The Use of CSCL to Teach Information Systems: A Theoretical Framework
Carina de Villiers, J. Dewald Roode
The objective ofthispaper is to go beyondthe traditional teachingmethods andto use a computer-supportedapproach that may enhance learning outcomes and experiences, andprepare the learner for the social structures that he/she will encounter in the workplace. The learning environment thus created has to be in synchrony with the social skills needed in a highly flexible technologically-based economy. Computer-supported cooperative learning (CSCL) is proposed as an organisational idea that can change the current educational process and connect schooling to the working world In this paper three different case studies are discussed in which a CSCL environment was established to support the learning process. The general conclusion was drawn that CSCL can be effectively implemented in an IS teaching environment andcan be utilised to achieve specific objectives, apartfrom simply enhancing the teaching process. The positive results obtainedfrom this study concerning the use of CSCL and the proposed theoretical framework that will enable teachers to design a successful CSCL environment, will hopefully contribute to a change in the current educational systemfrom a teacher-centred approach to a learner-centred approach.
Carina de Villiers obtained a DComm (informatics) at the University of Pretoria in 1996 and has also earned an MEd(didactics) from the Universityof South Africa. She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Informatics at the University ofPretoria. Her teaching and research interests cover a wide area-from the use of informationtechnology in the teaching processto electronic commerce. She had published several articles and has coauthored a series of secondary education textbooks and computer literacy books.
J. Dewald Roode obtained his PhD from the State University of Leiden in the Netherlands and is a professor anddirector ofthe School for Information Technologyatthe UniversityofPretoria in South Africa. This School isa new initiative with computer science, information systems,and informationscience as the core disciplines. The School will soon offer new bachelor and master degree programs in the emergingdiscipline ofinformation technology. Prior to his appointment with the School, Dr. Roode was head of the Department of Informatics (information systems). His research focuses on the use of information technology for socio-economic development, computer-supported cooperative learningandadoptionand diffusing ofinformation technology.
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