Linda Harasim

Harasim was born in 1949 in Edmonton, Canada.{{Cite web |last=David |title=Harasim Linda |url=https://abcbookworld.com/writer/harasim-linda/ |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=ABC BookWorld |language=en}} She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Alberta.{{Cite web |title=Linda Harasim |url=https://www.sfu.ca/communication/people/emeritus/linda-harasim.html |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=www.sfu.ca |language=en}} In 1983, she received her PhD in Educational Theory from the University of Toronto.{{Cite web |title=Linda Harasim |url=https://www.sfu.ca/communication/people/emeritus/linda-harasim.html |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=www.sfu.ca |language=en}}

Her interest in online learning began in 1983 while working as a senior researcher and assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.{{Cite book |last=Harasim |first=Linda M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/997815869 |title=Learning theory and online technologies |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-138-86000-1 |edition=Second |location=New York |oclc=997815869}}

In 1986, Harasim designed and taught one of the first totally online university courses in the world at the University of Toronto.{{Cite web |title=Chapter 6: Online Collaborative Learning Theory | Linda Harasim |url=http://lindaharasim.com/knowledge-community-2/online-theory-technology/collaborative-learning-theory/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605022326/http://lindaharasim.com/knowledge-community-2/online-theory-technology/collaborative-learning-theory/ |archive-date=2014-06-05 |access-date=2014-09-06}} She co-taught the course with Dorothy E. Smith.Harasim, L., and Smith, D.E. (1993). Making Connections, Thinking Change Together: Women teachers and computer networks. In P. Bourne, et al. Feminism and Education - A Canadian Perspective (2). Toronto: CSWE/OISE Press. The topic of the course was "Women and Computers in Education," which highlighted the lack of women in the field of educational computing.

The 13-week course focused on collaboration and communication among the students through asynchronous, text-based interactions. Through this course, Harasim developed her learning theory, Online Collaborative Learning (OCL) later known as Collaborativism.

Collaborativism is a learning theory about how students can learn through collaborative discourse in learning networks via the internet.{{Cite book |last=Harasim |first=Linda M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/706965562 |title=Learning theory and online technology |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-99975-5 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |oclc=706965562}} Technology is used to augment human agency and build knowledge.{{Cite journal |date=2020-06-01 |title=From Socrates to Virtual Reality: A Historical Review of Learning Theories and Their Influence on the Training of Anesthesiologists |url=https://doi.org/10.46374/volxxii-issue2-Caruso |journal=Journal of Education in Perioperative Medicine |volume=22 |issue=2 |doi=10.46374/volxxii-issue2-caruso |issn=2333-0406 |pmc=7485431 |pmid=32939366|last1=Caruso |first1=T. J. |last2=Qian |first2=J. |last3=Lawrence |first3=K. |last4=Armstrong-Carter |first4=E. |last5=Domingue |first5=B. W. |pages=E638 }} Collaborativism emphasizes the process of students working together in an online environment to construct knowledge, propose innovative solutions, and solve problems.{{Cite web |last=Harasim |first=Linda |date=2017 |title=ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, VERSUS OR PLUS: ONLINE COLLABORATIVIST LEARNING |url=http://www.trainingshare.com/pdfs/Elearn_Vancouver_Talk_2017-FINAL_lh-2.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022}} Unlike cooperative learning, in which individual members of a group divide projects into individual parts to create a whole, collaborativism focuses on the shared experience of the learning process, which eventually results in deep understanding of the content and the knowledge-building process itself.

Collaborativism occurs in three stages:

In the first stage of collaborativism, students begin with divergent thinking within a group. In this stage, students will generate or brainstorm their own position on a discussion topic. A wide range of views are presented.

In the second stage of collaborativism, students encounter a variety of information through viewing their peers' perspectives, teacher provided resources such as articles or videos, and any other sources of information brought forth by group members. During this stage, students will begin to explore new ideas, update existing beliefs, clarify positions of their classmates, and then eventually sort ideas to find the strongest arguments and weed out the weakest arguments.

In the third stage of collaborativism, students reach Intellectual Convergence by either coming to a consensus or an agreement to disagree on a particular position or group of key positions. The evidence of Intellectual Convergence may be presented in a variety of ways including a final paper, group presentation, policy statement, etc.{{Cite book |last=Harasim |first=Laura |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/698587634 |title=Current Perspectives in Applied Information Technologies: Distance Education and Distributed Learning |date=2002 |publisher=Information Age Pub |isbn=978-1-60752-853-1 |editor-last=Vrasidas |editor-first=C |location=Greenwich, CT |pages=181–200 |chapter=What makes online learning communities successful? The role of collaborative learning in social and intellectual development |oclc=698587634 |editor-last2=Glass |editor-first2=G}}

In 1987–1989, the University of Phoenix consulted with Harism to develop online pedagogy and small group discussion methodology.Hedegaard-Bishop, T. (1999). "Clearing the Path for Putting Complete Degree Programs Online." In Wisdom & Wizardry: Celebrating the Pioneers of Online Education, pp. 19-22. Harasim joined the faculty of SFU in 1990 and has been active in studying pedagogical approaches and developing the theory and research methods associated with Collaborative Learning in online environments.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1340|title=Book review - Learning theory and online technologies|first=Diane|last=Carver|date=28 August 2012|journal=The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning|volume=13|issue=4|pages=324–326|access-date=26 October 2021|doi=10.19173/irrodl.v13i4.1340|doi-access=free}}

Her books Educational Applications of Computer Networks (1986) and Online Education: Perspectives on a New Environment (1990) were amongst the first in the field.

In 1993, Harasim, along with Thomas W. Calvert, led a project to develop Virtual-U, a virtual learning environment customized to support collaborative learning.{{cite web|url=http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~fisher/edmed4.pdf#search=%22linda%20harasim%20%20%22virtual%20u%22%20filetype%3Apdf%22\|format=PDF|title=Virtual-U Development Plan: Issues and Process|website=Cs.ubc.ca|access-date=2021-10-26}} The Virtual-U software was used to support online courses and to prototype new educational social media environments and tools until 2014. It was also used by the Global Educators Network.{{Cite web |url=http://vu.cs.sfu.ca/GEN/welcome/welcome.html |title=Welcome to the Global Educators' Network |access-date=2014-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010303154312/http://vu.cs.sfu.ca/GEN/welcome/welcome.html |archive-date=2001-03-03 |url-status=dead }}

In 1995, Harasim founded and served as CEO of the TeleLearning Network of Centre of Excellence (TL*NCE) in Canada.{{cite web|url=http://www.synergiescanada.org/journals/synpra/jde/30/300 |title=Telelearning Research and the TeleLearning-Network of Centres of Excellence | Synergies |access-date=2014-09-06 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304185256/http://www.synergiescanada.org/journals/synpra/jde/30/300 |archive-date=2016-03-04 }} The $50 million project was funded half by the Canadian federal government and half by other public and private sector sources. During its operation (1995–2003) TL*NCE funded hundreds of researchers from 32 universities in Canada and worked with participants from 225 public and private sector organizations.Eggins, H. (2000). Costing Technology-Based Education: Research Studies from the UK, Canada, the European Community, and Australia. In M.J. FinkelStein (editor), Dollars, Distance, And Online Education: The New Economics Of College Teaching and Learning. American Council on Education Oryx Press Series on Higher Education. While CEO of the network, Harasim focused her research on 500 online courses that were conducted on Virtual-U. While performing this research she collaborated with Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia to further develop theoretical work in collaborative learning and knowledge building, especially the use of latent semantic analysis of online educational discourse.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cs.ubc.ca/wccce/program98/lucio/lucio.html|title=Usage of Patterns|website=Cs.ubc.ca|access-date=26 October 2021}}

Harasim has been a member of several prestigious boards and committees such as Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.{{Cite web|url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/archivee-archived.html?url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/CR1-2002E.pdf|title=Information archivée dans le Web|first=Public Services and Procurement Canada|last=Government of Canada|website=Publications.gc.ca|access-date=26 October 2021}}

Harasim currently publishes and undertakes research in "Understanding Digital Social Media and the Knowledge Society", "Digital Media Research Methods," and "Online Education," as well as communication and learning theories.{{Cite web |url=http://pages.cmns.sfu.ca/linda_harasim/teaching/ |title=Linda Harasim » Teaching |access-date=2014-09-06 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140906155640/http://pages.cmns.sfu.ca/linda_harasim/teaching/ |archive-date=2014-09-06 |url-status=dead }}

• Harasim, L. (2011). Learning Theory and Online Technologies. Routledge, New York. {{ISBN|9780415999762}}
• Harasim, L. Hiltz, S.R., Teles, L. and Turoff, M. (2005). Redes de aprendizagem: Um guia para ensino e aprendizagem on-line. Portuguese. Editora Senac: São Paulo, Brazil.
• Harasim, L. Hiltz, S.R., Teles, L. and Turoff, M. (2000). Redes de aprendizaje – Guia para la enseanza y el aprendizaje en red. Spanish. Barcelona: Editorial Gedisa, Spain.
• Harasim, L., Hiltz, S.R., Teles, L. and Turoff, M. (1995). Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching & Learning Online. Cambridge: MIT Press.
• Harasim, L. (1993). Global Networks: Computers and Communication. Cambridge: MIT Press. {{ISBN|9780262082228}}
• Harasim, L. (1990). Online Education: Perspectives on a New Environment. New York: Praeger Publishers. {{ISBN|9780275934484}}
• Harasim, L., and Johnson, E.M. (1986). Educational Applications of Computer Networks. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Education Press.

A more complete bibliography can be found at [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Linda_Harasim ResearchGate.net] and [https://sfu.academia.edu/LindaHarasim Academia.edu].

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