Information as a social achievement: collaborative information behavior in CSCL

In computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments, learners in problem solving contexts constantly engage in information seeking, information sharing, and information use. However, these activities have not been well investigated in CSCL research. We have studied information behavior of small groups of middle school students engaged in online math problem solving. More specifically, we examined how participants negotiate and coconstruct their information needs, how they seek information, and how they make sense of discovered information. We argue that for learners in a CSCL environment, information is essentially a social achievement that emerges through the interactions of the group. Information only becomes information for participants when it is interactionally constructed to be meaningful and intelligible in their local situation. Analyzing learners' information behavior from such an interactional perspective can help us understand their practices of doing collaboration and learning. This has significant implications for designing CSCL environments and information resources to support small groups' information behavior and collaborative learning.

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