Facilitators:

EVA FÅHRAEUS Stockholm University/KTH evafaahr@dsv.su.se

INGEMAR SVENSSON Swedish National Agency for Flexible Learning

Collaborative Learning Workshops at CSCL 2003

Workshop Summary

We will share experiences and ideas about how to improve the contacts between universities and society by using CSCL, hoping to develop our methods further.

Workshop Description

This workshop will be offered in one 2-hour slot on Sunday. We will start by identifying the resources of the group: different experiences, used models etc. We will describe our model for exchanging experiences and then ask participants to tell about other models. Pros and cons for different models will be identified and analyzed using Activity Theory as a framework (Engeström, 1987).

We are developing and exploring a model using CSCL for exchanging experiences between universities and the society. A network is formed by people from companies, organisations, and universities, with a common interest in collaborative learning. We meet both physically and through a forum system, discussing methods and technologies, thus sharing our experiences. We think that this model would be useful also for other networks, with other interests in common.

But there are problems to overcome. Our breakdowns have helped us to develop the model. Here are some examples of issues that we would like to discuss during the workshop:

Forms and degree of guidance or control in a meeting. How to keep the discussion going, with the outcome in focus? Is there a need for a leader and which role should the leader take? What functions do we need in computer tools to monitor and stimulate online discussions? How to reach a sufficient degree of simplicity and usability to avoid creating obstacles for people who are impaired or do not use the computer as an everyday working tool? People taking part in a network like this are very much engaged in their normal working situation and there are always difficulties to get time for your own development. Employers prioritise tasks aiming at the near term and generating immediate revenue. Opportunities to reflect and consider new perspectives and alternative ways of action are rare. We thought that meeting electronically and asynchronously would make it easier but the forum discussion was not very lively. Our experience is that the physical meetings are more popular than the virtual ones. Why is that? And how do we overcome these problems? Do we have to establish rules for the conversation?

References:

Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by Expanding. Dept. of Education, University of Helsinki, Finland.