Students assessing their own collaborative knowledge building

We describe the design of a knowledge-building environment and examine the role of knowledge-building portfolios in characterizing and scaffolding collaborative inquiry. Our goal is to examine collaborative knowledge building in the context of exploring the alignment of learning, collaboration, and assessment in computer forums. The key design principle involved turning over epistemic agency to students; guided by several knowledge-building principles, they were asked to identify clusters of computer notes that indicated knowledge-building episodes in the computer discourse. Three classes of 9th grade students in Hong Kong used Knowledge Forum in several conditions: Knowledge Forum only, Knowledge Forum with portfolios, and Knowledge Forum with portfolios and principles. Results showed: (1) Students working on portfolios guided knowledge-building principles showed deeper inquiry and more conceptual understanding than their counterpart (2) Students' knowledge-building discourse, reflected in portfolio scores, contributed to their domain understanding; and (3) Knowledge-building portfolios helped to assess and foster collective knowledge advances: A portfolio with multiple contributions from students is a group accomplishment that captures the distributed and progressive nature of knowledge building. Students extended their collective understanding by analyzing the discourse, and the portfolio scaffolded the complex interactions between individual and collective knowledge advancements. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Students assessing their own collaborative knowledge building

We describe the design of a knowledge-building environment and examine the role of knowledge-building portfolios in characterizing and scaffolding collaborative inquiry. Our goal is to examine collaborative knowledge building in the context of exploring the alignment of learning, collaboration, and assessment in computer forums. The key design principle involved turning over epistemic agency to students; guided by several knowledge-building principles, they were asked to identify clusters of computer notes that indicated knowledge-building episodes in the computer discourse. Three classes of 9th grade students in Hong Kong used Knowledge Forum in several conditions: Knowledge Forum only, Knowledge Forum with portfolios, and Knowledge Forum with portfolios and principles. Results showed: (1) Students working on portfolios guided by knowledge-building principles showed deeper inquiry and more conceptual understanding than their counterparts; (2) Students' knowledge-building discourse, reflected in portfolio scores, contributed to their domain understanding; and (3) Knowledge-building portfolios helped to assess and foster collective knowledge advances: A portfolio with multiple contributions from students is a group accomplishment that captures the distributed and progressive nature of knowledge building. Students extended their collective understanding by analyzing the discourse, and the portfolio scaffolded the complex interactions between individual and collective knowledge advancements. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (2006) 1(1):57-87 DOI 10.1007/s11412-006-6844-4 This paper was published without its complete corrections. This is a publisher and typesetter error. The online version of the original article can be found at:     

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.     

Moving from computer literate to technologically compotent: The next educational reform

This article proposes that educators must go beyond computer literacy to achieve technological competence if successful integration of technology into the classroom is to occur. An educator who is technologically competent understands the relationship between basic computer functions and student learning. They use this understanding to design, facilitate, and manage a student-centered multidimensional learning environment that embeds the use of technology into the curriculum. Technological competence also requires a transition from using the computer as an instructional delivery system (traditional computer-based instruction) to one of using the computer as a learning tool (computer-supported instruction). With the computer-supported instruction approach, students do not learn about computers, but rather learn with computers by using them in the same way as they are used in the workplace to solve real-world, meaningful problems.     

Reflective assessment in knowledge building by students with low academic achievement

This study investigated whether and how students with low prior achievement can carry out and benefit from reflective assessment supported by the Knowledge Connections Analyzer (KCA) to collaboratively improve their knowledge-building discourse. Participants were a class of 20 Grade 11 students with low achievement taking visual art from an experienced teacher. We used multiple methods to analyze the students’ online discourse at several levels of granularity. Results indicated that students with low achievement were able to take responsibility for advancing collective knowledge, as they generated theories and questions, built on each others’ ideas, and synthesized and rose above their community’s ideas. Analysis of qualitative data such as the KCA prompt sheets, student interviews and classroom observations indicated that students were capable of carrying out reflective assessment using the KCA in a knowledge building environment, and that the use of reflective assessment may have helped students to focus on goals of knowledge building. Implications for how students with low achievement collaboratively improve their knowledge-building discourse facilitated by reflective assessment are discussed.     

Teacher support in computer-supported lab work: bridging the gap between lab experiments and students’ conceptual understanding

This paper reports on a study of teacher support in a setting where students engaged with computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) in science. The empirical basis is an intervention study where secondary school students and their teacher performed a lab experiment in genetics supported by a digital learning environment. The analytical focus is on student-teacher interactions taking place in help-seeking settings during group-based activities where students analysed and reported their findings from the lab experiment. A combination of quantitative methods in the form of frequency counts of students’ help requests and detailed micro-analyses of student-teacher interactions are used. The findings are that the majority of challenges faced by students concerned conceptually oriented issues and procedural challenges in the sense of how to practically solve the assignments provided to them in the digital learning environment. Most importantly, the analyses of student-teacher interactions provide insight into the considerable amount of support that is needed from the teacher to bridge the conceptual gap between the lab experiment and the students’ understanding of the underlying scientific principles and procedures. The findings are discussed according to possible implications for the design of digital support tools and instruction.     

Designing collaborative knowledge building environments accessible to all learners: Impacts and design challenges

The present study attempted to investigate whether young learners who were new to knowledge building approaches could work towards advancing both individual and collective knowledge, and whether knowledge building could be beneficial to both high-achieving and low-achieving students. Findings reported in this paper are from one and a half-year design research for science learning in one primary school in Singapore. In this study, we closely examined the design and enactment of the Knowledge Building Community model in one class with high-achieving students and two classes with mixed-ability students. The research consists of two phases: Phase I Cultivating a collaborative knowledge building culture and Phase II Progressive Knowledge Building using Knowledge Forum. Data were collected from multiple sources, including knowledge assessment, conceptual understanding tasks, and the content analysis of Knowledge Forum postings. The results in Phase I show that while it is critical for students to monitor and build knowledge for their own understanding, they had difficulties developing such skills. In both phases, we found positive impacts on academic achievements showing improvement of student understanding in the course of reflective thinking and progressive inquiry. Overall, quantitative data suggest that the collaborative knowledge building environment was beneficial for both high-achieving and low-achieving students. We conclude by discussing some of challenges and issues in designing collaborative knowledge building environments for young learners with diverse abilities.     

Is social capital effective for online learning?

The popularity of online social networking has heightened academic interest in social capital. However, few studies have investigated the role of social capital in online learning. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of data from online MIS classes, we find that online learning facilitates social capital formation mostly in terms of the dimensions of community, trust, collective action and cooperation, communication, and sociability and inclusion, depending on the media-based human interaction forms of online learning employed. Structural equation modeling confirms a causal effect of social capital on student satisfaction. Social capital is also found to positively affect learning outcomes as measured by students’ group project scores but not class scores. The study's contribution to the literature and practice are discussed.     

What does it mean? Students’ procedural and conceptual problem solving in a CSCL environment designed within the field of science education

This article discusses the relationship between procedural and conceptual problem solving in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment designed within the field of science education. The contribution of this article, and our understanding of this phenomenon, is anchored in our socio-cultural interpretation, and that implies distinctive inputs for the design and re-design of these kinds of learning environments. We discuss institutional aspects linked to the school as a curriculum deliverer, as well as to the presentation of the knowledge domain and the construction of the CSCL environment. The data is gathered from a design experiment in a science setting in a secondary school, and video data is used to perform an interaction analysis. More specifically, we follow a group of four secondary school students who solve a biological problem in a computer-based 3D model supported by a website. Our findings are clear in the sense that the procedural types of problem solving tend to dominate the students’ interactions, while conceptual knowledge construction is only present where it is strictly necessary to carry out the problem solving. Based on our analyses, we conclude that this can be explained partly by how the knowledge domain is presented and how the CSCL environment is designed, but that the main reason is linked to the institutional aspects related to the school as curriculum deliverer where its target is to secure that the students actually solve problems that are predefined in the syllabus list. We argue that this affords some particular challenges, linked to making conceptual knowledge constructions in science education explicit in the CSCL environment, and to encouraging the teachers and the school as a curriculum deliverer to give this kind of knowledge construction a prioritised value.     

Using Scaffold Supports to Improve Student Practice and Understanding of an Authentic Inquiry Process in Science

This study addressed computer-supported collaborative scientific inquiries in remote networked schools (Quebec, Canada). Three dyads of Grade 5–6 classrooms from remote locations across the province collaborated using the knowledge-building tool Knowledge Forum. Customized scaffold supports embedded in the online tool were used to support student understanding and practice of an authentic inquiry process. The research studied how the use of the scaffolds could help students to understand and put into practice an authentic inquiry process. Students created notes and used the scaffolds to support their inquiry process; however, without sufficient direct teacher modeling, coherent use of the scaffolds stayed low across activities. Pre- and posttest results show that the students gained a better understanding of the inquiry process, but low posttest scores suggest further need for direct teacher modeling of the inquiry process during science instruction.     

Patterns of female and male students' participation in peer interaction in computer-supported learning

The purpose of the study was to analyze how intensively female and male students participate in discourse interaction within two computer-supported classrooms. Technical infrastructure for the study was provided by the Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environments (CSILE). The study was carried out by qualitatively analyzing written notes logged by two grade 5/6 classes to CSILE's database over one academic year. The results of the study indicate that only one of the classrooms engaged in a progressive discourse focused on collaborative advancement of explanation whereas the other classroom performed more traditional learning tasks. Female students participated most actively in the progressive-discourse classroom whereas male students dominated discourse interaction in the other class, but the reasons for this are subject to debate. The investigators argue that the use of new technology should be thoroughly subsumed under pedagogical goals in order to facilitate female students' participation in computer-supported learning.     

Development and evaluation of computer-aided music-learning system for the hearing impaired

Abstract   A computer-assisted music-learning system (CAMLS) has been developed to help the hearing impaired practice playing a musical melody. The music-learning performance is evaluated to test the usability of the system. This system can be a computer-supported learning tool for the hearing impaired to help them understand what pitch and tempo are, and then learn to play songs thereby increasing their interest in music classes and enhancing their learning performance. The results indicated that CAMLS could enhance hearing-impaired students' learning performance in a music course. A questionnaire survey also demonstrated that the computer-aided method did benefit hearing-impaired students in their music leaning. Actually, this system can also be applied to non-disabled students as a music-supportive tool to help their music learning.     

Effects of gender grouping on students’ group performance,individual achievements and attitudes in computer-supported collaborative learning

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of gender grouping on students’ group performance, individual learning achievements and attitudes in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). 588 undergraduate students enrolled in a digital design course were randomly divided into 147 four-student groups that fell into five categories according to the composition of group members’ gender, namely 4M (four males), 3M1F (three males and one female), 2M2F (two males and two females), 1M3F (one male and three females) and 4F (four females). Results indicated that: (1) For group performance, 2M2F and 4F groups significantly outperformed the other groups. (2) For individual learning achievements, no significant difference was found in females among different gender grouping interventions; however, males in mixed-gender groups performed significantly better than those in single-gender groups. (3) In terms of individual attitudes, males preferred mixed-gender, gender-balanced, and gender-majority grouping; however, females preferred single-gender and gender-minority grouping. (4) The effect of gender grouping mainly influences students’ attitudes, rather than performance. These findings provide evidence that female-only and balanced-gender grouping are two kinds of good grouping interventions that could be recommended for CSCL, and male-minority groups should be avoided because they led to the worst group performance and individual attitudes.     

Bridging research and practice: Implementing and sustaining knowledge building in Hong Kong classrooms

Despite major theoretical progress in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), relatively less attention has been paid to the problem of how research advances may impact schools and classrooms. Given the global changes and educational policies for twenty-first century education, issues of how research in CSCL can be integrated with classroom practice for innovation pose important challenges. This paper draws on experiences in Hong Kong and examines research-based CSCL classroom innovations in the context of scaling up and sustaining a knowledge-building model in Hong Kong classrooms. It begins with an examination of the rationale for CSCL research in classrooms and then considers a range of problems and constraints for school implementation. Classroom innovations involve complex and emergent changes occurring at different levels of the educational system. The experience of CSCL knowledge-building classroom innovations in Hong Kong schools is reported, including: the macro-context of educational policies and educational reform, the meso-context of a knowledge-building teacher network, and the micro-context of knowledge-building design in classrooms. Three interacting themes—context and systemic change, capacity and community building, and innovation as inquiry—are proposed for examining collaboration and knowledge creation for classroom innovation.     

Diagnostic and remedial learning strategy based on conceptual graphs

Abstract Numerous scholars have applied conceptual graphs for explanatory purposes. This study devised the ‘Remedial‐Instruction Decisive path (RID path)’ algorithm for diagnosing individual student learning situation. This study focuses on conceptual graphs. According to the concepts learned by students and the weight values of relations among these concepts, this study established the remedial‐instruction paths to identify their real missing concepts. This study applies diagnostic and remedial learning strategies to two courses –‘Introduction and Implementation of RS‐232’ and ‘Electronic Circuits Laboratory’. By analysing the scores of the midterm and final exams, evaluations of remedial learning yield positive experimental results. Participants who adopt the diagnostic and remedial learning strategy have better academic performance.     

Enhancing web-based language learning through self-monitoring

Abstract  The present study investigated the effects of a self-monitoring strategy on web-based language learning. Both students' academic performance and their motivational beliefs were investigated. The interaction between the use of a self-monitoring strategy and the level of learners' English proficiency was also examined. A total of 99 college students who were enrolled in classes for Freshmen English participated in this study. The experimental group was led to a web page with self-monitoring form for recording study time and environment, learning process, predicting test scores, and self-evaluation while the control group was not. It was found that (1) the self-monitoring strategy had a significant main effect on students' academic performance and their motivational beliefs; students who applied the self-monitoring strategy outperformed students who did not apply the self-monitoring strategy on both academic performance and motivational beliefs regardless of their English proficiency level; and (2) the influence of self-monitoring was greater on the lower English level students than on the higher English level students. The positive findings suggest that encouraging students to develop self-monitoring could help increase the success of online learning. Thus, applying a self-monitoring strategy is strongly recommended for web-based instruction.     

Are two heads always better than one? Differential effects of collaboration on students�� computer-supported learning in mathematics

While some studies found positive effects of collaboration on student learning in mathematics, others found none or even negative effects. This study evaluates whether the varying impact of collaboration can be explained by differences in the type of knowledge that is promoted by the instruction. If the instructional material requires students to reason with mathematical concepts, collaboration may increase students’ learning outcome as it promotes mutual elaboration. If, however, the instructional material is focused on practicing procedures, collaboration may result in task distribution and thus reduce practice opportunities necessary for procedural skill fluency. To evaluate differential influences of collaboration, we compared four conditions: individual vs. collaborative learning with conceptual instructional material, and individual vs. collaborative learning with procedural instructional material. The instruction was computer-supported and provided adaptive feedback. We analyzed the effect of the conditions on several levels: Logfiles of students’ problem-solving actions and video-recordings enabled a detailed analysis of performance and learning processes during instruction. In addition, a post-test assessed individual knowledge acquisition. We found that collaboration improved performance during the learning phase in both the conceptual and the procedural condition; however, conceptual and procedural material had a differential effect on the quality of student collaboration: Conceptual material promoted mutual elaboration; procedural material promoted task distribution and ineffective learning behaviors. Consequently, collaboration positively influenced conceptual knowledge acquisition, while no positive effect on procedural knowledge acquisition was found. We discuss limitations of our study, address methodological implications, and suggest practical implications for the school context.