the idea ofencouraging students to learn together in small groups has
also become increasingly emphasized in the broader learning science. however,the ability to combine these two ideas(computer support and collabortive learning, or technology and education) to effectively enhance learning remains a challenge-a challenge that csd isdesigned to address.computers and education computers in the clessroom are often viwed with skeplicism. they are seen by crities as borning and anti-social, a haven for geeks and a mechanical form of learning. csd is based on precisely the opposite vision: it proposes the development of new software and applications that bring learners together and that can offer creative activies of intellectual exploration and social interaction. csd arose in the 1990s in recation that forced students to learn as isolated individuals. the exting potential of the internet to connect peoplein innovetive ways provided a stimulus for csd research. as csd developed, unforeseen barriers to desining, disseminating and effectively taking advantage of innovation educational softwere become more and more apprent. a transformation of the whole concept of learning was required, including signficant changes in schooling, teaching and being a student.e-learing at adistance csd is often confiated with e-learning, the organization of instruction across computer networks. e-learning is too often motivated by a naive belife that clessroom content can be digitized and disseminated to large numbers of students with little continuing involvement of tearchs or other costs,such as bulidings and transportation. these are a numbers of problems with this view.first, it is simply not true that the posting of content,such as slides, texts or videos, makes for compelling instruction. such content may provide important resources for students, just as texts books always have, but they can only be effective with in a larger motivational and interactive context.second,online teaching requires at least as much effort by human terchers at clessroom teaching.not only must the teachers prepare materials and make them avaliable by computer, the teacher must motivate and guide each sstudent, through on going interactive and a sense of social presence. while online teaching allows students from around to particiaple and allows teachers to work from any place with internet connectivity, it generally significantly increases the teacher effort per student third,csd stresses collaboration among the students, so that they are not simply reacting in isolation to posted materials.the learning takes place largely through interactions among students. students learn by expressing their questions ,pursuing lines of inquiry together, teaching, teaching each other and seeing how others are learning. computer support for such collabraton is central a csd apporach to e-learning. stumilating and sustaining productive student interaction is difficult to acheive, requiring skillful planning, cooraination and implementation and technologhy. fourth, csd is also concerned with face - to - face collabration. computer support of learning doesnot always takethe form