Supporting online collaboration: drawing guidelines from an empirical study on e-tutors

In the last two decades, the epistemic-engagement view has become the dominant frame of reference in the field of e-learning. In this view, learning is assumed to emerge from social interaction (Larreamendy-Joerns & Leinhardt, 2006). Literature indicates a number of potential interventions in order to make interaction possible and more effective. But little is known about the e-tutors' beliefs and practices, e.g. how they intervene on the design and management of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) courses in order to foster learners' social interaction and knowledge construction. In the framework of a European project, the present study investigated how and when e-tutors intervene in respect to support online collaboration in CSCL. The project was meant at providing ICT-practitioners with guiding principles drawn from empirical research in social psychology of education concerning the complex relationships between social interaction and cognitive activities. Results show that the importance of some cognitive and social processes (e.g., social dynamics, collaboration feedback, etc.) still appears to be in part neglected by e-tutors. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.