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CSCL -
A brief overview & interesting
links for further study | | 
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  Timothy Koschmann's paradigmatic
classification of the evolution within IT
In the book "CSCL: Theory and practise of an emerging paradigm" (1997), Timothy Koschmann offers a new way of classifying the changes that can be observed in Instructional Technology (IT) during the last few decades. The classification is built upon Kuhns theory of paradigmatic shifts in scientific disciplines. He divides the historical evolution of "Instructional Technlogoy" into four paradigms; CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction), ITS (Intelligent Tutoring System), Logo-as-Latin, and CSCL (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning). We will very briefly survey the most important characteristics of these previous paradigms.
Koschmann (1996) addresses four questions for each paradigm. Two are theory-based and two are related to practice:
* What is the implicit theory of learning upon which
the paradigm was constructed?
* What is the theory of pedagogy; that is, the
underlying model of instruction implicit to the paradigm?
* What is the research methodology?
* What are the important research questions
that the paradigm was established to address?
Please note that since we want to focus on CSCL in this document we give only a brief summary of the main aspects of the previous paradigms. We present and compare the paradigms in this table. Source; Koschmann (1996).
"According to Koschmann CSCL is often viewed as a new paradigm in that it.."
...raises a compelling set of research questions
...has attracted a followers of workers intent on pursuing the questions"
Last updated; 09.07.98.
A Collaborative Term Paper Project in Pedagogical Information Science; Graduate level.
Send comments to; Sonja Wilhelmsen, Stein Inge Åsmul & Øyvind Meistad, 
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