Structure and Discourse in a telematic learning environment

This paper describes a project whose aims were to develop a virtual learning environment for collaborative learning. The pedagogy calls on practitioners and newcomers to a community of practice to engage in practical problem solving and dialogue around their practices. The paper agrees with many writers on the subject of computer mediated collaborative work using conferencing, in that good moderation and structure is needed to sustain good learning. The paper describes the concept of workflow in collaborative systems arising from the work of Winograd and Flores, which in turn is based on the notion of speech acts (Searle). This describes a way of structuring the dialogues in conferencing systems. A particular structure "Reciprocal Reading" is described and there is a discussion of the practical outcomes of using such a technique.