 Her six books and hundreds of articles about Computer-supported collaborative learning have been acknowledged as seminal works in the field.Harasim began to develop her Collaborative Learning Theory, pedagogy and the research methodology of Online Discourse Analysis while working as a senior researcher and assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1983–1989.In 1986, Harasim designed and taught one of the first totally online university courses in the world with Dorothy E. Smith on the topic of women and computers in education.