Wenger's (2000) community of practice and McConnell's (2006) e-learning groups involve collaborative and cooperative learning, which are based on social constructivist ideas of learning (Vygotsky 1962, 1978; Lave and Wenger 1991). Central features underpinning a social constructivist view of learning are that it is social rather than individual; it is an interactive, dialogical context-based practice rather than an acquisition of transmitted independent knowledge "out there"; it involves meaning-making, is complex, creative and is a participatory process rather than being a static, linear and passive event. Collaborative learning based on social constructivist ideas promotes critical thinking through engaging in knowledge building with peers in a social context (McConnell 2006). In collaborative learning situations, the teacher is regarded as a facilitator rather than an expert, providing support and scaffolding to students or learners who are seen as building on previous knowledge and understandings through dialogical discourse, transforming their identities in the process of learning (Lewis and Allen 2005). The tasks which are given to students are those which are regarded as authentic?questions which genuinely puzzle the instructors or facilitators and to which there is no right or wrong response, rather than formulaic questions and responses.