Maarten Overdijk

Appropriation of a Shared Workspace: Organizing Principles and Their Application

The use and effects of a CSCL-tool are not always predictable from the properties of the tool alone, but depend on how that tool is appropriated. This paper presents the findings from a case study about the appropriation of a graphical shared workspace. When students are presented with a new tool they may encounter competing constraints and multiple possibilities for interacting with it. We argue that during critical events the students make choices, and in order to collaborate, coordinate these choices as a group. We study appropriation by looking into the ways in which small groups organize their contributions during a computer-mediated argumentative discussion. The results of our study illustrate how certain principles for organization emerge from an implicit negotiation of conventions, with mutual influence between the students and the tool.

Connecting agents and artifacts in CSCL: Towards a rationale of mutual shaping

Studying how collaborative activity takes shape interactionally in the context of technological settings is one of the main challenges in the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). It requires us, amongst other things, to look into the ‘black box’ of how technical artifacts are brought into use, or rather, how they are attuned to, interacted with, and shaped in various and varied practices. This article explores the establishment of a purposeful connection of human agents and technical artifacts in CSCL, that we call ‘the agent-artifact connection’. In order to contribute to a grounded conception of this connection, we reviewed three theoretical positions: affordance, structures and instrument. Although these three positions differ in how they conceptualise the connection, they share the assumption that a technical artifact carries a potential for action that becomes available when artifact and agent connect, and that the availability of action opportunities is relative to the ones who interact with the artifact. In this article, we map out the conceptual and methodological implications for each of the positions. We argue that the rationale of ‘shaping’ collaborative interactions that underlies a part of CSCL research should be replaced by a rationale of ‘mutual shaping’ of human agents and technical artifacts.

Grounded design: Design patterns as the link between theory and practice

The process of designing a networked learning environment can be characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. This is especially true when the design includes innovative technologies. It is difficult to design a networked learning environment that closely fits the requirements of the educational practice. Often the technology seems leading in the design process because it is the most tangible aspect of the e-learning environment. This brings along the risk that the technology becomes detached from its context of use. Design patterns are a means to overcome this problem of detachment between design and practice. Design patterns make the tight relationship between the two more explicit. In this paper we further elaborate on the relationship between design and practice. We will stress the importance of theory in the development of design patterns. Theory development is an essential aspect of our approach to the development of design patterns. The approach is oriented towards a systematic analysis of problems and the development of conceptual models that guide the definition and evaluation of design patterns. In this paper we present a case study of how the approach was used to develop design patterns for networked learning in the classroom.

How to bring a technical artifact into use: A micro-developmental perspective

In order to understand how technical artifacts are attuned to, interacted with, and shaped in various and varied classrooms, it is necessary to construct detailed accounts of the use of particular artifacts in particular classrooms. This paper presents a descriptive account of how a shared workspace was brought into use by a student pair in a face-to-face planning task. A micro-developmental perspective was adopted to describe how the pair established a purposeful connection with this unfamiliar artifact over a relatively short time frame. This appropriation was examined against the background of their regular planning practice. We describe how situational resources present in the classroom—norms, practices and artifacts—frame possible action, and how these possibilities are enacted by the pair. Analysis shows that the association of norms and practices with the technical artifact lead to a contradiction that surfaced as resistance experienced from the artifact. This resistance played an important part in the appropriation process of the pair. It signaled tension in the activity, triggered reflection on the interaction with the artifact, and had a coordinative function. The absence of resistance was equally important. It allowed the pair to transpose or depart from regular procedure without reflection.

Face to Face Cooperation with CoFFEE

Co-located collaboration in classroom is the topic we tackle in this paper. In particular we will describe how CoFFEE implements this kind of collaboration. CoFFEE is an extensible platform on which to implement different collaborative tools. Every tool renders a different kind cooperation between users. In this paper we will also provide further details in about the newly implemented tools for collaboration, the Repository, the Positionometer and the Co-Writer.

Small-group face-to-face discussions in the classroom: a new direction of CSCL research

This paper presents a relatively new direction of CSCL research: small-group learning in the classroom. This research direction has received relatively little attention within the CSCL community. In this paper we explore the possibilities of collaborative technology in the classroom. We use the distinction between task-related and social-emotional interactions as a criterion for computer support. It is hypothesized that the students will use the collaborative technology purely for task-related interactions when the characteristics of the tool closely match the conditions for an effective task performance. It is assumed that these task-related interactions stimulate knowledge elaboration and learning within the student group. Our findings indicate that all computer-mediated interactions were task-related and facilitated knowledge elaboration. Oral communication was about the social-emotional aspects of the collaboration, and the planning and regulation of the collaborative activities.

Appropriation of a graphical shared workspace: the learner-tool connection

The influence that a CSCL tool has on a group of learners depends on how the tool is appropriated. Different ways of appropriating a tool may lead to different effects on the way learners interact and carry out their task. To study the process of tool appropriation we apply an analytical distinction between interaction with the tool and interaction via the tool.

Beyond imprisonment of meaning: Technology facilitating redefining

Defining is a natural and necessary response to an ambiguous world, but causes fixation of categories and perspectives. On the basis of two earlier studies of project groups, we came to argue that redefining, and hence constructing various ways in which one perceives and understands something, enables groups to overcome imprisonment in meaning, establishing continuous development and flexibility. In this article, we first build a rationale for facilitating a process of redefining, to be taken into account when designing technology. Departing from this rationale, we discuss features of groupware technology that permit change by being flexible, and evoke redefining by engaging the user more actively. In so doing, we argue to think along new lines in the design of communication and collaboration technology. This paper proposes a specific perspective on technology, facilitating groups to engage in a productive, creative fashion of exploiting meaning potential.

The LEAD project: computer support for face-to-face collaborative learning

The LEAD project stresses that one of the important challenges with regard to technology-enhanced learning is to develop effective networked-computing support for face-to-face collaborative learning. To achieve this one has to gain a deeper understanding of face-to-face collaborative learning and the technology that supports the communicative processes that are involved. The LEAD project will enhance state-of-the-art research by studying this complex interplay within a collaborative classroom setting, an arrangement that has hardly been addressed in educational research and practice.