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Dialogism

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International Handbook of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

Part of the book series: Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series ((CULS,volume 19))

Abstract

Dialogism offers a theoretical framework for understanding computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). This framework begins with Mikhail Bakhtin’s claim that meaning making requires the interanimation of more than one ‘voice’ as in polyphonic music. Dialogism offers an approach that leads to understanding through the juxtaposition of multiple perspectives. As well as having implications for how we research CSCL, dialogism also has implications for how we conceptualise the goal of CSCL, suggesting the aim of deepening and widening dialogic space. This chapter reviews research within a dialogic CSCL frame, offers a cutting-edge example and presents predictions and suggestions for the future of dialogism within CSCL.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Voloshinov is one of those who made up a group of early 20th-century Russian scholars that has been called the ‘Bakhtin Circle’ (Lambirth et al., 2016), or as some have suggested, was the name was used by Bakhtin for publishing while he was banned by the authorities (Holquist, 2002, p. 7–8; Clark & Holquist, 1984, pp. 146–147).

  2. 2.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page. (Accessed 22 Feb 2019).

  3. 3.

    Appendix One of Major et al. (2018) provides the full references for all 72 studies included in this scoping review.

  4. 4.

    https://empatico.org (Accessed 22 Feb 2019).

  5. 5.

    https://generation.global. (Accessed 22 Feb 2019).

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Further Readings

  • Koschmann, T. (1999). Toward a dialogic theory of learning: Bakhtin’s contribution to understanding learning in settings of collaboration. In Proceedings of the 1999 conference on computer support for collaborative learning (p. 38). Indiana: International Society of the Learning Sciences. The author of the paper proposes the dialogic theory of M. M. Bakhtin as a theoretical framework for computer-supported collaborative learning. Multivocality, polyphony, heteroglossia and intertextuality, fundamental concepts of dialogism introduced by Bakhtin, are introduced and discussed as a basis for considering collaborative learning essentially based on dialog, seen as a third metaphor: Learning by transaction, in addition to learning as acquisition and as participation.

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  • Major, L., Warwick, P., Rasmussen, I., Ludvigsen, S., & Cook, V. (2018). Classroom dialogue and digital technologies: A scoping review. Education and Information Technologies, 23(5), 1995–2028. A scoping review of the literature from 2000 onwards focusing on the use of technology in supporting classroom dialogue. It identifies 72 studies published since 2000 across 18 countries, including both small and larger scale analyses. Three overarching themes are identified, each consisting of a number of sub-themes. The review provides a useful framing device for reviewing new developments relating to the analysis of dialogue and technology.

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  • Stahl, G., Cress, U., Ludvigsen, S., & Law, N. (2014). Dialogic foundations of CSCL. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 9(2), 117–125. The paper introduces a special issue of the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. It considers the dialogical perspective as an important theoretical framework for CSCL and it presents the roots and influences of this approach (the ideas of Vygotsky, Bakhtin, Dewey and Mead). The four papers on the special issue are discussed and classified as belonging to two categories: The first two papers consider the group and the interactions among participants as subjects of analysis and the next two focus on individual opinions, actions and behaviours.

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  • Trausan-Matu, S. (2010). The polyphonic model of hybrid and collaborative learning. In F. Wang, L. J. Fong, & R. C. Kwan (Eds.), Handbook of research on hybrid learning models: Advanced tools, technologies, and applications (pp. 466–486). Hershey, NY: Information Science Publishing. The paper presents in detail the polyphonic model of discourse with emphasis on CSCL conversations, considering also blended (hybrid) learning. It discusses in detail basic concepts of the model, such as utterances, voices, interanimation and polyphony. A classification and examples of interanimation patterns are provided. Several visualisations of the interactions in CSCL chats, provided by an implemented computer application, are illustrating how elements of the polyphonic weaving may be analysed.

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  • Wegerif, R. (2007). Dialogic education and technology: Expanding the space of learning (Vol. 7). Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media. The program of research reported in this book reveals key characteristics of learning dialogues and demonstrates ways in which computers and networks can deepen, enrich and expand such dialogues. It develops a dialogic perspective by drawing upon work in communications theory, psychology, computer science and philosophy. This perspective foregrounds the creative space opened up by authentic dialogues. The central argument of the piece is that there is a convergence between this dialogic perspective in education and the affordances of new information and communications technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Stefan Trausan-Matu

  2. Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Rupert Wegerif & Louis Major

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  1. Stefan Trausan-Matu
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany

    Ulrike Cress

  2. Language Technologies Institute and Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Carolyn Rosé

  3. Department of Administration Leadership, and Technology, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Alyssa Friend Wise

  4. Faculty of Informatics, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka, Japan

    Jun Oshima

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Trausan-Matu, S., Wegerif, R., Major, L. (2021). Dialogism. In: Cress, U., Rosé, C., Wise, A.F., Oshima, J. (eds) International Handbook of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65291-3_12

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