Teams of students creating digital artefacts using crafts, 3D printing, electronics, microcontrollers, and computer programming can result in significant science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) learning. An ecosystem of carefully selected tools, diverse project ideas, and a well-designed pedagogic structure can greatly facilitate this.

In this paper I present two user interface concepts: a) Argdown, a simple markup syntax for incorporating argument semantics into online text messages and b) a Stacked Masonry layout for argument maps. Both aim at making the reconstruction and visualisation of arguments easier and more intuitive for non-expert users. These ideas have been implemented in DIO, a new real-time web application.

In this paper we offer a view of case discussions in an online learning environment based on Activity Theory, which allows us to analyse the inherent contradictions in students’ learning activities. We see Activity Theory as a first step towards structuring the complexity of students’ experiences in today’s higher education systems, so as to increase ICT’s supportive role for higher-order learning activities. After identifying the tensions within particular activities we derive three means of supporting online case discussions: task scaffolds; collaboration scripts; and increasing students’ awareness of technologybased alternatives.