Abstract:

The computer-supported collaborative learning as an emerging branch of the learning sciences has evolved rapidly over the past two decades. In this field of study, many lines of research have emerged focused on exploring the discursive patterns that improve the shared knowledge construction; such discursive patterns are related with the cognitive process and the development of the concepts and ideas. At the same time, different researches point that the emotional elements and the skills of the students to regulate themselves have a strong incidence on the cognitive discourse.

In this context, the proposal of this work was exploring three types of discourse that students display on online collaborative processes: cognitive, affective and social discourse. For it, a case study was conducted involving six groups of bachelor students; the groups worked collaboratively in an asynchronous communication forum over four weeks. The results show that the discourse focusing on configuration of positive expectations about the academic task, monitoring the development of the task, and the socioemotional support among the students enable an argumentative, profound and proactive dialogue. A positive effect of the affective and social discourse on the cognitive activity developed by the students is concluded.

Keywords:

Computer-supported collaborative learning, shared knowledge construction, socioemotional regulation, social regulation.