Teachers do not just need basic information and communication technology training, but they need to reflect on how they can make
use of the technology in their own teaching.

Philip Dean

The reflections of researchers in different European countries show a common problem: how to integrate into everyday school life the practices of computer supported collaborative learning that the researchers have shown to be beneficial. The good
experiences and practices seen as beneficial in the projects carried out have been further improved to make them suitable for everyday school life. Schools have become computerised and networked and teachers are trained in the use of different software. However, still the practices that proved to be useful are very rarely become part of everyday school life.
Change of the school culture is slow and challenging. The earlier attempts to promote CSCL have been very technology-centric in nature. They relied on assumptions that CSCL is mainly supported by developing technology. Based on the earlier experiments we now know that change is needed not only in the technical infrastructure, but also in pedagogical-, social and epistemological infrastructure. The required technical infrastructure means that teachers and students have access to new technology and they have sufficient skills to use it. The pedagogical infrastructure include practical and workable pedagogical models that help to find meaningful ways of using new technology in problem solving, collaboration, knowledge building and networking with external communities. Social infrastructure refers to new technology as an integrated aspect of
core educational processes rather than a separate activity. The curriculum, organisation and structure of courses and assessment practices should support the new culture of collaborative learning and knowledge building. The epistemological infrastructure means that teachers and students need to develop epistemological awareness of different categories of knowledge and processes of inquiry in order to understand the meaning of pursuing questions and engaging in deepening inquiry. In many schools one or several of these are missing. In most cases the challenges are to develop suitable pedagogical and
social infrastructure. Teacher training and consulting that pays special attention to pedagogical and social infrastructure
is one way of approaching a solution to this challenge. It seems to be obvious that providing schools with technology and training teachers in the use of basic software is not enough. Teachers do not just need basic information and communication technology training, but they need to reflect on how they can make use of the technology in their own teaching. The key questions are what added value and new elements information and communication technology bring to teaching, studying and quality of learning. In practice teachers should be supported in developing pedagogical practices of computer supported
collaborative learning with pedagogical researchers. Teachers should be encouraged to participate in networks to share their expertise with other teachers. When implementing a pedagogical innovation, as computer supported collaborative learning and
knowledge building in school life, teachers need enough concrete training, practical cases and support. It’s important to understand that it isn’t only the question of testing the pedagogical innovation but promoting the change of teaching and learning culture.

Teacher Training and Consulting Model

To facilitate school administrators, headmaster and
teachers willing to introduce CSCL activities in
schools the ITCOLE project has developed teacher
training and consulting model. The dual model contains
both, traditional workshops and virtual learning
in CSCL environment. The training and consulting
model is divided into four stages each closely
linked to each other. The stages are 1) Orientation,
2) Action, 3) Assessment and reflection and 4) Dissemination.
Training is emphasized on the first stage
of the model and consulting on the second. The idea
of the model is to introduce new pedagogical models
and software tools for teachers and simultaneously
implement them in use in class rooms by
relying on teachers own teaching and project ideas.
Full description of the model is available at: http://www.euro-cscl.org