the internet.

the idea ofencouraging students to learn together in small groups has

also become increasingly emphasized in the
broader learning science. however,the ability to combine these two ideas(computer
support and collabortive learning, or technology and education)
to effectively enhance learning remains a challenge-a challenge that csd isdesigned
to address.computers and education computers in the
clessroom are often viwed with skeplicism. they are seen by crities as borning and
anti-social, a haven for geeks and
a mechanical form of learning. csd is based on precisely the opposite vision: it
proposes the development of new
software and applications that bring learners together and that can offer creative
activies of intellectual exploration and social interaction. csd
arose in the 1990s in recation that forced students to learn as isolated
individuals. the exting potential of
the internet to connect peoplein innovetive ways provided a stimulus for csd
research. as csd developed, unforeseen barriers to
desining, disseminating and effectively taking advantage of innovation educational
softwere become more and more apprent. a transformation of the whole
concept of learning was required, including signficant changes in schooling,
teaching and being a student.e-learing at adistance csd
is often confiated with e-learning, the organization of instruction across computer
networks. e-learning is too often motivated by a naive
belife that clessroom content can be digitized and disseminated to large numbers of
students with little continuing involvement of tearchs
or other costs,such as bulidings and transportation. these are a numbers of
problems with this view.first, it is
simply not true that the posting of content,such as slides, texts or videos, makes
for compelling instruction. such content
may provide important resources for students, just as texts books always have, but
they can only be effective with in a larger
motivational and interactive context.second,online teaching requires at least as
much effort by human terchers at clessroom teaching.not
only must the teachers prepare materials and make them avaliable by computer, the
teacher must motivate and guide each sstudent,
through on going interactive and a sense of social presence. while online teaching
allows students from around to particiaple
and allows teachers to work from any place with internet connectivity, it generally
significantly increases the teacher effort per student
third,csd stresses collaboration among the students, so that they are not simply
reacting in isolation to posted materials.the
learning takes place largely through interactions among students. students learn
by expressing their questions ,pursuing lines of inquiry together, teaching,
teaching
each other and seeing how others are learning. computer support for such
collabraton is central a csd apporach to
e-learning. stumilating and sustaining productive student interaction is difficult
to acheive, requiring skillful planning, cooraination and implementation
and technologhy. fourth, csd is also concerned with face - to - face collabration.
computer support of learning doesnot always takethe form