No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Principle-based design to foster adaptive use of technology for building community knowledge
Abstract
Principle-based pedagogical and technological designs were used to support knowledge building in a grade 5-6 class. Pedagogical designs focused on collective responsibility for knowledge advancement. Technological designs focused on provision of a public space for generating and continually improving ideas with (a) social-network-analysis tools to analyze and support community processes, and (b) vocabulary-analyzer and semantic- analysis tools to analyze and support conceptual growth. The tools were used by teachers, students, and researchers. Multi-level content analyses revealed patterns of reflective and adaptive use of the technology to support sustained knowledge building.
... 98) [40]. Learning about science using pedagogies of knowledge co-construction have demonstrated a positive impact on agency of learning and critical thinking [30]. ...
... The study includes building shared community knowledge of 'learning with' context [49]. The knowledge construction process [30] is examined to identify the relationship between learning about computer science and engineering through IoT context [34]. ...
... The design of open-ended teaching and learning activities paid attention to the importance of context when learning about science [33] and the knowledge construction [30] and the role of IoT [34]. Table 1 provides the context for 3 coarse categories of learning indicators that draw from the research literature findings: ...
This design based research study focuses on learning by making about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) through collaboration and production activities. The study examines learning by making as a medium for students to explore STEM using a constructionist approach with a particular focus on computer science and engineering. The use of IoT as a technology enhanced learning (TEL) tool created the learning conditions to be studied: (a) collaborative: no one person had the knowledge to complete the project alone (b) problem-based: no off the shelf solution was used and (c) multidisciplinary: the learning context pushed the boundaries across the subjects. The results were used to inform the design of effective data analytics and visualisation tools for the PELARS project to advance practice-based learning activities in STEM teaching. However, more specifically, the findings provide insight into the knowledge construction process when learning through making in complex environments. These insights illustrate the combined pedagogical value of collaboration and production supporting the multidisciplinary learning opportunities. The importance of community knowledge construction and its relationship to the pedagogical approach is examined. The significance of these findings in the context of IoT TEL tools in education is explored.
... The evidence of student engagement in STEM through community driven maker spaces is now so compelling that we cannot ignore the potential affordances of such 'learning through making' experiences [25]. IoT enables us to take this further into knowledge building of science together, benefitting from community driven factors that foster engagement and ownership [13]. This paper investigates the potential impact of community and ownership through a personalised, sharable, wearable, device. ...
... The wearable challenge App was a small study with only six participants. The number of participants is low for two reasons, first because currently it requires much intense, personalised guidance and instruction to develop a BBC micro:bit device to support pairing with the mobile and to enable an automated mobile message application on the mobile phone, as it is still relatively new 13 . Second, these novel applications are being developed with a young audience with less well developed technical skills, even though participants are highly creative and proactive. ...
... The study was also short, in part because the communication system incurred a high maintenance cost. Again, as the device matures, operational applications should 13 New for the micro:bit and building an Android application; using and configuring BLE is not a beginner task. be easier to run for longer. ...
If we are to engage a younger generation to become future engineering and science innovators, we need to widen participation and interaction with technology and science. Maker movements have the potential to do this by making tools, materials, and processes more readily available to people in a more informal learning setting who may not initially self-identify as makers. We address a chief limitation of such maker communities, where it can be difficult for participants to develop and continue an application outside the inherent limited time and space of the maker event. We ran a series of 6 maker events aimed at groups of six 14-15 year olds that focused on learning through making the BBC micro:bit device interact as part of an Internet of Things (IoT) application. We report on one event and a challenge to develop a sharable wearable IoT application to address the aim for participants that could sustain interest outside the event. This application was a club badge to send secret messages to members. The evaluation revealed a keen engagement and commitment to social wearable design, as seen through the students building and participating in the successful use of the application through authenticity. This authentic engagement to problem solving at a technical level to motivate personal goals was inspired through a sharable wearable design that participants deemed to be beneficial.
... There were two datasets involved in this study, both in the same Knowledge Forum database and both generated by the same students from a school in downtown Toronto, Canada. The two datasets were selected for use because a previous study (Hong, Scardamalia, Messina, & Teo, 2008) found a significant difference in terms of the nature of inquiry in these two datasets. In this previous study, a laborious content analysis, using theme as unit of analysis, was conducted to explore the different nature of inquiry between the two phases. ...
... But there are higher numbers of note revisions and more words (per note) being generated by students in phase 2. In other words, in the second phase there was (1) less time spent on problem generation and connectivity (i.e., note-linking and building-on), and (2) more time on elaborating the content of each note (e.g., more note revisions and more words per note). This suggests a change from more breadth-oriented inquiry in phase 1 to more reflective, depthoriented inquiry in phase 2. This confirms findings from the previous study mentioned above (Hong et al., 2008). It is worth noting that the standard deviations seemed rather high (e.g., the number of note revisions). ...
... Second, both can be easily integrated into online learning environments. Third, both are easy to implement, and with careful instructional design, can be used by teachers and even young students (see, e.g., Hong et al., 2008). On the other hand, there are also differences between the conventional and key-term measures. ...
This study investigates ways of using key terms to represent and assess community knowledge in an online knowledge building environment. Knowledge Forum – an environment specially designed to support advances in community knowledge – incorporates key-term analytic tools. In the current study these tools were used to determine if key-term measures complement conventional online behavioral measures in assessing community knowledge advances. Discourse rated as more reflective and depth-oriented showed higher percentages of shared key terms and higher frequency use of shared key terms than less reflective, shallower discourse. Limitations and possibilities for using key terms for automated assessment and visual representation of community knowledge are discussed.
... they are guided through the Q&A system to pose/author and search and find answers to student-led questions. This approach builds and draws on the work of Hong, Scardmalia, and Bereiter [3,4], of 'learning with', where the empowerment of the learner is recognized and encouraged. The Q&A system acts as trigger and a guide for students to explore available and new information, and to find the answers through this process. ...
... By engaging in physical motion, they form deeper and more persistent memories of the systems that they explore [5]. They engage with the 'imaginations of movement' [20] and are able to provide shared experiences of 'learning with' [3,4]. ...
Research problem: The paper identifies the need to support powerful metaphors that capture innovations of new emerging human computer interaction (HCI) technologies and innovative question and answering (Q&A) systems in the context of spatial learning and inquiry-based learning in education. Aim/goals of the research: Explore the potential of ‘Wunderkammer’ (curiosity cabinet) as a powerful metaphor to design new types of learning experiences catering for an ecology of artefacts (real of virtual objects) to provide a holistic context for educators to share and extend learning in action. Conclusions: We provide insight into the emergence of smart interactive objects with different types of sensors that can potentially support everyday life and the increasing access to new visual experiences through augment reality and virtual reality, for new types of tangible knowledge building that can be personalised and shared. This reshaping of human centred design and creating new experiences through tangible creations that externalize in real time and through new materials, the creative power of the ‘imaginations of movement’ provides new user experience design thinking through the concept of powerful metaphors, to provide core design requirements where the blending of worlds is common place.
... In KF, students are guided to embrace a productive view to engage in a collective knowledge-creating process by working creatively with ideas (Carey & Smith, 1993). Previous research has been found useful to systematically employ knowledge-building theory and Knowledge Forum technology as an effective pedagogical approach in blended learning contexts (Hong et al., 2008Poletti et al., 2021;Scardamalia, 2002;Scardamalia et al., 1994;Zhang et al., 2007Zhang et al., , 2011. As mentioned above, during the pandemic, online learning activities have become more essential than ever for learning in the higher education context. ...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning provides an essential means for teaching in higher education to avoid close human contact. Nevertheless, there is a general lack of understanding from current research regarding how to select appropriate pedagogies and technological tools to foster quality online interaction and discussion. As such, the chapter explores the potential of a knowledge building pedagogy that is supported by a technological platform called Knowledge Forum to enable more effective online interaction and knowledge construction in a higher education context. Participants were 38 teacher-education students engaging in groups for 18 weeks in a semester to design a teaching lesson via online discussion. Data were mainly from students’ online learning and discussion activity. The main findings show that knowledge building pedagogy and technology was effective in creating a supporting learning environment for students (1) to engage in not only within-group, but also beyond-group interaction and discussion; (2) to work creatively with ideas for completing quality teaching lessons as group projects; and (3) to develop reflective peer-assessment and feedback capacity. Some implications for higher education teaching were also discussed.
... KB studies span the curriculum and all levels of schooling. In addition to science, mathematics, and history just presented, studies include but are not limited to language arts, physical education, chemistry, physics, climate change, crafts and the arts, social studies, and engineering ( Ellis et al., 2011;Hong, Scardamalia, Messina, & Teo, 2008;Lahti, Iivonen, & SeitamaaHakkarainen, 2004;Lam & Chan, 2008;McAuley, 2009;Reeve & Sharkawy, 2012). Researchers span the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and mainstream to remote networked schools and aboriginal contexts (see Scardamalia & Egnatoff, 2010, a special issue on KB, for an overview). ...
In this article we review the Knowledge-Building literature, unpacking its conceptual framework, principle-based pedagogy, distinctive features, and issues regarding scalability and sustainability. The Knowledge-Building goal is to reframe education as a knowledge-creating enterprise, engaging students from the earliest years of schooling. Despite a 30-year program of research and development and recognition that there is a close fit between Knowledge Building and efforts to meet knowledge society needs, Knowledge Building is frequently reinterpreted along the general lines of bringing constructivist learning into schooling rather than means to reframing education as a knowledge-creating enterprise. This article aims to clarify Knowledge-Building goals and to make the opportunities afforded by Knowledge Building more accessible.
... Previous research suggests that the integral use of knowledge-building pedagogy and technology is useful in enhancing social dynamics in class settings (Hong, Scardamalia, Messina, & Teo, 2008;Scardamalia, 2002;Scardamalia et al., 1994;Zhang, Hong, Scardamalia, Teo, & Morley, in press;Zhang et al., 2007). This study further suggests that the development of students' views on collaboration can be greatly informed by how they learn (e.g., conventional vs. knowledge building pedagogy) and by the kind of learning environment they are engaged (i.e., group-based learning vs. knowledge building environment). ...
This study investigated the effects of knowledge building pedagogy and technology (i.e., Knowledge Forum, K.F) on students' collaborative competencies and their views on collaboration over 18 weeks. Participants were 52 fifth graders from two science classes (n=26 for both the experimental and control classes). Data mainly came from students' online activities recorded in a KF database and pre-post interview regarding students' views on collaboration. Findings indicated that engaging students in knowledge building enhanced students' collaborative competencies; they became more socially interactive and were able to collaborate more opportunistically beyond pre-determined, fixed groups. Moreover, it was found that engaging in knowledge building also broadened students' view of collaboration, enabling them to see collaboration not just from a task-driven, group-based perspective, but from a more emergent, idea-centered perspective. Implications for science instruction were discussed.
... Our research team is currently adding new design features into Knowledge Forum, including the development of a suite of new assessment tools (Hong, Scardamalia, Messina & Teo, 2008;Scardamalia, Bransford, Kozma & Quallmez, 2010). One of the new tools is a more powerful Social Network Analysis Tool, which enables members to freely explore existing interaction patterns among participants in the KSN (cf. ...
The Knowledge Society Network (KSN) “takes advantage of new knowledge media to maximize and democratize society’s knowledge-creating capacity” (www.ikit.org/KSN). This article synthesizes the principles and designs of this network which were initiated over 15 years ago, and presents an exploratory study of interactions in the KSN over four years, elaborating different network structures and the potential of each for knowledge advancement. Four major sub-network structures for participant and idea interaction are described, as reflected in social network analysis of discourse in the KSN. Strengths and weaknesses of work within each sub-network were identified with suggestions for creating a more dynamic, sustained network for knowledge advancement.
... The principle of Epistemic Agency underscores that participants deal with the full range of knowledge problems (goals, motivation, evaluation, planning, etc.), including knowledge problems normally left to teachers or managers. Previous research indicates that integral use of knowledge building theory and technology can effectively help students learn and build collective knowledge (Hong, Scardamalia, Messina & Teo, 2008;Scardamalia, 2002;Scardamalia, Bereiter & Lamon, 1994). Figure 1 shows the design of a note interface and "theory building" scaffolds (on the left side), including, (1) My theory; (2) I need to understand; (3) New information; (4) This theory cannot explain; (5) A better theory; and (6) Putting our knowledge together. ...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a collaborative knowledge building environment called "Knowledge Forum" (KF) on students' perceived creative climate in class. Participants were 30 college students who took a university course about living technology. Data analysis includes: (1) descriptive statistics which analyzed student online discourse activities recorded in a KF database, (2) social network analysis which explored how students collaborated online; and (3) a survey called "Creative Climate Questionnaire (CCQ)" which investigated the characteristics of KF as a creative learning environment. Preliminary findings indicate that students were able to generate, exchange, and elaborate ideas by, interacting and collaborating with one another in KF. Further, the results based on the CCQ suggest that of ten factors that characterize a creative environment, seven of them (including playfulness/humor; idea support; liveliness; debate; trust/openness; and freedom) were perceived as much superior than another two reference groups: (1) Taiwanese graduate students (N=703) and (2) Swedish company employees (N=245). The results showed that KF as a knowledge building environment is conducive to creative group collaboration.
... Previous research suggests that the integral use of knowledge-building pedagogy and Knowledge Forum technology has been an effective means to support such collaborative knowledge-building and learning activities in class settings (Hong & Sullivan, 2009;Hong, Scardamalia, Messina, & Teo, 2008;Scardamalia, 2002;Scardamalia, Bereiter & Lamon, 1994;Zhang, Scardamalia, Lamon, Messina, & Reeve, 2007). Chai, Wong and Bopry's (2009) study on in-service teachers who experienced both learning and teaching through knowledge-building has provided some evidence that it may stimulate epistemological growth among teachers (see also Chai & Tan, 2009). ...
Previous research indicates that epistemological beliefs are related to learning in various ways and have implications for teaching. This study further investigates whether it is possible to change teacher-education students' epistemological beliefs by engaging them in a constructivist way of collaborative knowledge building and learning in an online environment called Knowledge Forum. Findings indicate that Knowledge Forum as a knowledge-building environment is helpful in (1) engaging students in their online knowledge work; (2) making them more collaborative and reflective in the community; and (3) shifting their epistemological and pedagogical beliefs to become more constructivist-oriented.
... Unlike a theme (which represents a broader area of inquiry), an idea can be thought of as a fundamental unit of information that may be represented by a thought, a cognitive concept, or a proposed solution to a problem, and is formed by the consciousness through the process of ideation (i.e., idea generation). The essential notion of an idea-centered design is to center group discussion or meaning interaction around sustained idea exchange and improvement (Hong & Florence, accepted;Hong, Scardamalia, Messina, & Teo, 2008;Scardamalia, 1999), regardless of whether idea are located in the same thread or not. Doing so is thus able to transform conventionally theme-based threaded discussion into more dynamic meaning interaction. ...
This paper compares the effectiveness of two multimedia environments-Blackboard Learning System™ and Knowledge Forum™-in terms of their underlying design approaches to support collaborative learning and knowledge work. The two design approaches are (1) a conventional theme-based approach, i.e., to center group collaboration and meaning interaction around themes, and (2) an idea-centered approach, i.e., to center group collaboration and meaning interaction around sustained idea exchange and improvement. Findings suggest that an idea-centered design approach seems more likely to construct an environment that fosters more dynamic group and meaning interactions, thus enabling more sustained collaborative learning and knowledge building.
Crucial to any design is its intention, although the world will be the judge of its value. We try to make intention and outcome align, and in the context of learning design its value to the world will be some important advance in contributing to solving one of the many challenges to improving learning and teaching. This chapter focuses on the challenge of how to optimize the potential of digital learning technologies in education and offers collaborative learning design as an effective solution. This challenge is critical because digital technologies have huge potential to transform the effectiveness of education and its inequalities on the large scale. They also have the potential to exacerbate its problems and destroy its successes. Educators must be supremely vigilant to avoid the worst, and diligent to achieve the best. The chapter explains why educators should focus on collaborative learning design and clarifies its theoretical basis. It describes the evidence from experiments that evaluated teachers’ experience of a ‘co-designed massive open online collaboration’ and demonstrated a viable solution for professional development that can scale up teachers’ good local learning design solutions to improve the reach and effectiveness of student learning across the world.
This paper reports on an iterative design-based research project to develop an online design tool (the Learning Designer) to support ‘teachers as designers’. The aim is to evaluate the potential of the tool to develop and support a knowledge-building teaching professional community. (Laurillard, 2012) The Learning Designer was embedded and evaluated through international online ‘design challenge’ events, and a series of MOOCs, providing both quantitative and qualitative data. Findings indicate that the Learning Designer enables an online community of teachers from across the K-12, further and higher education sectors (~400 per day) to build and share their developing knowledge of learning design, and that this would be strengthened by further functionality to support collaboration and peer review of the learning designs created. The research shows how digital technology could bring about large-scale improvements in teacher professional development of TEL. The paper concludes with users’ priorities for new features to mobilise community knowledge via large-scale professional development of teachers as innovative TEL designers.
In recent years, there have been many exchanges of perspectives and debates in the field of conceptual change. Most of the classical views on conceptual change have been criticized, and there have been recent discussions around bridging the cognitive and socio-cultural approaches in the research on conceptual change. On the other hand, researchers and educators in the knowledge building communities have been working towards advancing the frontier of knowledge work and knowledge creation in education in order to cope with the challenges of an emerging knowledge society. In this paper, we examine some of the main principles of knowledge building in relation to fostering conceptual change with reference to specific examples. Specifically, we highlight the foundational goal of knowledge building with respect to conceptual change.
Students’ views on the nature of science and on the levels of self-directed and collaborative learning with technology support affect the manner in which learning is conducted in the classroom. With limited literature offering insight into the effects the knowledge building pedagogy has on these students’ perceptions, this study employed the quasi-experimental approach for its investigation. The study showed that a 6-week knowledge building intervention could improve secondary students’ view on the need to validate or critically evaluate knowledge drawn from authoritative sources like their teachers, textbooks, or scientists. In comparison, students who were taught with traditional method regressed significantly across three out of the four aspects of their views on nature of science investigated in this study. Further, students within the experimental class perceived a higher tendency for collaborative learning with technology after the curricular intervention. These findings provided support for the use of the knowledge building approach to develop students’ views on nature of science and their learning practices.
Previous research suggests that deeper understanding of knowledge-building principles is critical for a teacher to develop a knowledge-building community. Yet, it remains a challenge as to how to effectively help prospective teachers attain necessary understanding of knowledge-building principles for developing such community. As an initial step to address this challenge, this exploratory study assessed prospective teachers' conceptions about knowledge-building. Findings indicate that there exists a significant discrepancy between knowledge-building principles and their practice as perceived by the participants. Further research is necessary to explore this phenomenon.
While the importance of viewing learning as knowledge creation is gradually recognized (Paavola et al. Computer-supported
collaborative learning: foundations for a CSCL community 2002; Rev Educ Res 74:557–576 2004), an important question remains to be answered—what represents an effective instructional design to support collaborative
creative learning? This paper argues for the need to move away from efficiency-oriented instructional design to innovation-oriented
instructional design if learning as knowledge creation is to be pursued as an important instructional goal. The rationale
in support of this argument is discussed from four different theoretical perspectives and an idea-centered, principle-based
design approach as an example is proposed for discussion.
This paper explores knowledge building in a community identified by Bielaczyc and Collins (2006) as a hotbed community--a community in which knowledge creation has taken on a life of its own. The practices of six elementary schoolteachers are analyzed to inform the development of teachers' knowledge-building practices and to better understand how teachers develop and sustain innovative knowledge-building practices.
This study investigates the impact of engaging teacher-education students in sustained design and knowledge building practices in mathematics teaching on their views of mathematics and mathematics teaching. Participants were nine teacher-education students who took a university course titled "Middle School Mathematics Teaching." Data primarily came from student discourse recorded in a Knowledge Forum database, peer evaluation and video analysis on student teaching practices, and an open-ended mathematics belief survey. Preliminary results suggest that teacher-education students became progressively more adaptive in their teaching practice. More importantly, their views of mathematics became more constructivist-oriented, and in the meantime, their views of mathematics teaching also became more student-centered.
This study investigated the effects of engaging students to collectively learn and work with knowledge in a computer-supported
collaborative learning environment called Knowledge Forum on their views about knowledge building theory and practice. Participants
were 24 teacher-education students who took a required course titled “Integrating Theory and Practice in Teaching.” Data mainly
came from (1) student discourse recorded in a Knowledge Forum database, (2) a survey that examined students’ views about knowledge
building, and (3) interviews with regard to students’ perceived barriers to implementing knowledge building theory in teaching.
Findings suggest that with sustained discourse to construct their collective understanding of the relationships between theory
and practice in teaching for a semester, the participants were able to attain more informed and practical views about knowledge
building theory. In addition, students’ perceived barriers to implementing knowledge building in teaching were identified
and strategies to help overcome these barriers discussed.
Tagging-based systems enable users to categorize web resources by means of tags (freely chosen keywords), in order to re-finding these resources later. Tagging is implicitly also a social indexing process, since users share their tags and resources, constructing a social tag index, so-called folksonomy. At the same time of tagging-based system, has been popularised an interface model for visual information retrieval known as Tag-Cloud. In this model, the most frequently used tags are displayed in alphabetical order. This paper presents a novel approach to Tag-Cloud's tags selection, and proposes the use of clustering algorithms for visual layout, with the aim of improve browsing experience. The results suggest that presented approach reduces the semantic density of tag set, and improves the visual consistency of Tag-Cloud layout.
Over the past 15 years, educational technologists have been dabbling with a research technique known as quantitative content
analysis (QCA). Although it is characterized as a systematic and objective procedure for describing communication, readers
find insufficient evidence of either quality in published reports. In this paper, it is argued that QCA should be conceived
of as a form of testing and measurement. If this argument is successful, it becomes possible to frame many of the problems
associated with QCA studies under the well-articulated rubric of test validity. Two sets of procedures for developing the
validity of a QCA coding protocol are provided, (a) one for developing a protocol that is theoretically valid and (b) one
for establishing its validity empirically. The paper is concerned specifically with the use of QCA to study educational applications
of computer-mediated communication.
We examine the two traditions of content analysis: the first in which one substitutes words of a text with categories, and the second in which one looks for clusters of words that may refer to a theme. In the first tradition, preexisting dictionary categories give meaning to the words; in the second, meaning comes after the fact. Preexisting dictionary categories (the substitution model) are calibrated instruments applied within experimental designs that leave no space for doubt; meanwhile, the ability of the correlational model to conjure up complex themes from fragments of a text yields no unique solution. These differences have bearings on the production of new social knowledge. We expound on the epistemological foundations of the two traditions of interpretation and draw from them decision rules upon which one may rely for choosing among appropriate content-analytic tactics. Two reasons make this essay timely and critical: (1) the increasing variety of new content-analyticsoftware for particular purposes and (2) the almost exclusive focusing on software and technology at the expense of adjusting the choice of the software to the nature of the text. Two studies, one in historiometry, the other in autobiography, illustrate the liabilities and benefits of the two models of content analysis.
Pressure for better measurement of the extent to which stated learning outcomes are achieved by students has resulted in a demand for more frequent assessment to maintain the quality of learning. The resources available for this are seen to be static or dwindling, so there is scope for the use of information and communications technology to increase productivity by automating assessment tasks. This paper presents computer-assisted assessment (CAA) in the context of current debates and highlights potential future developments. A search was conducted of CAA-related literature from the last decade to trace the development of CAA from the beginnings of its large scale use in HE. Lack of resources, individual inertia and risk propensity are key barriers at the level of individual academics while proper resourcing and cultural factors outweigh technical barriers at the institutional level.
Two instructional studies directed at the comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities of seventh grade poor comprehenders are reported. The four study activities were summarizing (self-review), questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The training method was that of reciprocal teaching, where the tutor and students took turns leading a dialogue centered on pertinent features of the text. In Study 1, a comparison between the reciprocal teaching method and a second intervention modeled on typical classroom practice resulted in greater gains and maintenance over time for the reciprocal procedure. Reciprocal teaching, with an adult model guiding the student to interact with the text in more sophisticated ways, led to a significant improvement in the quality of the summaries and questions. It also led to sizable gains on criterion tests of comprehension, reliable maintenance over time, generalization to classroom comprehension tests, transfer to novel tasks that tapped the trained skills of summarizing, questioning, and clarifying, and improvement in standardized comprehension scores. Many of these results were replicated in Study 2. In contrast to Study 1, which was conducted by an experimenter, Study 2 examined group interventions conducted by volunteer teachers with their existing reading groups.
st Century, knowledge society ring to it, but how is a knowledge building environment different from a learning environment and what makes it an environment rather than a tool? This article addresses these questions, providing answers that suggest that a fully-realized knowledge building environment is substantially different from a learning environment, incorporating different forms of support to accomplish a different level of process, and playing a role in a different kind of education or workplace culture.
There are many types of Computer-Based Assessment in use today in higher education, from formative self-tests to summative final exams. CBA is used in various ways as an integral part of many currently used Computer Aided Learning environments. This paper surveys some of the reasons for using computers for assessment and some of the types of test in use, including evidence that coverage can extend beyond first year assessments, where it seems to be stuck in some disciplines. One project and one type are examined in more detail: randomly generated open access tests. With this type of test students are allowed to practise in their own time before sitting the same test for a grade. Evidence from one particular test, in statistics, was taken from computer logs, questionnaires and individual interviews and is used to show that the test style motivated students to study, and, for some students, directed their revision even when they were away from the computer. The results show that random-based tests can have a number of major advantages over fixed assessments, including: increased lifespan, security and flexibility, improved student motivation for study; and use as a learning resource. They also indicate that CBA does not have to be viewed in isolation from the learning environment in which it is situated, but can have an impact upon a student’s study strategy, for example through increased revision. Taken together with previous studies and the survey of uses, there is now a body of evidence to suggest that CBA is an extremely versatile educational tool.
See full text with open access at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10508400802581676
This article reports a design experiment conducted over three successive school years, with the teacher's goal of having his Grade 4 students assume increasing levels of collective responsibility for advancing their knowledge of optics. Classroom practices conducive to sustained knowledge building were co-constructed by the teacher and students, with Knowledge Forum software supporting the production and refinement of the community's knowledge. Social network analysis and qualitative analyses were used to assess online participatory patterns and knowledge advances, focusing on indicators of collective cognitive responsibility. Data indicate increasingly effective procedures, mirrored in students' knowledge advances, corresponding to the following organizations: (a) Year 1—fixed small-groups; (b) Year 2—interacting small-groups with substantial cross-group knowledge sharing; and (c) Year 3—opportunistic collaboration, with small teams forming and disbanding under the volition of community members, based on emergent goals. The third-year model maps most directly onto organic and distributed social structures in real-world knowledge-creating organizations and resulted in the highest level of collective cognitive responsibility, knowledge advancement, and dynamic diffusion of information. Pedagogical and technological innovations to enculturate youth into a knowledge-creating culture, with classroom practices to encourage distributed and opportunistic collaboration, are discussed.
The interdisciplinary field of the learning sciences encompasses educational psychology, cognitive science, computer science, and anthropology, among other disciplines. The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences is the definitive introduction to this innovative approach to teaching, learning, and educational technology. This dramatically revised second edition incorporates the latest research in the field, includes twenty new chapters on emerging areas of interest, and features contributors who reflect the increasingly international nature of the learning sciences. The authors address the best ways to design educational software, prepare effective teachers, organize classrooms, and use the internet to enhance student learning. They illustrate the importance of creating productive learning environments both inside and outside school, including after-school clubs, libraries, museums, and online learning environments. Accessible and engaging, the Handbook has proven to be an essential resource for graduate students, researchers, teachers, administrators, consultants, educational technology designers, and policy makers on a global scale.
If there is any consensus about what education in a knowledge society should be like, it is to be found in a cluster of terms that pervade the oral and printed discourse on this issue—including especially the ‘futuristic business literature ’ that Bereiter cites in his target article: lifelong learning, flexibility, creativity, higher-order thinking skills, collaboration, distributed expertise, learning organizations, innovation, technological literacy. At times these appear to be empty buzzwords, but they may also be thought of as attempts to give expression to a central intuition that has yet to be formulated in terms that are clear enough to be very useful in generating designs and policies. In this chapter I attempt to extract a main idea from these vague terms and show how it can be applied to generate a kind of education that really does address new challenges in a new way. A central idea is collective cognitive responsibility. Although this concept does not capture everything suggested in the foregoing list of terms, it captures much that they have in common and something more. Let us first expand upon the idea in the context of adult work and then apply it in the context of education. Collective Cognitive Responsibility in
Bibliography: leaves 211-255 Supported in part by USPHS grants HD-05951, HD-06864, and Research Career Development Award HD-00111 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institute of Education under contract no.: 400-76-0116
This now-classic work challenges what Ryle calls philosophy's "official theory," the Cartesians "myth" of the separation of mind and matter. Ryle's linguistic analysis remaps the conceptual geography of mind, not so much solving traditional philosophical problems as dissolving them into the mere consequences of misguided language. His plain language and esstentially simple purpose place him in the traditioin of Locke, Berkeley, Mill, and Russell.
Libro de metodología cualitativo para investigación en las ciencias sociales. La utilización de la computadora, el uso de datos y la recolección de los mismos. Se describen detalladamente numerosos métodos de datos y análisis.
This fully revised and updated edition of Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge recognizes that the future of economic well being in today's knowledge and information society rests upon the effectiveness of schools and corporations to empower their people to be more effective learners and knowledge creators. Novak's pioneering theory of education presented in the first edition remains viable and useful. This new edition updates his theory for meaningful learning and autonomous knowledge building along with tools to make it operational - that is, concept maps, created with the use of CMapTools and the V diagram. The theory is easy to put into practice, since it includes resources to facilitate the process, especially concept maps, now optimised by CMapTools software. CMapTools software is highly intuitive and easy to use. People who have until now been reluctant to use the new technologies in their professional lives are will find this book particularly helpful. Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge is essential reading for educators at all levels and corporate managers who seek to enhance worker productivity.
This article provides one example of a method of analyzing qualitative data in an objective and quantifiable way. Although the application of the method is illustrated in the context of verbal data such as explanations, interviews, problem-solving protocols, and retrospective reports, in principle, the mechanics of the method can be adapted for coding other types of qualitative data such as gestures and videotapes. The mechanics of the method we outlined in 8 concrete step. Although verbal analyses can be used for many purposes, the main goal of the analyses discussed here is to formulate an understanding of the representation of the knowledge used in cognitive performances and how that representation changes with learning This can be contrasted with another method or analyzing verbal protocols, the goal of which is to validate the cognitive processes of human performance, often as embodied in a computational model
Learning to work creatively with knowledge Content analysis in communication research
- C Bereiter
- M B Scardamalia
Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (2003). Learning to work creatively with knowledge. In E. D. Corte, L.
Verschaffel, N. Entwistle & J. v. Merrienboer (Eds.), Unravelling basic components and dimensions of
powerful learning environments (pp. 55-68). Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science
Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research. New York: Hafner Publishing Company.
Using pre-compiled keyword lists for keyword extraction in Knowledge Forum. Paper presented at the annual Knowledge Building Summer Institute
- K Zolotkova
- C Teplovs
Zolotkova, K., & Teplovs, C. (2006). Using pre-compiled keyword lists for keyword extraction in Knowledge
Forum. Paper presented at the annual Knowledge Building Summer Institute, Toronto, Canada.
Analytic Toolkit for Knowledge Forum (Version 4.0)
- J Burtis
Burtis, J. (2002). Analytic Toolkit for Knowledge Forum (Version 4.0). Toronto, ON: Institute for Knowledge
Innovation and Technology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Educatin/University of Toronto.
An idea-centered, principle-based design approach to support learning as knowledge creation
- H Y Hong
- F R Sullivan
Hong, H. Y., & Sullivan, F. R. (2008). An idea-centered, principle-based design approach to support learning
as knowledge creation. Full paper accepted for presentation at the 2008 International Conference of
Learning Sciences (ICLS). Utrecht: Netherlands.
Unravelling basic components and dimensions of powerful learning environments
- C Bereiter
- M Scardamalia
Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (2003). Learning to work creatively with knowledge. In E. D. Corte, L.
Verschaffel, N. Entwistle & J. v. Merrienboer (Eds.), Unravelling basic components and dimensions of
powerful learning environments (pp. 55-68). Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science
Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research. New York: Hafner Publishing Company.