Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Telelearning: A Case Study ...

Another transition seems to be occurring in research papers associated with
CSILE. Questions about concepts of "cognition" have surfaced. Changing ideas related
to those questions are influencing the articulated pedagogy associated with CSILE
research development. Earlier papers were concerned with "intentional learning"
described as "cognitive processes that have learning as a goal rather than an incidental
outcome (Bereiter and Scardamalia, (1989), p. 363, Intentional Learning As A Goal of
Instruction, in Knowledge, Learning and Instruction.)
One of the most recent papers, Design Principles for the Support of Distributed
Processes, by Jim Hewitt and Marlene Scardamalia refer to "cognition as distributed over
both individuals and their surroundings" (p.1). Those holding a "distributed cognition
perspective" believe that cognition is fundamentally distributed, "the tools, rules, values
and actors in a classroom constitute a highly complex, interacting system". This
conception forms the basis for asking pragmatic questions about "what kinds of
distributions are educationally effective?"
A recent paper, Situative Design Issues for Interactive Learning Environments:
The Problem of Group Coherence, by Jim Hewitt and Marlene Scardamalia, refers to
"situative perspective". Those who espouse this theory believe that "the relationship
between mind and environment is so complex and so interdependent, that it is an
oversimplification to consider them separately" (p. 2). According to the authors,
cognitivist theory tends to consider cases one at a time. Eschewing the mind-world
dualism of cognitivists, a situative perspective brings new meaning to the concept of
"knowing something" — "it is no longer a matter of storing ideas in your head that can be
applied to different situations. Rather, 'knowing' is tied to context, distributed across the
individual, situational affordances and other people. Similarly 'learning' 's not the
personal acquisition of knowledge, but is instead understood as participation in an active
system." (Paraphrased from, Situative Design Issues for Interactive Learning
Environments: The Problem of Group Coherence, by Hewitt and Scardamalia, p.3.)
For this holistic view to researching, the paper describes a model by Engestrom
(1990) in Learning, Working and Imagining. He: "views human activity as an
interdependent system involving the individual (or subject), tools, a problem space (or
object), the community of people who are similarly concerned with the problem, the
division of labor between community members, and the conventions (rules) regarding
actions. (Paraphrased from, Situative Design Issues for Interactive Learning
Environments: The Problem of Group Coherence, Hewitt and Scardamalia, p.4.)
Ascribed Benefits. Claims are made by CSILE developers and researchers that it
provides a crucible for creating a Knowledge-Building Community through several
means:
• Student’s Ideas as Objects of Inquiry: Student-created knowledge artifacts are
available to the entire community and serve as a foundation for creating other more
advanced artifacts.
• Knowledge of the Collective as Primary: The goal is to continually extend the
knowledge of the collective. Individual understanding is driven forward by the dual
need to be familiar with the knowledge of the collective, and the desire to advance
that knowledge.
• Responsibility Transferred to Students: Each student shares some responsibility for
planning, organization, posing question and summarizing.
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