Collaborative Learning Through Computer Conferencing: The Najaden Papers(v. 90 NATO ASI Subseries F)

This book analyzes some of the main educational, social, and technological issues in the use of computer-mediated communication and computer networking for online collaborative learning, both in distance education and in corporate and organizational environments. Collaborative learning is defined as "individual learning as a result of group interactions and processes". The papers in the book arose from a NATO Advanced Research Workshop held on the sailing ship Najaden. They focus on the use of computer conferencing as a medium which frees participants from the constraints fo time and place, and which provides a "collective memory" of all group interactions and exchanges. The book contains contributions from users and implementors of computer conferencing systems in major universities and companies, from researchers and evaluators analyzing the processes and outcomes of online group learning, and from software designers working on new systems for enhancing netowrked collaboration in groups. Collectively, the contributions mark out the boundaries and directions for the "third generation" of distance education and open learning systems, based on the use of national, international, and global telematic networks for interpersonal communication and group interactions.

Table of Contents:
1 Learning Together Apart.- I Computer Conferencing in Practice.- 2 Telematic Support for In-Service Teacher Training.- 3 Waiting for Electropolis.- 4 Computer Mediated Communication for Management Learning.- 5 Collaboration in International Online Teams.- 6 Collaborative Learning in a Large Scale Computer Conferencing System.- II Ways of Understanding Online Collaboration.- 7 Evaluation Methodologies for Computer Conferencing Applications.- 8 Computer Conferencing and Content Analysis.- 9 A Case Study Approach to Evaluation of Computer Conferencing.- 10 Talking, Teaching, and Learning in Network Groups: Lessons from Research.- 11 Understanding Collaborative Learning in Networked Organizations.- III Issues in Software Design.- 12 The Challenge of Conferencing System Development.- 13 Metaphors and the Design of the Human Interface.- 14 Designing Human Interfaces for Collaborative Learning.- 15. Toward a Hypermedium for Collaborative Learning?.- 16 Computer Conferencing Functions and Standards.- 17 Hardware and Software Architecture in Computer Conferencing Systems.