Abstract:

Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) research has traditionally focused on formal educational settings with structured learning designs. However, professional learning increasingly occurs in informal, participant-driven digital spaces where collaboration and knowledge construction emerge organically. This study examines how collaborative learning processes operate and transform within a large informal professional CSCL environment during prolonged crisis conditions.

This research analyzes 1,320 posts from a Hebrew-language Facebook group of Israeli educators, spanning January 2022 to December 2025 across pre-war and wartime periods. Using quantitative content analysis, posts were coded according to four functional categories: Help-Seeking, Practical and Community Support, Emotional and Resilience Content, and Informational and Practice Sharing. The study examined how these functions vary across routine and crisis contexts and modeled predictors of help-seeking behavior through logistic regression analysis incorporating author anonymity, engagement metrics, and crisis period interactions.

Findings reveal that Informational and Practice Sharing dominated interactions, but crisis periods produced functional transformations: wartime posts showed decreased help-seeking and practical support but increased information sharing and emotional content. Engagement patterns demonstrated a paradox where help-seeking posts received fewer likes but maintained discussion levels, while information-sharing posts garnered substantially more likes. Anonymous authors were more likely to seek help, with engagement metrics strongly predicting help-seeking likelihood, and these relationships were moderated by crisis periods.

These results demonstrate that professional online communities serve primarily as distributed knowledge-sharing platforms that adaptively transform during crises, shifting from individual help-seeking toward collective resilience-building through information dissemination and emotional processing. The study extends CSCL research beyond formal learning environments, revealing how collaborative knowledge construction persists and adapts in large-scale, informal, social-media-based professional learning spaces. Findings have implications for crisis communication strategies, professional support system design, and digital community management during periods of sustained disruption.

Keywords:

Professional CSCL communities, crisis communication, digital community resilience, help-seeking behavior, information sharing, educator networks.