E-Learn 2004 - Social Constructivist E-Learning: A Case Study

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST
E-LEARNING: A CASE STUDY

Michael Barbour & Peter Rich
University of Georgia

The Study
 AP European History students
 from one Canadian province
 one U.S. state
 AP United States History students
 from the same Canadian province
 another U.S. state
 all enrolled in asynchronous, web-based
courses through the a private Canadian
consortium or a state-sponsored virtual
high school
 using Knowledge Forum® to complete a
document-based question activity

The Study
Advanced Placement Exam

 conducted during first two weeks of
May

 standardized exam with 3 sections
 80 multiple-choice questions
 1 document-based question
 2 free-response questions

The Study
Document Based Question

 Sample

 Rubric

The Project
According to researchers from the Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (the original
developers of CSILE), Knowledge Forum “is an online
environment where learners… can talk to one another, ask
questions, contribute ideas, read what other people have
written, challenge ideas, build upon them, and in that way
build the knowledge of the community… Knowledge Forum
provides graphical Views of notes enabling people to see and
adjust the structure of their discourse. Additionally,
Knowledge Forum provides customizable scaffold supports
encouraging participants to reflect on socio-cognitive process
as they are reading or writing. Knowledge Forum also affords
student-student dialogue that is not directly mediated by the
teacher. This averts the problem of teacher-centered
dialogue… Peers provide much of the procedural facilitation
or supports for deeper understanding for each other in their
database” (Lamon & Scardamalia, 2002).

The Project
 “CSILE/Knowledge Forum begins with an empty
knowledge based, which is seeded with an issue or set
of related issues that become the focal point of
information gathering, inquiry and discussion”
(Bruning et al., 2004, 231).
 This Internet-based database is utilized to promote
the community of learners based upon the fact that “a
successful knowledge building community largely
depends on students’ activities, especially on self-
direction among students. Students need to make
own ideas explicit and to critically argue.
Confrontation with a variety of ideas and arguments
enhances deep reflection and coherent explanations,
due to an increase visibility of different ideas” (Lamon
& Scardamalia, 2001).

The Project

 Knowledge Forum

http://kforum.motion.com:8080

The Project
 Phase 1 - students were given a week to introduce themselves
and get to know each other (one week)
 Phase 2 - students were presented with nine different
documents, asked to provide an analysis of at least two of the
document and, as a community, ensure that all nine documents
had at least two analyses (one week)
 Phase 3 - students were given the document-based question
which included a short historical context and the nine
documents that they had analyzed and were asked to complete
their response to the document-based question (one week)
 Phase 4 – students were presented with the blank rubric and
asked to evaluate at least two of their fellow students’
responses using the rubric (one week)
 At the end, the instructors posted their evaluations of the
students’ responses and invited students to comment on the
differences between the students’ and the instructors’ rubric,
along with their impressions of the entire process.

The Methodology
 Acadia Advantage
 acknowledgement of opinions (evidence of participation)
 question (thoughtful query)
 compare (similarity, analogy)
 contrast (distinction, discriminate)
 evaluation (judgement, value)
 idea to example (deduction, analogy)
 example to idea (induction, conclusion)
 clarification or elaboration (reiterating a point, building
on a point)
 cause and effect (inference, consequence)
 and off-topic/faulty reasoning (entry inappropriate)
Knight (1990), Hemming & MacKinnon (1998), MacKinnon & Hemming (1998), Hemming & MacKinnon (1999),
Aylward & MacKinnon (1999), MacKinnon & Aylward (1999), MacKinnon & Aylward (2000), and MacKinnon
(2000)

The Methodology
 two researchers coded the students
contributions
 there was 56.5% agreement on the
original coding
 after a discussion of the coding
process, a second round of coding
occurred
 there was 91.1% agreement from the
second round of coding

The Data
Student Number of Number of Number of times Average times
messages messages messages were each message was
read unread read read

01 43 58 70 1.63
02 67 34 206 3.07
03 32 69 57 1.78
04 97 4 213 2.20
05 66 35 149 2.26
06 56 45 142 2.54
07 47 54 103 2.19
08 29 72 55 1.90
09 79 22 204 2.59

The Data
Recall Compare Contrast Cause- Idea to Example Evaluation
Effect Example to Idea

R1 52 21 10 41 21 27 74

R2 47 20 10 43 27 25 74

Mean 49.5 20.5 10 42 24 26 74

% 20.1% 8.3% 4.1% 17.1% 9.8% 10.6% 30.1%

Discussion
 the data illustrates that the students’ contributions to
the Knowledge Forum database were not all lower
order text, but in many cases contained a significant
amount of higher order thinking.

 “Lower order thinking” is rated principally by the use
of recall, which is mere restatement of factual
information or a summary thereof, the chart grows
progressively toward “higher order” analytic skills
from left to right

 there was still of good deal of recall (lower order) in
the students’ writing

Discussion
 one example of this higher order
thinking was the student use of the
ability to edit their messages after
they had been posted

 another item that was found in the
students Knowledge Forum database
messages was the student concept of
what was and wasn’t acceptable

Conclusions
 Chickering and Gamson (1987) put forward the concept
that interaction is a key mechanism in enhancing learning.
 This concept could be applied to this project if the students’
contributions to the Knowledge Forum database were
considered a form of interaction.

 Ambron (1987) found in a survey conducted at the end of
the course that "student response [was] extremely
favourable; … most mentioned the value of writing in
helping them understand [the subject]" (p. 266). Also,
Moore (1993) states "learning improves … when writing
assignments are complemented with instruction about how
to use writing as a tool to learn [a subject]" (p. 217).
 The ability to write their analysis of a piece of historical
evidence required that students consider the actual
evidence (and not just their own prior knowledge).

Conclusions
Based upon these premises, as
the students engaged in the act
of writing throughout this project,
they were able to gain deeper
understandings of the material
that was presented to them

Selected Bibliography
Ambron, J. Writing to Improve Learning in Biology. Journal of College
Science Teaching, XVI(4): 263-266 (1987).
Aylward, L. & MacKinnon. G. Promoting substantive electronic
discussions. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher
Education, 8(3): 335-348 (2000).
Bruning, R., Schraw, G., Norby, M. & Ronning, R. (2004). Cognitive
psychology and instruction. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Chickering, A. & Gamson, Z. Seven principles for good practice in
undergraduate education. American Association Higher Education
Bulletin, 3-7 (March 1987).
Hemming, H. & MacKinnon, G. The Acadia Advantage: Using computer
technology in teacher education. Paper presented at the annual
meeting of the Society for Information Technology in Teacher
Education, Washington, DC, (1998).
Hemming, H. & MacKinnon, G. Developing critical thinking about
gender using electronic discussion groups. Paper presented at the
annual meeting of the Society for Information Technology &
Teacher Education, San Antonio, TX, (1999).

Knight, J. Coding journal entries. Journal of Reading. 34(1): 42-47
(1990).
Lamon, M., Reeve, R. & Scardamalia, M. (2001). Mapping the growth
of deeply principled understandings in a knowledge building
community. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research
Association. Seattle, WA.
Lamon, M. & Scardamalia, M. (2002). A design experiment:
Understanding literature. Annual Meeting of the American
Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA. MacKinnon, G.
& Hemming, H. The Acadia Advantage: Linking pedagogy and
computer technology. Paper presented at the annual meeting of
the Computers and Advanced Technology in Education, Cancun,
Mexico, (1998).
MacKinnon, G. & Aylward, L. Six steps to improving the quality of your
electronic discussion groups. Journal of Instruction Delivery
Systems. 13(4):17-19 (1999).
MacKinnon, G. & Aylward, L. Coding electronic discussion groups.
International Journal of Educational Telecommunications. 6(1): 53-
61 (2000).

MacKinnon, G. The dilemma of evaluating electronic discussion
groups." Journal of Research on Computing in Education. 33(2):
125-131 (2000).
Moore, R. Does Writing About Science Improve Learning About
Science? Journal of College Science Teaching, XXII(4): 212-217
(1993).

Contact Information
 Michael Barbour
 mbarbour@coe.uga.edu
 http://www.arches.uga.edu/~mkb

 Peter Rich
 prich@coe.uga.edu
 http://www.arches.uga.edu/~peterich

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