Abstract
Recent research on instructional technology has focused increasingly on the potential of computer support to promote collaborative learning, shared understanding, and collaborative knowledge building. Sociocultural theories have been imported from cognate fields to suggest that cognition and learning take place at the level of groups and communities as well as individuals. Various positions on this issue have been proposed, and a number of theoretical perspectives have been recommended. In particular, the concept of common ground has been developed to explain how meanings and understandings can be shared by multiple individuals. This Investigation takes a critical look at the concept of shared meaning as it is generally used and proposes an empirical study of how group cognition is constituted in practice.
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Notes
- 1.
This discussion is largely drawn from an early proposal to the National Science Foundation for funding what became the Virtual Math Teams (VMT) Project from 2003 to 2015. It reflects the author’s understanding of theoretical issues of CSCL in the early 2000s. For the original proposals, see (Stahl, 2010).
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Stahl, G. (2021). Investigation 20. Theories of Shared Understanding. In: Stahl, G. (eds) Theoretical Investigations. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49157-4_20
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