Temporal analysis of interaction between spoken and digitally mediated dialogue in knowledge building

Abstract

Objectives: 1. To pioneer new methods for integrating the analysis of spoken dialogue and online dialogue mediated by sophisticated digital tools in the Knowledge Forum® (KF) environment. 2. To illuminate the temporal process whereby shared understanding and knowledge building are developed through students ‘interthinking’ (Littleton and Mercer, 2013) and collective responsibility (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2014) supported by KF technology. Perspectives: Dialogue is an essential feature of the knowledge building approach in which a community endeavours to advance the state of its knowledge (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2014). KF is an asynchronous discourse environment for this, with features designed to focus students’ writing on theory development, including hyperlinking between notes to support synthesis and “rise-above” notes - for higher levels of conceptualization. Researchers have primarily focused on analyzing online discourse, including explanation-seeking questions, inquiry threads and discourse patterns for synthesis (Hakkarainen, 2003; van Aalst, 2009; Zhang et al, 2007). Classroom discourse is widely assumed to make important contributions to knowledge building, but has rarely been systematically analyzed together with KF discourse for tracking emerging understanding. This study explores the possibility of “bridging events” being designed, for example classroom discussion could focus on learning about the epistemic aims and principles of knowledge building (Scardamalia, 2002; Yang et al., 2016). Methods and data sources: We used data across two years to examine the added value of classroom meta-talk in knowledge building supported by KF, in two experimental classes. A comparison class worked in KF without meta-talk. Students (aged 14 to 16) investigated “What is art and design?” for 20 lessons. Data sources included students’ written notes in KF, artifacts, interviews, and videotaped classroom discourse. We used a network analysis tool called Knowledge Building Discourse Explorer, KBDeX (Oshima et al, 2012) to measure degree centrality of keyword networks over time, thereby charting knowledge integration and growth. We also employed a coding scheme adapted from the evolving Technology-SEDA scheme (cf. Hennessy et al., 2016) in conjunction with KBDeX for examining the dialogic quality of classroom talk and relations with online discourse, including the affordances of KF. Results: The keyword network coefficients increased significantly more in the experimental classes than in the comparison class, indicating the importance of classroom talk. KBDeX analysis of KF writing turns illuminated the temporal dimension of knowledge advancement through more sophisticated keyword associations. Coding of classroom discourse, interwoven with KBDeX analysis of KF writing turns, illustrated how dialogical quality of meta-talk mediated the growth of knowledge building and illuminated the KF affordances. Three discourse moves in Technology-SEDA (refer back, coordinate, reflect) aligned with meta-discourse moves including a) meta-cognition, b) meta-theory (analysis of theory-building process), and c) meta-conversation about epistemic principles of discourse. Significance: This study is one of the first to analyse the intertwined aspects of written and oral discourse in knowledge building. Our analysis reveals temporal dimensions of knowledge growth and how classroom discourse focusing on three “metas”: metacognition, metatheory, and metadiscourse would inform educators how to design pedagogy to support idea improvement through these processes.