Review by: Reichert, Raimond (2004-08-17)

Scardamalia and Bereiter have conducted renowned research into computer supported collaborative learning environments. In this article, they outline the educational ideas behind their concept of knowledge-building discourse in computer-supported intentional learning environments (CSILE). Though most of this research was done in the K-12 context, the ideas are highly relevant to other levels of education as well.

The core question the authors raise is whether a classroom can function as a knowledge-building community. They argue that it is generally accepted that students construct their knowledge even when learning from books. As a model for knowledge-building communities, the authors look at the sciences where the development of new knowledge is based on a fundamentally social process. In particular, the authors consider the role of journals in the progress of the learned disciplines. They acknowledge the obvious flaws of the journal process, but argue that even so, discipline-based journals are a key ingredient in what makes knowledge-building communities work.

The authors divide the characteristics of knowledge-building discourse into three categories. First, the focus in such discourse is on problems and depth of understanding where explaining one’s idea is a major challenge. Second, knowledge-building is decentralized and open with a focus on collective knowledge. More knowledgeable learners (or teachers) do not stand outside the learning process, but rather participate actively, and less knowledgeable participants can play an important role, for example by pointing out what is difficult to understand. Third, there is productive interaction within the community with continuous adaptation. Learners add knowledge and build on knowledge added by others.

The CSILE environment is the authors’ implementation of their vision of knowledge-building discourse. A community database is at the center of classroom discourse. Users produce public-access materials in the form of text or graphical notes. They can search existing notes, comment on other students’ work, and organize notes into more complex structures. CSILE also has emphasis on intentionality: Students write statements of what they need to understand in order to make conceptual advances, and students have to justify the links they create to other students’ work.

The CSILE knowledge-building discourse concept is an interesting instance of collaborative learning where the focus is on the knowledge “created in here” (in this classroom) and not on the knowledge “from out there” to be learned. The authors view it as a third way between teacher-centered classrooms and child-centered methods, a third way which is not merely a compromise between those two ways.

Evaluations of the use of CSILE are reported in separate articles, see for example Scardamalia et al (1992): Educational applications of a Networked Communal Database. Interactive Learning Environments 2(1), pp. 45–71.