But What If I Don't Like Computers/Collaboration/Fill-in-the-Blank? Does Learning Style Matter?

David Kolb developed a theory of learning styles and a Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) in 1976, which classified learners according to their abilities and preferences.  As Sami Sahin explains it: 

Learning occurs when students participate in some activity, reflect upon the observations, use their conceptualization skills form their understandings from the experience, and then use their understandings to create new activities or incorporate them into new situations. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience. The theory draws two dialectically related modes of grasping experience—'Concrete Experience (CE)' and 'Abstract Conceptualization (AC)'—and two dialectically related modes of transforming experience: 'Reflective Observation (RO)' and 'Active Experimentation (AE)'.

Of course there are any number of other learning style classification schemes, but Kolb's LSI has withstood the test of time and proves useful (with modifications) even today.

The question arises, "How does my learning style affect my experience with CSCL?"  In 2001, Wang, Hinn, and Kanfer found no differences in learning outcomes or learner satisfaction among different types of learners.  They theorized that CSCL has something for everyone, so to speak.  Sahin echoed this possibility, by noting that more collaboration and interaction in any given computer-supported course will accomadate the "CE" and "AE" learners.  The "AC" and "RO" learners tend to be satisfied in any case, simply because of the nature of computer-supported work.

To put it more simply, a properly designed CSCL scenario will be able to provide a positive learning experience for all involved.  CSCL has the capacity to offer "Concrete Experience" and the opportunity for "Active Experimentation" (through online simulations, for example) as well as "Abstract Conceptualization" and the opportunity for "Reflective Observation" (through text or conceptual diagrams).  The student who prefers interaction has the collaborative network and the support (not intervention) of an instructor. The student who prefers a less social setting has the buffer of the computer-mediation (you don't actually have to talk to anyone in person, in other words).

Add to these advantages the cost-effectiveness and time-saving aspects of CSCL, and it's easy to see why it may be the future of education.

REFERENCES

Lu, H., Jia, L., Gong, S.H., & Clark, B. (2007). The relationship of Kolb learning styles, online learning behaviors, and learning outcomes.  Educational Technology and Society,10(4), 187-196

Sahin, S. (2008). The relationship between student characteristics, including learning styles, and their perceptions and satisfaction in web-based courses in higher education. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE, 9(1), 123-138.

Wang, X.C., Hinn, M., Kanfer, A. (2001). Potential computer-supported collaborative learning for learners with different learning styles. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34(1), 75-85.

Weinberger, A., Ertl, B., Fischer, F., & Mandl, H. (2005).  Epistemic and social scripts in computer-supported collaborative learning.  Instructional Sciences, 33(1), 1-30.