Internal and External Regulation to Support Knowledge Construction and Convergence in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)

Abstract

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) activities aim to promote collaborative knowledge construction and convergence. During the CSCL activity, the students should regulate their learning activity, at the individual and collective level. This implies an organisation cost related to the coordination of the activity with the team-mates and the internal and external regulation of this activity. Therefore, we consider a knowledge perspective and an organisation load perspective in the execution of the CSCL activities. We assume the time and efforts spent in the organisation are not spent in the knowledge construction and convergence process. Nevetheless, we assume that in CSCL activities a certain level of organisation is a requirement for the knowledge construction and convergence process. The students’ organisation load depends on the level of the scripting of the CSCL activities. A highly scripted activity implies a high level of external organisation and a lower level of self and co-organisation. When the CSCL activity has a low level of external regulation, the students’ requires a higher level of self and group organisation. CSCL approaches could then imply a high transactive cost in terms of organization that could reduce the time and efforts the students could devote to the knowledge construction and convergence process. In this paper, we analyse the impact of the organisation in the knowledge construction and convergence through a critical revision of the CSCL literature.