This is a book about an attempt to change the way math was taught in a particular classroom. Its title plays on our everyday usage of the terms theory and practice. In education, these terms are conventionally treated oppositionally-we have theories about what we should do and we have what teachers actually do do. In this way, theory stands prior, logically and chronologically, to practice; practice inevitably becoming theory's imperfect realization. We seek in this volume, however, to develop a different stance with regard to the relationship between the two. Taking the details of instructional practice as our principle object of study, we explore what role theories of learning might play in illuminating such practices. The book is about actual practices by which teaching is done and how contemporary theories of learning might help us understand those practices. It seeks to provide a foundation for future practice-based inquiry in education, by addressing the methodological question: How do we go about studying instructional practice in a principled way?

The Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) conference has become an internationally-recognized forum for the exchange of research findings related to learning in the context of collaborative activity and the exploration of how such learning might be augmented through technology. This text is the proceedings from CSCL 2005 held in Taipei, Taiwan. This conference marked the 10th anniversary of the first CSCL Conference held at Indiana University in 1995. Subsequent meetings have been held at the University of Toronto, Stanford University, University of Maastricht (Netherlands), University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Bergen (Norway).
Just as the first CSCL conference was instrumental in shaping the trajectory of the field in its first decade, the conference in Taipei will play an important role in consolidating an increasingly international and interdisciplinary community and defining the direction of the field for the next 10 years. This volume, and the papers from whichit is comprised, will be an important resource for those active in this area of research and for others interested in fostering learning in settings of collaboration.

This book, about a newly emerging area of research in instructional technology, has as its title the acronym "CSCL." Initially, CSCL was chosen as an acronym for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. However, some would argue that "collaborative" is often not a descriptive term for what learners do in instructional settings; further, as the field develops, the technology used to support collaboration may not always involve computers, at least not in the direct ways they have been used to support instruction in the past. To avoid getting bogged down in this terminological debate, this book uses CSCL as a designation in its own right, leaving open to interpretation precisely what words it stands for.
The authors talk a great deal about the theory underlying their work. In part, this is because that is what they were asked to do, but it is also an indication of the state of the field. In an established paradigm in which the theories and methods are well agreed upon, such discussion is less central. CSCL, however, has not yet reached the stage of "normal" science. There is much to be worked out yet. This book is offered with the hope that it will help to define a direction for future work in this field.
The chapters appear in alphabetical order (except for the introductory chapter and the afterword) -- not for lack of a better way to organize the chapters, but rather because the organizational possibilities are too numerous and this order does not privilege one over another. By not imposing a topical organizing structure on this collection, it is hoped that readers will feel freer to explore the chapters in a way that best suits their needs.
COPY FOR BIND-CARD CD-ROM info ................................. There is an accompanying CD-Rom for this proceedings that will become available September 1998. Purchasers of the proceedings may obtain a copy of this CD-ROM at no cost by contacting Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. phone: (201) 236-9500 toll-free: 1-800-9-BOOKS-9 (1-800-926-6579) 9am-5pm EST fax: (201) 236-0072 e-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.erlbaum.com address: 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262
The CD-ROM was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation.

This special issue focuses on the difficult problem of how observers and researchers can make sense of how collaborating participants develop a shared understanding both of their task and their own participation in it. Or stated in another way, how can we derive meaning from their emergent and situated meaning making? Meaning making has been studied under a variety of names, and can be conceptualized on different levels of abstraction and from a variety of perspectives. The goal is to attempt to tease apart some of these views, while at the same time seeking means to bring them together in order to provide a more fully elaborated picture. This issue comes with downloadable resources containing the brief video segment which all authors analyzed in the preparation of their contributions.

This book, about a newly emerging area of research in instructional technology, has as its title the acronym "CSCL." Initially, CSCL was chosen as an acronym for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. However, some would argue that "collaborative" is often not a descriptive term for what learners do in instructional settings; further, as the field develops, the technology used to support collaboration may not always involve computers, at least not in the direct ways they have been used to support instruction in the past. To avoid getting bogged down in this terminological debate, this book uses CSCL as a designation in its own right, leaving open to interpretation precisely what words it stands for.
The authors talk a great deal about the theory underlying their work. In part, this is because that is what they were asked to do, but it is also an indication of the state of the field. In an established paradigm in which the theories and methods are well agreed upon, such discussion is less central. CSCL, however, has not yet reached the stage of "normal" science. There is much to be worked out yet. This book is offered with the hope that it will help to define a direction for future work in this field.
The chapters appear in alphabetical order (except for the introductory chapter and the afterword) -- not for lack of a better way to organize the chapters, but rather because the organizational possibilities are too numerous and this order does not privilege one over another. By not imposing a topical organizing structure on this collection, it is hoped that readers will feel freer to explore the chapters in a way that best suits their needs.
COPY FOR BIND-CARD CD-ROM info ................................. There is an accompanying CD-Rom for this proceedings that will become available September 1998. Purchasers of the proceedings may obtain a copy of this CD-ROM at no cost by contacting Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. phone: (201) 236-9500 toll-free: 1-800-9-BOOKS-9 (1-800-926-6579) 9am-5pm EST fax: (201) 236-0072 e-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.erlbaum.com address: 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262
The CD-ROM was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation.

The Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) conference has become an internationally-recognized forum for the exchange of research findings related to learning in the context of collaborative activity and the exploration of how such learning might be augmented through technology. This text is the proceedings from CSCL 2005 held in Taipei, Taiwan. This conference marked the 10th anniversary of the first CSCL Conference held at Indiana University in 1995. Subsequent meetings have been held at the University of Toronto, Stanford University, University of Maastricht (Netherlands), University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Bergen (Norway).Just as the first CSCL conference was instrumental in shaping the trajectory of the field in its first decade, the conference in Taipei will play an important role in consolidating an increasingly international and interdisciplinary community and defining the direction of the field for the next 10 years. This volume, and the papers from which it is comprised, will be an important resource for those active in this area of research and for others interested in fostering learning in settings of collaboration.

"CSCL 2: Carrying Forward the Conversation" is a thorough and up-to-date survey of recent developments in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, one of the fastest growing areas of research in the learning sciences. A follow-up to "CSCL: Theory and Practice of an Emerging Paradigm" (1996), this volume both documents how the field has grown and fosters a meaningful discussion of how the research program might be advanced in substantive ways.
Recognizing the long-standing traditions of CSCL work in Europe and Japan, the editors sought to broaden and expand the conversation both geographically and topically. The 45 participating authors represent a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including anthropology, communication studies, computer science, education, psychology, and philosophy, and offer international perspectives on the field. For each chapter, the goal was not only to show how it connects to past and future work in CSCL, but also how it contributes to the interests of other research communities. Toward this end, the volume features a "conversational structure" consisting of target chapters, invited commentaries, and author responses. The commentaries on each chapter were solicited from a diverse collection of writers, including prominent scholars in anthropology of education, social studies of science, CSCW, argumentation, activity theory, language and social interaction, ecological psychology, and other areas.
The volume is divided into three sections:
*Part I explores four case studies of technology transfer involving CSILE, one of the most prominent CSCL projects.
*Part II focuses on empirical studies of learning in collaborative settings.
*Part III describes novel CSCL technologies and the theories underlying their design.
Historically, there has been a certain amount of controversy as to what the second "C" in CSCL should represent. The conventional meaning is "collaborative" but there are many C-words that can be seen as relevant. With the publication of this volume, "conversational" might be added to the list and, in this spirit, the book might be viewed as an invitation to join a conversation in progress and to carry it forward.

"CSCL 2: Carrying Forward the Conversation" is a thorough and up-to-date survey of recent developments in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, one of the fastest growing areas of research in the learning sciences. A follow-up to "CSCL: Theory and Practice of an Emerging Paradigm" (1996), this volume both documents how the field has grown and fosters a meaningful discussion of how the research program might be advanced in substantive ways.
Recognizing the long-standing traditions of CSCL work in Europe and Japan, the editors sought to broaden and expand the conversation both geographically and topically. The 45 participating authors represent a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including anthropology, communication studies, computer science, education, psychology, and philosophy, and offer international perspectives on the field. For each chapter, the goal was not only to show how it connects to past and future work in CSCL, but also how it contributes to the interests of other research communities. Toward this end, the volume features a "conversational structure" consisting of target chapters, invited commentaries, and author responses. The commentaries on each chapter were solicited from a diverse collection of writers, including prominent scholars in anthropology of education, social studies of science, CSCW, argumentation, activity theory, language and social interaction, ecological psychology, and other areas.
The volume is divided into three sections:
*Part I explores four case studies of technology transfer involving CSILE, one of the most prominent CSCL projects.
*Part II focuses on empirical studies of learning in collaborative settings.
*Part III describes novel CSCL technologies and the theories underlying their design.
Historically, there has been a certain amount of controversy as to what the second "C" in CSCL should represent. The conventional meaning is "collaborative" but there are many C-words that can be seen as relevant. With the publication of this volume, "conversational" might be added to the list and, in this spirit, the book might be viewed as an invitation to join a conversation in progress and to carry it forward.

This is a book about an attempt to change the way math was taught in a particular classroom. Its title plays on our everyday usage of the terms theory and practice. In education, these terms are conventionally treated oppositionally-we have theories about what we should do and we have what teachers actually do do. In this way, theory stands prior, logically and chronologically, to practice; practice inevitably becoming theory's imperfect realization. We seek in this volume, however, to develop a different stance with regard to the relationship between the two. Taking the details of instructional practice as our principle object of study, we explore what role theories of learning might play in illuminating such practices. The book is about actual practices by which teaching is done and how contemporary theories of learning might help us understand those practices. It seeks to provide a foundation for future practice-based inquiry in education, by addressing the methodological question: How do we go about studying instructional practice in a principled way?