Weathering wikis: Net-based learning meets political science in a South African university

Wikis represent flexible tools functioning as open-ended environments for collaboration while also offering process and group writing support. Here we focus on a project to innovate the use of wikis for collaborative writing within student groups in a final-year undergraduate political science course. The primary questions guiding our research were in what ways could wikis assist collaborative learning in an undergraduate course in political science and how we could support educators’ in the effective use of wikis? Curiously, wikis may serve as a mediating artifact for collaborative writing even among students who are reluctant to post online drafts. The paper raises questions concerning the nature and limits of lecturer and tutor power to deliver transformative educational innovations in relation to the capacity of students to embrace, comply with, or resist such innovation. In analysing the negotiation of the use of wikis in the course by and among the lecturer, tutors, and students, we draw on two principles in activity theory, which Yrjö Engeström argued are central to his model of expansive learning: multi-voicedness and contradictions [Engeström, Yrjö. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit; Engeström, Yrjö. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work14(1), 133-156.]. We add a third principle, transparency, to more fully capture what we observed.     

Learning presence as a moderator in the community of inquiry model

This study of over 2000 US college students examines the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) in its capacity to describe and explain differences in learning outcomes in hybrid and fully online learning environments. We hypothesize that the CoI model's theoretical constructs of presence reflect educational effectiveness in a variety of environments, and that online learner self-regulation, a construct that we label “learning presence” moderates relationships of the other components within the CoI model. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009; Shea & Bidjerano, 2011) we found evidence that students in online and blended courses rank the modalities differently with regard to quality of teaching, social, and cognitive presence. Differences in help seeking behavior, an important component of self-regulated learning, were found as well. In addition, results suggest teaching presence and social presence have a differential effect on cognitive presence, depending upon learner's online self-regulatory cognitions and behaviors, i.e. their learning presence. These results also suggest a compensation effect in which greater self-regulation is required to attain cognitive presence in the absence of sufficient teaching and social presence. Recommendations for future research and practice are included.     

Toward a Complexity of Online Learning: Learners in Online First-Year Writing

In response to the growing presence of online first-year writing courses, this paper describes a case study of two online first-year writing courses and addresses the questions: What do students in an online first-year writing course perceive as good study habits, and what helps them succeed? Data includes surveys, online discussions, course management statistics, and selected interviews. The study is supported by social cognitive theory described by psychologist Albert Bandura; this methodology allows for examination of internal, external, and behavioral characteristics of participating students. Results of the study indicate that students who rated themselves as making good use of study time also succeeded in the course. Insights from students include information about study activities, management of study time, access to technology, and attitudes about online courses. A surprising result of the study was that students did not consider communication with peers as a productive study activity, despite a deliberate attempt by instructors to build peer interaction into the course. Yet students also reported high levels of engagement and positive attitudes about online learning. The social cognitive lens provides helpful insights about these complex findings by examining the external, internal, and behavioral aspects of online first-year writing students in this study.     

Re-embodying Online Composition: Ecologies of Writing in Unreal Time and Space

Using the ecological theories of writing proposed by Marilyn Cooper's “The Ecology of Writing” (1986) and Margaret Syverson's The Wealth of Reality: An Ecology of Composition (1999), this article describes a multi-step assignment sequence designed to engage online first year composition students across the ecological breadth of their writing and learning environments. The goal of the project is twofold: enriching students’ writing processes with a sophisticated understanding of the social situatedness of knowledge and rhetoric, we can simultaneously create high-functioning learning communities in an otherwise disembodied online learning space, not by upgrading our technological tools but by pedagogically guiding learners toward ecological and productively collaborative interactions with one another.     

Evaluating peer learning and assessment in online collaborative learning environments

Transformation of learning and teaching in higher education now offers greater educational equality through enhanced access and collaboration within the framework of lifelong learning in the digital age. This study aims to evaluate online peer learning and assessment in the collaborative learning process in higher education practices. The study also investigates the impact of online peer learning on the development of skills within collaborative learning through the use of volunteered responses from learners concerning their experiences with and perceptions of online learning. Therefore, a quantitative approach is applied through the administration of a survey with 32 items that is distributed to 715 participants. According to the objective of the study, a set of inferential statistical analyses are performed. The theoretical framework of this study is the CHAT (cultural historical activity theory) which reconstructs the knowledge of learners through the application of the Adobe Connect program to demonstrate how learners can be collaborative and social with their peers in an online context. The results revealed that the collaborative online peer learning process in higher education encourages critical reflection and self-assessment. The study contributes to the understanding of the value of learner satisfaction in online collaborative learning environments through the experiences of learners.     

Analyzing collaborative interactions: divergence,shared understanding and construction of knowledge

One of the most important facets of collaborative learning is the interaction between individual and collaborative learning activities – between divergent perspectives and shared knowledge building. Individuals bring divergent ideas into a collaborative environment. While individuals bring their own unique knowledge and perspectives, the second important aspect of collaborative learning is how they move from seemingly divergent perspectives to collaborative knowledge building. This is clearly a social process among group members who could adopt various strategies for resolving differences including asserting dominance, acquiescing, or some form of reciprocal sense making. An important aspect of collaborative learning is the move from assimilation to construction, i.e., creating new understandings based on the discussions that they have had. Documenting this change from divergence to collaborative knowledge building to possible construction is therefore important in understanding the nature the collaborative interactions. In this paper we discuss our analysis of the process of collaborative interactions based on three dimensions – divergence of ideas, collaborative knowledge building and construction. Our aim was to document as well as to understand how collaborative interactions develop over time: whether students raise new issues (ideas) more frequently as they become more familiar with the discussion and discussants, and whether shared knowledge building becomes richer over time, and subsequent evidence that students were able to construct their own understanding based on their interactions with others. Our analyses were conducted in the context of an online graduate course conducted using the learning environment that we designed, CoDE, (Constructivist, Distributed learning Environment). In this paper, we will first describe the design of CoDE. We will then describe a study in which CoDE was used to offer an online graduate course in learning theories. We then discuss our analyses of both individual and collaborative learning as it progressed through the duration of the course.     

Examining effectiveness of communities of practice in online English for academic purposes (EAP) assessment in virtual classes

The literature on English for academic purposes (EAP) methodology highlights the significance of learners' engagement in learning language (Hyland, 2006) in mainstream general and online contexts. Blogs have been recommended in many studies as having the potential to bring the sense of community and collaboration in online classes. Therefore, this study sought to investigate whether blogs in large classes would help students enhance their perceptions of learning. To this end, Forty-two undergraduate students of Information Technology (IT) at an Iranian university participated in a weblog writing course in order to promote collaboration and reflective learning. Instrumentation included a questionnaire of perceived learning and sense of community, semi-structured interviews, and participant observations. The findings revealed a significant difference in perceived learning between the students with low sense of community and those with a high sense of community. Based on the qualitative findings of the study, we suggest an assessment framework incorporating constructivist and social-interactionist theories of learning in order to treat students as members of a community of learning. The findings may promise implications for gearing EAP assessment to more collaborative modes in online courses and suggest a model framework for the assessment of students in EAP online classes.     

A theory of online learning as online participation

In this paper, an initial theory of online learning as online participation is suggested. It is argued that online learner participation (1) is a complex process of taking part and maintaining relations with others, (2) is supported by physical and psychological tools, (3) is not synonymous with talking or writing, and (4) is supported by all kinds of engaging activities. Participation and learning are argued to be inseparable and jointly constituting. The implication of the theory is straightforward: If we want to enhance online learning, we need to enhance online learner participation.     

Using a grounded theory approach to study online collaboration behaviors

This paper discusses how an interpretive theory of action was explored and developed through iterative cycles of grounded theory generation. We establish our motivation for employing the grounded theory method in an area that is overflowing with theories of learning, then move on to the practicalities of generating an interpretive grounded theory by following the ‘vapor trails’ left by online learners. We describe how we incorporated the use of mixed methods into an interpretive grounded theory process, with a theoretical sampling strategy that used ‘complementary comparison’ to feed back into a new cycle of constant comparison. We discuss how constant comparison may be enhanced by researcher debate around emerging themes and categories, co-coding of data samples, coding of researcher theoretical memos, and reflection-in-action during explicit explanations of coding schemes to research assistants and the review of research process memos. Finally, we discuss how and why the substantive theory of action that was generated by this process provides an original contribution to theories of collaborative online learning by accounting for both visible and invisible learning strategies that explain the role of thought-leaders in a community of inquiry and account for vicarious learning.     

Learning to write in an online writing center: The effect of learning styles on the writing process

One of the main advantages of online learning materials is that they can be adapted for students with different learning styles. This article presents a study and a methodology to investigate whether students with different learning styles make use of the potential flexibility of online learning materials, i.c. in the context of an online writing center. The study aims to investigate the effect of learning styles on (a) the students' approach to the writing task (process), and (b) on the letters they write (product). Twenty students each completed a module on writing ‘bad news’ letters designed for Business Communication courses. Their reading and writing processes were recorded. The letters were also graded to determine their quality. An effect of learning style was found: Active and Reflective writers approached the task differently, but only in the beginning of the process. In this early stage Reflective learners were more likely to focus on the theory section than Active learners. This suggests that writers with different learning styles tackle the learning materials in different ways, often in line with the preferences that characterize their learning styles. However, no effect of learning style on text quality was found.     

PETRA: participatory evaluation through redesign and analysis

Compared with single user-computer interactions, evaluating multi-user-computer interactions is much more complex. We argue for multiplicity — of theory, method and perspective — in the evaluation of computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW). This allows us to address both theoretical concerns and practical design issues, and to incorporate the expertise and experiences of both researchers and participants. We propose the PETRA framework, incorporating a theoretically-driven evaluators' perspective to investigate the collaborative activity, and a design-based, user-focused participants' perspective to evaluate the supporting tool. Our study investigated collaborative writing, both in a face-to-face context, and supported by a computer-based group editor. In our instantiation of the PETRA framework, we used distributed cognition and a form of breakdown analysis to investigate the development of shared understanding in the two different mediating settings; and devised a rapid prototyping session (inspired by participatory design) to elicit participant reactions to and redesigns of the tool interface. Our findings show that computer-supported shared understanding develops technologically, using social coordination as a repair mechanism; and that the collaborative tool must be particularly sensitive to issues of awareness, communication, focus and ownership.     

Identifying a transition period at the midpoint of an online collaborative activity: a study among adult learners

This case study describes the group development in an online learning group. Adult learners enrolled in a MBA partially delivered at a distance were observed during fifteen weeks to better understand the group development of an online learning group. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to capture the dynamic of social interactions within the group and some affective reactions of members. The results revealed a transition period at the midpoint of the collaborative activity showing a decline of task-oriented communications, motivation and positive mood from this period. Results were discussed through models of group development validated in face-to-face environments. Some implications were proposed to facilitate online activities in computer-supported learning groups.     

Situation Definition and the Online Synchronous Writing Conference

Since the mid 1990's, more and more college and university writing centers have been offering online synchronous writing conferences to students. Writing center researchers have published extensively on how tutors can promote collaboration in online conferences, but comparatively few have used Lev Vygotsky's conception of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) to analyze activity in these conferences or to develop specific methods for working with students in these environments. Using more recent developments in the theory of the ZPD, such as the concept of situation definition, I will discuss how tutors can apply strategies related to the ZPD to promote student learning. By focusing on students’ definitions of rhetorical concepts that often implicitly guide students’ writing processes, tutors can help students improve how they approach their writing tasks. Progress through the ZPD, then, is more related to how students grow their own understanding, rather than on the correcting of students’ texts. I will illustrate this theoretical discussion by presenting examples of two online synchronous writing conferences, and I will describe the implications and possible shortcomings of a method of tutoring that applies the concept of situation definition and the ZPD.     

Sheepdog,parallel collaborative programming-by-demonstration

We introduce parallel collaborative programming-by-demonstration (PBD) as a principled approach to capturing knowledge on how to perform computer-based procedures by independently recording multiple experts executing these tasks and combining the recordings via a learning algorithm. Traditional PBD has focused on end-user programming for a single user, and does not support parallel collaborative procedure model construction from examples provided by multiple experts. In this paper we discuss how to extend the main aspects of PBD (instrumentation, abstraction, learning, and execution), and we describe the implementation of these extensions in a system called Sheepdog.