Collaboration in Computer Conferencing

Abstract

We have been experimenting with web based electronic conferencing (CMC) at the Educational Science Department of Utrecht University for a period of nearly 10 years now. Obstacles such as insufficient participation, the low quality of messages and the integration of CMC in a course have been overcome and nowadays many of our students appear actively engaged with knowledge construction activities (Veerman, 2000). While we may have succeeded in organizing interesting computer conferences, things are missing that relate to the affordances of computer conferencing for collaborative learning. It seems that at the level of individual courses we have reached limits we cannot move beyond. In order to understand this problem and its possible solutions, this paper discusses some of our data concerning the role of computer conferencing in higher education.