Kai Pata

Dr. Kai Pata is the senior researcher in the Center of Educational Technology, Tallinn University. Her main expertise is in learning management in distributed learning environments and social systems for inquiry learning, tutoring models and scaffolding elements in web-based collaborative learning environments, and cognitive aspects of constructivist and socio-cultural learning in inquiry learning environments. She has the background of science education and ICT in learning. Her experience in the field started at 1994 as a designer and virtual teacher in an online elearning portal Miksike, from 2000-2007 she worked at research positions at the University of Tartu, Science Didactics Department doing various science related ICT projects. During her PhD studies at the University of Turku she investigated decision-making in role-plays in chatroom and scaffolding patterns in chat systems. Currently she holds the position of senior researcher, being actively involved in the projects designing self-directed learning with Web 2.0 tools. She thinks about patterns, semiotic aspects of learning systems, affordances and activity theory and hybrid ecology. She has been responsible at the 6th Framework projects as a pedagogical expert. Her weblog is tihane.wordpress.com.