Using Wikis and Chats to Promote Knowledge Building Communities

Using wikis & chats to promote knowledge building communities Elizabeth S. Charles (representing research team including Chris Whittaker, Joel Trudeau & Nathaniel Lasry (John Abbott College) Presentation prepared for the Office of Instructional Development’s Education Technology Fair, December 12, 2008

Disclaimer

All data presented was produced for the research project Technology Supported Collaborative Learning (TSCL) project, funded by PAREA 2007-2009.

These data are the sole property of the research team and confidential.

Please do not copy or site these data without permission from the researchers: Elizabeth (Liz) Charles, Chris Whittaker, Joel Trudeau (Dawson College) & Nathaniel Lasry (John Abbott College)

Overview of the presentation

Brief description of theoretical foundation

Description of the research project

What we learned from the pilot study

current paradigms in teaching view learning as social

Technology supported learning

Knowledge building communities (KBC) produce opportunities for:

personal sense-making of concepts & practices

restructuring of knowledge and resolution of misunderstood concepts & practices

negotiation and co-construction of meaning (e.g., Chan, Burtis & Bereiter, 1997)

Research objectives

Develop online Knowledge Building Communities (KBC) using First Class (FC) software suite

Develop community-based KB learning activities (at the level of groups & class)

Investigate what kinds of learning is afforded by the KBC & who benefits

Researchable benefits of KBC

Promotion of a sense of agency (Charles & Shumar, 2007)

Promotion of sense of community among learners (i.e., a sense of belonging and contribution)

Promotion of willingness to take responsibility for learning ( collective agency ) (Charles & Kolodner, submitted)

Building our KBC environment

Designing KBC activities

KBC activities

Asynchronous – wiki/blog

Asynchronous – lab question

Synchronous – online chat

Opportunistic KBC activities

Folder for asking questions

Folder for continuing classroom discussions

KBC group wiki activity_ pilot.w08

KBC group wiki_ pilot.w08 Group C: One sunny day in New York City, our friendly neighborhood Spiderman was taking his routine swing through the town. On his way to the Daily Bugle he spotted the ever so famous Britney Spears crossing a street in the middle of the NYC rush hour! Spidey's spider-senses went off and he instinctively swung down to save her...but he missed! It was quite an accident, he really wanted to save her, but maybe, subconsciously?...nah, it couldn't be. Thinking that it was not really a big deal he continued on his swing to the Daily Bugle leaving poor Britney in the middle of Times Square. Spidey arrived on top of the Bugle a short time later hoping to hand ol' J.J.J. (John Jonah Jameson - owner of the Daily Bugle) some new shots of the acclaimed "menace", Spiderman. Before our wall-crawler had the time to take off his mask, his spider senses went off again! "Now where could that possibly be coming from now?" he said to himself. He quickly looked down just in time to see a bank robbery in action. But this was not a normal bank robbery, it was the Vulture up to his old ways again! How did he manage to get out of jail? That would be a question our hero would have to answer later because the Vulture had just spotted him and had taken off into the air.

KBC class wiki activity_ F08

Individual blog entry_ feedback?

KBC synchronous group chat_ F08 Question to group: Physicists estimate the total mass of luminous matter in a galaxy by measuring the galaxy's brightness. They observe that stars within many galaxies orbit around their galactic centers at speeds higher than expected. Using ideas from the lab on circular motion, give an explanation for these observations

KBC asynchronous class chat_F08

Opportunistic KBC activities

Opportunistic KBC_ students chat

Guidelines for designing KBCs