Co-designing a collective journey of knowledge creation with idea-friend maps

Abstract

We examined a knowledge building environment, mediated by Knowledge Forum^®, in which representations from a learning analytics tool were used for creating “Idea-Friend Maps”, to scaffold knowledge creation. Fifty-two Grade Five students studying Human Input & Output participated and worked in 12 groups. Quantitative analysis of Knowledge Forum notes shows that students’ contribution to collective knowledge advancement significantly predicted students’ science scores. By examining analytics-based pivotal turns, centralities, and knowledge building discourse moves, this analysis reveals different patterns of knowledge building trajectories among high-, medium-, and low-contribution groups, as well as the role of Idea-Friend Maps in scaffolding collective knowledge creation. We also examined how students co-designed and used the collective journey to sustain their knowledge creation, with the aid of Idea-Friend Maps. This study sheds light on using opportunistic groups and learning analytics approach to examine and to scaffold student knowledge building trajectories in collective inquiry and ways of fostering collective knowledge creation in large communities.