ONLINE COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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ONLINE COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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This site is no longer being funded by CQU. If you work for, or know of, an educational institution that might be interested in funding this site, please email me for further details.
What is this page? It's some information about the site itself, not about online collaborative learning in general. If you want to know something about Online Collaborative Learning, you might like to read the Introduction first, and then use the rest of the site.
What's the rationale for the site? It aims to be a resource to assist both researchers and practitioners in the field of online collaborative learning, sometimes called computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), particularly as is can be applied in higher education.
Then why not call it the CSCL site? Because it seems to us that computer-supported collaborative learning is a cumbersome, ambiguous phrase. Students using word processors are computer-supported in their studies. We think Online Collaborative Learning is a neater and more descriptive phrase for learning that takes place in an environment where web and email access are essential components of the collaborative learning process.
Why is it needed? The advent of the Internet, and more particularly the World Wide Web, has caused dramatic changes to the way tertiary education has been, and is being, delivered. Most universities have jumped on the bandwagon of globalisation, and of trying to make their courses and programs available to a wider group of potential students. However, in many cases this has meant simply making lecture slides available online. It seems to us (and to many others) that these relatively new technologies actually enable other forms of learning, such as those based on group work, to come to the fore.
Aren't there other sites already in this area? Yes, plenty of them, many of them much more highly resourced than this one. This site is not intended to be competition in any way, but to supplement other existing sites, and to specialise at the intersection of tertiary education, asynchronous online delivery, and collaborative learning. We suspect this field will grow exponentially over the next few years as educators begin to realise the possibilities that arise from proper use of the technologies.
Who built it? Tim Roberts, Lecturer, and Lissa McNamee and Sallyanne Williams, both students, in the Faculty of Informatics and Communication at Central Queensland University (CQU), Australia. All three of us are located at the Bundaberg campus, which is about 400 kilometres (or 4 hour drive) north of Brisbane, on the east coast of Australia, just about at the start of the Great Barrier Reef. Joanne McInnerney provided some very welcome Quality Assurance.
Tim and Joanne also maintain the Assessment in Higher Education site, and Tim runs the Unsolved Problems in Logic, Number Theory, and Cryptography site.
Why doesn't the site look very flash? Because our first priority was to get a functional site with useful and usable content. We have deliberately tried to structure the content so as to make all of the information on the site easy to find. Flash-ness is a lower priority.
How can I contribute? By pointing out any changes or additions you'd like to see. We would like to maintain the currency of the site at all times, and ensure it is of use to researchers and practitioners active in the area.
How can I contact you? Full contact details are on the home page.
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