ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 focuses on the new field of online learning that has emerged with the invention of computer networking and the concomitant emphasis on collaboration and knowledge building that distinguishes the 21st-century “Knowledge Age.” In particular, Chapter 6 introduces online collaborative learning as a framework to guide learning theory and practice within this context. Theories of learning first arose in the 20th century and, as discussed in Chapters 3-5, were primarily linked to didactic pedagogies and use of mechanical and computational technologies of the time. To a significant degree, these learning approaches were based on “right” and “wrong” answers, emphasizing student repetition and replication of the course content. Educational reform in the latter part of the 20th century shifted the emphasis from passive didactic learning approaches toward active learning techniques. The major drivers for educational transformation, however, were yet to come as computer networking, the Internet and the Web were just being invented. The invention and widespread adoption of the Internet introduced a paradigmatic shift-a major socio-economic leap in human development, with profound implications for learning. The Internet revolution is the fourth and most recent shift in human development (see Chapter 2) and is the basis for the 21st-century Knowledge Age. The Knowledge Age introduces new and unprecedented learning needs and opportunities that will impact how we view and practice learning. The growth of the Internet has been exponential (becoming increasingly rapid) rather than incremental, and has accelerated the speed and value of knowledge creation today. These changes have set the stage for a new theory of learning that can take into account the ubiquity of the Internet and the societal shift toward collaborative learning emphasizing the building, rather than the transmission, of knowledge. Knowledge has become the principal component of today’s economy, both as a process and as a product. To create knowledge, people need free exchange of information and ideas, free access to accumulated knowledge bases, and opportunities for communication and collaboration. The Internet has provided this access, not just to a select few but worldwide. Together with the transformation of work through the digitalization of labor, the Internet has given rise to a new economy, one based on knowledge work, and has created the need for a society able to understand and create knowledge. Knowledge products are inventions created to solve a problem, whether in the form of a new tool, a new process, or an innovation of an existing technique. The implications for education and for learning are profound and as yet unmapped; they are not, however, unknown or untraveled. As Chapter 6 will examine, the use of the Internet for collaborative knowledge creation is the basis of the Knowledge Age and a new theory of
learning with relevant pedagogies and technologies must respond to this new reality. There is also a significant body of field research to ground new theoretical frameworks. Scardamalia and Bereiter (2006, p. 98) write that:
Ours is a knowledge-creating civilization. . . . Sustained knowledge advancement is seen as essential for social progress of all kinds and for the solution of societal problems. From this standpoint the fundamental task of education is to enculturate youth into this knowledge-creating civilization and to help them find a place in it.
