Computer Support for Knowledge-Building Communities

TLDR: The conceptual bases of computer-supported intentional learning environments (CSILE) as mentioned in this paper come from research on intentional learning, process aspects of expertise, and discourse in knowledge-building communities, and combine to support the following propositions: schools need to be restructured as communities in which the construction of knowledge is supported as a collective goal, and the role of educational technology should be to replace classroom discourse patterns with those having more immediate and natural extensions to knowledge building communities outside school walls.

Abstract: In this article we focus on educational ideas and enabling technology for knowledge-building discourse. The conceptual bases of computer-supported intentional learning environments (CSILE) come from research on intentional learning, process aspects of expertise, and discourse in knowledge-building communities. These bases combine to support the following propositions: Schools need to be restructured as communities in which the construction of knowledge is supported as a collective goal, and the role of educational technology should be to replace classroom discourse patterns with those having more immediate and natural extensions to knowledge-building communities outside school walls. CSILE is described as a means for refraining classroom discourse to support knowledge building in ways extensible to out-of-school knowledgeadvancing enterprises. Some of the most fundamental problems are logistic, and it is in solving these logistic problems that we see the greatest potential for educational technology.