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Opening statement by Jeremy Roschelle

Opening statement by Roy Pea

Opening statement by Claire O'Malley

Opening statement by Naomi Miyake

Opening statement by Paul Kirschner

We’ve been busy for 20 years, have developed countless CSCL environments (each one more sophisticated and functional than the previous), have analyzed mountains of data both qualitatively and quantitatively and in combination, have written erudite and thought provoking articles, and when all has been added up, the real educational impact has been not far from zero. Teachers try to make use of CSCL, but end up requiring students to post and email, threatening with sanctions or enticing with extra study points or promises of grade supplements.

Why?

The answer might be simple:
• We don’t know how to make problems that are complex enough that the costs of working with others are less than the benefits accrued by working with others.
• We continue to have wars about instruction versus construction
• We don’t give the students agency in their learning (i.e., feelings of responsibility for the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of collaboration).
• We assess in ways that make all the other things that we try worthless.
Suck it up and get down to basics.

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