# Notes from Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning conference 2011


[![](http://reganmian.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Screen-Shot-2011-07-22-at-12.48.10-.png "Screen Shot 2011-07-22 at 12.48.10")](http://reganmian.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Screen-Shot-2011-07-22-at-12.48.10-.png)This
was my first year attending the [bi-annual CSCL
conference](http://www.isls.org/cscl2011/index.htm), which this year
happened to be at the Hong Kong University campus. I was very excited,
since I had been reading papers by many of the people who would be
attending, and it would also be the first time I'd be in Hong Kong (and
later China) with my supervisor, and people from my university.

Although the [actual core
conference](http://www.isls.org/cscl2011/conf-overview.htm) only lasts
for a few days, I began my participation with two days of
pre-conferences, attended post-conference events in both Guangzhou and
Beijing, and even the doctoral summer school in Beijing that was
affiliated with the conference. Thus, my earliest notes are from
[[cscl11:leveraging\_tool\_support\_for\_the\_analysis\_of\_computer-mediated\_activities|the
pre-conference on machine learning and data analysis on July 4th]], and
my latest ones from [[a:Gerry Stahl|Gerry
Stahl's]][[cscl11:past\_present\_and\_future\_of\_research\_on\_educational\_technology\_in\_the\_west|talk
to the international summer school on July 18th]].

However, there were of course sessions I did not capture notes for.
Taking detailed notes is exhaustive, and it's difficult to do it the
entire day. This is added to mundane issues like finding power outlets,
etc. Either way, I hope the notes might be helpful - they certainly are
to me. **[[cscl11:start|Overview over all notes.]]**

The
[[cscl11:leveraging\_tool\_support\_for\_the\_analysis\_of\_computer-mediated\_activities|first
pre-conference]] which I mentioned above was organized by [[a:Carolyn
Penstein Rose|Carolyn Penstein Rosé]] and her post-doc [[a:Gregory
Dyke|Gregory Dyke]], and discussed tools to analyze computer-mediated
communications. We got training in using [[t:Tatiana|Tatiana]], a tool
to analyze synchronous events with time-coded data from multiple media
(for example videos, transcripts, chat and a shared whiteboard). In the
afternoon, we learnt to use SIDE, which is a GUI for a machine-learning
framework. Although nobody can become an expert in machine-learning in
one afternoon, it was a great overview of the state of the art of
machine learning, giving you a sense of what kinds of problems machine
learning might be appropriate for. (For people interested in ML,
[@mclaren2010supporting] is a great paper showing how ML can be applied
to a specific educational challenge, and the thinking that went in to
choosing the right algorithm).

The
[[cscl11:connecting\_levels\_of\_learning\_in\_networked\_communities|second
pre-conference]] was about connecting levels of learning, organized by
[[:a:Daniel D. Suthers|Dan Suthers]], [[:a:Christopher Teplovs|Chris
Teplovs]], [[:a:Marten de Laat|Marten de Laat]], Jun Oshima and Sam
Zeini. I've read about these ideas before, in [@suthers2010framework],
and found them interesting, but quite complex. In this workshop, Gerry
Stahl gave a great historical/philosophical overview over CSCL as a
discipline, and Dan Suthers presented on their theoretical approach.
Then, a few datasets had been shared between researchers who provided
different analyses of them - very interesting (although not always easy
to tie back to the original theoretical framework of the session).

[[cscl11:Ed Chi|Ed Chi]] from Google Research opened the conference with
an interesting keynote on augmented social cognition, with several neat
cases from his work with access to huge data sets. From the conference
sessions, I managed to capture two very interesting sessions on
technology-enhanced interactions & analysis
([[cscl11:technology-enhanced\_interactions\_analysis|1]],
[[cscl11:technology-enhanced\_interactions\_analysis\_ii|2]]), and one
[[cscl11:mupemure|session on MUPEMURE]], a "Model of Computer-Supported
Collaborative Learning with Multiple Representations".

There were some very interesting presentations about the future of
Knowledge Forum in the Guangzhou post-conference, which I did not manage
to capture (but check out these slides
[1](http://www.slideshare.net/houshuang/cscl-benefitssymposium-genericimprovements),
[2](http://www.slideshare.net/houshuang/building-next-generation-knowledge-building-environments)).
I did get some notes from two of Gerry Stahl's presentations, one
[[cscl11:cscl-*two*case\_studies|describing two case study analyses he
did]], and one on
[[cscl11:past\_present\_and\_future\_of\_research\_on\_educational\_technology\_in\_the\_west|the
history and future of CSCL]].

I'm looking forward to [the International Conference on Learning
Sciences next year in Sydney](http://www.isls.org/icls2012/) (CSCL and
ICLS alternate every other year), where I hop to present a paper on open
learning environments. I'm also planning to dig into all the notes I
took, and all the connections I made, read more papers, etc.

Stian