CoCo, The Centre for Research on Computer-supported Learning and Cognition is an education research centre within the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 that carries out research into the sciences and technologies of learning.

CoCo is co-directed by founder, Peter Goodyear and Michael Jacobson. Staff include: Peter Freebody

Peter Freebody

Peter Freebody is currently a Professorial Research Fellow with the Faculty of Education and Social Work and a core member of the CoCo Research Centre at The University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia. His research and teaching interests include literacy education, classroom interaction and...

, Peter Reimann, Chun Hu, Lina Markauskaite, Kate Thompson, Agnieszka Bachfischer and Dorian Peters. The Centre leads a graduate program in Learning Science and Technology.

Research Areas

Key focus areas for the centre’s research include:

• The Learning Sciences
  Learning sciences
  The term Learning Sciences refers to an interdisciplinary field that works to further scientific understanding of learning as well as to engage in the design and implementation of learning innovations, and improvement of instructional methodologies...
  
  
• Educational Technology
  Educational technology
  Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources." The term educational technology is often associated with, and encompasses, instructional theory and...
  
   and Networked learning
  Networked learning
  Networked learning is a process of developing and maintaining connections with people and information, and communicating in such a way so as to support one another's learning.The central term in this definition is connections...
  
  
• Complexity
  Complexity
  In general usage, complexity tends to be used to characterize something with many parts in intricate arrangement. The study of these complex linkages is the main goal of complex systems theory. In science there are at this time a number of approaches to characterizing complexity, many of which are...
  
   and Systems Thinking
  Systems thinking
  Systems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. In nature, systems thinking examples include ecosystems in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish...
  
  
• Meta-literacies
• Pedagogical design and design patterns
  Design Patterns
  Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software is a software engineering book describing recurring solutions to common problems in software design. The book's authors are Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides with a foreword by Grady Booch. The authors are...
  
  
• eResearch

History

CoCo was launched in 2004 by professors Peter Goodyear and Peter Reimman. Goodyear was previously Professor of Educational Research at the University of Lancaster and Reimann was previously Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Heidelberg. The centre has grown from 5 to 40 team members since its inception and includes approximately 70 members including affiliates and externals. Co-director Peter Goodyear was named a Laureate Fellow by the Australian Research Council in July, 2010. This was the first of these fellowships to be given to a researcher in the field of Education.

Professional Activities

• The centre holds an annual symposium known as the “Learning Technology Research Fest” which offers a forum for presenting new and ongoing research in the sciences and technologies of learning.
• The centre will host the International Conference of the Learning Sciences in 2012.
• The centre is a member of the Institute for Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education (IISME)
• Co-director Peter Goodyear is Senior-Editor-in-Chief for the journal Instructional Science

Books

CoCo’s contributions to research include a number of books in the field. These include:

• Goodyear, P. & Retalis, S. (Eds.). Technology-enhanced learning: design patterns and pattern languages, by: (2010) Rotterdam, Sense Publishers.
• Jacobson, M. J., & Reimann, P. (Eds.). Designs for learning environments of the future: International perspectives from the learning sciences. (2010). New York: Springer-Verlag
• Ellis, R., & Goodyear, P. (Eds.). Students experiences of e-learning in higher education: the ecology of sustainable innovation. (2010). First published in the Taylor & Francis e-library, (2009); New York: Routeledge
• Freebody, P. Literacy Education in School Research perspectives from the past, for the future. (2007). Camberwell, Victoria: ACER.

External links

• CoCo Research Centre website
• Learning Technology Research Fest
• International Conference of the Learning Sciences