Research Activity

General research area: Cognitive, social and computational perspectives on designing and evaluating software for learning, collaboration, and community.

Current focus: Representational affordances in computer supported collaborative learning. Specifically, designing software interfaces to enable learners to construct, discuss, and manipulate representations of their evolving knowledge, and the study of how the notations used in these interfaces affect discourse between learners and learning outcomes.

Uncovering how intersubjective meaning-making can take place through multiple notational tools in computer workspaces, and the roles of language-based and visual/symbolic representations.

Social affordances for online communities, including support for multiple communities and pathways by which participants can discover synergistic value in the larger community.

Prior Activity and Related Interests: Coaching agents, component technology and interoperability (especially at the semantic level), computer mediated communication, networked architectures for collaborative and intelligent learning systems, usability.

Positions Held

2003-present

Associate Professor and Graduate Program Chair, Department of Information and Computer Science, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

1998-2003

Assistant Professor, Department of Information and Computer Science, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

1992-1998

Research Associate, Learning Research and Development Center
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Information Science, University of Pittsburgh

Education

1988-1993

Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Massachusetts (February 1993)

1985-1988

M.S., Computer Science, University of Massachusetts

1982-1985

Master's Program in Psychology, Northern Arizona University (no degree)

1974-1979

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Kansas City Art Institute

Dissertation

Title

An Analysis of Explanation and its Implications for the Design of Explanation Planners

Committee

Edwina Rissland (chair), Victor Lesser, Klaus Schultz, Beverly Woolf

Funded Research

2001-2006

NSF CAREER Grant: $402,755 awarded to University of Hawai`i for "Collaborative Representations: Supporting Online Knowledge-building Discourse," 2001-2006. Principal Investigator.

2001-2006

NSF Rural Systemic Initiative Implementation Grant: $6,000,000 awarded to Hawai`i Department of Education for "Hawai`i Networked Learning Communities," 2001-2006, with a $1,234,732 University of Hawai`i subcontract. Co-Principal Investigator on the Department of Education grant (Vi Harada is PI), and Principal Investigator on the University of Hawai`i subcontract.

1999-2001

NSF Rural Systemic Initiative Development Grant: $191,764 awarded to Hawai`i Department of Education for "Hawai`i Networked Learning Communities," 1999-2001. Co-Principal Investigator with Vi Harada and Vicki Kajioka. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: $405,000 awarded to University of Hawai`i for "UH Asynchronous Learning Networks," 1999-2002. Co-Principal Investigator with Victor Kobayashi and

1998-2002

Principal Investigator: The Effects of Representational Bias on Collaborative Learning Interactions, Learning and Intelligent Systems, National Science Foundation.

1998- 2003

Co-Principal Investigator with Anthony Alvarado, Elaine Fink, Alan Lesgold, and Lauren Resnick: NetLearn: Networked Learning Communities for Educational Reform, Technology Innovation Challenge Grant, US Department of Education. (Awarded to NYC Community School #2.)

1997-1998

Principal Investigator, with co-PIs Eva Toth and Arlene Weiner: "Scaling-up Implementation of Collaborative Critical Inquiry in the DoDDS Curriculum," Presidential Technology Initiative, DoDEA.

1995-1997

Co-principal investigator with Alan Lesgold, Sandy Katz, and Arlene Weiner: "Collaboration, Apprenticeship, and Critical Discussion: Groupware for Learning," Advanced Research Projects Agency, Computer Aided Education and Training Initiative. Developing software and materials for learning critical inquiry skills by working together in teams to research and report on real scientific problems. Targeted for delivery in overseas Department of Defense Dependent Schools.

1995-1997 (extended to March 1998)

Co-principal investigator with Alan Lesgold, Sandy Katz, and Arlene Weiner: "Extending the Sherlock Learning-by-Doing Approach to Work Force (Re)training," Advanced Research Projects Agency, Northeast Regional Consortium. Design and evaluation of systems to support multi-trainee team problem solving, peer critiquing, and shared reflection based on authentic simulations of real job activity. Targeted for training of Intel technicians.

1994-1995

Co-principal investigator with Alan Lesgold and Arlene Weiner: "Tools for Thinking about Complex Issues in Science and Public Policy," National Science Foundation, Applications of Advanced Technology. Designed and implemented "Belvedere," a graphical interface for students' articulation and critical discussion of scientific theories, and an automated, on-demand coach for this process. Worked with teachers and students in public school classrooms to evaluate scenarios for use of these tools.

Selected Publications

Andriessen, J., Baker, M. & Suthers, D. (Eds., 2003),

Arguing to Learn: Confronting Cognitions in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Environments. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Suthers, D. D. (2006).

Technology affordances for intersubjective meaning making: A research agenda for CSCL. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL), 1 (3), 315-337.

Suthers, D. D. (2006).

A qualitative analysis of collaborative knowledge construction through shared representations. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning 1(2),1-28.

Suthers, D., Connelly, J., Lesgold, A., Paolucci, M., Toth, E., Toth, J., & Weiner, A. (2001).

Representational and Advisory Guidance for Students Learning Scientific Inquiry. In Forbus, K. D., and Feltovich, P. J. (2001). Smart machines in education: The coming revolution in educational technology. Menlo Park, CA: AAAI/Mit Press. pp. 7-35.

Suthers, D., & Hundhausen, C. (2003).

An Empirical Study of the Effects of Representational Guidance on Collaborative Learning. Journal of the Learning Sciences 12(2), 183-219.

Suthers, D., Hundhausen, C., & Girardeau, L. (2003).

Comparing the roles of representations in face-to-face and online computer supported collaborative learning. Computers & Education, 41:335-351.

Suthers, D., Johnson, S., & Tillinghast, B. (2002).

Learning Object Meta-data for a Database of Primary and Secondary School Resources. Interactive Learning Environments 9(3), pp. 273-289.

Suthers, D., Vatrapu, R., Medina, R., Joseph, S., & Dwyer, N. (2006).

Beyond Threaded Discussion: Representational Guidance in Asynchronous Collaborative Learning Environments. Computers & Education. Available online January 7, 2007. DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2006.10.007

Suthers, D. D., Yukawa, J. & Harada, V. H. (2006).

Congruence and Tension among Activity Systems in a Tripartite Partnership for Systemic Reform. In S. A. Barab, K. E. Hay & D. T. Hickey (Eds.) Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences 2006 (pp. 744-750). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Toth, E., Suthers, D., and Lesgold, A. (2002).

Mapping to know: The effects of evidence maps and reflective assessment on scientific inquiry skills. Science Education 86(2): 264-286.

Please see this page for longer list and access to PDF.

Other Activities

Journal editorial boards: International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (associate editor); Interactive learning Environments (editorial board); Journal of the Learning Sciences (editorial board); Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning (executive associate editor).

Conference related service: Program Co-chair for Computer Supported Collaborative Learning 2005 and International Conference on Computers in Education 2003; Interactive Events chair for the Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Conference in 2002 (Boulder) and 2003 (Bergen); Co-chair of the Hawai’i International Conference on the System Sciences mini-track on “Roles and Issues of Computational Media in Learning Communities,” 2000 and 2001; and Workshop Program Chair at the Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL 2000) conference.