A Wide Lens on Learning in a Networked Society: What Can We Learn by Synthesizing Multiple Research Perspectives?
International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, 2019
Learning in a networked society is presented in this symposium with the basic assumption that “sc... more Learning in a networked society is presented in this symposium with the basic assumption that “schooling” and “society” cannot be considered as separate entities and should bring together the theoretical and practical tools of scientists in both the social and educational sciences. Despite the powerful potential for cross-fostering of ideas between these fields, one key question arising inquires whether educational scientists—who focus on the interventionist, design-based study of learning—and social scientists, who concentrate on analytic study of spontaneous social interaction and knowledge construction, can engage in a productive collaboration. This symposium seeks to address this question by adopting an interdisciplinary lens, through which these perspectives have been integrated, or at least juxtaposed, to develop new insights regarding what it means to learn in an information-based networked society. Six interdisciplinary research projects that represent lessons learned from synergistic projects among researchers from these fields are presented in this symposium. The overall focus of this symposium We often associate computer-supported collaborative learning with specially designed tools for small group collaboration in formal learning settings. Yet, today’s networked society, presents a broader and more diverse landscape of collaborative learning. In these diverse settings, the scale, scope and nature of learning is also expanded. In the past, people may have been in contact with members of various professional communities only as an audience, now, online interactions offer opportunities for collaboration with these professionals. Communities that may have been insular can be in greater contact with other communities and may change through this encounter. Are these sites of collaborative learning? How might we investigate whether and how learning occurs in such settings, and can this knowledge inform the design and study of CSCL in formal settings? These changes in the landscape of computer-supported collaborative learning call for new theoretical lenses and methodological tools. The learning sciences have much to offer regarding the manner in which representations and participant structures can advance specific learning goals effectively. Yet, this understanding is mostly useful for explaining how learning occurs through hierarchical teacher-student interactions within existing school structures. Social scientists, on the other hand, offer a deep understanding of the ways in which CSCL 2019 Proceedings 735 © ISLS people use and adopt technologies in a variety of everyday contexts. Unlike much of the research in the learning sciences, they tend to observe without intervention as they examine various virtual communities that interact using social networking platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) or Web 2.0 platforms (e.g., Wikis, Blogs). We can gain inspiration on how to design learning environments and on how to interpret learner interactions in these settings from social scientists’ research on how learning occurs incidentally within spontaneous online communities. At the same time, learning sciences research offers new directions for studying the learning that might occur in non-formal communities and as people adopt new technologies. In particular, it provides theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches for fine-grained analysis of the development of specific knowledge structures. In this symposium, we present a set of six studies that were conducted as part the Learning in a NetworKed Society (LINKS) Center, all of which were studied with an interdisciplinary lens, through which these perspectives have been integrated, or at least juxtaposed, to develop new insights regarding what it means to learn in an information-based networked society. The set of studies we present here are part of the LINKS book, currently in press in Spriger’s CSCL book series, who have granted permission to reuse parts of the chapters in this symposium. Christopher Hoadley, who is the editor of the series will serve as discussant in the symposium. The symposium will be carried out as a structured poster session, starting with a rationale presented by the organizers (10 minutes), and brief introductions from each of the poster presenters (total of 15 minutes). This will be followed by concurrent poster interactions (30 minutes), remarks from the discussant (20 minutes), and finally, a discussion with the audience, facilitated by chair (15 minutes). Theoretical background Historically, there seems to have been a disconnect between in-school and out-of-school practices and experiences. This is evident both in terms of discourse patterns (Cazden & Beck, 2003), and in terms of knowledge goals, task characteristics and the motives for pursuing these tasks (e.g., Berland et al., 2015; Chinn & Malhotra, 2002). More recently, and more visible in the public’s perception of formal schooling is the disconnect in the centrality…
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