April 2012 Volume 15 Number 2 - Educational Technology & Society

Wen, Y., Looi, C.-K., & Chen, W. (2012). Supporting Teachers in Designing CSCL Activities: A Case Study of Principle-based
Pedagogical Patterns in Networked Second Language Classrooms. Educational Technology & Society, 15 (2), 138–153.
Supporting Teachers in Designing CSCL Activities: A Case Study of Principlebased
Pedagogical Patterns in Networked Second Language Classrooms
Yun Wen, Chee-Kit Looi and Wenli Chen
Learning Sciences Lab, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616 //
yun.wen@nie.edu.sg // cheekit.looi@nie.edu.sg
(Submitted May 26, 2010; Revised November 20, 2011; Accepted December 11, 2011)
ABSTRACT
This paper proposes the identification and use of principle-based pedagogical patterns to help teachers to
translate design principles into actionable teaching activities, and to scaffold student learning with sufficient
flexibility and creativity. A set of pedagogical patterns for networked Second language (L2) learning,
categorized and undergirded by rapid collaborative knowledge improvement (RCKI) principles, has been
extracted and articulated in our school-based research. The patterns are distilled from a series of over 60 Chinese
language lessons conducted in real classrooms which are co-designed by teachers and researchers over a 3-year
period in Singapore schools. Each principle-based pedagogical pattern is presented succinctly in a simple pattern
language. Two classroom scenarios of collaborative activities are elucidated, embodying some of the patterns to
provide a more grounded feel of how they are enacted in practice. RCKI principle-based pedagogical patterns
inform the design of collaborative language learning activities in networked classrooms. Preliminary findings
reveal that principle-based pedagogical patterns provide teachers a workable way to design RCKI activities and
enable teachers to adopt, internalize and adapt them in classroom use.
Keywords
Principle-based pedagogical patterns, RCKI, L2 learning, Computer-supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)
Introduction
Spurred by rapid developments in information and communication technologies (ICT), diverse tools are now being
used in a rich variety of ways to support teaching and learning. Goodyear (2005) uses the term networked learning
broadly to include e-learning, web-based learning, online learning, and computer-supported learning. He emphasizes
that “networked learning is not necessarily distance learning. It may well involve some face-to-face (FTF)
interactions, whether or not these are supported by the use of ICT. The important element is connectedness” (2005, p.
83). In authentic classroom settings, teachers can harness such connectivity to increase opportunities for social
interaction, as well as provide resources to support learning. The more dynamic and complex networked learning
environment requires taking advantages of new opportunities and working with emergent rather than fixed goals
(Sawyer, 2004).
Teachers face numerous problems in orchestrating networked classrooms, especially when dealing with complex
pedagogies such as collaborative learning (Dimitriadis, 2010). Scripts are a popular means of guiding the design of
computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) activities and supporting teachers in classroom orchestration by
structuring the flow of the collaborative activity (Dillenbourg & Hong, 2008; Dillenbourg & Jermann, 2010).
Dimitriadis (2010) attributes pedagogical patterns as a kind of mediating artifacts in a CSCL environment.
Pedagogical patterns that are developed from analyzing expert knowledge of the practices of teaching and learning
(Pedagogical Pattern Project, n.d.) can provide a more concrete and understandable form of knowledge for teachers
instead. They can serve as a powerful way for sharing good practices (Dimitriadis, Goodyear & Retalis, 2009;
Fincher, 1999). A growing number of studies have pointed out the potential of the pedagogical pattern approach for
teacher professional development (DeBarger, et al, 2010; Law, Laurillard, & Lee, 2011; Prieto, Villagrá-Sobrino, &
Dimitriadis, 2011).
However, pedagogical patterns that captured good practices in traditional teaching processes cannot be applied
directly to CSCL activities in networked classrooms. Traditional pedagogical patterns have fixed goals and
comparatively fixed routines. CSCL demands and enables shift the focus of education from learning as knowledge
acquisition to learning as building shared meaning, enculturation into social practices and participation in valued
activities situated within a community of practice (Roschelle et al., 2011). In such CSCL environments, teachers
work with more emergent goal structures and opportunism in knowledge work (Zhang & Scardamalia, 2007). But,
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