Examining online and offline collaborative discourse in a knowledge building classroom

Abstract

This study explores the patterns of collaborative discourse for knowledge building in pervasive learning environments, including classroom and text-based asynchronous discussion forums. With the teacher’s reflection on facilitating the knowledge building discourse, this study also explored the role of teachers in the knowledge building learning environment. The participants consisted of a group of 31 grade-nine students who were studying a visual arts course in a Hong Kong public secondary school. They had experienced collaborative knowledge building inquiry online and offline for four months. The transcript of collaborative discourse in observation of the classroom and the discourse online were examined. For the discourse in classroom, narrative analysis was implemented for understanding the characters of the collaborative inquiry. For the discourse online, the Analytic Toolkit software for Knowledge Forum was used to capture quantitative data. To capture the knowledge advancement, the knowledge building inquiry threads and knowledge building reflections gathered were analyzed in depth. The patterns of collaborative discourse in the classroom were identified: inviting elaboration or reasoning, facilitating the discussion, guiding the reflection of learning knowledge building, and bridging good classroom discourse and online discourse. The types of online patterns were also examined and identified: simple fact-seeking, fact and explanation, as well as meta-cognitive discourse and knowledge advancement. Moreover, the teacher interview suggested that the inquiry methods, foundation, and the integration of online and offline discourse influenced the production of collaborative discourse. These patterns provided a variety of ways in which the students could learn beyond the collaborative interactions both online and offline. This study develops the knowledge of building discourse from the perspective of examining the interaction from the teacher to the students. The implications of supporting productive discourse and significance of improving knowledge building in the learning environment are discussed.