Marlene Scardamalia’s efforts have earned her a place among notable Canadians – and women in particular – in the areas of learning and technology, ultimately being raised to the position of President’s Chair and University Distinguished Professor of Knowledge Innovation and Technology (International Society of the Learning Sciences [ISLS], 2025; University of Toronto, n.d.) at the University of Toronto, regarded as our country’s most prestigious higher learning institution (Times Higher Education, 2025). Much of Scardamalia’s work has focused on theoretical models for Knowledge Building (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2010; ISLS, 2025), eventually co-founding the Institute for Knowledge Innovation & Technology (Institute for Knowledge Innovation & Technology [IKIT], n.d.).
Scardamalia’s research led to the development of the Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE). For a concept developed in the 1980s, CSILE was remarkably prescient as a shared, collaborative, networked knowledge environment that, despite the technological limitations of the time, incorporated elements of many future educational technology concepts (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1996). CSILE’s aims stood in stark contrast to other techno-pedagogical models of the period, which were based primarily on interactions between a single learner and a single computer (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991).
CSILE was a tangible precursor to Scardamalia’s models of Knowledge Building, which argued that students should be active participants in creating and enhancing knowledge instead of merely receiving it. She further proposed that students should have greater agency over their learning pathways, generating their own productive questions rather than being instructed on which questions to ask (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991). Knowledge Building later matured and expanded into the concept of Knowledge Societies (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1996).
Scardamalia’s decades-old theories connect to the contemporary topic of generative AI in learning, in which she challenges whether AI’s tendency to create predetermined learning plans runs counter to the yet-to-be-determined nature of Knowledge Building (ISLS, 2025) and asks whether AI should be incorporated into learning in a way that enhances human epistemic agency rather than delegating it to AI.
References
Institute for Knowledge Innovation & Technology. (n.d.). Carl Bereiter. https://ikit.org/people/bereiter.html
International Society of the Learning Sciences. (2025). Keynote speakers: ISLS annual meeting 2025. https://2025.isls.org/keynote-speakers/
Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1991). Higher levels of agency for children in knowledge building: A challenge for the design of new knowledge media. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 1(1), 37–68. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327809jls0101_3
Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1996). Engaging students in a knowledge society. Educational Leadership, 54(3), 6–10. https://ascd.org/el/articles/engaging-students-in-a-knowledge-society
Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2010). A brief history of knowledge building. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 36(1). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/43123/
Times Higher Education. (2025, October 9). Best universities in Canada 2026. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-canada
University of Toronto. (n.d.). Marlene Scardamalia. https://discover.research.utoronto.ca/23565-marlene-scardamalia
My statement on the use of AI in this blog post: I employed ChatGPT to generate a list of candidate subjects, based on the filtering prompts I provided, which were to prioritize Canadians and, preferably, also women in recognition of the burdens that women may have faced in previous decades to establish credibility in the world of academic research. Some candidates were in scope, while others were out of scope for these prompts. However, I appreciated the assistance AI in helping me to explore the academic work and achievements of approximately ten candidates, to give me a broader review of the subject and people within it than I realistically could have achieved on my own.
All the words were written by me after reading all the reference sources, with Grammarly providing suggested edits for spelling and grammar. I also used ChatGPT to check the formatting of my citations and references for compliance with APA-7.
14 September 2026 at 9:35 am
Hi Matt,
Thanks for introducing me to Marlene Scardamalia’s work. The concepts of knowledge building and epistemic agency particularly resonated with me given my background in knowledge management.
What stood out most was the idea that learners should be active participants in creating knowledge rather than simply consuming it. In my own reading on epistemic agency, I’ve encountered research suggesting that people tend to rely heavily on trusted social sources when forming knowledge and beliefs, particularly those within their “in-groups.” This makes Scardamalia’s emphasis on collaborative knowledge building especially interesting, as it raises important questions about how we can expand knowledge creation beyond simply reinforcing existing perspectives.
I also appreciated the connection you made to AI. As a class, I think many of us are converging on a similar conclusion: technology is most valuable when it supports human inquiry, agency, and knowledge creation rather than shaping thinking for us. Great post!