# CSCL-intro The Bi-Weekly #7


**I'm back in the game!**

![](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_0zhFe8pB7to/TdXaYVdi0TI/AAAAAAAAE1A/gxZPeGCWmic/s288/P1000378.JPG)Due
to a number of circumstances, I was absent from the course for about two
weeks. This was much longer than I had planned, and I apologize for it.
I am also very grateful to Monica for her great work in the interim. It
feels great to be back, seeing the energy of the course, and getting
back into it.

It was quite overwhelming to re-enter the course after two weeks, which
made me think about is how we can help people who "fall off" a course
get back on. Related to this, I sent gentle messages to a number of core
participants who haven't been very active, inviting them to rejoin us,
we'll see if anyone takes me up on it.

My initial instinct would be to start with the readings in week 2, and
slowly work through everything to "catch up". However, experience has
taught me that that might not be the best way - while you are busy
catching up, the course marches forward, and you might never be able to
get back on the train. So I focused on the readings for week 4, and
intend to go back and "backfill" once I get time.

**Weekly meeting**

![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_0zhFe8pB7to/TdXaauPyk6I/AAAAAAAAE1I/CNk24KncJwE/s288/P1000381.JPG)I'm
moving this up to make sure you see it. This week, we propose to meet at
**6PM EST** (which will be 6AM here in China, but I'm in a village where
everyone gets up early) in
[Etherpad](http://piratepad.net/cscl-meeting4). This time, we will try
to combine whole-group discussion in Etherpad with one-on-one (dyadic)
discussion in Skype, so please have your Skype ready, and add your Skype
name to the Etherpad. It would be very helpful if you had at least read
one of the weekly articles before coming to the meeting (to help the
discussion).

**[This week's
theme](http://new.p2pu.org/en/groups/introduction-to-the-field-of-computer-supported-co/content/wk-4-knowledge-building/)**

We had two quite challenging, but very rich readings this week, from two
key members of the field:

-   Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C.  (2006).  [Knowledge building:
  Theory, pedagogy, and
  technology.](http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ikit.org%2Ffulltext%2F2006_KBTheory.pdf&rct=j&q=knowledge%20building%3A%20theory%2C%20pedagogy%2C%20technology&ei=TyebTc2FApT6swOEs_CbBA&usg=AFQjCNHzFfObm-c6oVhlo7BgDYHncqGwtA&sig2=Q2AW8fJi0vkvMfVjCMojjA&cad=rja)
  In K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences (pp.
  97-118).  New York: Cambridge University Press.
-   Stahl, G. (2002). [Contributions to a theoretical framework for
  CSCL](http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.16.7179%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&rct=j&q=Contributions%20to%20a%20Theoretical%20Framework%20for%20CSCL&ei=hiGdTf67IdKD0QH1h5nSAg&usg=AFQjCNFLNQqCdbewyQBIA3s_5EuzAKtcPA&sig2=bhn0ubfuj-YXR_AH1C04xg&cad=rja),
  Proceedings of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL
  2002), Boulder, CO, pp. 62-71.

So far, I think I am the only one who has blogged about these two
readings, on
[Scardamalia](http://reganmian.net/blog/2011/05/17/knowledge-building-theory-pedagogy-and-technology/)
and on
[Stahl](http://reganmian.net/blog/2011/05/19/contributions-to-a-theoretical-framework-for-cscl/).
I also took quite extensive notes on both articles, so if you haven't
read them yet, those might be helpful to you (I've been playing a lot
with my new wiki, which I will blog about more later).

There were two supplementary readings:

-   [A Special Issue of the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology
  on Knowledge
  Buildling](http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/issue/view/70) (Fall
  2010)(36)1. (all articles available).
-   Zhang, J., Scardamalia, S., Reeve, R., & Messina, R.
  (2009). [Designs for Collective Cognitive Responsibility in
  Knowledge-Building
  Communities](http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface~content=a908505465~fulltext=713240930~frm=content), *J*ournal
  of the Learning Sciences (18),1, 7-44

Jennifer provided a summary of the [Zhang et al.
article](http://jenniferclaro.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/summary-of-zhang-scardamalia-reeve-messina-2009/),
apparently especially dedicated to Martin :)

**Last week**

****Many of the contributions this week have still be catching up with
[last week's
theme](http://new.p2pu.org/en/groups/introduction-to-the-field-of-computer-supported-co/content/wk-3-group-cognitioncognitive-artifacts-gerry-stahl/). Monica
made a really neat [idea
map](http://reganmian.net/monica/csclintro/idea-map/) of the course so
far. Martin [discussed the mycorrhizae
paper](http://kaffeikampala.blogspot.com/2011/05/mycorrhizae-paper-and-realities-around.html)
and asked how a social network of doctors could be formed, with the
challenge of medical privacy. A very nice discussion occurred in the
comments.

Incidentally, one of the challenges of blog-based courses is the
comments - how will you know about this discussion, if you a) read the
blog in your Google Reader, or b) read it at first, before all the
comments, and never go back to it? Hopefully, the [[distributed social
web]] will eventually enable the P2PU site to solve this problem.

Martin also [blogged
about](http://kaffeikampala.blogspot.com/2011/05/cscl-with-real-students.html)
a large undergraduate course he will be teaching online in the fall. How
can ideas from this course help him make the course better? A great
challenge to all of us, feel free to jump in with ideas!

Related to the idea of creating a manifesto, Marcy posted a link to the
[World Economics Forum
manifesto](http://www.worldeconomicsassociation.org/WEA/Manifesto.html).
There was also [some
discussion](http://new.p2pu.org/en/groups/introduction-to-the-field-of-computer-supported-co/content/wk-3-group-cognitioncognitive-artifacts-gerry-stahl/#1213)
about Nate Otto's [very neat
visualization](http://ottonomy.net/temp/cscl-intro/interactive-chatlog-wk3.html)
of the [Etherpad
discussion](http://piratepad.net/ep/pad/view/cscl-meeting2).

**Other related blog posts**

Apart from the course readings, I blogged about [my notes from AERA
11](http://reganmian.net/blog/2011/05/17/notes-from-aera11-in-new-orleans/),
and a presentation I gave called [Grappling with
ideas](http://reganmian.net/blog/2011/05/17/grappling-with-ideas-convergence-and-divergence/).
Both of these are relevant to the course topic.

**Activity on the site**

****On the [discussion on the weekly
task](http://new.p2pu.org/en/groups/introduction-to-the-field-of-computer-supported-co/content/wk-4-knowledge-building/),
Monica proposed a number of guiding questions, including an
encouragement to use debate graph to answer "Some believe that Knowledge
Building pedagogy as Scardamalia describes it here is not realistic for
a traditional classroom setting. Do you agree? What are the major
barriers and how do you see non-traditional settings as either
challenging or reinforcing these barriers?". Nobody has taken her up on
that challenge yet.

She also linked to a
[PowerPoint](http://www.slideshare.net/monzie123/introduction-to-kb-8016437)
explaining Knowledge Building to teachers. Marcy described the content
of this course to someone who works for the Prince of Wales(!), and
Jennifer's whole family is down with the flu (we wish you rapid
recovery!).

*Have a great week, try to catch up with readings, although I know we're
all busy, and see you on Saturday!*

*Stian*