A Framework to study learning in an internationally distributed course.

This paper presents a framework for studying the various ways in which learning of computer networks is experienced by students who take part in an internationally distributed, computer-supported, project-based university course. The students’ learning and their perceptions of their learning environment are studied in a phenomenographic research tradition (Marton and Booth, 1997), illuminated by elements of activity theory (Engestrom, 1987). By studying the learning of the subject matter, the learning environment, and the complex relationship between the two, as they are experienced by the students, insights can be gained that can help to improve learning environments and thereby learning outcomes. The purpose of the study This paper presents a research framework for studying the complex interplay between the learning of a subject area and a learning environment. The framework has been developed to study learning situations, where students work in internationally distributed teams collaborating over Internet. It offers a way to analyse and interpret the learning that takes place and to identify critical factors in the learning environment that promote students’ learning. Studies within the framework are useful when designing and redesigning computer-supported distributed project-based courses to better promote students’ learning of the subject area. From such studies insights can be gained into how students go about collaborating, and how collaboration and learning relate to different elements in the course environment. The research framework presented here is targeted towards the study of academic courses. Both the course content and the learning environment are here important and together contribute to how the learning takes place and what is learnt. The different actors in the situation, the tools that are used, the rules etc form together an environment in which the learning takes place and of which it is an integrated part. In a complex way the students’ interaction with all these factors forms the basis for the environment as perceived by the students. Neither the course content nor the situation can be omitted, since the two are not experienced as separate entities by the students, and the students interact with both.