Supporting medical decision making with argumentation tools

This study investigated the collaborative decision-making and communicative discourse of groups of learners engaged in a simulated medical emergency in two conditions. In one condition subgroups used a traditional whiteboard (TW group) to document medical arguments on how to solve a medical emergency. In the other condition subgroups used interactive whiteboards (IW group) where they could document their medical arguments by using a structured template for constructing, annotating and sharing arguments. The discourse of each group was coded with respect to decision-making and communicative activities. The research goal was to identify relationships between the decision-making and collaborative discourse under the two conditions. The IW condition differed from the TW condition in that participants engaged in more adaptive decision-making behavior early on in the intervention. This early engagement led to shared understandings and subsequently to more effective patient management. Group differences were also found in the types of collaborative discourse and the IW groups produced more productive argumentation.     

Computer support for knowledge communication in science exhibitions: Novel perspectives from research on collaborative learning

In this article, the potentials of advanced technologies for learning in science exhibitions are outlined. For this purpose, we conceptualize science exhibitions as dynamic information space for knowledge building which includes three pathways of knowledge communication. This article centers on the second pathway, that is, knowledge communication among visitors. We argue that advanced technologies have specific potentials to support all forms of visitor-to-visitor knowledge communication and, furthermore, allow for new forms of knowledge communication among unacquainted visitors and beyond the actual museum visit. We discuss mechanisms of collaborative learning with regard to their relevance for visitor-to-visitor knowledge communication and present prototypical advanced media applications in science exhibitions that address these mechanisms. This article both contributes to our understanding of collaborative learning in science exhibitions and the support advanced technologies can provide for visitor-to-visitor knowledge communication in science exhibitions.     

Measuring the demand for agricultural information

Abstract

Networked learning aims to foster students’ knowledge construction processes as well as the quality of knowledge construction. In this respect, it is crucial to be able to analyse both aspects of networked learning. Based on theories on networked learning and the empirical work of relevant authors in this domain, two coding schemes are presented to analyse the nature of learning processes and the quality of knowledge construction in networked learning. The coding schemes were used to analyse the learning processes and learning results of students in an MSc course on land use planning at Wageningen University in which networked learning played an important role. The inter-rater reliability of both instruments appeared to be satisfactory. The relation between the two coding schemes is discussed and recommendations for future research and educational practice are formulated.     

Interactive learning through web-mediated peer review of student science reports

Two studies analyzed impacts of writing and receiving web-mediated peer reviews on revision of research reports by undergraduate science students. After conducting toxicology experiments, 77 students posted draft reports and exchanged double-blind reviews. The first study randomly assigned students to four groups representing full, partial, or no peer review. Students engaging in any aspect of peer review made more revisions than students confined to reviewing their own reports. In the second study, all students engaged in peer review, and the influence of writing versus receiving critiques was analyzed using linear regression. Both studies showed receiving reviews to be more significant than writing them in terms of triggering report revisions. Students valued the peer review experience and credited it with giving them insights about their work. Conclusions address implications for optimal design of online peer review systems and for further research into student learning gains.

Patterns of debate in tertiary level asynchronous text-based conferencing

Argumentation can be defined at different levels and serve different purposes, but its role in knowledge understanding and construction has given it a central place in education, particularly at tertiary level. The advent of computer-supported text-based conferences has created new sites where such educational dialogues can take place, but the quality of the interaction and whether it is serving its educational purpose is still uncertain. This paper reports on a framework of analysis that has been developed to illuminate the arguing process within an asynchronous electronic conferencing environment, showing how it is both similar to, and different from, argumentation in the more traditional forums of multi-party, face-to-face discussion and traditional written essays. The framework develops earlier work by the authors and is applied to two electronic conferences within the same postgraduate course, comparing overall patterns of argumentation. Findings are presented on the extent to which the technology of electronic conferencing shapes and supports students’ participation in academic literacy practices relating to argumentation, proposing, at the same time, that the teaching strategy adopted by the lecturer is also an important variable.     

Teacher professional development through curriculum development: teachers' experiences in the field trialling of on-line curriculum materials

ABSTRACT

This paper, which arises out of wider Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded research, examines the provision of information technology in ten British secondary schools. The longitudinal nature of the research allows us to test a model proposed by Wellington, which describes the evolution of information technology in secondary schools from a vertical to a horizontal approach, against the data from the ten schools. We explore tensions between vertical and horizontal approaches and show that the evolutionary process is more complex than suggested by the model. We focus on the role of the information technology co‐ordinator in promoting horizontal approaches to information technology and explore the conditions under which the role is carried out.     

The classroom group work for collaborative learning

This paper addresses the issues in the field of collaborative learning,and put its stress on the classroom group work for collaborative learning.The way to deal with group work and teacher's role in the process will also be discussed.     

Use and evaluation of a technology-rich experimental collaborative classroom

In order to pilot a shift towards greater use of collaborative learning in our higher education programs, the University of Hong Kong has invested in the development of a prototype technology-enhanced collaborative learning space. The space was created by retrofitting a vacant studio, turning it into an innovative classroom space in which collaborative learning is promoted and facilitated both through the provision of technology and by the physical layout of the room. We have used the space to pioneer collaborative learning both by holding professional development workshops for faculty in the room and also by helping academic staff to run experimental courses in the learning space. The opportunity to offer professional development and support for academic staff in this environment is particularly valuable as it ensures they do not simply deliver traditional didactic lectures in a space designed to promote interactive student learning and engagement. By using the space as a ‘student’ they are able to consider how they may use collaborative learning environments with their students. This paper describes use of the room for professional development of academic staff and also provides two examples of the use and evaluation of the room by faculty who used the room to teach experimental classes.     

Knowledge organization through multiple representations in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments provide learners with multiple representational tools for storing, sharing, and constructing knowledge. However, little is known about how learners organize knowledge through multiple representations about complex socioscientific issues. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate learners’ knowledge organization (KO) through multiple representations in a CSCL environment. We designed a learning unit on nuclear energy and implemented it with a group of 20 college students. The participants used a web-based hypertext KO platform that incorporated three representational modes: textual, pictorial, and concept map. The platform interlinked learners’ knowledge entries based on similar keywords. Utilizing mixed methods research we analyzed the individual entries and the knowledge base to determine KO both at the individual and the collective levels. We found that the density of the knowledge base was high; the learners mostly benefited from their text- and concept map-based entries, though the picture-based entries were also an important means for connecting entries with similar content and hence creating a dense knowledge base. Our results suggest that KO with multiple representations can create a more comprehensive knowledge base. Using distinct analytical approaches will allow CSCL researchers to better identify KO both at the individual and collective levels.     

导学群体系下学生自主学习和协作学习的研究

远程开放教育是伴随现代化信息技术产生的教育模式。它独具鲜明的特色和时代精神。导学群是山西电大的一大特色。自主学习和协作学习是这种教育模式的最大特征。在远程开放教育中进行学生自主学习和协作学习的研究,对办学质量的提升有着重要的作用。     

Empowering discourse: discourse analysis as method and practice in the sociology classroom

Collaborative learning and critical pedagogy are widely recognized as ‘empowering’ pedagogies for higher education. Yet, the practical implementation of both has a mixed record. The question, then, is: How could collaborative and critical pedagogies be empowered themselves? This paper makes a primarily theoretical case for discourse analysis (DA) as a form of classroom practice that provides a structured framework for collaborative and critical pedagogies in higher education, with a special reference to sociology classroom practice. I develop a tripartite scheme for building a framework for sociological imagination that is, first, sensitive to the discursive aspects of social reality (learning about DA). Second, I illustrate the use of DA as pedagogical tool and classroom practice (learning with DA). Third, I discuss how discourse analytical ideas can be used in evaluating classroom interaction and how these reflexive insights can be used to enhance student empowerment (learning through DA).     

Professional development in classroom discussion to improve argumentation: Teacher and student outcomes

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a year-long professional development program in classroom discussion designed to improve students' argumentation skills in language arts classes. Twenty-six fifth-grade teachers and their 471 students at two research sites participated: 14 teachers in the experimental condition, who received the professional development, and 12 teachers in the comparison condition. Results showed that the professional development led to statistically significant improvements in the quality of teachers' facilitation and student argumentation during discussions, and in students' performance on individual argumentative reading and writing tasks following the discussions, at the end of the year. Findings suggest that the professional development for teachers resulted in strengthened student abilities to connect positions with relevant reasons and evidence, and that argumentation skills acquired in the discussions may have transferred to students’ individual argumentation, at least for reading outcomes.