Networked collaborative interaction to stimulate reflection, argumentation and synthesis

While the new mobile technologies have fostered the diffusion of synchronous audio-video communication, there is no doubt that asynchronous communication is still the main mode of interacting within online learning groups, particularly the type of text communication used in "formal" training courses which (also) include collaborative strategies. Bearing all this in mind, the key issues now become: how to achieve the most fruitful combination of the potential tools of Networked Collaborative Learning (NCL) and written online communication? How to channel them towards the achievement of the declared goals of a specific training course? How to organise collaborative interaction so that it is stimulating and at the same time productive of reflection, argumentation and synthesis in the students?