A Case Study on Collaborative Learning in Distributed, Cross-Cultural Teams

 The case study evaluated how students worked in distributed cross-cultural teams with an intervention called BrainSpace. This method allows sharing explicit knowledge, and ensures that all participants gain tacit knowledge within a collaborative process. The research was undertaken in a graduate-level course where students from US and Japan worked in a team to create a product requested by an industrial sponsor. Based on cultural differences the students’ initiative to collaborate gradually faded. Instead of a mutual engagement that led to knowledge creation, only the lower level of a webbased coordination was reached. Related on an activity theoretical scheme it is shown how the aspect of creating a product became more important than knowledge creation. Upon these findings some recommendations to improve computer supported collaborative learning and working in cross-cultural teams have been made. Index Terms  Collaborative Learning, Cross-Cultural Teams, CSCL, eCollaboration, BrainSpace.