Jiri Lallimo

Patterns of Participation and Discourse in Elementary Students' Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning.

Abstract The goal of the investigation was to analyze patterns of participation and discourse mediated by Virtual Web School (VWS). Twenty-three fifth-grade students participated in the study. The findings showed that the density of interaction among participants was high, and all the participants used VWS to some extent. There were, however, substantial differences in the participants’ participation activity and their position in the network of VWS-mediated interaction. The study also showed that the VWS-mediated discussion was not sustained, but instead comprised a number of short discussion threads. Although over half of the participants’ postings were focused on class-learning topics, much needs to be improved in the quality of their discussion.

Assessing applications for collaboration: from collaboratively usable applications to collaborative technology

The continually increasing number of applications said to facilitate collaboration makes it very difficult for educators to identify and evaluate the ones that are suitable for educational purposes. In this paper we argue that from the educational point of view, it is meaningful to make a distinction between collaboratively usable applications and collaborative technology. Collaboratively usable applications are systems that can be used for collaboration, whilst collaborative technology is technology that is especially designed to support and establish collaboration. To distinguish between these two kinds of technologies, we propose four criteria for collaborative technology: its design is grounded on some explicitly argued theory of learning or pedagogical model; it relies on the idea of groupware; it provides procedural facilitation; and it offers representational and community-building tools.

From Collaborative Technology to Collaborative Use of Technology: Designing Learning Oriented Infrastructures

In this paper, we argue that even if empirical studies of collaborative technology and learning represent a diversity of research, the cases that have successfully used collaborative technology share one very crucial thing, namely, instead of focusing intensively only on the technology, a great deal of effort has been put into collaborative use of technology and designing learning oriented infrastructure. We propose that the distinction between collaborative technology and collaborative use of technology is useful for the future development of technology‐supported collaborative learning. D’une technologie collaborative à une utilisation collaborative de technologie: Des infrastructures orientées vers un concept de formation. Cet exposé démontre que même si les études empiriques de la technologie et formation collaboratives représentent une diversité de recherches, les personnes qui ont utilisé la technologie collaborative avec succès ont une chose très cruciale en commun, c’est‐à‐dire qu’au lieu de se focusser intensivement sur la technologie, un grand effort est porté sur l’utilisation collaborative de la technologie et sur l’infrastructure orientée vers un concept de formation. Nous pensons que pour le futur développement de la formation collaborative supportée par la technologie il est très utile de distinguer entre la technologie collaborative et l’utilisation collaborative de la technologie. Von Kooperationstechnologie zu ihrer kooperativen Verwendung: Entwicklung lernzielorientierter Infrastrukturen. In diesem Papier behaupten wir, dass, obwohl es vielfältige empirische Studien über Kooperationstechnologie und Lernen gibt, die Fälle, in denen diese Techniken erfolgreich genutzt wurden, alle etwas Entscheidendes gemeinsam haben: nämlich statt sich intensiv nur auf die Technik zu konzentrieren, viele sich hauptsächlich bemühen, die kooperative Verwendung der Technik für die Herstellung lernorientierter Infrastruktur zu nutzen. Wir schlagen vor, dass zukünftig zwischen Kooperationstechnologie und kooperativer Verwendung der Technologie bei der Entwicklung technikunterstützten kooperativen Lernens unterschieden wird.

Emergent learning practices in globalizing work: The case of a Finnish‐Chinese project in a Finnish technology consulting firm

Purpose – This article aims to analyze emergent learning practices for globalizing work through two research questions: “What are the conceptualizations of work represented by the Virtual Factory and how do they mediate globalizing work?” and “What is the potential of expansive learning efforts to expand conceptualizations towards the emergent learning practices of globalizing work?”.Design/methodology/approach – Cultural‐historical activity theory is applied, specifically the historical tool‐mediated activity, concept formation and the zone of proximal development. A dynamic hierarchy of conceptualizations forms the framework for expansive learning efforts. Data were gathered by ethnographic and development interventionist methods from a distributed engineering design project.Findings – The paper finds that, historically, multi‐layered conceptualizations of work face developmental challenges in globalizing work. Expansive learning efforts enhance the emergent learning practices when orienting global part...

Analysing Expansive Learning in a Multilayered Design Project

The learning of design teams has been the focus of academic interest for several decades. From the investigations of intra-team performance, present-day research has proceeded to analyses of distributed teams mediated by advanced technology. As organizations are increasingly networking to accomplish their tasks, design settings also become networked and complex, inviting heterogeneous ensembles of actors to join the process. In this chapter, we will argue that design activities are multi-layered rather than confined within the boundaries of a single team.