Written arguments and collaborative speech acts in practising the argumentative power of language through chat debates

This study deals with the quality of argumentation and collaboration in students’ chat debates. The argumentative interaction between students is analysed by categorising their speech turns into seven functional categories. The argumentative task-related parts of the students’ discussions are further analysed into collaborative and non-collaborative speech acts. Argumentation patterns are revealed when the results of both analyses are combined with observations on the students’ writing styles. Students (n = 24) participated in 12 dyadic debates concerning either nuclear power (NP) or genetically modified organisms (GMO). We found that the majority (67.2%) of the speech turns in NP debates and almost half (47.8%) of the speech turns in GMO debates belong to the argumentative categories (explore and deepen; arguments; opinions). Furthermore, there are four types of debates that could be placed in the continuum of sophisticated argumentative debates (written code of language was used)—oral-like debates (the quality of argumentation was quite low). Irrespective of the level of argumentation, all the debates were collaborative. The study shows that students acquired the skill to use language collaboratively. Most students embedded short collaborative semi-oral utterances in their written arguments to provoke and scaffold the debate.     

How students structure and relate argumentative knowledge when learning together with diagrams

When students learn together by discussing a topic, they sometimes are asked to construct an argumentative diagram. An argumentative diagram consists of boxes with arguments and arrows that relate these boxes. Constructing argumentative diagrams can be especially useful for structuring and relating argumentative knowledge. However, students do not always seem to use a diagram’s structure and relations to their benefit. To focus on structure and relations, 46 secondary school students were asked to either label the boxes in a diagram with argumentative labels such as ‘argument in favor’ and ‘rebuttal’, or to label the arrows with more causal labels such as ‘but’, and ‘because’. The students discussed two topics in dyads using a computer environment with chat and diagram. Then a post-test was given to assess their opinion and arguments. We found no difference between conditions in the extent to which students broadened and deepened their discussion. However, students who labeled the arrows contrasted subtopics more. The students who contrasted subtopics more showed better results on the post-test. Instruction and diagram design can thus influence students’ discussion, although the general results also show us that students need more instruction and reflection to optimally benefit from argumentative diagrams.     

Development and evaluation of multimedia whiteboard system for improving mathematical problem solving

This study developed a web-based multimedia whiteboard system to help students learning with mathematical problem solving. The purpose is to promote a new online mathematical learning model that students not only use electronic whiteboard to write down their mathematical problem solving solutions but also use voice recording tool to give oral explanations about their thinking behind the solutions. To cultivate students’ critical thinking capability and encourage collaborative peer learning, the new learning model also requests students to criticize others’ solutions and reply to others’ arguments. With the multimedia supporting tools, students can communicate easily with each other about what they think and how they solve mathematical problems. We have conducted an experiment with sixth grade primary school students for evaluation. After the experiment, a questionnaire about students’ attitude toward the multimedia whiteboard system for math learning was then held. The results show that students were satisfied with the use of the multimedia whiteboard system for helping them with learning fractional division. Most students were interested in studying mathematics with the multimedia whiteboard system and thought this tool is particularly useful for doing collaborative learning. After analyzing the recorded solving processes and discussions content of students, we found that the performance of female students was superior to male students in communications and mathematical problem solving. Additionally, students with higher final exam grades had better mathematical abilities for doing critiques, arguments and communications.     

Integrating computer‐supported collaborative learning into the classroom: the anatomy of a failure

We present an analysis of a longitudinal case study whose aim was to understand the processes of integration of a face‐to‐face and networked collaborative learning technology and pedagogy into a secondary school history‐geography classroom. Students carried out a sequence of argumentative tasks relating to sustainable development, including argument generation, sharing and elaboration, debate using a computer‐mediated communication, and organization of arguments in a shared diagram. Students' interactions and diagrams were analysed in terms of degree and quality of argumentativity, as well as catachresis (‘getting round’ the software to perform a non‐prescribed task). Results run counter to positive systems of ideas and values concerning collaborative learning and its technological mediation in that the scenario did not meet its pedagogical aims, having to be abandoned before its planned end. We discuss possible explanations for this ‘failure story’ in terms of the articulation between everyday, technology‐related and educational discourse genres, with their associated social milieux, as well as the social structure of the classroom. The relevance of these aspects for future attempts to integrate such technologies is discussed. In conclusion, we discuss a vision of learning that takes into account students who do not accept to play the educational game.     

Adapting and personalizing the communication in a synchronous communication tool

Abstract   In this paper, we present a synchronous text-based communication tool, referred to as Adaptive Communication Tool (ACT), which provides capabilities for adaptation and personalization. ACT supports both the free and the structured form of dialogue. The structured dialogue is implemented by two types of Scaffolding Sentence Templates (SST); i.e. sentence openers or communicative acts. The capability of adaptation is considered in the sense of making suggestions for the supported form of dialogue and SST type and providing the most meaningful and complete set of SST with respect to the learning outcomes addressed by the collaborative learning activity and the model of collaboration followed by the group members. Also, ACT enables learners to have control on the adaptation by selecting the form of dialogue and the SST type they prefer to use and enriching the provided SST set with their own ones in order to cover their communication needs. The results from the formative evaluation of the tool showed that (i) the proposed dialogue form, SST type and the provided set of SST cover students' communication needs, (ii) the capability of personalizing the communication by selecting the desired communication means as well as by enriching the provided SST set satisfied students, and (iii) students used adequately both types of SST resulting into on-task and coherent dialogues.     

Students’ experiences with collaborative learning in asynchronous Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning environments

This paper describes an explorative study carried out to gain response from distance students on their experiences with collaborative learning in asynchronous computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments. In addition, this study also attempts to have a good grip of crucial aspects concerning collaborative learning. The study was undertaken among distance learners from the Open University of the Netherlands who were working in groups of 4–11 persons. During and after the course students’ experiences with collaborative learning were measured and after the course also students’ satisfaction with collaborative learning was assessed. The finding revealed that distance learners appreciate the opportunities to work collaboratively. They show positive experiences and are quite satisfied with collaborative learning. This study also sought to explore individuals as well as course characteristics that influenced aspects of collaborative learning, and to search aspects of collaborative learning that influenced students’ satisfaction. The findings suggested that a group product influences group process regulation and group cohesion influences students’ satisfaction with collaborative learning.     

Scaffolding collaborative argumentation in asynchronous discussions with message constraints and message labels

This study examined the effects of message constraints and labels on collaborative argumentation in asynchronous online discussions. Thirty-eight undergraduate students in an introductory educational technology course were assigned to one of three groups. In one group, students posted specific types of messages using a prescribed set of message categories such as argument, evidence, critique, and explanation. Using the same message categories, another group inserted message labels directly into the subject headings to identify each message by category and increase the visibility of the arguments and challenges presented in debates. A control group received none of the above instructions and constraints. Students in the constraints-with-labels group were significantly less likely to (a) challenge other students, and (b) respond to challenges from other students. The label used to identify critiques might have discouraged students from posting critiques and shifted attention to posting more arguments, following up explanations with more explanations, and evidence with more evidence.     

Interfering and resolving: How tabletop interaction facilitates co-construction of argumentative knowledge

Tangible technologies and shared interfaces create new paradigms for mediating collaboration through dynamic, synchronous environments, where action is as important as speech for participating and contributing to the activity. However, interaction with shared interfaces has been shown to be inherently susceptible to peer interference, potentially hindering productive forms of collaborative learning. Making learners effectively engage in processes of argumentative co-construction of knowledge is challenging in such exploratory learning environments. This paper adapts the social modes dimension of Weinberger and Fischer’s (Computers and Education 46(1):71–95, 2006) analytical framework (for argumentative co-construction of knowledge) to analyse episodes of interference, in the context of a shared tabletop interface, to better understand its effect on collaborative knowledge construction. Studies involved 43 students, aged 11–14 years, interacting in groups of three, with a tangible tabletop application to learn basic concepts of the behaviour of light. Contrary to the dominant perspective, our analysis suggests that interference in shared interfaces can be productive for learning, serving as a trigger for promoting argumentation and collective knowledge construction. Interference episodes led to both productive and counter-productive learning opportunities. They were resolved through quick consensus building, when students abandoned their own activity and accepted changes made by others; integration-oriented consensus building, where students reflected on and integrated what happened in the investigation; or conflict-oriented consensus building where students tried to undo others’ actions and rebuild previous configurations. Overall, interference resolved through integration-oriented consensus building was found to lead to productive learning interactions, while counter-productive situations were mostly characterised by interference resolved through conflict-oriented consensus building.     

Collaborative learning as a collective competence when students use the potential of meaning in asynchronous dialogues

The aim of this study is to examine and to describe how student teachers engaged in courses in web-based learning environments over a period of 40-weeks develop a collective competence to collaborate. The collective competence of collaboration is defined as the level of learning ability a group of students express when using dialogues as a tool for their own and other’s learning in a web-based learning environment. The students’ contributions to the course assignments, the group responses and the collaborative discussions and dialogues were analysed and interpreted based on Bakhtin’s and Rommetveit’s theories on dialogic interactions and meaning potentials. The results describe three different levels at which students use dialogues as a tool for learning when they collaborate within the group.     

Developing Web literacy in collaborative inquiry activities

Although many children are technically skilled in using the Web, their competences to use it in a critical and meaningful way are usually less well developed. In this article, we report on a multiple case study focusing on the possibilities and limitations of collaborative inquiry activities as an appropriate context to acquire Web literacy skills in primary education. Four 5th grade school teachers and their students worked with collaborative inquiry activities on the subject of ‘healthy food’. The project was aimed at both the development of Web literacy skills and content knowledge building. Data from a variety of sources were collected: videotaped and written lesson observations, interviews with teachers and students, teacher diaries, student questionnaires, and student assignments. The teachers appeared to be able to carry out the program to varying degrees. Contextual factors that influenced the realization of the project’s goals and results were the adequacy of the research questions formulated by students, students’ inquiry skills, and the teachers’ teaching styles. Students’ learning results show that it is possible to teach Web literacy skills in the context of collaborative inquiry activities. All classes show knowledge gain with regard to the subject healthy food and all classes but one show knowledge gain with regard to Web literacy skills. Although many students show adequate use of particular Web searching, reading and evaluating skills after the project, inconsistency, impulsiveness and impatience are also typical of their Web behaviour. In the context of collaborative inquiry activities teachers are challenged to deal with the paradox that they want their students to be active knowledge builders with help of the Web, whereas the Web seems to invite students to be more or less passive searchers.     

Collaborative argumentation and justifications: A statistical discourse analysis of online discussions

As justifications (such as evidence or explanations) are central to productive argumentation, this study examines how the discourse moves of students engaged in collaborative learning are related to their justifications during computer mediated communication (CMC). Twenty-four students posted 131 messages on Knowledge Forum, an online collaborative learning environment. These messages were coded and analyzed with a multiple outcome, multilevel logit, vector autoregression. When students disagreed or made claims, they were more likely to use evidence. After a student made an alternative claim, the next student posting a message was less likely to use evidence. When students made claims, disagreed, disagreed with other’s justifications, or read more messages, they were more likely to use explanations. Boys were more likely than girls to make new claims. Together, these results suggest that discourse moves and sequences are linked to justifications on online forums.     

Using computer supported collaborative learning strategies for helping students acquire self-regulated problem-solving skills in mathematics

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of a proposed computer-based instructional method in Primary Education for self-regulated problem solving. The proposed instructional method is based on Sternberg’s model of problem solving within an authentic context. It consists of three main phases: observation, collaboration and semi-structured guidance. The ultimate learning objective is to augment the autonomous problem-solving skills of primary school children. In our study the Synergo tool was used, which is a synchronous computer supported collaborative learning tool, as well as the Moodle learning management system. The context which frames the method is authentic, very close to a students’ realistic learning situation. The findings of this study advocate that students can increase their problem-solving skills in a relatively short period of time. At the same time, they can improve their approach to the solution of a given mathematical problem, performing significant signs of autonomy.     

Technoliteracy and learning: An analysis of the quality of knowledge in electronic representations of understanding

Recent educational research from a socio-cognitive perspective has validated students’ collaborative engagement with new technologies and heightened understanding of influential factors shaping the effectiveness of peer interactions, learning contexts and computer interfaces for enhancing learning. This paper focuses on an analysis of the complexity of knowledge in student-designed, electronically created texts for what they might reveal about learning with technology. It reports on a study with 17-year-old female students whose collaborative learning process in subject English was mediated by the creation of electronic concept maps and Web files to represent their developing understanding. To analyse these electronic texts, evaluative criteria templates were developed from the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy, integrating levels of understanding with the distinctive characteristics of multimodal text production. Findings indicated not just the incremental acquisition of conceptual understanding equated with cognitive change but that the level of understanding might also be positively influenced by the students’ length of exposure to computer-mediated learning practices. As well, the criteria templates have emerged as useful evaluative tools for classroom assessment or further research when analysis of the level of complexity of student-created, electronic artefacts is required.     

Students' views of collaboration and online participation in Knowledge Forum

This study examined students’ views of collaboration and learning, and investigated how these predict students’ online participation in a computer-supported learning environment. The participants were 521 secondary school students in Hong Kong, who took part in online collaborative inquiry conducted using Knowledge Forum™. We developed a questionnaire to assess the students’ views of their collaboration aligned with the knowledge-building perspective. We also administered the Learning Process Questionnaire to examine their preferred approaches to learning. The students’ online participation in Knowledge Forum was examined using the Analytic Toolkit software. Analyses indicated that students who viewed their collaboration as more aligned with collaborative knowledge building were more likely to employ a deep approach to learning. A structural equation model indicated that the students’ views of collaboration exerted a direct effect on online participation in Knowledge Forum and mediated the effects of deep approaches on forum participation. Implications of examining students’ views of collaboration for productive online participation are discussed.     

Collaborative activities enabled by GroupScribbles (GS): An exploratory study of learning effectiveness

This paper describes the findings of an exploratory cycle of a design-based research project and examines the learning effectiveness of collaborative activities that are supported by the GroupScribbles (GS) software technology in two Singapore primary science classrooms. The students had ten weeks of GS-based lessons in science, which were co-designed by teachers and researchers to teach the curriculum by tapping on collaborative work in small groups as well as in the whole class. The results show that the GS classes performed better than non-GS classes as measured by traditional assessments. With GS, students were found to have more opportunities to participate in class discussions, and were exposed to diversified ideas. Analysis of data collected in the classroom as well as data on students’ attitudes and perceptions indicate that GS facilitated students’ collaborative learning, and improved students’ epistemology and attitudes toward science learning.     

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.     

Are digital natives a myth or reality? University students’ use of digital technologies

This study investigated the extent and nature of university students’ use of digital technologies for learning and socialising. The findings show that students use a limited range of mainly established technologies. Use of collaborative knowledge creation tools, virtual worlds, and social networking sites was low. ‘Digital natives’ and students of a technical discipline (Engineering) used more technology tools when compared to ‘digital immigrants’ and students of a non-technical discipline (Social Work). This relationship may be mediated by the finding that Engineering courses required more intensive and extensive access to technology than Social Work courses. However, the use of technology between these groups is only quantitatively rather than qualitatively different. The study did not find evidence to support popular claims that young people adopt radically different learning styles. Their attitudes to learning appear to be influenced by lecturers’ teaching approaches. Students appear to conform to traditional pedagogies, albeit with minor uses of tools delivering content. The outcomes suggest that although the calls for transformations in education may be legitimate it would be misleading to ground the arguments for such change in students’ shifting patterns of learning and technology use.     

Coordination processes in computer supported collaborative writing

In the COSAR-project a computer-supported collaborative learning environment enables students to collaborate in writing an argumentative essay. The TC3 groupware environment (TC3: Text Composer, Computer supported and Collaborative) offers access to relevant information sources, a private notepad, a chat facility including a chat history, and a shared word-processor. Planning tools for writing – a shared argumentation diagram for content generation and a shared outline facility for content linearization – were added to the basic TC3 environment. About 145 pairs of high school students completed essays on organ donation or cloning in the TC3 environment. We analyzed the logged discussion (‘chats’) and activity protocols for task-related processes present during discussion and collaboration. Processes looked into are planning, gathering information and composing the essay, as well as collaborative processes such as coordinating, turn taking and time management. Our main research question is how task-related planning activities and collaborative coordination with or without the help of planning tools relate to the quality of the resulting argumentative texts. Overall coordination and planning of the writing activities on a meta-level and on a content level were found to be crucial for the quality of the text.     

Differences in learning processes between successful and less successful students in computer-supported collaborative learning in the field of human nutrition and health

This study aimed to investigate the differences in learning processes between successful and less successful pairs of students in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) in the field of human nutrition and health. As part of their regular MSc (and optional BSc) course “Exposure assessment in nutrition and health research” at Wageningen University, 44 students were asked (as an individual pretest) to design and analyze a study which evaluates a certain dietary assessment method. Subsequently, they were asked to discuss their evaluation studies in randomized pairs using a CSCL platform. As an individual posttest, students had to re-design and re-analyze the same evaluation study. The quality of students’ knowledge construction in both tests and characteristics of their learning processes in the CSCL environment were assessed through two coding schemes. Based on their learning outcomes (quality of knowledge construction), pairs of students were divided into two subgroups: successful and less successful students. Next, the learning processes of these subgroups were compared. This study revealed that the learning processes of successful and less successful students in the CSCL environment differed in terms of relevance, width and depth of discussion and justification and reasoning. Based on these findings, recommendations for further research and educational practice are formulated.