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Blending Facebook discussions into seminars for practicing argumentation
Abstract
Social media like Facebook can blend classroom work with collaborative online learning. Different instructional approaches may support such online learning phases. Group awareness tools provide collaborating learners with additional information about the processes and the knowledge in the group and how these are distributed within a group to support the regulation of learning. Scripts are a form of external regulation of collaborative learning processes. Scripts may complement group awareness tools and promote active processing of the additional group information. In a 1 3 (group awareness tool with script vs. without script, and control group) quasi-experimental field study (N = 63) we observed long-term effects of a group awareness tool and its combination with a script on processes and outcomes of argumentative learning in a seminar accompanied by Facebook discussions. In addition to domain specific learning outcomes, this study explores attitude change as a potential outcome of prolonged periods of argumentative knowledge construction. Results showed a main effect of group awareness tools on declarative knowledge, but no significant effects on argumentative knowledge. Participants with group awareness tool (with script vs. without) attained an attitude which aligned with the learning goals. This attitude change partly correlates with the significantly higher learning outcomes on declarative knowledge.
... Emotions can then make us aware of conflicts and motivate us to act upon them. SECC may also be explicitly induced to support productive socio-emotional and cognitive processes [4]. So, SECC may be induced to control boredom in a given situation, but the experience of boredom may depend on individual differences. ...
... pieces of knowledge, and convictions) [28]. The conflict may become salient in the situation through some automatically triggered association, or by fostering comparison, e.g., my opinion vs. my group's opinion [4], [10]. Shame is arguably the most common emotion arising from social comparison with a direct connection to social identity and self-consciousness [29]. ...
... Cognitive appraisal of threat is also a measure of stress. Therefore, the model supports the theoretical role of SECC in experiencing boredom [4], through the regulation of shame [13]. Shame functions as a regulator of social situations, hence, it is associated with our social identity, that is the way we relate to others. ...
... Aktuell wird CSCL auch in ebenfalls asynchronen sozialen Netzwerken praktiziert und erforscht (Tsovaltzi et al. 2015). In sozialen Netzwerken werden die persönlichen Profile der Lernenden salient und Informationen können leicht innerhalb von verschiedenen Freundesgruppen und größeren Gemeinschaften geteilt werden (Kreijns et al. 2013). ...
... Entsprechend kennzeichnen typische Beispiele für undefiniert-divergente Aufgaben wie sie in kollaborativen CSCL-Szenarien eingesetzt werden, die Diskussion kontroverser Themen. So diskutieren in einer Studie vonTsovaltzi et al. (2015) Lehramtsstudierende auf Facebook Ethik und Effizienz von Unterrichtsmethoden, die auf behavioristischen Prinzipien beruhen, und werden dabei durch Kooperationsskripts und Awareness Tools(Tsovaltzi et al. 2015) unterstützt.Das hier vorgestellte Modell zur Systematisierung von CSCL-Szenarien orientiert sich zunächst am Merkmal "Offenheit der Aufgabe" bzw. ist an der Offenheit von Ausgangszustand und Lösungsweg orientiert. ...
... Entsprechend kennzeichnen typische Beispiele für undefiniert-divergente Aufgaben wie sie in kollaborativen CSCL-Szenarien eingesetzt werden, die Diskussion kontroverser Themen. So diskutieren in einer Studie vonTsovaltzi et al. (2015) Lehramtsstudierende auf Facebook Ethik und Effizienz von Unterrichtsmethoden, die auf behavioristischen Prinzipien beruhen, und werden dabei durch Kooperationsskripts und Awareness Tools(Tsovaltzi et al. 2015) unterstützt.Das hier vorgestellte Modell zur Systematisierung von CSCL-Szenarien orientiert sich zunächst am Merkmal "Offenheit der Aufgabe" bzw. ist an der Offenheit von Ausgangszustand und Lösungsweg orientiert. ...
Computer-unterstütztes kooperatives Lernen (CSCL) bedeutet, dass mehrere Lernende gemeinsam Lernaufgaben bearbeiten und dabei von Computern unterstützt werden. Basierend auf Merkmalen von Lernaufgaben sowie verschiedenen technischen Unterstützungsmöglichkeiten wird hier ein Modell von CSCL-Szenarien vorgestellt. Das Modell ermöglicht es Wirkzusammenhänge von Unterstützungsmaßnahmen für CSCL-Szenarien einschätzen und überdauernde Gestaltungsmerkmale für CSCL-Szenarien entwickeln zu können.
... Research has examined the possible role of SNS use as a means to foster teenagers' and young adults' argumentation and sourcing skills (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007;Greenhow, Gibbins, & Menzer, 2015;Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015). For example, Greenhow et al. (2015) used a tool embedded in Facebook to examine adolescents' and young adults' awareness and use of multiple sources while arguing about socioscientific topics. ...
... The authors concluded that active SNS use could foster the use of advanced argumentation skills. Similarly, Puhl et al. (2015) analysed the effects of a 'group awareness' tool embedded in Facebook on students' (N = 63, mean age 24) attitude change during a university course. Students who used the tool significantly increased their level of multi-perspective/flexible attitude, which the authors defined as 'preferring analyses of conflicts that consider and potentially synthesize different perspectives of the involved parties and are flexible with respect to possible solutions' (p. ...
... Múltiples investigaciones han analizado el papel potencial del uso de las RR. SS. como medio para fomentar la capacidad de razonamiento y de escrutinio y uso de las fuentes en adolescentes y jóvenes adultos (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007;Greenhow, Gibbins, & Menzer, 2015;Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015). Por ejemplo, Greenhow et al. (2015) utilizaron una herramienta integrada en Facebook para analizar los conocimientos y el uso que los adolescentes hacían de múltiples fuentes durante una discusión sobre temas socio-científicos. ...
This study investigates the relationship between teenagers’ use of social networking sites (SNS) and their sourcing abilities. Sourcing is defined as students’ ability (1) to discriminate reliable and unreliable links based on source characteristics, (2) to value source criteria as means to select information resources and (3) to select reliable texts based on source characteristics. One hundred and forty-six students (M age = 14.7 years old) completed three sourcing tasks, a questionnaire on SNS use, as well as language and memory skills tests. We found that SNS frequency of use negatively predicted both participants’ ability to select the most reliable source among two conflicting sources on the same topic and their ability to cite source features when justifying their choice. SNS frequency of use was unrelated to students’ assessment of source criteria, but vocabulary level was positively related to performance in this task. We discuss various explanations for the observed relationship between teenagers’ SNS communication and their critical appraisal of information sources, and we propose avenues for instructional interventions aimed at fostering information skills.
... Research has examined the possible role of SNS use as a means to foster teenagers' and young adults' argumentation and sourcing skills (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007;Greenhow, Gibbins, & Menzer, 2015;Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015). For example, Greenhow et al. (2015) used a tool embedded in Facebook to examine adolescents' and young adults' awareness and use of multiple sources while arguing about socioscientific topics. ...
... The authors concluded that active SNS use could foster the use of advanced argumentation skills. Similarly, Puhl et al. (2015) analysed the effects of a 'group awareness' tool embedded in Facebook on students' (N = 63, mean age 24) attitude change during a university course. Students who used the tool significantly increased their level of multi-perspective/flexible attitude, which the authors defined as 'preferring analyses of conflicts that consider and potentially synthesize different perspectives of the involved parties and are flexible with respect to possible solutions' (p. ...
... Múltiples investigaciones han analizado el papel potencial del uso de las RR. SS. como medio para fomentar la capacidad de razonamiento y de escrutinio y uso de las fuentes en adolescentes y jóvenes adultos (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007;Greenhow, Gibbins, & Menzer, 2015;Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015). Por ejemplo, Greenhow et al. (2015) utilizaron una herramienta integrada en Facebook para analizar los conocimientos y el uso que los adolescentes hacían de múltiples fuentes durante una discusión sobre temas socio-científicos. ...
... Aktuell wird CSCL auch in ebenfalls asynchronen sozialen Netzwerken praktiziert und erforscht (Tsovaltzi et al. 2015). In sozialen Netzwerken werden die persönlichen Profile der Lernenden salient und Informationen können leicht innerhalb von verschiedenen Freundesgruppen und größeren Gemeinschaften geteilt werden (Kreijns et al. 2013). ...
... Entsprechend kennzeichnen typische Beispiele für undefiniert-divergente Aufgaben wie sie in kollaborativen CSCL-Szenarien eingesetzt werden, die Diskussion kontroverser Themen. So diskutieren in einer Studie vonTsovaltzi et al. (2015) Lehramtsstudierende auf Facebook Ethik und Effizienz von Unterrichtsmethoden, die auf behavioristischen Prinzipien beruhen, und werden dabei durch Kooperationsskripts und Awareness Tools(Tsovaltzi et al. 2015) unterstützt.Das hier vorgestellte Modell zur Systematisierung von CSCL-Szenarien orientiert sich zunächst am Merkmal "Offenheit der Aufgabe" bzw. ist an der Offenheit von Ausgangszustand und Lösungsweg orientiert. ...
... Entsprechend kennzeichnen typische Beispiele für undefiniert-divergente Aufgaben wie sie in kollaborativen CSCL-Szenarien eingesetzt werden, die Diskussion kontroverser Themen. So diskutieren in einer Studie vonTsovaltzi et al. (2015) Lehramtsstudierende auf Facebook Ethik und Effizienz von Unterrichtsmethoden, die auf behavioristischen Prinzipien beruhen, und werden dabei durch Kooperationsskripts und Awareness Tools(Tsovaltzi et al. 2015) unterstützt.Das hier vorgestellte Modell zur Systematisierung von CSCL-Szenarien orientiert sich zunächst am Merkmal "Offenheit der Aufgabe" bzw. ist an der Offenheit von Ausgangszustand und Lösungsweg orientiert. ...
... From the 59 studies, we identified 22 studies providing a form of subjective feedback to the virtual teams (and their respective members). Studies drawing on subjective sources typically used visualizations, such as bar graphs (e.g., Geister et al., 2006;Hong et al., 2018), line graphs (Phielix et al., 2011;Schoor et al., 2014; see Figure 3a), or scatter plots (e.g., Buder & Bodemer, 2008;Puhl et al., 2015). Some studies drew on verbal feedback directly from other team members or the instructor (e.g, Marler & Marett, 2013;Xu & Du, 2013). ...
... Overall, most of these studies reported (partially) positive effects (positive: k = 7, ++; partially positive: k = 8+). Regarding positive effects, the reviewed studies showed that subjective feedback was positively associated with reflection (Konradt et al., 2015), minority influence (Buder & Bodemer, 2008), participation (Puhl et al., 2015), coordination (McLarnon et al., 2019), and performance (Geister et al., 2006). Some studies showed interaction effects between subjective feedback and levels of virtuality. ...
Feedback is a cornerstone of human development. Not surprisingly, it plays a vital role in team development. However, the literature examining the specific role of feedback in virtual team effectiveness remains scattered. To improve our understanding of feedback in virtual teams, we identified 59 studies that examine how different feedback characteristics (content, source, and level) impact virtual team effectiveness. Our findings suggest that virtual teams benefit particularly from feedback that (a) combines performance-related information with information on team processes and/or psychological states, (b) stems from an objective source, and (c) targets the team as a whole. By integrating the existing knowledge, we point researchers in the direction of the most pressing research needs, as well as the practices that are most likely to pay off when designing feedback interventions in virtual teams.
... Studies researching effects of GATs mainly use computer mediated communication scenarios (e.g., Sangin et al., 2011). Few use face-to-face settings, (e.g., Alavi & Dillenbourg, 2012) or blended learning settings (e.g., Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015). Group sizes vary vastly, including dyads (e.g., Dehler, Bodemer, Buder, & Hesse, 2011) small groups of 3 to 6 students (e.g., Engelmann & Hesse, 2011), and whole seminars or classes (e.g., Puhl et al., 2015). ...
... Few use face-to-face settings, (e.g., Alavi & Dillenbourg, 2012) or blended learning settings (e.g., Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015). Group sizes vary vastly, including dyads (e.g., Dehler, Bodemer, Buder, & Hesse, 2011) small groups of 3 to 6 students (e.g., Engelmann & Hesse, 2011), and whole seminars or classes (e.g., Puhl et al., 2015). Pseudo-collaborative studies supplement this research by eliminating the dynamics of actual learner interaction to systematically analyze tool effects in detail (e.g., Cress, 2005;Schnaubert & Bodemer, 2016). ...
... Studies researching effects of GATs mainly use computer mediated communication scenarios (e.g., Sangin et al., 2011). Few use face-to-face settings, (e.g., Alavi & Dillenbourg, 2012) or blended learning settings (e.g., Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015). Group sizes vary vastly, including dyads (e.g., Dehler, Bodemer, Buder, & Hesse, 2011) small groups of 3 to 6 students (e.g., Engelmann & Hesse, 2011), and whole seminars or classes (e.g., Puhl et al., 2015). ...
... Few use face-to-face settings, (e.g., Alavi & Dillenbourg, 2012) or blended learning settings (e.g., Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015). Group sizes vary vastly, including dyads (e.g., Dehler, Bodemer, Buder, & Hesse, 2011) small groups of 3 to 6 students (e.g., Engelmann & Hesse, 2011), and whole seminars or classes (e.g., Puhl et al., 2015). Pseudo-collaborative studies supplement this research by eliminating the dynamics of actual learner interaction to systematically analyze tool effects in detail (e.g., Cress, 2005;Schnaubert & Bodemer, 2016). ...
... The actual training combines two methods of feedback: 1) situation awareness and 2) social interaction feedback with an awareness tool and a socially interactive agent. This approach draws on theories of embodied learning, which proclaims an interaction between bodily and cognitive functions and foresee their concurrent stimulation for more intuitive, long-lasting, and transferable learning [8]. In the study, the awareness tool helped the user to track their sensory-motor reactions to stressful situations, increasing situation (introspective) awareness [9]. ...
In today's world, many patients with cognitive impairments and motor dysfunction seek the attention of experts to perform specific conventional therapies to improve their situation. However, due to a lack of neurorehabilitation professionals, patients suffer from severe effects that worsen their condition. In this paper, we present a technological approach for a novel robotic neurorehabilitation training system. It relies on a combination of a rehabilitation device, signal classification methods, supervised machine learning models for training adaptation, training exercises, and socially interactive agents as a user interface. Together with a professional, the system can be trained towards the patient's specific needs. Furthermore, after a training phase, patients are enabled to train independently at home without the assistance of a physical therapist with a socially interactive agent in the role of a coaching assistant.
... ISLS has always placed value on complex views of learning, such as those that attend to how people collaborate together (Palincsar, 1998), participate successfully in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1992), and live culturally (Lee et al., 2003). Socio-technical concepts have been researched that may endorse such practices (Stahl et al., 2006), although less of this work explicitly focusses on heterogeneity as a resource (Tsovaltzi et al, 2019) and how this can contribute to attitude change for learning and development (Puhl et al., 2015). A general tension has been there since the early work in the LS on whether epistemic and socio-cultural diversity is seen as a challenge to overcome or an asset of human learning (Cole, 1998;Gutiérrez & Rogoff, 2003). ...
The ISLS has long been focusing on innovative learning that supports inclusive socio-emotional and collaborative practices, and more recent research has taken up political and ethical dimensions of human learning as central to design, practice, partnership and research. The society is also taking concrete steps towards structural changes in its own conduct to meaningfully engage with heterogeneity-including sociohistorical, cultural, economic, geographic, political, and socio-epistemic difference-in ways that understand the centrality of variability to learning. This symposium presents activities of the ISLS to support the spirit of such research and promote multiple perspectives on diversity, equity, and justice. Researchers present their own view on ISLS research, report on their concepts and results on community building, knowledge sharing and consolidation, collaboration and cross-pollination in this context. The symposium thus seeks to increase mutual awareness between ISLS and scholarly and educational communities with synergistic interests and expertise, as well as perspectives that help question the presumed normative (e. g., Western) assumptions that have often shaped research within the history of the field. It thus illustrates and creates space to wrestle with the society's initiative to promote structural change and meaningful socio-epistemic expansion.
... From collaborative learning: Impact of pedagogic agent-mediated metacognitive support toward increasing task and group awareness in CSCL [116], The effects of synchronous CMC on English proficiency and social presence, affinity for partners: Text versus video chat between Japanese and Philippine EFL learners [117], Community technology mapping: inscribing places when "everything is on the move" [118], Blending Facebook discussions into seminars for practicing argumentation [119]. ...
Mediation is a crucial element in the learning process, especially in a virtual environment, whether it corresponds to formal, non-formal, or informal education. This paper aims to expose the research on mediation and learning in virtual environments published between 2015 and 2020. A total of 299 articles were identified that address the topic of mediation and learning in virtual environments from different fields and approaches. The results that respond to the research questions are presented. The study was carried out with the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases, and inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to obtain the articles under study. The Systematic Literature Mapping (SLM) method was used to answer questions raised for analysis. Information was extracted from the articles regarding the method used, the most cited articles, geographical distribution of the authors by country, the journals and impact factor, type of mediation, and finally, the trends and spaces where mediation takes place. The results show studies tending toward technological mediation and factors such as interaction, collaboration, communication, and discussion, among others. The practical implications are oriented to show the mediating factor from the pedagogical and technological perspectives and its contribution to achieve meaningful learning.
... The exact mechanisms of this interplay, especially with regard to the socioemotional level are starting to be investigated (Polo et al., 2017). Awareness tools which augment situation awareness, i.e. making contextual features explicit that may not readily be represented in cognition, have been used to trigger socio-emotional and cognitive group regulation processes (Puhl, et al., 2015). Biofeedback is a form of situation awareness, which is used for training emotion regulation. ...
Co-regulation in groups is essential for learning and may hold the key to training regulation skills. However, there is little possibility to train social co-regulation skills in authentic social situations. Existing systems mostly concentrate on training para-and nonverbal skills. While co-regulation in scripted scenarios may work at the behavioral level and support learning processes, transfer to spontaneous situations may turn out to be problematic. Similarly, explicit feedback with awareness tools, as well as the regulation between individual and group might not transfer without training the social competency itself. In this demo, we present the interactive training system ExHAIL to practice explicit and implicit emotion co-regulation with a social agent.
... Social networks, e.g. Facebook or Twitter, also open up possibilities for online discussions and in argumentation about a certain topic of a course (Puhl et al., 2015). However, most social networks tend to be broadcast tools with flat-structured discussions that might impede argumentation. ...
We propose a model of contextual facilitators for learning activities involving technology (in short: C♭-model) for both on-site and distance learning environments in higher education. The C♭-model aims at systematizing research on digital teaching and learning and offers a roadmap for future research to understand the complex dynamic of factors that lead to successful digital teaching and learning in higher education via suitable learning activities. First, we introduce students’ learning outcomes as central benchmarks of teaching and learning with digital technologies in higher education. Second, we want to focus on a major proximal factor for students’ learning outcomes and thus apply a learning activities perspective. Learning activities involving digital technologies reflect cognitive processes of students when using digital technologies and are causally connected with students’ learning outcomes. Third, we highlight several contextual facilitators for learning activities involving technology in the C♭-model: learning opportunities that result from higher education teachers’ instructional use of technology and students’ self-arranged learning opportunities involving digital technologies. Apart from these proximal facilitators, we include more distal factors, namely, higher education teachers’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward digital technology; higher education teachers’ qualification; students’ and teachers’ digital technology equipment; and institutional, organizational, and administrative factors.
... In a 2×2 semester long field-study (Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015), we tested the combination of GA tools and argumentation scripts in a communication seminar. 105 German teacher trainees filled out a casebased questionnaire weekly, to capture their communication attitude in social interactions in the school. ...
... This new environment comprises more cooperation, both at a local and global level, more participation and a more active role from the part of the users. Social networking sites users are almost invited to become active players in field of constructing meaning, not only in that of taking it for granted (Bee Choo & Abdullah, 2014;Mason & Rennie, 2008;Puhl, Tsovaltzi & Weinberger, 2015;Vitak & Ellison, 2012). In other words, social networking sites seem to produce a series of transformations, which certainly need researchers' attention because, within this ever-changing atmosphere, there is a high probability that some positive changes turn into negative outcomes (Fewkes & McCabe, 2012;Perez Mendez et al., 2014). ...
... Social network sites such as Facebook have been investigated in a large number of studies both in secondary and higher education. Although in two reviews of the literature pedagogical affordances of Facebook such as mixing information and learning resources, hybridization of expertise and widening context of learning were reported as only partially implemented Ranieri, 2013, 2016b), several studies carried out in higher education emphasized that when used for formal education, Facebook enables peer feedback, communication, discussion and learning and facilitates collaboration and learners' construction of knowledge through social interaction (Chen, 2015;McCarthy, 2015;Puhl et al., 2015). When considering Facebook as a personal learning environment with varying degrees of formality and informality (Dabbagh and Kitsantas, 2012), results of a number of studies proved enhancing transversal skills (Asterhan and Hever, 2015), skills related to the democratic participation of everyone in the classroom (Alexander and Sapra, 2014) and in student-led and student-initiated learning activities to increase student engagement and motivation (Clements, 2015). ...
Purpose
While the ubiquity of social media as a mode of communication, collaboration, connection and creativity has been widely adopted in journalism, entertainment, healthcare and others, the field of education has been more reticent to integrate social media for teaching and learning purposes. This paper aims to summarize research on how social media may support educational aims with specific reference to large classrooms. In addition, the authors provide practical tips on using Twitter from the experience teaching in a typical higher education setting: a large, undergraduate course in a public university. Finally, the authors offer conclusions about how instructors can use social media to support increased engagement, professional development and digital literacy skills.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a real-life “case study” of using Twitter in an educational context common to many in higher education: a large, undergraduate lecture class over the course of one semester. This course focused on the foundations of educational technology and was a requirement of receiving a teaching credential at a large public institution in the Midwest. As a required course, students from a number of different majors were enrolled in the course, including biology, chemistry, mathematics, English, history, world languages, physical education and many more. While these majors were grouped by content-area groups (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math; the humanities; and physical education), for this paper the authors will focus on the part of the course where students were all together in lecture format. Guided by the research above, and pedagogical practices discussed elsewhere (Greenhow and Gleason, 2012), it was decided to use Twitter for a number of different pedagogical purposes, including in-class discussion, increase student engagement with course material, expand student interaction and develop student presence.
Findings
The use of Twitter was found to increase student participation, help facilitate conceptual understanding, to foster students’ “social presence,” and to increase interactions with “real world experts.” Twitter provided a way, for example, for students in a large lecture course to participate, and roughly 90 per cent of students did so with Twitter. Likewise, instructors used Twitter as a way to bridge learning across different experiences (i.e. lab activities, lecture and online lesson), while also providing a way to support social presence (letting students share humorous pictures). Finally, Twitter facilitated interaction with content experts including historians, during a lesson on global collaboration.
Research limitations/implications
Overall, integrating Twitter into a large, lecture course seemed to suggest a number of positive learning outcomes, including presenting opportunities for student voice and expression, visible participation, the development of social presence and tools to connect different course activities (e.g. lecture, in-class activities and lab activities). For example, much research in this field has begun to explore the educational outcomes associated with social media use, and this study contributes to this emerging field. Here, the authors advocate for using social media to support interactive, collaborative and social learning.
... Therefore, students had to keep two browser windows open during the experiment sessions (one for the tool, one for Google Community). The tool was intended for students in the GAT group to help them select which student (posts) to reply to in Session 2, based on their initial arguments on the discussion topic in Session 1. Somewhat similar to the GAT of Puhl et al (2015) on a 2D space, the networked arrangement of students and stakeholders (i.e., discussion points) allows not only a general overview of the initial arguments in the entire community, but also enables individuals to compare their arguments to those of others based on their connections (or lack thereof) to the same stakeholders. Based on previous GAT research that also enabled users to compare their information to others (e.g., Erkens et al, 2016), this arrangement along with the color-coded edges should help students to easily identify differences between stances on the same stakeholders and use it as a point of discussion. ...
Debates about socially acute questions (e.g., migration) may help develop argumentation skills. However, students may be hesitant to present different views to maintain interpersonal relationships, hindering communication and integration of multiple perspectives. Social networking sites (SNS) have been used to extend classroom discussions to such real-world topics. However, their flat-structured layout may not suit argumentation activities. This quasi-experiment in an applied classroom setting investigates the effects of a group awareness tool (GAT) that combines social (group members' names) and cognitive (discussion points/ stance in initial arguments) information in a network graph to aid communication behavior and integration of multiple perspectives during argumentation on a flat-structured SNS. Students supported by the GAT engaged in discussions with non-friends and students outside their class more than the control group, though the latter integrated multiple perspectives more. The GAT appears to have increased familiarity among non-friends. The potential influence of interpersonal relationships on integration of multiple perspectives is discussed.
... There is much debate about the ethical, pedagogical, and social ramifications of the increasing prominence of SNTs in classrooms and schools, both in popular media outlets as well as in academic literature (e.g., Chang-Kredl & Kozak, 2017;Fewkes & McCabe, 2012;Greenhow, Robelia & Hughes, 2009;Hew, 2011;Junco & Cotton, 2012;Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010;Smith, 2016). However, the majority of existing research has focused on adult, higher education (e.g., Deng & Tavares, 2013;Hew, 2011;Jones, Blackey, Fitzgibbon, & Chew, 2010;Junco & Cotton, 2012;Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010;Manca & Ranieri, 2016;Wang, Woo, Quek, Yang, & Liu, 2012), on researcher-initiated interventions (e.g., Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015;Wang et al., 2012), or on the potential of such tools (e.g., DeGroot, Young, & VanSlette, 2015;Labus, Despotović-Zrakić, Radenković, Bogdanović, & Radenković, 2015;Roblyer, McDaniel, Webb, Herman & Witty, 2010;Teclehaimanot & Hickman, 2011). Few studies have investigated the actual, spontaneous use and uptake of these tools by teachers and students in secondary schools. ...
Aim/Purpose
In this paper, we analyze the phenomenon of "classroom WhatsApp groups", in which a teacher and students from a particular classroom interact with one another, while specifically focusing on the student perspective of these interactions.
Background
The instant messaging application WhatsApp enables quick, interactive multimedia communication in closed groups, as well as one-on-one interactions between selected group members. Yet, very little is known about the extent, nature and purposes of these practices, the limitations and affordances, the type of discourse and conflicts that develop in these spaces, and the extent to which it affects teacher-student interactions outside of WhatsApp (e.g., the social climate in class, the teacher's status, teacher-student and student-student relations), especially from the students' perspective.
Methodology
Our methodology combines questionnaires, personal interviews and focus groups with Israeli secondary school students (N = 88).
Contribution
The present study adds to the expanding body of empirical research on social media use in educational settings by specifically focusing on a heretofore underexposed aspect, namely secondary school student-teacher communication in the popular instant messaging application WhatsApp. We report on findings from the student perspective and discuss the advantages and limitations of this form of communication sphere, and on the social functions of the different classroom WhatsApp groups in secondary school students' everyday life.
Findings
The combined findings reveal that classroom WhatsApp groups have become a central channel of communication for school-related topics. It is used primarily for organizational purposes (sending and receiving updates and managing learning activities), as well as a means for teachers to enforce discipline. Students mentioned many advantages of WhatsApp communication, such as easy access, the ability to create communities, the ability to safeguard personal privacy, and the communication format (written, mediated, personal or group). However, they also recognized limitations (i.e., communication overload) and challenged teacher ability to monitor and affect student interactions in social media, even when they are present in these WhatsApp classroom groups. Finally, we report on the role of parallel, sans-teacher WhatsApp groups, which are characterized as back stage discourse arenas that accompany the front stage offline classroom activities and the ”official” classroom WhatsApp group.
Recommendations
for Practitioners
The combined findings of this study indicate how WhatsApp-based, joint teacher-student groups can serve a variety of educational purposes, namely organizational, instructional, and educational-disciplinary. In addition, and in spite of teachers concerns, students are aware of the challenges inherent to the use of WhatsApp for communication with their teachers. Some of the main characteristics that prevent teachers from using other ubiquitous digital communication media, such as Facebook or Twitter, are not relevant when it comes to WhatsApp. Both teachers and students view WhatsApp as a favored channel of communication, because of the low exposure to personal information and minimal invasion of privacy.
Future Research
The qualitative methodology of this paper limits the ability to generalize the current findings to other contexts and population groups. Future research should preferably explore the generalizability of our findings to larger sections of teenage populations. It should also explore similarities and differences with other age groups. Finally, the present study was set in a particular country (Israel). Local norms of cellphone use and of appropriate teacher-student interaction, as well as locally developed media domestication patterns may differ from country to country and/or from one cultural group to another. Future research should then include and compare the current findings with data from different countries and cultures in order to complete the picture.
... Process analysis was based on epistemic and formal quality of arguments using an adapted version of Weinberger & Fischer's framework (2006). Attitudes were measured with the communication attitude questionnaire along two dimensions, as revealed through factor analysis (Puhl, Tsovaltzi, & Weinberger, 2015): multiperspective vs. goal-oriented. ...
The papers in this symposium together address new contexts, modes and concerns related to teaching and teacher professional development in the age of social media, with a particular focus on the socio-technical affordances and challenges of social network sites and teachers' perceptions and experiences. The presentations included in this symposium offer a multi-faceted and international view on the topic, highlighting both opportunities and challenges. Expected outcomes are a critical evaluation of the value, implications, and generality of the work presented to the field as well as an outlined agenda for future research on teaching with these new media and design work related to teachers' professional development.
... Finally, Puhl, Tsovaltzi, and Weinberger (2015) looked at what they call ''long-term effects of group awareness tools'' combined with a script on gains in learning, effects on level of information processing and changes in attitude after longer periods of argumentative knowledge construction. In their study, they investigated the effects of a group awareness tool which they called a ''tacit guidance'' both alone and in combination with a moderately coercive script (see Kirschner, Beers, Boshuizen, & Gijselaers, 2008) in Facebook to increase socio-cognitive conflict. ...
Facebook® and other Social Network Sites are often seen by educators as multifunctional platforms that can be used for teaching, learning and/or the facilitation of both. One such strand is making use of them as tools/platforms for using and learning through argumentation and discussion. Research on whether this ‘promise’ is actually achieved – also the research reported on in this Special Issue – does not unequivocally answer the question of whether this is a good idea. This article as one of the two closing articles of this Special Issue discusses Social Networking Sites in general and Facebook specifically with respect to how they are ‘normally’ used by their members as well as with respect to their social and technical features. Then, in light of this, it discusses the learning results of the four studies. It concludes with a short discussion of whether they are capable of meeting the promise that many think they can.
The concept of orchestration has recently emerged as a useful metaphor in technology-enhanced learning research communities, because of its explanatory power and appeal in describing how different learning activities, tools, and arrangements could be combined to promote learning. More than a buffet of tools offering possibilities to the teachers, orchestration refers to the purposeful mixture of different aspects of the learning experience, serving a particular set of learning goals. In this paper, we present the current dialogue on e-learning orchestration, identifying the questions and open issues in orchestrating different social modes and learning arrangements. 1. ORCHESTRATION IS MORE THAN A BUFFET OF TOOLS Typically, e-learning arrangements and technologies either serve only one isolated purpose or juxtapose a large number of tools to interact with. There are equivalents of egg boilers in educational technology that are designed to foster understanding of one particular knowledge sub-component, e.g., an iPad app fostering proportional reasoning (Weinberger & Schmitt, 2016), as well as multipurpose kitchen appliances that claim to support different social modes of learning with interchangeable content following any instructional approach, e.g., mash-ups of learning management systems, e-books, and social networking sites (Hori, Ono, Kobayashi, Yamaji, Kita, & Yamada, 2016). Regardless of how specific or generic an e-learning technology may be, however, there is a notion that it is not only which and how many arrangements and tools are being applied, but also how these different learning opportunities are being orchestrated. How is a specific educational technology being introduced and referred back to in an existing educational context? How are the different possibilities of a generic tool exploited and how are they interlinked? How both, egg boilers and multipurpose kitchen appliances result in fine dining strongly depends on how these tools are part of a larger set of cooking activities, skills of the cook, and quality of the food.
Group Awareness bezeichnet die individuelle Wahrnehmung bestimmter Eigenschaften einer Gruppe oder ihrer Mitglieder. Sie erleichtert kollaborative Lernaktivitäten und kann durch spezifische Tools unterstützt werden, die Informationen erfassen, transformieren und darstellen. Empirische Studien haben insbesondere für kognitive Group Awareness-Tools gezeigt, dass Lernprozesse und -ergebnisse auf individueller und sozialer Ebene verbessert werden können. Eine systematischere Differenzierung von Tool-Funktionen und ihrer Effekte kann den Einsatz in unterschiedlichen Bildungskontexten erleichtern.
Scripting computer-supported collaborative learning has been shown to greatly enhance learning, but is often criticized for hindering learners’ agency and thus undermining learners’ motivation. Beyond that, what makes some CSCL scripts particularly effective for learning is still a conundrum. This meta-analysis synthesizes the results of 53 primary studies that experimentally compared the effect of learning with a CSCL script to unguided collaborative learning on at least one of the variables motivation, domain learning, and collaboration skills. Overall, 5616 learners enrolled in K-12, higher education, or professional development participated in the included studies. The results of a random-effects meta-analysis show that learning with CSCL scripts leads to a nonsignificant positive effect on motivation (Hedges’ g = 0.13), a small positive effect (Hedges’ g = 0.24) on domain learning and a medium positive effect (Hedges’ g = 0.72) on collaboration skills. Additionally, the meta-analysis shows how scaffolding single particular collaborative activities and scaffolding a combination of collaborative activities affects the effectiveness of CSCL scripts and that synergistic or differentiated scaffolding is hard to achieve. This meta-analysis offers the first counterevidence against the widespread criticism that CSCL scripts have negative motivational effects. Furthermore, the findings can be taken as evidence for the robustness of the positive effects on domain learning and collaboration skills.
As a sample of the evolution that characterizes twenty-first century education, diverse Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning (TETL) approaches emerge, where educational networking (EN) is relevant. In this context, Web 2.0 represents a suitable environment to foster the creation, usage, and growth of online social networks (OSNs) that enable users to meaningfully connect, create, contribute, and collaborate in pursuit of common affairs, such as education. Hence, EN represents more than a platform for advertisement, breaking news, message dissemination, and content sharing, as it merges OSN functionalities with learning resources and its tools suitable for online teaching to instill social learning for all. Although EN is an incipient field in vigorous progress, it represents a new fashion of e-learning settings that gregariously transforms and spreads education worldwide. This is why a review of the evolution of EN labor and recent achievements leads to appreciate its nature, development, impact, and trends to consider its exploitation as part of an extended and novel academic offer. Thus, in this chapter a sample of works published since 2015 up to date is analyzed to shape a landscape of the endeavors performed in the EN arena. Therefore, a taxonomy for EN is designed to report a summary of the EN labor, whose features are outlined through a pattern to depict EN applications. The work reveals that most of the publications study how OSNs affect students’ learning, attitudes, and behavior, and general-purpose OSNs represent the most demanded platforms to foster EN.
This review study aimed to investigate how team work design shapes the impact of team virtuality on team functioning. Based on 48 studies, we identified key work design variables that influence both team functioning, that is, team performance and intermediary outcomes (i.e., team processes and emergent states), under conditions of high virtuality (or in interaction with virtuality). First, while outcome interdependence showed positive effects on the functioning of virtual teams, particularly via motivational increases, task interdependence showed mixed results. Second, high levels of knowledge characteristics (e.g., task complexity) appear to worsen team functioning within virtual contexts, likely because these characteristics add to the demands of an already demanding context. Third, job resources (e.g., feedback) showed positive associations with team functioning, suggesting these variables might buffer the high demands of virtual work. Given these results, more investigations that explicitly examine the interaction between work design and team virtuality are needed.
We have been investigating the proposition that framing and developing debates about issues, concepts, methods, and theories is a general approach to learning. Instructors, of course, do use debating, but not typically as a pervasive or core activity in a course curriculum. And there are many examples of debate as an informal learning activity, such as debating teams and scientific debates. Indeed, framing debate as a core pedagogical activity can be traced to the Greeks, and the idea is central to modern dialectical constructivism. We have been developing this idea by (1) investigating instances of debating-for-learning practices in the wild, (2) supporting debate and dialectic in university classes with various kinds of tool support that we have appropriated or created, and (3) characterizing what is going on in debating-for-learning, and how students experience such approaches and outcomes. With respect to (1), we are studying the online debate community Kialo.com. The Kialo community addresses a wide range of topics and is actively developing community practices for dialectical knowledge collaboration. With respect to (2), we have investigated Piazza.com, Kialo.com, Canvas.com, and our purpose-built tool Critical Thinker as platforms for dialectical constructivist university courses. Our experiences help to articulate a design space of infrastructures and learning activities. With respect to (3), we reflect on our own lessons learned and try to identify research questions for future investigations. In this chapter, we pull together a series of prior papers with reports of recent/current work that is not yet published into an integrative essay format, identifying issues, approaches, and what we have learned about creating dialectics to learn.
Recent research studies (e.g., Abedin 2016; Kirschner 2015; Puhl, Tsovaltzi, and Weinberger 2015) suggest that the integration and use of social media tools could be a great opportunity for different types of environment, varying from the business to the classroom. Many studies fairly admit the real benefits of using Facebook for academic purposes (Al-Bahrani and Patel 2015; Munoz and Towner 2009). However, only few examine students’ perceptions regarding Facebook usefulness in enriching their educational experience (Neier and Tuncay Zayer 2015; Irwin, Ball, and Desbrow, 2012).
Given the context, the present research paper has three aims. By means of a qualitative method, namely in depth interviews with MA students from a midsized university in Romania, we aim at exploring the use of social media platforms (specifically Facebook) for academic purposes, as well as the motivations and implications referred to by the students (RQ1: To what extent and why do students use Facebook in academic contexts and how does Facebook fulfil their academic needs?). Second, we aim at exploring their perceptions regarding the effectiveness of Facebook as a teaching/ learning tool (RQ2: What are students’ perceived advantages and relevance of Facebook as a learning tool?). Third, we will investigate students’ opinions about Facebook being further incorporated into the process of instruction (RQ3: What do students think about the future integration of Facebook into the teaching/learning practices).
Findings suggest that students tend to be open to using Facebook mainly as a communication tool with both peers and teachers, reveal information-related and interactive motivations for its usage and offer insights from their experience as examples of best practice. Based on the results and with reference to student-centred methodologies, we advance some ideas about (1) how Facebook may enhance students’ academic development and success and (2) how Facebook has led to the (re)negotiation of the boundaries between students and teachers. We consider that these research conclusions, doubled by the instructors’ openness, could be a valuable starting point in designing interesting and more reality-oriented academic activities.
Keywords: social media, higher education, Facebook as a learning tool, Romanian students
150 words) (Arial, 10 pt) New self-organized and large-scale forms of communication, like SNS (social networking sites), bring new possibilities for supporting argumentative learning, that is learning through argumentation. Because of the social character of the interactions in SNS, SNS may extend our knowledge on group processes and outcomes of argumentative learning like attitude change. This article presents a comparison of different supports for argumentative learning in a university teacher-trainee course on communication theory that included weekly SNS discussions: Group Awareness Tools (GATs), to increase attitude conflict awareness, vs. argumentation scripts, as a cognitive guidance to help learners capitalize on this awareness. We use Social Network Analysis (SNA) to analyze conversational data and data from a communication attitude questionnaire on group-level processes relevant to attitude change during argumentative SNS discussions: number of interactions, information flow control, influence distribution, and attitude similarity. Both GATs and argumentation scripts influence argumentative processes, but scripts influence more processes. Extended summary (paper presentation: 1500 words) a) Group Awareness Tools and Argumentation Scripts for Attitude Change through Argumentative Learning in SNS Communication competence can help teachers communicate well with students, parents, colleagues, and school administrative staff. Teacher trainees have pronounced negative attitudes towards the need for communication skills (Ihmeideh & Al-omari, 2010) and communication theory seminars are offered to change their attitudes and improve their skills. However, attitudes tend to be stable (Erber, Hodges, & Wilson, 1995) and attitude change presupposes long-term deep learning and conflict awareness (Erber, Hodges, & Wilson, 1995). Deep learning can be obtained through argumentation which supports Argumentative Knowledge Construction (AKC). AKC is the deliberate practice of elaborating learning material by constructing formally and semantically sound arguments with the goal of gaining knowledge (Weinberger & Fischer, 2006), but also co-construction of opinions and attitudes (Andriessen,). The social character of SNS may leverage attitude differences and lead to socio-cognitive conflict and attitude change beyond what is possible in purpose-specific collaborative learning tools. On the other hand, public discussions encourage the focus on attitudes and may rather reinforce private beliefs Lampert, Rittenhouse, & Crumbaugh (1996). To seize the social affordances for attitude change, GATs can visualize covert information about the group processes (Buder & Bodemer, 2008), and make attitude differences salient, which is a prerequisite of dissonance and attitude change (Festinger, 1957). In the collaborative setting of SNS this may lead to a higher number of interactions in an attempt to collaboratively understand and resolve differences, less centralized information flow control, distributed influence, and maybe more
The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of transactive memory system (TMS) and interaction platforms in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) on social presence perceptions and self-regulation skills of learners. Within the scope of the study, social presence perceptions and self-regulation skills of students in collaborative groups constructing knowledge in wiki, blog, podcast and Facebook platforms in CSCL processes were compared. The study is designed as a pretest and post-test control group study and was carried out with 97 university students. Social presence and self-regulation scales were administered as pretest in the study. At the end of process, social presence, self-regulation, transactive memory scales and semi-structured student opinion forms were administered as post-test. When the findings were examined, it was seen that interaction platforms and the TMS level of the group did not have a significant impact on social presence perception individually; yet common impact of these two variables was significant. When the impact of interaction platforms and the TMS on self-regulation skills was examined, it was found that whilst interaction platforms had a significant impact, the TMS alone and interaction platforms–TMS common impact were not significant.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10494820.2016.1224905
İşbirlikli Bilgi Yapılandırması Sürecinde Geçişken Bellek Sisteminin ve Etkileşim Platformunun Sosyal Bulunuşluk ve Öz-düzenleme Üzerine Etkisi
Bu araştırmanın amacı, bilgisayar destekli işbirlikli öğrenmede (BDİÖ) geçişken bellek sisteminin (GBS) ve etkileşim platformlarının öğrencilerin sosyal bulunuşluk algıları ve öz-düzenleme becerileri üzerindeki etkilerini incelemektir. Araştırma kapsamında, BDİÖ bağlamında wiki, blog, podcast ve Facebook platformlarında bilgi yapılandıran işbirlikli gruplardaki öğrencilerin sosyal bulunuşluk algıları ve öz-düzenleme becerileri karşılaştırılmıştır. Araştırma, öntest - sontest kontrol gruplu desen olarak tasarlanmış ve 97 üniversite öğrencisiyle yürütülmüştür. Araştırmada sosyal bulunuşluk algısı ve öz-düzenleme becerileri ölçekleri öntest olarak uygulanmıştır. Deneysel sürecin sonunda, sosyal bulunuşluk algısı, öz-düzenleme becerileri, geçişken bellek ölçeği ve yarı-yapılandırılmış öğrenci görüş formları sontest olarak uygulanmıştır. Bulgular incelendiğinde, etkileşim platformlarının ve işbirlikli grubun GBS düzeyinin sosyal bulunuşluk algısı üzerinde tek başına anlamlı bir etkisinin olmadığı görülmüştür; ancak bu iki değişkenin ortak etkisinin anlamlı olduğu görülmüştür. Etkileşim platformlarının ve GBS'nin öz-düzenleme becerileri üzerindeki etkisi incelendiğinde, etkileşim platformları anlamlı bir etkiye sahipken; tek başına GBS ve etkileşim platformları-GBS’nin ortak etkisinin anlamlı olmadığı görülmüştür.
Anahtar Kelimeler: İşbirliği, Geçişken bellek sistemi, Etkileşim platformu, Sosyal bulunuşluk, Öz-düzenleme
This study provides an updated critical review of the literature on Facebook as a technology‐enhanced learning environment based on papers published between 2012 and 2015. It adopts a revised classification of the categories identified in a previous study, which emphasized three main Facebook affordances – mixing information and learning resources, hybridization of expertise and widening context of learning. The aim is to investigate to what extent studies using Facebook as a learning environment exploited these affordances. Literature has been also analysed according to three types of educational use of Facebook – formal use in formal learning settings (FUF), informal use in formal learning settings (IUF) and use in informal learning settings (UI) – to highlight if and how Facebook affordances have been exploited in these learning settings. Literature search identified 147 articles published in peer‐reviewed journals. The results show that most of the articles can be classified as dealing with FUF ( N = 69; 46.9%) or as IUF ( N = 68; 46.3%); only a minority concerns the UI ( N = 10; 6.8%). Overall, the study found that Facebook pedagogical affordances are still partially implemented, although different types of educational use of Facebook exploit these affordances to different degrees. It also provides indications for future research.
Lay description
What is currently known about the subject matter
Facebook still stands as the most popular social network site
There is an abundant research literature on Facebook
Studies on the educational value of Facebook have grown exponentially in the last years
A review on Facebook as a technology‐enhanced learning environment was published in 2013
What this paper adds
This study is an update of the critical review published in 2013
It takes into account studies published between 2012 and 2015
It refines the methodology adopted in the 2013 review
It introduces a classification of educational uses of Facebook according to the formal/informal continuum
Implications of study findings for practitioners
Facebook is still mostly considered as an open alternative to traditional learning management systems
Facebook pedagogical affordances are still partially implemented
Teacher guidance and forms of assessment are claimed according to degrees of formality and informality
Cultural issues in the use of Facebook in education should be further investigated
Social networking sites pose a new arena for argumentative practices and may provide an opportunity to facilitate, and understand argumentative processes in large scale over longer periods of time. Through apps, group awareness tools and argumentation scripts can be implemented in social networking sites, to provide additional, graphically visualized information, and prompt learners to formulate or review sound arguments. This 2×2 field study (N=105) examines how Facebook can be harnessed for argumentative learning through group awareness tools and argumentation scripts. We measure domain-specific knowledge outcomes, the process of argumentative knowledge construction and attitude change. The results show a main effect for both conditions on domain-specific knowledge and argumentative knowledge construction, but no difference to the control group on attitude change. The epistemic quality and formal quality increased for the groups with argumentation script. All observed changes become substantial after the fourth week of interactions.
Our commentary first discusses three points of interest highlighted by the current studies in terms of breadth of measured behaviors and characteristics, the commensurability of designs, and the importance and challenge of analyzing learning by passive participants. We then discuss how datamining strategies might be organized to support future research building on these points of interest.
Many people think that arguing interferes with learning, and that’s true for a certain type of oppositional argument that is increasingly prevalent in our media culture. Tannen (1998) analyzed the aggressive types of argument that are frequently seen on talk shows and in the political sphere, where representatives of two opposed viewpoints spout talking points at each other. In these forms of argument, the goal is not to work together toward a common position, but simply to score points. All teachers and parents have seen children engaged in this type of argumentation, and most would probably agree that it has little to contribute to education. The learning sciences is studying a different kind of argumentation, which we call collaborative argumentation. For example, collaborative argumentation plays a central role in science; science advances not by the accumulation of facts, but by debate and argumentation (Osborne, 2010). Even when two scientists disagree, they still share the common values of science and both of them are interested in achieving the same goals (determining what claim should be upheld). Argumentation in science should not be primarily oppositional and aggressive; it is a form of collaborative discussion in which both parties are working together to resolve an issue, and in which both scientists aim to reach agreement. Engagement in collaborative argumentation can help students learn to think critically and independently about important issues and contested values. Before students can successfully engage in collaborative argumentation, they must overcome the traditional and deep-seated opposition between reason and emotion (Baker, Andriessen, & Järvelä, 2013; Picard et al., 2004), stop being aggressively opposed to others, and instead orient their positive motivations and emotions toward the question being discussed and others’ views on it.
The CSCL community faces two main challenges with respect to learning and argumentation. The scientific challenge is to understand how argumentation produces learning, that is to discover which cognitive mechanisms, triggered by argumentative interactions, generate new knowledge and in which conditions. The engineering challenge is to determine how to trigger productive argumentation among students. These two challenges are often investigated in parallel, but this contribution focuses on the latter. There are two ways to favour the emergence of argumentation, either pro-actively, by structuring collaboration, or retroactively, by regulating interactions (e.g. a tutor monitors the pair dialogues). Structuring collaboration either means scripting collaborative activities or designing a dedicated communication tool. The features of such argumentation tools constitute a central concern of this book. This contribution addresses both forms of structuring. (http://edu.fss.uu.nl/medewerkers/ja/Confrontations/Ch8.pdf)
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Research findings in recent years provide compelling evidence of the importance of encouraging student control over the learning process as a whole. The socially based tools and technologies of the Web 2.0 movement are capable of supporting informal conversation, reflexive dialogue and collaborative content generation, enabling access to a wide raft of ideas and representations. Used appropriately, these tools can shift control to the learner, through promoting learner agency, autonomy and engagement in social networks that straddle multiple real and virtual learning spaces independent of physical, geographic, institutional and organisational boundaries. As argued in this article, however, in order for self-regulated learning to come to fruition, students need not only to be able to choose and personalise what tools and content are available, but also to have access to the necessary scaffolding to support their learning. Emerging practices with social computing technologies, a number of examples of which are showcased in this article, signal the need for pedagogies that are more personal, social and participatory. The authors conclude with a discussion of some of the key implications for practice, including an outline of the current challenges faced by tertiary educators.
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It is now well recognised that argumentative interactions can be vehicles of collaborative learning, especially on a conceptual plane (see e.g. Andriessen & Coiner, 1999). Information and communication technologies such as Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (“CSCL”) environments can play an important role in such learning to the extent that they enable task sequences and interpersonal communication media to be structured in ways that favour the co-elaboration1 of knowledge (e.g. Baker, 1996, 1999; Baker, de Vries, Lund & Quignard, 2001).
Evidence for the superiority of guided instruction is explained in the context of our knowledge of human cognitive architecture, expert–novice differences, and cognitive load. Although unguided or minimally guided instructional approaches are very popular and intuitively appealing, the point is made that these approaches ignore both the structures that constitute human cognitive architecture and evidence from empirical studies over the past half-century that consistently indicate that minimally guided instruction is less effective and less efficient than instructional approaches that place a strong emphasis on guidance of the student learning process. The advantage of guidance begins to recede only when learners have sufficiently high prior knowledge to provide “internal” guidance. Recent developments in instructional research and instructional design models that support guidance during instruction are briefly described.
This study investigates how group awareness support and argumentation scripts influence learning in social networking sites like Facebook, which may be conducive to informal learning, but often lacks argumentative quality. Supporting participants’ group awareness about the visibility of the arguments they construct and about prospective future debate with peers in order to promote argument quality may be particularly suited for learning in Social Networking Sites. Additional argumentation scripts may directly foster argumentative knowledge construction. In a 2 × 2 study (N = 81), we isolated and investigated the effects of group awareness support and argumentation scripts during individual preparation in a Facebook app on domain and argumentative knowledge. Our results reveal that group awareness support of upcoming argumentative processes can be counterproductive for learning in Social Networking Sites. Argumentation scripts in Facebook may remedy possible negative effects of such awareness. Process analysis showed that group awareness support promotes individual argument elaboration but reduces broad analysis of the domain.
Students use Facebook to organize their classroom experiences [1], but hardly to share and form opinions on subject matters. We explore the benefits of argument diagrams for the formation of scientific opinion on behaviorism in Facebook. We aim at raising awareness of opinion conflict and structuring the argumentation with scripts [2]. A lab study with University students (ten dyads per condition) compared the in-fluence of argument structuring (students built individual argument diagrams before discussing in Facebook) vs. no argument structuring (only Facebook discussion) on opinion formation, measured through opinion change. The argumentation script was implemented in the web-based system LASAD to support sound argumentation [3]. Fig. 1. View of LASAD diagram Facebook discussions and conflict awareness led students of both conditions to change their opinions, t(39)=8.84, p<.001. Evidence suggests a connection between opinion change and the number of conflicts in a discussion. Together with a high correlation for no argument structuring between opinion change and knowledge gains, r(20)=.54, p<.05, the results suggest benefits of raising awareness of opinion conflicts in Facebook to facilitate scientific opinion formation and change. References.
This paper investigates the impact of the proposed ‘Make It Explicit!’ technique on students' learning when participating in scripted collaborative activities. The method posits that when asking students to proactively articulate their own positions explicitly, then improved peer interaction is triggered in a subsequent collaborative session. Forty-two (42) students worked collaboratively in dyads on a peer-review-scripted task with the aid of a Web-based technological system. Students were asked to individually study the same material and produce answers to study questions, review their peer's work and, finally, produce collaboratively revised common answers to the study questions. Dyads were randomly assigned in two conditions: low coercion (LC) and high coercion (HC). In the HC condition, students were required to write and submit to the system their reviews, prior to the task of producing the common answers to the study questions. In the LC condition, instead, submitting the individual review to the system was optional. By collecting and analysing both quantitative (pre- and post-test scores, measures of individual and collaborative learning) and qualitative (interviews, log files) data, it is shown that students in the HC condition applied better collaboration patterns and outperformed students in the LC condition in acquiring domain conceptual knowledge. Overall, this work analyses key aspects of implementing the ‘Make It Explicit!’ technique and concludes that it can efficiently improve collaborative learning outcomes by increasing script coercion.
The present study was carried out to determine the positive and negative attitudes among 289 students of class teachers and childhood teachers' disciplines using the communication skills attitude scale (CSAS) in Jordanian public universities. GPA, year level of students were recorded. Overall results of study revealed that the mean of positive attitude score was 4.03. The mean of negative attitude scale score was 3.63. There were no significant differences between class teachers and childhood teachers students in their positive and negative attitudes toward communication skills. Students with grade point averages 2 and more have positive attitudes toward communication skills than students with grade point average less than 2. Senior students have high positive and less negative attitudes toward communication skills than sophomore and junior students.
The skills involved in argument as a social discourse activity presumably develop during the childhood and adolescent years, but little is known about the course of that development. As an initial step in examining this development, a coding system was developed for the purpose of analyzing multiple dialogues between peers on the topic of capital punishment. A comparison of the dialogues of young adolescents and those of young adults showed the teens to be more preoccupied with producing the dialogue and less able to behave strategically with respect to the goals of argumentive discourse. Teens also did not exhibit the strategic skill that adults did of adapting discourse to the requirements of particular argumentive contexts (agreeing vs. disagreeing dialogues).
A 1979 study by Lord, Ross, and Lepper has been widely cited as showing that examination of mixed evidence on a topic leads to polarization of attitudes. The polarization phenomenon, we suggest, in fact encompasses two distinct change patterns - a shift from an initially moderate to a more extreme position (regarded here as genuine polarization) and a shift from an initially neutral to a moderate position (which might better be termed "articulating a position"). The findings reported here indicate that genuine polarization is a real hut infrequent outcome of exposure to mixed evidence. In addition, we offer data in support of the view that the effective component of such interventions is simply cognitive engagement, rather than exposure to new evidence.
Online social networks are increasingly important information and communication tools for young people and for the environmental movement. Networks may provide the motivation for young adults to increase environmental behaviors by increasing their knowledge of environmental issues and of the specific actions they can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study examined an application within Facebook.com – the largest online social network in the world – that allowed users to post climate change news stories from other websites and comment on those stories. A survey revealed that users of the social networking application reported above average knowledge of climate change science and that self‐reported environmental behaviors increased during young people's involvement with the Facebook application. Focus groups indicated that peer role modeling through interaction on the site motivated pro‐environmental behaviors, that is, behavior that seeks to minimize the negative impact of one's actions on the natural and built world. Participation in a community of like‐minded users spurred many participants to learn more about climate change and do more to limit its impact.
This article presents an outline of a script theory of guidance for computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). With its 4 types of components of internal and external scripts (play, scene, role, and scriptlet) and 7 principles, this theory addresses the question of how CSCL practices are shaped by dynamically reconfigured internal collaboration scripts of the participating learners. Furthermore, it explains how internal collaboration scripts develop through participation in CSCL practices. It emphasizes the importance of active application of subject matter knowledge in CSCL practices, and it prioritizes transactive over nontransactive forms of knowledge application in order to facilitate learning. Further, the theory explains how external collaboration scripts modify CSCL practices and how they influence the development of internal collaboration scripts. The principles specify an optimal scaffolding level for external collaboration scripts and allow for the formulation of hypotheses about the fading of external collaboration scripts. Finally, the article points toward conceptual challenges and future research questions.
The current research compared the effect of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and direct communication on attitude change. The social identity model of deindividuation effects (Spears & Lea, 1994) predicts that CMC results in behavior that is more in line with the salient level of self-categorization (compared to non-anonymous communication): in CMC salient social identity should lead to conformity to group norms whereas salient personal identity was expected to result in behavior that fits individual goals. Two experiments showed that when personal identity was salient and when social identity was salient and a category norm was explicitly given, CMC led to the predicted effects, whereas the lack of a social category norm led to lower attitude change in CMC compared to direct communication.
In this study, the effects of argumentation-eliciting interventions on conceptual understanding in evolution were investigated. Two experiments were conducted: In the 1st, 76 undergraduates were randomly assigned to dyads to collaboratively solve and answer items on evolution; half of them were instructed to conduct an argumentative discussion, whereas control dyads were only asked to collaborate. In the 2nd experiment, 42 singletons participated in 1 of 2 conditions: Experimental students engaged in monological argumentation on their own solution and a confederate's solution in response to prompts read by the confederate, whereas in the control condition they merely shared their solutions. Conceptual gains were assessed on immediate and delayed posttests. In both experiments, students in the argumentative conditions showed larger learning gains on the delayed posttest than control students. Students in argumentative conditions were able to preserve gains that were obtained immediately following the intervention, whereas control participants either lost immediate gains (dialogical condition) or did not improve their conceptual understanding at any time (monological condition). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The CSCL community faces two main challenges with respect to learning and argumentation. The scientific challenge is to understand how argumentation produces learning, that is to discover which cognitive mechanisms, triggered by argumentative interactions, generate new knowledge and in which conditions. The engineering challenge is to determine how to trigger productive argumentation among students. These two challenges are often investigated in parallel, but this contribution focuses on the latter.
Collaboration scripts facilitate social and cognitive processes of collaborative learning by shaping the way learners interact
with each other. Computer-supported collaboration scripts generally suffer from the problem of being restrained to a specific
learning platform. A standardization of collaboration scripts first requires a specification of collaboration scripts that
integrates multiple perspectives from computer science, education and psychology. So far, only few and limited attempts at
such specifications have been made. This paper aims to consolidate and expand these approaches in light of recent findings
and to propose a generic framework for the specification of collaboration scripts. The framework enables a description of
collaboration scripts using a small number of components (participants, activities, roles, resources and groups) and mechanisms
(task distribution, group formation and sequencing).
Despite the fact that many researchers in CSCL use the term over-scripting to interpret negative effects of scripts, the term is not clearly defined. Our contribution is to reframe the term according to concepts of internal and external scripts. We further conceptualize potential interferences between internal and external scripts in terms of cognitive processes and motivation. In an empirical study (N = 81) we varied the degree of an argumentative script (low vs. medium vs. high) and examined the effects on processes and outcomes of argumentative knowledge construction. Our results show positive effects of the medium and high degree of scripting on argumentative knowledge construction. We found negative effects of the medium and high degree of scripting on motivation, however, but low motivation did not negatively interfere with knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, our reframing of over-scripting allowed us to differentiate between under-scripting, over-scripting and, finally, malfunctional scripts.
Computer-mediated world-wide networks have enabled a shift from contiguous learning groups to asynchronous distributed learning groups utilizing computer-supported collaborative learning environments. Although these environments can support communication and collaboration, both research and field observations are not always positive about their working. This article focuses on factors which may cause this discrepancy, centering on two pitfalls that appear to impede achieving the desired results, namely taking for granted that participants will socially interact simply because the environment makes it possible and neglecting the social (psychological) dimension of the desired social interaction. It examines the social interactions which determine how groups develop, how sound social spaces characterized by group cohesion, trust, respect and belonging are established, and how a sense of community of learning is established. It concludes with an evaluation of educational techniques proposed by instructors and educators, as well as the findings of educational researchers and guidelines for avoiding the pitfalls.
There is much talk of a change in modern youth – often referred to as digital natives or Homo Zappiens – with respect to their ability to simultaneously process multiple channels of information. In other words, kids today can multitask. Unfortunately for proponents of this position, there is much empirical documentation concerning the negative effects of attempting to simultaneously process different streams of information showing that such behavior leads to both increased study time to achieve learning parity and an increase in mistakes while processing information than those who are sequentially or serially processing that same information. This article presents the preliminary results of a descriptive and exploratory survey study involving Facebook use, often carried out simultaneously with other study activities, and its relation to academic performance as measured by self-reported Grade Point Average (GPA) and hours spent studying per week. Results show that Facebook® users reported having lower GPAs and spend fewer hours per week studying than nonusers.
This article serves two functions. First, it addresses why studying collaborative discourse and collaborative argumentation is important for promoting students’ deep-level understanding of content. A literature review is presented examining the evidence for this claim, concluding that engaging in collaborative discourse and argumentation might have long-term effects in consolidating learning gains. Second, the various articles in this special issue are introduced. The articles address important directions for research, including (a) how to promote pedagogically useful collaborative discourse in the classroom and in workplace setting (for example by modeling and soliciting elaborative discourse moves or by engendering “polite” behavioral norms), (b) understanding the role of joint representations and mental models in collaborative discourse, and (c) methodological difficulties with analyzing nonindependent and categorical data. The importance for educational psychologists in understanding the interaction of cognitive and social processes is highlighted.
Awareness tools using visualized ratings of other people can help recipients to find their way in crowded information spaces. This article reports on a laboratory experiment that investigates how the design of an awareness tool impacts the navigation behavior of recipients within an online discussion forum. In the experiment, 127 participants read through a forum discussion for which posts were rated by average agreement and average quality. Depending on the experimental condition, posts were visualized along continua indicating average agreement ratings (absent vs. present) and/or average quality ratings (absent vs. present). It was hypothesized that an agreement visualization will increase the salience of both high-agreement and low-agreement posts, whereas a quality visualization will only increase the salience of high-quality posts. Measuring reading times for discussion posts, these hypotheses could be confirmed. However, neither recipients' attitude strength nor recall of discussion arguments was affected.
This article investigates the influence of scripts, individual preparation and group awareness support on argumentative learning in Facebook, three instructional approaches known from standard CSCL, but yet quite unexplored for learning in social networks. Social networks already afford a social component that is beneficial for interaction, which can be enhanced in a subtle way by group awareness support. However, a missing element in social networks that might be necessary for learning is structure. Individual preparation and argumentation scripts may offer structure to improve argumentation quality and complement group awareness support. We investigate the potential interactions of scripts, individual preparation and group awareness support in social networking sites on individual and group learning outcomes. We present the combined results of three studies. Contrary to previous CSCL results, we present negative results of individual preparation and group awareness support in this socially defined platform. Positive effects are found for argumentation scripts, which however cannot counterbalance the negative effects of group awareness support or individual preparation when combined with either of them. We discuss the results and their implications for leveraging Facebook’s social impact and ‘native’ interactions for learning and point out benefits and risks of using CSCL instructions in this context.
Empirical studies have proven the effectiveness of the knowledge and information awareness approach of Engelmann and colleagues for improving collaboration and collaborative problem-solving performance of spatially distributed group members. This approach informs group members about both their collaborators’ knowledge structures and their collaborators’ information. In the current study, we investigated whether this implicit approach reduces undesirable effects of mutual trust and mutual skepticism. Trust is an important influencing factor with regard to behavior and performance of groups. High mutual trust can have a negative impact on group effectiveness because it reduces mutual control and, as a result, the detection of the others’ mistakes. In an empirical study, 20 triads collaborating with the knowledge and information awareness approach were compared with 20 triads collaborating without this approach. The members of a triad were spatially distributed and participated in a computer-supported collaboration. The results demonstrated that the availability of the knowledge and information awareness approach overrides the negative impact of too much mutual trust and counteracts the development of mutual skepticism. This study contributes to further clarifying the impact of trust on effectiveness and efficiency of virtual groups depending upon different situational contexts.
Prologue Part I. Practice: Introduction I 1. Meaning 2. Community 3. Learning 4. Boundary 5. Locality Coda I. Knowing in practice Part II. Identity: Introduction II 6. Identity in practice 7. Participation and non-participation 8. Modes of belonging 9. Identification and negotiability Coda II. Learning communities Conclusion: Introduction III 10. Learning architectures 11. Organizations 12. Education Epilogue.
This meta-analysis investigated the role of the quality of argumentation for domain-specific knowledge gains in computer-supported collaborative learning settings. Given the scarcity of primary studies that report correlations between these two variables, a meta-regression approach was used that uses interventions’ effects on argumentation to predict their effects on domain-specific knowledge. Effect sizes for 17 comparisons extracted from 12 studies were included in the analysis using a random-effects model. Moderator analyses concerning type of argumentation measure, type of knowledge test, and type of intervention were conducted. The interventions had a statistically significant small to moderate mean effect (d = 0.39) on argumentation, which varied as a function of the type of argumentation measure employed. The mean effect of the interventions on domain-specific knowledge appeared to be non-existent (d = 0.00) on the basis of the whole sample of studies, and small at best after the exclusion of three outlying effect sizes from one study (d = 0.22). With respect to the relation of the studies’ effects on argumentation to their effects on domain-specific knowledge, no unequivocal picture emerges: After the exclusion of the three outliers, the regression coefficient for predicting the studies’ effects on domain-specific knowledge on the basis of their effects on argumentation was b = –0.08 and statistically not significant. These findings constitute a challenge for the broadly shared theoretical assumption that argumentation mediates the effects of interventions on domain-specific knowledge. A set of recommendations for strengthening future research on the topic is presented.
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine cases in which Social Networking Sites (SNS) are being utilized for scholarly purposes by higher-education institutes in Israel. The research addresses questions regarding content patterns, activity patterns, and interactivity within Facebook and Twitter accounts of these institutes. Research population comprises of 47 Facebook accounts and 26 Twitter accounts of Israeli universities or colleges and/or sub-divisions within these institutes. In addition to descriptive statistics, all tweets within Twitter accounts were analyzed and classified into categories, based on their content, for better understanding of how they can facilitate informal learning. Research findings suggest that SNS promotes knowledge sharing, thereby facilitating informal learning within the community; SNS open academic institutes to the community altogether. Still, SNS were utilized in an assimilation mode, i.e. while the potential is high for using special features enabled by SNS as well as unique sharing of information modes, de facto use of these special features was extremely low. However, contrary to the relatively high dropout rates of SNS' personal accounts, many academic accounts were frequently active for long periods of time. This may indicate that SNS activity which is based on sharing of knowledge as well as on social interaction has better sustainability prospects. Usage and content patterns of these accounts corresponded to parallel patterns in the Israeli higher-education community in “real” life, hence reinforcing the role of these institutes within the community. Overall, this study implies that the potential of SNS as means of sharing academic knowledge in higher education institutes in Israel has not been actualized yet, but is indeed being explored by these organizations as well as by the community.
In this article, I explore and elaborate the relation between goals, identities, and learning and argue for their utility as a model by which to understand the nature of learning in general and to better understand the way in which race, culture, and learning become intertwined for minority students in American schools. Drawing on sociocultural perspectives on learning and development, including Wenger (1998) and Saxe (1999), I describe findings from 2 studies of learning among African American students outside of school, in the cultural practices of dominoes and basketball. This research shows that indeed, as players come to learn these practices, they both shift in regard to the goals they seek to accomplish within the practice and change as they come to define themselves vis-à-vis the practice. The implications for understanding the relation between race, culture, and learning are discussed.
Learning to argue is an essential objective in education; and online environments have
been found to support the sharing, constructing, and representing of arguments in multiple
formats for what has been termed Argumentation-Based Computer Supported Collaborative
Learning (ABCSCL). The purpose of this review is to give an overview of research in
the field of ABCSCL and to synthesize the findings. For this review, 108 publications (89
empirical studies and 19 conceptual papers) on ABCSCL research dating from 1995 through
2011 were studied to highlight the foci of the past 15 years. Building on Biggs’ (2003)
model, the ABCSCL publications were systematically categorized with respect to student
prerequisites, learning environment, processes, and outcomes. Based on the quantitative
and qualitative findings, this paper concludes that ABCSCL environments should be
designed in a systematic way that takes the variety of specific conditions for learning into
account. It also offers suggestions for educational practice and future research.
Traditionally, research on awareness during online collaboration focused on topics such as the effects of spatial information about group members’ activities on the collaborative process. When the concept of awareness was introduced to computer-supported collaborative learning, this focus shifted to cognitive group awareness (e.g., information about group members’ knowledge and expertise) and social group awareness (e.g., information about group members’ contributions to the group process). In this article, we show how both cognitive and social group awareness affect coordination of collaborative activities in the content (e.g., cognitive learning activities) and relational space (e.g., maintaining a positive group climate) of collaboration. Furthermore, we describe how cognitive and social group awareness tools (i.e., tools designed to enhance cognitive or social group awareness) may help learners coordinate their activities in both spaces. We present a conceptual framework that shows how group awareness affects coordination in both dialogical spaces and the effectiveness of collaboration.
This study is one of the largest and most comprehensive publicly available sources of information on the amount and nature of media use among American youth: (1) It includes a large national sample of more than 2,000 young people from across the country; (2) It covers children from ages 8 to 18, to track changes from childhood through the transitional "tween" period, and on into the teenage years; (3) It explores a comprehensive array of media, including TV, computers, video games, music, print, cell phones, and movies; (4) It is one of the only studies to measure and account for media multitasking--the time young people spend using more than one medium concurrently; and (5) It gathers highly detailed information about young people's media behavior, including responses to an extensive written questionnaire completed by the entire sample, plus results from a subsample of approximately 700 respondents who also maintained week-long diaries recording their media use in half-hour increments. Finally, because this is the third wave of the Kaiser Family Foundation's studies of children's media use, it not only provides a detailed look at current media use patterns among young people, but also documents changes in children's media habits since the first two waves of the study, in 1999 and 2004. It is hoped that the data provided here will offer a reliable foundation for policymakers trying to craft national media policies, parents trying to do their best to stay on top of their children's media habits, and educators, advocates and public health groups that are concerned with the impact of media on youth, and want to leverage the educational and informational potential of media in young people's lives. Appended are: (1) Tables; (2) Changes in Question Wording and Structure Over Time; (3) Toplines; and (4) Sample of Media Use Diary.
proposes a conceptualization of attitude strength that links strength to a basic understanding of attitude itself / begin by giving a definition of attitude, which leads directly to an interpretation of attitude strength as a structural variable / the consequence of attitude strength that we emphasize is resistance to change: strong attitudes do not readily change / this principle may appear simple, but it camouflages an underlying psychology of some complexity—specifically, a set of mechanisms by which people resist change / argue that the likelihood that particular mechanisms appear depends not merely on attitude strength, but on the particular structural configuration that underlies an attitude's strength / however, resistance to change is not the only important consequence of attitude strength / strong attitudes are also relatively persistent over time and predictive of overt behavior, and they exert selective effects on information processing
provides an integrative theory of attitude strength and its several consequences by means of [an intra and inter] structural interpretation of strength and the treatment of resistance as strength's critical consequence
techniques by which strong attitudes are changed (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
[suggest] that one way of classifying different measures of attitude strength is to divide them into 2 categories: (a) those that assess the consistency of people's database, including measures of affective-cognitive consistency, belief homogeneity, and ambivalence; and (b) those that measure the strength and accessibility of people's general evaluation of the attitude object, including importance, response time, conviction, and message elaboration / [report] converging evidence for the importance and relevance of the 1st category
predicting attitude stability from attitude strength / can an attitudes-as-constructions model account for attitude stability / attitude strength as a moderator of the effects of analyzing reasons (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Engaging in reflective activities in interaction, such as explaining, justifying and evaluating problem solutions, has been shown to be potentially productive for learning. This paper addresses the problem of how these activities may be promoted in the context of computer-mediated communication during a modelling task in physics. The design principles of two different communication interfaces are presented. The first allows free text to be exchanged, and the second structures the interaction by providing a restricted set of communicative possibilities. Comparative analyses of interaction corpora produced with the two communication interfaces are then described. The analyses show that use of the second structured interface in performing the problem-solving task is feasible for students, and that it promotes a task-focussed and reflective interaction. In conclusion the different resources provided by different media and the relative degrees of effort that their use requires are discussed.
Scripts structure the collaborative learning process by constraining interactions, defining a sequence of activities and specifying
individual roles. Scripts aim at increasing the probability that collaboration triggers knowledge generative interactions
such as conflict resolution, explanation or mutual regulation. Integrative scripts are not bound to collaboration in small
groups but include individual activities and class-wide activities. These pre- and post-structuring activities form the didactic
envelope of the script. In many cases, the core part of the script is based on one among a few schemata: Jigsaw, conflict,
reciprocal. We propose a model for designing this core component. This model postulates that learning results from the interactions
that students engage in to build a shared understanding of a task despite the fact that it is distributed. Hence, the way the task is distributed among group members determines the interactions they
will engage in. Interactions are viewed as the mechanisms for overcoming task splits. A large variety of scripts can be built
from a small number of schemata, embedded within activities that occur across multiple social planes, activities which are
integrated with each other by few generic operators.
This research review examines recent developments in computer-mediated communication (CMC) research for educational applications.
The review draws on 170 recent research articles selected from 78 journals representing a wide range of disciplines. The review
focuses on peer-reviewed empirical studies, but is open to a variety of methodologies. The review is divided into two sections
addressing major areas of current research: (a) general CMC research in education, and (b) factors affecting computer-mediated
learning. The review covers a variety of key research areas revolving around CMC in education, including, media effect and
comparison, on-line courses and networks, course and program evaluations, learning and learning processes, problem solving,
writing, decision-making, argumentation, group decision-making, group dynamics, peer evaluations, gender differences, anonymity,
teaching practice effects, technology integration, teacher styles and characteristics, socio-cultural factors, and professional
development effects. Findings suggest partial advantages of CMC in writing, task focused discussion, collaborative decision-making,
group work, and active involvement in knowledge construction during group interactions. Other research findings revealed influences
of peer interaction, group composition, group cohesion, goal commitment, group norm development, and process training, mixed-sex
groups, and virtual cross-functional teams. Mixed-findings are revealed for performance advantages of computer-mediated versus
face-to-face learning environments on various tasks and for the presence of gender differences in computer-mediated environments.
In a teaching experiment 16 face-to-face and 11 e-mailFinnish university students studied academic debatingin an argumentation course. The 19 students of thecontrol group did not engage in the course. The courseinvolved two lectures, exercises with argumentativetexts, and face-to-face or e-mail seminar discussionsbased on these texts. Free debate, role play,problem-solving and panel discussion were the devicesused in organizing the course. The level of thestudents' argumentation skills were measured in apretest before the course and in a post-test after it.The results were compared between and within thegroups. The results indicated that during the e-mailstudies the students learned to identify and chooserelevant grounds, while the face-to-face studentsimproved in putting forward counterargumentation. Thecontrol group did not improve in these skills. Thestudy suggests that argumentation skills can bepromoted by short-term e-mail and face-to-faceteaching, and that practising argumentation indifferent learning environments develops differentkinds of argumentation skills.
This study explores the relation between argumentation in online discussions, cognitive elaboration, and individual knowledge acquisition. In a one-factorial experimental design with 48 participants we investigated the effect of an argumentative computer-supported collaboration script (with vs. without) on the formal quality of argumentation, cognitive elaboration, and individual knowledge acquisition in online discussions. Furthermore, we examined the relation between the formal quality of argumentation, cognitive elaboration, and individual knowledge acquisition. Empirical evidence was found that a computer-supported collaboration script can foster formal quality of argumentation as well as corresponding cognitive elaboration. Construction of formally sound arguments is positively related to both deep cognitive elaboration and individual acquisition of knowledge on argumentation.
Students often face process losses when learning together via text-based online environments. Computer-supported collaboration scripts can scaffold collaborative learning processes by distributing roles and activities and thus facilitate acquisition of domain-specific as well as domain-general knowledge, such as knowledge on argumentation. Possibly, individual learners would require less additional support or could equally benefit from computer-supported scripts. In this study with a 2 × 2-factorial design (N = 36) we investigate the effects of a script (with versus without) and the learning arrangement (individual versus collaborative) on how learners distribute content-based roles to accomplish the task and argumentatively elaborate the learning material within groups to acquire domain-specific and argumentative knowledge, in the context of a case-based online environment in an Educational Psychology higher education course. A large multivariate interaction effect of the two factors on learning outcomes could be found, indicating that collaborative learning outperforms individual learning regarding both of these knowledge types if it is structured by a script. In the unstructured form, however, collaborative learning is not superior to individual learning in relation to either knowledge type. We thus conclude that collaborative online learners can benefit greatly from scripts reducing process losses and specifying roles and activities within online groups.
Group awareness is an emerging topic in research on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). It covers the knowledge and perception of behavioral, cognitive, and social context information on a group or its members. A central aim of CSCL-related research on group awareness is the development of tools that implicitly guide learners’ behavior, communication, and reflection by the presentation of information on a learning partner or a group. This special issue comprises six empirical contributions and a concluding discussion that present a broad spectrum of current research on this topic including behavioral, cognitive and social group awareness. An introductory outline of how group awareness is formed, processed and translated in action along the contributions is intended to integrate the diverse research activities on group awareness in CSCL environments.
Learning teams in higher education executing a collaborative assignment are not always effective. To remedy this, there is a need to determine and understand the variables that influence team effectiveness. This study aimed at developing a conceptual framework, based on research in various contexts on team effectiveness and specifically team and task awareness. Core aspects of the framework were tested to establish its value for future experiments on influencing team effectiveness. Results confirmed the importance of shared mental models, and to some extent mutual performance monitoring for learning teams to become effective, but also of interpersonal trust as being conditional for building adequate shared mental models. Apart from the importance of team and task awareness for team effectiveness it showed that learning teams in higher education tend to be pragmatic by focusing primarily on task aspects of performance and not team aspects. Further steps have to be taken to validate this conceptual framework on team effectiveness.
A peer feedback tool (Radar) and a reflection tool (Reflector) were used to enhance group performance in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Radar allows group members to assess themselves and their fellow group members on six traits related to social and cognitive behavior. Reflector stimulates group members to reflect on their past, present and future group functioning, stimulating them to set goals and formulate plans to improve their social and cognitive performance. The underlying assumption was that group performance would be positively influenced by making group members aware of how they, their peers and the whole group perceive their social and cognitive behavior in the group. Participants were 108 fourth-year high school students working in dyads, triads and groups of four on a collaborative writing task, with or without the tools. Results demonstrate that awareness stimulated by the peer feedback and reflection tools enhances group-process satisfaction and social performance of CSCL-groups.
To support collaborative interactions, information systems need to support awareness: Collaborators must attain and maintain reciprocal awareness of shared activity in order to coordinate effectively. Supporting awareness has often been conceptualized a matter of ameliorating deficits inherent in remote interaction. In this paper, we consider awareness support in several community informatics contexts from the standpoint of better-leveraging affordances unique to remote community-oriented interactions. We suggest positive design strategies to design awareness support “beyond” what is typical in traditional face-to-face interchange.
This study investigated the effects of a peer feedback tool and a reflection tool on social and cognitive performance during computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL). A CSCL-environment was augmented with a peer feedback tool (Radar) and a reflection tool (Reflector) in order to make group members aware of both their individual and their group behavior. Radar visualizes how group members perceive their own social and cognitive performance and that of their peers during collaboration along five dimensions. Reflector stimulates group members to reflect upon their own performance and the performance of the group. A 2 × 2 factorial between-subjects design was used to examine whether Radar and Reflector would lead to better team development, more group satisfaction, lower levels of group conflict, more positive attitudes toward problem-based collaboration, and a better group product. Results show that groups with Radar perceived their team as being better developed, experienced lower conflict levels, and had a more positive attitude towards collaborative problem solving than groups without Radar. The quality of group products, however, did not differ. The results demonstrate that peer feedback on the social performance of individual group members can enhance the performance and attitudes of a CSCL-group.
This paper describes the development of augmented group awareness tools that take mutual user ratings of their online discussion
contributions as input, aggregate these data, and visually feed these data back to the members in real time, thereby informing
participants about how the group as a whole perceives their contributions. A specific group awareness tool was experimentally
tested in a CSCL scenario using online controversies about a physics domain. The learning material was distributed across
group members to create a situation where an individual minority member with a scientifically correct viewpoint faces a majority
favoring a plausible, but incorrect viewpoint. It was hypothesized that in unsupported CSCL groups an incorrect majority would
dominate a correct minority, whereas in groups that were supported by an augmented group awareness tool minority influence
could be strengthened by making minority contributions salient. The paper reports results in support of this hypothesis, and
discusses the mechanisms leading to the benefits of group awareness tools for collaborative learning.