Research on Computer Conferencing in Educational Context. Quality Criteria and Quality of Practice

From a methodological and theoretical perspective, this article analyses the problematic of research on computer conferencing in an educational context from three characteristics aspects: the diversity of disciplinary approaches, the complexity of the object under study, and the uncertain appropriateness of the criteria used to judge the scientific quality of researches. From this problematic, an interpretation framework is developed allowing for the differentiation of researches and their evaluation based on appropriate criteria.