Representational Affordances for Collaborative Learning in Technology-Enhanced Environments

Human learning is increasingly multi-representational. Despite substantial efforts to design multiple external representations for individual learning, little has been systematically synthesized about how external representations can be mobilized to help multiple learners learn together. In this chapter we first outline five key challenges facing collaborative learning including: (a) Establishing and maintaining a joint problem space, (b) Communicating with one another, (c) Creating a shared knowledge base, (d) Supporting epistemic practices; and (e) Coordinating, monitoring, and regulating collaborative processes. We then illustrate the ways in which multiple representations are provided to mitigate these challenges and to harness multiple perspectives of learners to surpass their individual understanding.