Workshop paper presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS 2006, Bloomington, IN. Retrieved July 18, 2007 from  http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/pub/icls2006chat.pdf.Research groups around the world are using approaches inspired by Conversation Analysis to explore the processes of sense-making peculiar to textual exchanges mediated by chat technology. Such Chat Analysis allows researchers to observe the opportunities for and barriers to collaborative learning created by chat environments with various functionality. This day-long workshop will consist primarily of group data sessions analyzing chat logs, but will also consider theoretical and methodological implications for the study of computer support in the learning sciences

Stahl, Gerry

Zemel, Alan

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ICLS 2006 Pre-Conference Workshop  
 
 
Interaction & Learning in Chat Environments:  
A Workshop with Data Sessions 
 
 
 
I. SUBMISSION INFORMATION 
 
 
WORKSHOP 
 TITLE:  
Interaction & Learning in Chat Environments:  
A Workshop with Data Sessions 
 
 
PROPOSER(S) 
Gerry Stahl and Alan Zemel 
 
Virtual Math Teams Project 
The Math Forum @ Drexel 
 
College of Information Science & Technology 
Drexel University 
Philadelphia, USA 
NAME AND 
AFFILIATION 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ADDRESS:                             
 
College of Information Science & Technology 
Drexel University 
3141 Chestnut Street 
Philadelphia, PA 19104 
 
 
 
 
TELEPHONE:                 +1-215-895-0544 
 
 
FAX:                                 +1-215-895-2494 
 
EMAIL:         Gerry.Stahl@drexel.edu 
 
 
II. BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Provide a brief description (75 words maximum) that will appear on the ICLS registration 
website. 
 
 
Research groups around the world are using approaches inspired by Conversation 
Analysis to explore the processes of sense-making peculiar to textual exchanges 
mediated by chat technology. Such Chat Analysis allows researchers to observe the 
opportunities for and barriers to collaborative learning created by chat environments with 
various functionality. This day-long workshop will consist primarily of group data 
sessions analyzing chat logs, but will also consider theoretical and methodological 
implications for the study of computer support in the learning sciences. 
 
IV. AUDIENCE DESCRIPTION   
 
 
Estimated attendees:    20 
 
Describe the target audience: 
 
(1) Researchers and students in the learning sciences who are interested in how 
technology mediates small-group interaction, collaboration and learning.  
 
(2) Researchers and students interested in the use of Conversation Analysis 
methodology in situations of technology mediated learning.  
 
(3) Researchers and students interested in the use of chat environments for 
collaborative learning. 
V. LENGTH AND PREFERRED TIME 
 
The morning workshops session is from 9:00 to 12:00 or12:30 with a break from 10:30-
11:00. The lunch break is 12:30-2:00.  The afternoon session is from 2:00 to 5:30 with a 
break from 3:30-4:00.  Please indicate whether your preferred time by rank ordering the 
slots below.  If you are proposing a whole day proposal or will only consider a single slot 
for the half day, just select a single slot 
 
__1__ Tuesday Full Day (9-5:30) 
__3__ Tuesday Half-Day Morning (9-12:30) 
__2__ Tuesday Half-Day Afternoon (2-5:30) 
__4__ Wednesday Half-Day Morning (9-12:00) 
VI. PROPOSAL
 
 
Data sessions in which a workshop of people analyze the sequential unfolding of small-
group interaction and sense-making as captured in a brief video clip, transcript or 
computer log are part of a methodology that is increasingly recognized to be of 
importance in the learning sciences (Stahl, Koschmann, & Suthers, 2006). The approach 
is based on ethnomethodologically-inspired conversation analysis, interaction analysis or 
video analysis (Garfinkel, 1967; Jordan & Henderson, 1995; Koschmann, Stahl, & 
Zemel, 2004; Sacks, 1992). Workshops centered on data sessions have been successfully 
held at CSCL 2002, ICLS 2002, CSCL 2003 and CSCL 2005.  
 
Instant messaging, SMS and chat are widely popular among students for socializing one-
on-one. In principle, chat technology has the potential to support many-to-many 
communication for collaborative learning activities, overcoming the requirements of 
face-to-face interaction for turn-taking and physical presence. However, active chat 
sessions involving more than three or four participants become confusing and straining 
(Pimentel, Fuks, & Lucena, 2005). To overcome the barriers to using chat for 
collaborative learning and to more specifically characterize its potential opportunities 
requires understanding the “systematics” of chat-based interaction – in analogy with the 
analysis conducted of turn-taking in informal spoken conversation (Sacks, Schegloff, & 
Jefferson, 1974). 
 
We conceptualize the patterns of interaction that we observe in data sessions as methods. 
We adopt the general approach of conversation analysis, but we must make many 
adaptations for differences including the following:  
• Chat log data consists of messages that are typed, not spoken.  
• The participants are not face-to-face.  
• Only completed messages are posted; the halting process of producing the messages 
is not observable by message recipients (Garcia & Jacobs, 1998, 1999).  
• The messages are displayed in a particular software environment and the messages 
are designed by their posters to be read and responded to in that environment 
(Livingston, 1995; Zemel, 2005).  
• The textual messages are persistent.  
• Several participants may be typing messages at the same time, and the order of 
posting these messages may be unpredictable by the participants (Cakir et al., 2005).  
Data sessions drawing on a diverse corpus of chat logs are an important step in 
developing a systematics of student methods of interacting and learning in chat 
environments. 
 
 
VII.  Syllabus
 
This workshop will consist of a series of data sessions analyzing logs from settings of 
computer-mediated collaborative learning. They will include chat sessions and other 
forms of computer mediation. The data will be presented by researchers from labs around 
the world, such as Fuks’ research group in Brazil, Wessner’s in Germany, Lonchamp’s in 
France, Suthers’ in Hawaii, Säljö and Lindström’s in Sweden, Wasson and Ludvigsen’s 
in Norway and Stahl and Zemel’s in Philadelphia. Following the data sessions, there will 
be a discussion of theoretical and methodological implications. Steps toward an ijCSCL 
journal special issue and/or a CSCL-series edited volume on interaction in chat will be 
considered. 
 
 
VIII.  Instructional Staff 
 
The workshop will be organized and facilitated by the research team of the Virtual Math 
Teams (VMT) Project at Drexel University. The team has produced a series of 
publications analyzing interaction and learning in chat environments (Cakir et al., 2005; 
Cakir, Sarmiento, & Stahl, 2006; Sarmiento, Trausan-Matu, & Stahl, 2005a, 2005b; 
Sarmiento, Cakir, & Stahl, 2006; Sarmiento, Stahl, & Weimar, 2006; Stahl & Carell, 
2004; Stahl, 2005a, 2005b, 2005c, 2005d, 2005e, 2005f, 2006b, 2006c; Stahl et al., 
2006). 
 
The Director of the VMT project is Gerry Stahl, Associate Professor of Information 
Science, Executive Editor of the International Journal of Computer-Supported 
Collaborative Learning and author of Group Cognition: Computer Support for Building 
Collaborative Knowledge (Stahl, 2006a). 
 
The post-doc on the VMT project is Alan Zemel. Dr. Zemel is trained in Conversation 
Analysis and was previously part of the Deixis Project directed by Timothy Koschmann 
(Zemel & Koschmann, 2005; Zemel, Xhafa, & Cakir, 2005; Zemel, Xhafa, & Stahl, 
2005). 
 
 
 
IX.  Audiovisual Equipment 
 
No special  needs.  
 
 
X.  References 
 
Cakir, M., Xhafa, F., Zhou, N., & Stahl, G. (2005). Thread-based analysis of patterns of 
collaborative interaction in chat. Paper presented at the international conference 
on AI in Education (AI-Ed 2005), Amsterdam, Netherlands. 
Cakir, M., Sarmiento, J., & Stahl, G. (2006). Shared deictic referencing in online 
mathematics discourse. Paper presented at the Ethnography in Education annual 
conference 2006, Philadelphia, PA. 
Garcia, A., & Jacobs, J. B. (1998). The interactional organization of computer mediated 
communication in the college classroom. Qualitative Sociology, 21 (3), 299-317. 
Garcia, A., & Jacobs, J. B. (1999). The eyes of the beholder: Understanding the turn-
taking system in quasi-synchronous computer-mediated communication. 
Research on Language and Social Interaction, 34 (4), 337-367. 
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 
Jordan, B., & Henderson, A. (1995). Interaction analysis: Foundations and practice. 
Journal of the Learning Sciences, 4 (1), 39-103. Retrieved from 
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/c-merkel/document4.HTM. 
Koschmann, T., Stahl, G., & Zemel, A. (2004). The video analyst's manifesto (or the 
implications of Garfinkel's policies for the development of a program of video 
analytic research within the learning sciences). Paper presented at the 
International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2004), Los Angeles, 
CA. 
Livingston, E. (1995). An anthropology of reading. Bloomington: IN: Indiana University 
Press. 
Pimentel, M., Fuks, H., & Lucena, C. (2005). Mediated chat development process: 
Avoiding chat confusion on educational debates. Paper presented at the 
international conference of Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL 
2005), Taipei, Taiwan. 
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the 
organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50 (4), 696-735. 
Retrieved from www.jstor.org. 
Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. 
Sarmiento, J., Trausan-Matu, S., & Stahl, G. (2005a). Co-constructed narratives in 
online, collaborative mathematics problem solving. Paper presented at the 
international conference on AI in Education (AI-Ed 2005), Amsterdam, 
Netherlands. 
Sarmiento, J., Trausan-Matu, S., & Stahl, G. (2005b). Dialogical perspectives on 
narratives in collaborative mathematics problem-solving. Paper presented at the 
International Symposium on Organizational Learning and Knowledge Work 
Management (OL-KWM 2005), Bucharest, Romania. Proceedings pp. 88-99. 
Sarmiento, J., Cakir, M., & Stahl, G. (2006). Studying the referencing of mathematical 
objects in online collaborative problem solving. Paper presented at the 
Ethnography in Education, Philadelphia, PA. 
Sarmiento, J., Stahl, G., & Weimar, S. (2006). Assessing mathematical thinking from 
online, collaborative problem-solving. Paper presented at the Conference of the 
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM 2006), St. Louis, MO. 
Stahl, G., & Carell, A. (2004). Kommunikationskonzepte [the role of communication 
concepts for CSCL pedagogy]. In J. Haake, G. Schwabe & M. Wessner (Eds.), 
CSCL-kompendium (pp. 229-237). Frankfurt, Germany: Oldenburg. Retrieved 
from http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/publications/journals/rolle.pdf. 
Stahl, G. (2005a). Group cognition in online collaborative mathematics problem solving. 
Paper presented at the 11th Biennial Conference of the European Association for 
Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI 2005), Nicosia, Cyprus. 
Stahl, G. (2005b). Group cognition: The collaborative locus of agency in CSCL. Paper 
presented at the international conference on Computer Support for Collaborative 
Learning (CSCL '05), Taipei, Taiwan. Proceedings pp. 632-640. 
Stahl, G. (2005c). Group cognition in computer assisted learning. Journal of Computer 
Assisted Learning. Retrieved from 
http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/publications/journals/JCAL.pdf. 
Stahl, G. (2005d). Sustaining online collaborative problem solving with math proposals  
(winner of best paper award). Paper presented at the International Conference on 
Computers and Education (ICCE 2005), Singapore, Singapore. Proceedings pp. 
436-443. 
Stahl, G. (2005e). Groups, group cognition & groupware (keynote). Paper presented at 
the International Workshop on Groupware (CRIWG 2005), Racife, Brazil. 
Stahl, G. (2005f). Group cognition in chat: Methods of interaction / methodologies of 
analysis. Paper presented at the Kaleidoscope CSCL SIG Workshop on Analysis 
of Interaction and Learning (NAIL 2005), Gothenburg, Sweden. 
Stahl, G. (2006a). Group cognition: Computer support for building collaborative 
knowledge. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Retrieved from 
http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/mit/. 
Stahl, G. (2006b). Preface: Engaging with engaged learning. In D. Hung & M. S. Khine 
(Eds.), Engaged learning with emerging technologies (pp. i-v). Boston: Springer. 
Retrieved from 
http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/publications/journals/Engagement.pdf. 
Stahl, G. (2006c). Scripting group cognition: The problem of guiding situated 
collaboration. In F. Fischer, H. Mandl, J. Haake & I. Kollar (Eds.), Scripting 
computer-supported collaborative learning: Cognitive, computational and 
educational perspectives. Dodrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer-Springer Verlag. 
Stahl, G., Koschmann, T., & Suthers, D. (2006). Computer-supported collaborative 
learning. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. 
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 
Zemel, A. (2005). Texts-in-interaction: Collaborative problem-solving in quasi-
synchronous computer-mediated communication. Paper presented at the 
International Conference of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL 
05), Taipei, Taiwan. 
Zemel, A., & Koschmann, T. (2005). Understanding-as-participation: A single case 
analysis of a problem-based learning meeting. Paper presented at the 
International Institute for Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis 
Conference (IIEMCA 2005), Waltham, MA. 
Zemel, A., Xhafa, F., & Cakir, M. (2005). What's in the mix? Combining coding and 
conversation analysis to investigate chat-based problem-solving. Paper presented 
at the 11th Biennial Conference of the European Association for Research on 
Learning and Instruction (EARLI 2005), Nicosia, Cyprus. 
Zemel, A., Xhafa, F., & Stahl, G. (2005). Analyzing the organization of collaborative 
math problem-solving in online chats using statistics and conversation analysis. 
Paper presented at the CRIWG International Workshop on Groupware, Racife, 
Brazil. 
 


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