THE ROGERIAN INTERFACE - FOR OPEN, WARM EMPATHY IN COMPUTER-MEDIATED COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

'Flame wars' are self-reproducing cycles of defensive, contemptuous im putation. They are a well-known problem in computer-mediated communica tion. They are especially harmful to collaborative learning. The diame tric opposite of a flame war is the self-reproducing, Rogerian cycle o f open, warm empathy. This cycle forms the core of collaborative commu nication. Wherever it is present, it replaces flaming - by definition. As the core of collaborative communication, it is logically necessary for collaborative learning. In order to encourage collaborative learn ing and flame-damping most directly, therefore, an experimental comput er-mediated course from the Open University (UK) incorporated a form o f the Rogerian cycle explicitly into its user interface. This paper de scribes its implementation. A separate paper describes the theory behi nd the implementation and its practical success.