Our mission is to provide international service and contribute to the generation of new knowledge by using mixed methods social science research techniques to explore the socio-technical infrastructure required to support accessible geographically distributed collaboration.

Overview

The Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning Communities (COTELCO) is a joint social science research center in the School of International Service (SIS) at American University and the School of Information Studies (iSchool) at Syracuse University.  The Center explores the socio-technical infrastructure required to support geographically distributed collaboration and knowledge work, particularly between developed and developing countries. It is based upon principles of universal design and accessibility. COTELCO is an affiliated center of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI): Centers of Innovation on Disability. 

Research Agenda

Our broad research agenda uses mixed methods approaches to investigate three interrelated themes: (1) Global Governance, Transnational Networks and Epistemic Communities; (2) Cyberinfrastructure, Virtual Organizations, and Collaboratories; and (3) Geographically Distributed Collaborative Learning. In 2002, John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, nominated COTELCO for a Computerworld Honors Award (also known as the Smithsonian Innovation Award) for its contribution to building the Information Society. A case study on COTELCO is on deposit in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and in museums and archives around the world.
 

iBooks Textbooks Spark Discussion

Always looking for ways to recreate how people learn, Apple just launched iBooks textbooks, which offers a new way for students to use a textbook that is in fact not a textbook at all, but an interactive learning tool.
 

COTELCO Director Receives Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award

Dr. Derrick L. Cogburn, COTELCO/IDPP Executive Director and Associate Professor at American University and Syracuse University, received the 2011 Milton and Sonia Greenberg Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award. Milton Greenberg formally presented Dr. Cogburn with the award at the 2012 Ann Ferren Teaching, Research and Learning Conference on Friday, 13 January 2012.
 

COTELCO Executive Director Participated in 45th Annual HICSS Conference

Dr. Derrick L. Cogburn, COTELCO/IDPP Executive Director and Associate Professor at American University and Syracuse University, participated in one of the world’s longest running scientific conferences - the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) - from 4-7 January 2012 in Maui, Hawai'i. Dr. Cogburn co-chaired a mini-track session on global virtual teams, as well as participated in several workshops including the learning and analytics workshop, and the advances in technology and learning mini-track sessions.
 

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