Understanding how to foster knowledge building in online and blended learning environments is a key for computer-supported collaborative learning research. Knowledge building is a deeply constructivist pedagogy and kind of inquiry learning focused on theory building. A strong indicator of engagement in knowledge building activity is the socio-cognitive dynamic of epistemic agency, in which students exercise a higher level of agency for setting forth their ideas and negotiating fit with those of others rather than relying on their teacher. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of (a) levels of participation, (b) facilitator styles and (c) metacognitive reflection on knowledge building in two blended, postsecondary education contexts. A study of a total of 67 undergraduate students suggest that high levels of participation, a supportive facilitator style, and ample opportunities for metacognitive reflection on the students' own participation strategies are most conducive for fostering epistemic agency for knowledge building. Implications of these results for research and instructional design of online courses are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

No abstract

Many models have hypothesized that multimedia comprehension requires the concurrent processing of verbal and visuospatial information by limited information processing systems. However, in spite of the emphasis devoted to the concurrent processing of verbal and visuospatial information, little research has so far investigated the specific role played by verbal and visuospatial abilities in multimedia comprehension. The present paper aims to study the specific involvement of verbal and visuospatial working memory in multimedia learning.Ninety-two students (39 boys and 53 girls) from a middle school in a small city in the northeast of Italy, were asked to learn new information on the physical and social geography of Germany from a hypermedium. Participants were also required to perform a reading comprehension test, two short-term memory tasks, and two working memory tasks, which assessed either verbal or visuospatial memory. The results support the hypothesis that both verbal and visuospatial working memory sub-components play a role in hypermedium processing, but with specific and distinct functions: the performance in the verbal working memory task was able to predict the semantic knowledge children can derive from hypermedia learning. In contrast, visuospatial working memory seemed to have lower connections to the semantic knowledge children derived from a hypermedia document, whereas its role emerged in the ability to construct a representation of the document structure. Hypermedia and multimedia in educational contextsHypermedia environments are computer-based informational systems made up of pictures, graphics, video/audio clips and text, configured in a network of links and nodes,

Role taking is an established approach for promoting social cognition. Playing a specific role within a group could lead students to exercise collective cognitive responsibility for collaborative knowledge building. Two studies explored the relationship of role taking to participation in a blended university course. Students participated in the same knowledge-building activity over three consecutive, five-week modules and enacted four roles designed in alignment with knowledge building pedagogy (Scardamalia and Bereiter 2010). In Study 1, 59 students were distributed into groups with two conditions: students who took a role in Module 2 and students who did not take a role, using Module 1 and 3 as pre and post tests. Results showed no differences in participation in Module 1, higher levels of writing and reading for role takers in Module 2, and this pattern was sustained in Module 3. Students with the Synthesizer role were the most active in terms of writing and the second most active for reading; students with the Social Tutor role were the most active for reading. In Study 2, 143 students were divided into groups with two conditions: students who took a role in Module 1 and students who did not take a role. Content analysis revealed that role takers tended to vary their contributions more than non-role takers by proposing more problems, synthesizing the discourse, reflecting on the process and organization of activity. They also assumed appropriate responsibilities for their role: the Skeptic prioritizes questioning of content, the Synthesizer emphasizes synthesizing of content, and the Social Tutor privileges maintaining of relationships. Implications of designing role taking to foster knowledge building in university blended courses are discusse

The tablet PC represents a very popular mobile computing device, and together with other technologies it is changing the world of education. This study aimed to explore the acceptance of tablet PC of Italian high school students in order to outline the typical students' profiles and to compare the acceptance conveyed in two types of use (learning and communicative activities at school). Data were collected using an online survey that was filled out by students at home. Two hundred and ninety-six students from six public high schools in Milan and surrounding suburbs voluntarily accepted to participate in the study. The results show a varied situation in the Italian schools despite the availability of and funding for the technology. Three clusters were identified with high, moderate and low acceptance of tablet PC and a comparison between such clusters revealed significant differences in gender, grade level and usage frequency. The groups showed also significant differences in relation to the uses of tablet PC at school that appeared coherent with their level of acceptance: students who have higher level of acceptance are those who use the tool more both for learning and communicative purposes. To conclude, students with lower acceptance probably need to better understand the opportunities offered by this technology and how to use it. Based on examining the data from the survey, preliminary recommendations are made.

Recently, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning researchers have become interested in the notion of scripting and assigning roles to students enrolled in online courses, in order to increase their engagement in collaborative activities. This study aimed to investigate whether assigning a role called social tutor to a student enrolled in an online university course can promote 1) peers’ participation in online discussions, 2) the development of a Sense of Community (SC), consisting of three factors: membership, fulfilment of needs and goal achievement and mutual influence of the individual/group, and 3) effective learning. The participants were 53 undergraduate students who enrolled in an online course, and were divided into two groups: 1) a group of 29 students with a social tutor and 2) a group of 24 students with no social tutor. The results indicate that students’ participation as well as the membership factor of SC improved only in the group that the social tutor was present. In contrast, the scores on the other two SC factors improved regardless of the presence of a social tutor. Moreover, the results show no difference between these two groups in terms of students’ grades in the final examination. The importance of a social tutor in the design of effective online university courses is discussed.

This study investigates different instructional designs to promote students’ collective cognitive responsibility for Knowledge Building in blended university courses. Using an iterative, design-based research methodology with reference to the conjecture mapping technique, the blended learning design of an undergraduate educational psychology course was refined over three years in three design iterations. The iterations differed substantially in the embodiment of the Concurrent Embedded and Transformative Assessment Knowledge Building principle that engaged students in knowledge assessments and strategy assessments of their community’s work. The design of the knowledge assessment involved face-to-face small group and whole class discussions in all three iterations. In the first and second iterations, students also worked online by writing individual reflections and contributing to a community portfolio. The design of the strategy assessment changed in each iteration. In the first iteration, the students’ strategy assessment took place in face-to-face discussions; in the second iteration, students contributed to an online community portfolio; and in the third iteration, the strategy assessment took place in an online community portfolio and face-to-face discussions before beginning the course and in the online community portfolio in the middle of the course. Collective cognitive responsibility was analyzed in terms of productive and informative participation, interdependence between participants, self-regulation skills. The results show that the second iteration’s design was most effective for fostering the students' collective cognitive responsibility, showing an increase in productive participation and self-regulation skills in the first part of the course and also an increase in the interdependence of participants during the course. Some implications concerning the relationship between the implementation of the CETA principle and Knowledge Building are identified for future directions of inquiry and for blended learning environments design.

No abstract