A Dutch policy scientist once said the information and knowledge in the twenty-first century has the shelf life of fresh fish, and learning in this age often means learning where and how to find something and how to relate it to a specific situation instead of knowing everything one needs to know. On top of this, the world has become so highly interconnected that we have come to realise that every decision that we make can have repercussions somewhere else. To touch as many bases as possible, we need to work with knowledgeable others from different fields (multiple agents) and take heed of their points of view (multiple representations). To do this, we make increasing use of computers and computer-mediated communication. If computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is not simply a newly discovered hype in education, what is it and why are we writing a book about it? Dissecting the phrase into its constituent parts, we see that first of all CSCL is about learning, and in the twenty-first century this usually means constructivist learning.

InhaltsangabeList of contributors Preface Acknowledgements Introduction SECTION 1: IT IS ALL ABOUT LEARNING? 1. CSCL in Higher Education? A framework for designing multiple collaborative environments; Paul A. Kirschner, Rob L. Martens and Jan-Willem Strijbos 2. Practices and Orientations of CSCL; Lasse Lipponen, Kai Hakkarainen and Sami Paavola SECTION 2: LEARNING, COLLABORATION AND ASSESSMENT 3. Building Collaborative Knowing. Elements of a social theory of CSCL; Gerry Stahl 4. Learning, Assessment and Collaboration in Computer-Supported Environments; Carol K. K. Chan and Jan van Aalst SECTION 3: WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'SUPPORT'? 5. Instructional Support in CSCL; Saima Järvelä, Païvi Häkkinen, Maarit Arvaja and Piritta Leinonen 6. Computer Software Support for CSCL; Patrick Jermann, Amy Soller and Alan Lesgold 7. Human Support in CSCL. What, for whom, and by whom?; Kristine Lund SECTION 4: TECHNOLOGY AND INTERACTION 8. CSCLWare in Practice. Goals, tasks, and constraints; Rick de Graaff, Maarten de Laat and Hans Scheltinga 9. Designing Sociable CSCL Environments. Applying interaction design principles; Karel Kreijns and Paul A. Kirschner CONCLUSION What We Know About CSCL. and what we do not (but need to) know about CSCL; Jan-Willem Strijbos, Paul A. Kirschner and Rob L. Martens INDEX