learning process. Reasoning skills require students to go beyond the information given and most students are incapable of providing reasons and justification. Studies on collaborative reasoning have developed over the last few years. Early research had focused on the collaborative reasoning in face-to-face learning but the present interest is on online collaboration, which has now become increasingly common for learning. This article suggests possible ways of enhancing online collaborative reasoning skills by using scaffolding strategies. It also addresses the collaborative learning elements based on socio-cultural theory. The implementation and the effects of using scaffolding strategies for online collaborative reasoning are also discussed. The proposed model has the potential to influence pedagogical implementation and studies in computer-supported collaborative learning for both academician and researchers.