You are here

Home » Content

Scaffolding and Knowledge Appropriation in Online Collaborative Group Discussions

Journal Name:

  • Contemporary Educational Technology

Publication Year:

  • 2010

Key Words:

Author Name
Abstract (2. Language): 
Sociocultural constructivism assumes that a learner’s capacity for intellectual growth increases with the presence of scaffolding or support during interaction. Moreover, from participating in dialogic interaction, there is appropriation of the knowledge shared and jointly created by learners which could transform individual understandings. Hence, interactions are opportunities for scaffolding and appropriation that affect intellectual development. This paper presents a study of an online course based on constructivist principles and evaluates the extent to which an instructional activity, supported by synchronous communication technology in a virtual environment, fosters collaborative learning. Survey findings on two student groups’ experiences of collaborative learning during online tutorials are presented. The results indicated that scaffolding was available as peers’ efforts in provision and clarification of ideas during tutorial discussions. Also, appropriation of shared knowledge was present as students’ perceptions of own attainment of learning from peer contributions during discussions. The conclusion discusses the effectiveness of the instructional activity in facilitating collaborative learning and offers recommendations for future research.
Bookmark/Search this post with
FULL TEXT (PDF): 
PDF icon arastrmx_151432_1_pp_306-321.pdf
  • 4
306-321
  • English

REFERENCES

References: 

Aaker, D., Kumar, V., & Day, G. (2004). Marketing research (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Armitt, G., Slack, F., Green, S., & Beer, M. (2002, January). The development of deep learning during a synchronous collaborative on-line course. Paper presented at the CSCL 2002. Boulder, CO.
Bonk, C. J., Daytner, K., Daytner, G., Dennen, V., & Malikowski, S. (2001). Using web-based cases to enhance, extend, and transform pre-service teacher training: Two years in review. In C. D. Maddux & D. LaMont Johnson (Eds.), The Web in higher education: Assessing the impact and fulfilling the potential (pp. 189-211). New York: The Haworth.
Booth, S. & Hulten, M. (2004). Opening dimensions of variation: An empirical study of learning in a web-based discussion. In P. Goodyear, S. Banks, V. Hodgson & D. McConnell (Eds.), Advances in research on networked learning (Vol. 4, pp. 153-174). Boston, MA: Kluwer.
Carr, S. (2000). As distance education comes of age, the challenge is keeping the students. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 46(23), 39-41.
Chesebro, J. & McCroskey, J. (2000). The relationship between students' reports of learning and their actual recall of lecture material: A validity test. Communication Education, 49, 297-301.
Crook, C. & Light, P. (2002). Virtual society and the cultural practice of study. In S. Woolgar (Ed.), Virtual society? Technology, cyberbole, reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. (2005). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, 2010, 1(4), 306-321
320
Duffy, T. & Cunningham, D. J. (1996). Constructivism: Implications for the design and delivery of instruction. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of research for educational communications and technology (pp. 170-198). New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan.
Dykes, M. & Schwier, R. (2003). Content and community redux: Instructor and student Interpretations of online communication in a graduate seminar. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 29(2). Retrieved 27 April 2005 from http://www.cjlt.ca/content/ vol29.2/cjlt29-2_art-4.html
Edwards, C. (2002, 26-28 March). Discourse on collaborative networked learning. Paper presented at the Networked Learning Conference 2002, University of Sheffield, England.
Hancock, J. & Dunham, P. (2001). Language use in computer-mediated communication: The role of coordination devices. Discourse Processes, 31(1), 91–110.
Haythornthwaite, C., Kazmer, M., Robins, J., & Shoemaker, S. (2000). Community development among distance learners: Temporal and technological dimensions. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 6(1). Retrieved 29 April 2005 from http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/ vol6/issue1/haythornthwaite.html
Herring, S. (1999). Interactional coherence in CMC. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 4(4). Retrieved 12 October 2004 from http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol4/issue4/ herring.html
Herzog, A. & Bachman, J. (1981). Effects of questionnaire length on response quality. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 45(4), 549-559.
Jones, G. (1984). Task visibility, free riding, and shirking: Explaining the effect of structure and technology on employee behavior. Academy of Management Review, 9(4), 684-695.
Kahn, R., & Cannell, C. (1957/2004). The formulation of questions. In M. Bulmer (Ed.), Questionnaires (Vol. 1, pp. 55-78). London: Sage.
Kanuka, H. & Garrison, D. (2004). Cognitive presence in online learning. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 15(2), 1-18.
Kumar, A., Kumar, P., & Basu, S. C. (2002). Student perceptions of virtual education: An exploratory study. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Web-based instructional learning (pp. 132-141). London: IRM Press.
Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking university teaching: A conversational framework for the effective use of learning technologies (2nd ed.). London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Lim, H. L. (2006). Constructing learning conversations: A study of the discourse and learner experiences of online synchronous discussions (Unpublished PhD Thesis). Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.
Lim, H. L. & Sudweeks, F. (2008). Chatting to learn: A case study on student experiences of online moderated synchronous discussions in virtual tutorials. In S. Negash, M. Whitman, A. Woszcynski, K. Hoganson & H. Mattord (Eds.), Handbook of distance learning for real-time and asynchronous information technology education (pp. 170-191). New York: Informing Science Reference, IGI Group.
CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, 2010, 1(4), 306-321
321
McDaniel, S., Olson, G., & Magee, J. (1996). Identifying and analyzing multiple threads in computer-mediated and face-to-face conversations. Paper presented at the 1996 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Boston, MA.
Mercer, D. (2003). Using synchronous communication for online social constructivist learning. Paper presented at the 2003 CADE-ACED Conference. St Johns, Newfoundland.
Moore, M. & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance education: A systems view. California: Wadsworth.
Ngwenya, J., Annand, D., & Wang, E. (2004). Supporting asynchronous discussions among online learners. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning (pp. 319-347). Canada: Athabasca University.
Payne, S. (1951, 2004). Who left it open? A description of the free-answer question and its demerits. In M. Bulmer (Ed.), Questionnaires (Vol. 1, pp. 131-147). London: Sage.
Polin, L. (2000, 28 April). Affordances of a VR world as a place for learning: Discourse patterns and contextualization cues framing learning experiences for adults in a real-time, text-based, virtual reality setting. Paper presented at the AERA 2000 Symposium. New Orleans, LA.
Principia Products. (2005). Remark Web Survey® (Version 2). [Computer software], Gravis.
Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking. New York: Oxford University Press.
Siegel, J., Dubrovsky, V., Kiesler, S., & McGuire, T. (1986). Group processes in computer-mediated communication. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 37, 157-187.
Spencer, D. & Hiltz, S. (2003). A field study of use of synchronous chat in online courses. Paper presented at the 36th Annual Hawaii International Conference in System Sciences (HICSS 03). Big Island, Hawaii.
Veerman, A., Andriessen, J., & Kanselaar, G. (2000). Learning through synchronous electronic discussion. Computers and Education, 34 (Third Quarter), 269-290.
von Glasersfeld, E. (1997, May). Piaget's legacy: Cognition as adaptive activity. Paper presented at the International Congress "Does Representation need Reality?" Vienna, Austria.
Vygotsky, L. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Revised and edited by A. Kozulin, 1986.
Werry, C. (1996). Linguistic and interactional features of Internet Relay Chat. In S. Herring (Ed.), Computer-mediated communication (pp. 47-64). Philadelphia, USA: John Benjamins.
Wertsch, J. (1985). Vygotsky and the social formation of mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Thank you for copying data from http://www.arastirmax.com