Building Collaborations between University Pre-Service Student-Teachers and English Language Students through a Socially Mediated Network

Abstract

Cooperative learning has evolved over the years to include computer-supported elements within traditional and virtual classrooms. In this chapter, the authors discuss a collaboration that used computer-supported collaborative learning through a socially mediated network. This collaboration served as a bridge between two universities from different countries. Not only did this collaboration link the students from each university together, but it provided language learners and pre-service student-teachers with the ability to benefit from the unique connection between them (i.e. students needing to learn language and teachers needing to practice teaching a language). They discuss the collaboration, the framework, and the format of this collaborative project. Much of this discussion is rooted in the experiences of some of the students who participated in its evolution with the intent to provide a direction for implementing such a collaboration in other institutions.