A teaching/learning approach to CSCL

In this paper an integrated system to support an educational process called COSOFT (Computer Support for Face-to-face Teaching) is presented. It is intended for use by authors, teachers and students, who can use it to enhance the traditional ways of working inside and outside the classroom. The scenario for the system is the Computer-integrated Classroom (CiC), which is a traditional classroom in which computer technology has been added to support and enhance traditional teaching/learning activities and to enable new ones. The CiC is equipped with an electronic blackboard for the teacher and a personal computer for each student. The electronic blackboard and the personal computers are connected and to the Internet by a TCP/IP network. COSOFT is especially aimed to support the cooperative/collaborative use of computer based learning material by teachers and students upholding the following activities: presentation of learning material, planning and authoring of lesson units, discussion and cooperative problem-solving, student´s individual work and problem solving, creation of new material during a lesson, and remote access to the learning material. The system uses open technology and it is extensible, allowing the incorporation of other tools.