Argumentation-Based Learning for Communities of Practice

Argumentation has been pointed out as an important means to foster learning. However, contemporary argumentation tools only poorly support the learning dimension. This is mainly due to their emphasis on formal models, which does not align well with the learning process. This article presents CoPe_it!, an innovative web-based tool that supports collaboration and augments learning through argumentative discourses. The tool provides the means to manage individual and collective knowledge by adopting an incremental formalization approach. The authors demonstrate the tool's applicability to Communities of Practice and the authors discuss the potential of their approach in the context of e-Learning.