Students Assessing Their Own Collaborative Knowledge Building

We describe the design of a knowledge-building environment and examine the role of knowledge-building portfolios in characterizing and scaffolding collaborative inquiry. Our goal is to examine collaborative knowledge building in the context of exploring the alignment of learning, collaboration, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of computer-supported collaborative learning 2006-06, Vol.1 (2), p.277-307
Main Authors: Lee, Eddy Y. C, Chan, Carol K. K, van Aalst, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asynchronous Communication
Computer Assisted Instruction
Computer Mediated Communication
Computer Software
Computers
Cooperative Learning
Discourse Analysis
Educational Principles
Educational Technology
Foreign Countries
Grade 9
High School Students
Hong Kong
Instructional Design
Instructional Effectiveness
Portfolio Assessment
Portfolios (Background Materials)
Principles
Student Evaluation
Teaching Methods
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Summary:We describe the design of a knowledge-building environment and examine the role of knowledge-building portfolios in characterizing and scaffolding collaborative inquiry. Our goal is to examine collaborative knowledge building in the context of exploring the alignment of learning, collaboration, and assessment in computer forums. The key design principle involved turning over epistemic agency to students; guided by several knowledge-building principles, they were asked to identify clusters of computer notes that indicated knowledge-building episodes in the computer discourse. Three classes of 9th grade students in Hong Kong used Knowledge Forum in several conditions: Knowledge Forum only, Knowledge Forum with portfolios, and Knowledge Forum with portfolios and principles. Results showed: (1) Students working on portfolios guided by knowledge-building principles showed deeper inquiry and more conceptual understanding than their counterparts; (2) Students' knowledge-building discourse, reflected in portfolio scores, contributed to their domain understanding; and (3) Knowledge-building portfolios helped to assess and foster collective knowledge advances: A portfolio with multiple contributions from students is a group accomplishment that captures the distributed and progressive nature of knowledge building. Students extended their collective understanding by analyzing the discourse, and the portfolio scaffolded the complex interactions between individual and collective knowledge advancements.
ISSN:1556-1607
1556-1615
DOI:10.1007/s11412-006-8997-6