- G. Stahl, C. Rosé. 2010. Group Cognition in Online Teams. Abstract: This chapter represents a disciplinary perspective from Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), an interdisciplinary field concerned with leveraging technology for education and with analyzing cognitive processes like learning and meaning making in small groups of students (Stahl, Koschmann & Suthers, 2006). Group cognition is a theory developed to support CSCL research by describing how collaborative groups of students could achieve cognitive accomplishments together and how that could benefit the individual learning of the participants (Stahl, 2006). It is important to note that while it may very well be the case that a group of students working together manage to solve problems faster than any of them may have been able to do alone, the most important benefits to group cognition are the potential for genuinely innovative solutions that go beyond the expertise of any individual in the group, the deeper understanding that is achieved through the interaction as part of that creative process, and the lasting impact of that deep understanding that the students take with them when they move on from that interaction, which they may then carry with them as new resources into subsequent group problem-solving scenarios. Group cognition can then be seen as what transforms groups into factories for the creation of new knowledge. The types of problems that have been the focus of exploration within the group cognition paradigm have thus not been routine, well-structured problems where every participant can know exactly what their piece of the puzzle is up front in such a way that the team can function as a well oiled machine. Many critical group tasks do not fit into well-known and practiced protocols—for example, low-resource circumstances that may occur in disaster situations, where standard solutions are not an option. In acknowledgement of this, the focus within the group-cognition research has been on problems that offer groups the opportunity to explore creatively how those problems can be approached from a variety of perspectives, where the groups are encouraged to explore unique perspectives. The processes that are the concern of group-cognition research have not primarily been those that are related to efficiency of problem solving (as in some other chapters of this volume). Rather, the focus has been on the pivotal moments where a creative spark or a process of collaborative knowledge building occurs through interaction. Our fascination has been with identifying the conditions under which these moments of inspiration are triggered, with the goal …
