ICCE 2006 full-day workshop:
Supporting CSCL in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

"Supporting CSCL in the Asia-Pacific" is a full-day workshop for CSCL researchers involved in CSCL research. The workshop will discuss how to support the growth and development of CSCL in the Asia-Pacific region as part of the international CSCL community. The workshop will begin by brainstorming a number of issues related to this question, and this list will be used to define an agenda for the rest of the workshop. The format will be collaborative learning in small groups and knowledge building in the workshop as a whole. There will be no formal presentations. The goal will be to articulate and begin to understand major opportunities and barriers to growth and development of CSCL in the Asia-Pacific region as part of the international CSCL community. The workshop will conclude by identifying existing and needed resources (such as journals, translations, conferences, societies, networks, labs, leadership, funding); it will decide upon several concrete steps to be taken in the next year.

Organizing Committee

Chair: Nancy Law, University of Hong Kong, China.

Co-Chair: Ronghuai Huang, Beijing Normal University, China.

Carol Chan, University of Hong Kong, China.

Tak-Wai Chan, National Central University, Taiwan.

Yam San Chee, National Institute of Education, Singapore.

Fei-Ching Chen, National Central University, Taiwan.

Weiqin Chen, University of Bergen, Norway.

Chee-Kit Looi, National Institute of Education, Singapore.

Gerry Stahl, Drexel University, USA.

Nan Zhou, Drexel University, USA.

Readings

Kienle, A., & Wessner, M. (2006). The CSCL community in its first decade: Development, continuity, connectivity. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL), 1 (1), 9-33.

Presentations

There will be no formal presentations. The workshop will be conducted as a collaborative learning event in which the whole group and small groups within it build knowledge together on specific issues. The over-arching question will be how to support the growth and development of CSCL in the Asia-Pacific region as part of the international CSCL community. The workshop will begin by brainstorming a number of issues related to this question, and this list will be used to define an agenda for the rest of the workshop. Here are some sample issues:

• What resources (journals, translations, conferences, societies, networks, labs, leaders, funding, etc.) exist in the Asia-Pacific area to support CSCL research and what additional resources would be helpful?


• What is the current level of interest in CSCL in the Asia-Pacific region? What aspects of CSCL are of primary interest (e.g., technologies, methodologies, theories)?


• How can interest be widened (new audiences), broadened (neglected aspects), deepened (more research) and tailored (adapted to the region)?


• What characteristics of education in the Asia-Pacific area are different from Western education and what are the implications of this for CSCL and educational research?


• What characteristics of educational research in the Asia-Pacific area are different from Western research and what are the implications of this for CSCL research?


• What can be done about language and cultural barriers to integration of an international CSCL community?
• What concrete steps should be taken in the next year to increase support for the growth and development of CSCL in the Asia-Pacific region as part of the international CSCL community? For instance, should there be an Asia-Pacific chapter of the CSCL Community Committee of ISLS?

 

Audience

The workshop will be aimed at CSCL researchers attending ICCE 2006. This includes PhD students and researchers just starting to engage in CSCL research. There is no size limitation on this workshop. In order to encourage discussion regardless of the number of people attending, there will be several break-out sessions, when the workshop divides into small groups in order to brainstorm and discuss specific issues and bring recommendations back to the full workshop.

This will be an interactive discussion workshop. It is not intended for people who want to begin to learn about CSCL -- there will be a tutorial the day before for people who want an introduction to CSCL.