The role concept has attracted a lot of attention as a construct for facilitating and analysing interactions in the context of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). So far much of this research has been carried out in isolation and the focus on roles lacks cohesion. In this article we present a conceptual framework to synthesise the contemporary conceptualisation of roles, by discerning three levels of the role concept: micro (role as task), meso (role as pattern) and macro (role as stance). As a first step to further conceptualise role as a stance, we present a framework of eight participative stances defined along three dimensions: group size, orientation and effort. The participative stances Captain, Over-rider, Free-rider, Ghost, Pillar, Generator, Hanger-on and Lurker were scrutinised on two data sets using qualitative analysis. The stances aim to facilitate meaningful description of student behaviour, stimulate both teacher and student awareness of roles at the macro-level in terms of participative stances, and evaluate or possibly change the participation to collaborative learning on all levels. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756320900137X)
