The identification and description of the principles for an effective design of a Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) environment, in which student teachers learn collaboratively, is the research problem reported on in this book. In our research, we studied student teachers’ learning in interaction and collaboration with others, which has become an important way of learning in teacher training. We regard CSCL a way to enhance the construction of knowledge in peer interaction and collaboration by means of technology, a way for sharing and distributing knowledge and expertise among community members, and a way to facilitate group processes in manners not achievable in face-to-face (F2F) communication.
The role of ICT in teacher training is twofold: from a programmatic perspective it is a way of meeting a growing diversity in the enrolment of students by creating flexibility in their training, and from a didactical perspective it facilitates the learning processes and prepares the student teacher for the pedagogical use of ICT in the professional practice (Dillemans, Lowyck, Van der Perre, Claeys, & Elen, 1998; Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2002).
Three teacher training courses, in which small groups of students worked together on collaborative assignments, were studied. These courses were given in the teacher training programme of IVLOS, the Institute of Education of Utrecht University in the Netherlands.