Participation metaphor of learning

The purpose of the present paper was to examine three generations of research on technology-mediated learning carried on by the present investigator’s research group. The first generation focused on examining computer-supported collaborative learning from the cognitive perspective. The main focus was to examine to what extent knowledge-seeking inquiry elicited conceptual change. Problems of transferring inquiry learning culture from one country to another pushed us to examine social practices and other participatory aspects of learning that had been invisible to cognitive researchers. The second-generation research focused on analyzing patterns of participation in computer-supported collaborative learning. The emerging third generation research aims at overcoming the dichotomy between the cognitive (knowledge acquisition) perspective and socio-cultural (participation) perspective by means of long-standing and deliberate efforts of knowledge-creation, involving what we call objects of activity. Theoretical and methodological implications of the generations are discussed.

The purpose of the present book is to examine the challenges to human skills and competencies emerging from the knowledge society. Relying on a series of empirical workplace studies, as well as an extensive review of the psychological, sociological and educational literature, the authors develop a framework for examining human competence as a process of networked expertise. Networked expertise is relational in nature; it is con-stituted in interaction between individuals, communities, and larger networks supported by cognitive artifacts, and it coevolves with continuously transforming innovative knowledge communities. Networked expertise is examined from the perspective of three metaphors of learning, i.e. knowledge acquisition, participation, and knowledge creation, which are all relevant in workplaces as well as in educational institutions.