Hi,

In addition to traditional usability testing (is it easy to learn and use), the CSCL environment might need more advanced "pedagogical" testing about the appropriateness of the tools: e.g., is there all necessary tools and supporting structures available, is it possible to co-author documents easily so that real knowledge building is possible, is it possible to arrange the common working space flexibly to meet the requirements of collaborative inquiry process, etc.

These kind of requirements are not very easy to formulate, and depends partly on the pedagogical approach. There are some interesting ideas in the following paper from Euro-CSCL 2001 conference (all presentations of the conference can be found in http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/euro-cscl/presentations.htm):

Klaas Sikkel, Lisa Gommer, Jan van der Veen: A cross-case comparison of BSCW in different educational settings http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/euro-cscl/Papers/146.doc

Regards,

Minna Lakkala