Collaborative knowledge constructionCollaborative knowledge construction in the web supported in the web supported
by the KnowCat systemby the KnowCat system
Presenter: Ming-Chuan Chen
Advisor: Ming-Puu Chen
Date: 12/29/2008
Cobos, R., & Pifarre, M. (2008). Collaborative knowledge construction in the web supported by the KnowCat system, Computers & Education, 50(3), 962-978.
22
Introduction (1)
Collaboration involves the construction of meaning through interactions with others and can be characterized by a joint commitment to a shared goal. (Littleton & Hakkinen, 1999)
KnowCat (“Knowledge Catalyser”):– To generate quality educational materials as a result
of users’ interaction with the materials– Based on the mechanism called “Knowledge Crystalli
sation”– It has been used, tested and improved over the last si
x years
33
Introduction (2) The main characteristics of the system:
– To organize the knowledge in a tree structure– To express the opinions about any documents
• Votes, annotations & a new version• Sorted by their degree of acceptance
Research questions– The students’ collaboration process that occurred in the s
ystem– The role of annotations of KowCat in collaborative knowle
dge construction process– To improve the mechanism of knowledge crystallisation p
rocess
44
Knowledge crystallisation (1)
Knowledge crystallisation:– Based on the virtual communities– The opinions of other users will decide whether these
elements of knowledge are useful or not• Useful =>remaining in the system longer• Useless =>disappearing from the system
55
Knowledge crystallisation(2) Each document in the system has a value called “d
egree of acceptance” (0~1) – Calculated by (1) Votes and notes (2) Number of times– Beyond the “crystallisation point” for a period of time => crystallised
The knowledge crystallisation process determines when a new document version replaces the previous one.
– Continuity point– Improvement point
Knowledge evolution:– Through a sequence of document versions
66
Participants & Procedure
31 students enrolled in the course “learning strategies” at the “UdL”
The students used the system during 10 weeks
77
Instructional tasks
(a)To obtain a crystallised document– search a document related to the selected to the topic– vote for the best document described the topic
(b)To write a report about the selected topic– Main idea, Relations & reflections
(c)To add noted to other classmates reports– At least 3 notes
(d)To vote the best description of the topic (e)To write the new document version (f) To decide which document version will be reserved
– Continuity & Improvement
88
Students’ participation in the system
Passive (just reading notes) v.s. active– Students show active and high participation by contributi
ng with new knowledge– An active learning attitude is crucial to promote knowled
ge contribution and better learning. (e.g. Dillenbourg, 1999, 2002; Stahl, 2002; Veldhuis-Diermanse, 2002)
75% of students read the notes and rewrote a new version
– The rewrite task implies the development cognitive and metacognitive activities by the students and deeper knowledge construction. (Allal, 2004; Allal, Mottier Lopez, Lehraus, & Forget, 2005)
99
The different types of notes
Type of notes
Description Example
Explanation Clarify some parts of the document
The following link doesn’t work now, but it
worked a week ago.
Support Positive feedback This document is very useful and is easy to read.
Addition the new relevant information, new approaches or procedures
I think you should link the instructional program with the concept of learning strategy defined by Monereo (1992)
Delete Deletions In the summary there are some examples, which perhaps were not necessary.
Correlation Significant changes You present too many ideas without focusing in none of them. Choose one key idea and develop it better
1010
These activities influence the way in which acquired information can be transformed into knowledge, and the way in which knowledge can be transferred to other contexts (Laurillard, 1993)
“Addition” notes get the highest number– Related to high levels of knowledge construction
1111
Content analysis of notes added in the system(1)
“Addition”, “Correction” & “Delete” notes – external regulation process in which students’ plan an
d monitor the other’s work. “Addition” or “Correction” note
– a metacognitive activity (Flavell, 1992; Schraw, 1998).– The use of metacognitive learning activities is essenti
al to explain successful collaborative learning. (Salovaara & Ja rvela , 2003; Stahl, 2003; Veerman & Veldhuis-Dierm‥ ‥anse, 2001).
1212
Students used the notes as explicit scaffolds among peers and the students realized which notes were more useful for the learning purpose.
“support” notes– Positive feedback
• Positive feedback encourages people to participate in discussion and thereby engage in the group, actively contributing to the web-based learning environment (Hara, Bonk, and Angeli, 2000).
Content analysis of notes added in the system(2)
1313
Analysis of document quality
The average number of documents per topic : 8 The average number of new document versions
per topic : 6 91% of document versions received better
evaluation than the original ones.– The paired t test shows the versioned documents
were statistically better than the original.
68% of the notes received are explicitly introduced in the new document versions.
1414
Comparison between instructor’s and students’ opinion about the “improvement”
1515
Conclusions
KnowCat is based on the “knowledge crystallization”
This computing research must be supported by instructional studies using CSCL environment. (Dillenbourg, 1999,2002; Jarvela & Hakkinen, 2002; Hakkinen, 2004)
Future work– How the system may be used in an instructional desig
n to support and improve students’ interaction process
• To analyze the effect of students’ participation in the KnowCat instructional process