In the Norwegian DoCTA and DoCTA NSS projects, we aimed to bring a theoretical perspective to the design of ICT-mediated learning environments that support the sociocultural aspects of human interaction and to evaluate their use. By taking a sociocultural perspective on learning activity focussing on the interpersonal social interaction in collaborative learning settings, we contribute to knowledge about the pedagogical design of network based learning scenarios, the technological design of the learning environment to support these learning scenarios, and the organisational design for management of such learning environments. Through various empirical studies, we improved our understanding of the pedagogy and technology of networked learners, and increased our understanding of learner activity. This paper reports on the "VisArt" artefact design scenario and the "gen-etikk" collaborative knowledge building scenario focusing on their design and use. Both scenarios comprised co-located and distributed students collaborating over the Internet during a 3-4 week period. (Contains 6 figures.)