The purpose of this course is to examine the growing research and design literature for on-line communities and networked learning groups that support cooperative, collaborative and social instructional activities. Framed by concepts from Activity Theory, Social Networking Theory and Social Learning Models students will read current books, research articles and be introduced to research methods and tools (such as tracking utilities and on-line data collection) for examining on-line communities. Students will design and collect data for an original research project as part of required coursework.

The purpose of this course is to examine the growing research and design literature for on-line communities and networked learning groups that support cooperative, collaborative and social instructional activities. Framed by concepts from Activity Theory, Social Networking Theory and Social Learning Models students will read current books, research articles and be introduced to research methods and tools (such as tracking utilities and on-line data collection) for examining on-line communities. Students will design and collect data for an original research project as part of required coursework.