Guiding students’ online complex learning-task behavior through representational scripting

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of representational scripting on students' collaborative performance of a complex business economics problem. The scripting structured the learningtask into three part-tasks, namely (1) determining core concepts and relating them to the problem, (2) proposing multiple solutions to the problem, and (3) coming to a final solution to the problem. Each provided representation (i.e., conceptual, causal, or simulation) was suited for carrying out a specific part-task. It was hypothesized that providing part-task congruent support would guide student interaction towards better learning-task performance. Groups in four experimental conditions had to carry out the part-tasks in a predefined order, but differed in the representation they received. In three mismatch conditions, groups only received one of the representations and were, thus, only supported in carrying out one of the part-tasks. In the match condition, groups received all three representations in the specified order (i.e., representational scripting). The results indicate that groups in the match condition had more elaborated discussions about the content of the knowledge domain (i.e., concepts, solutions and relations) and were better able to share and to negotiate about their knowledge. As a consequence, these groups performed better on the learning-task. However, these differences were not obtained for groups receiving only a causal representation of the domain.

Group awareness tools: It’s what you do with it that matters

“…This may also explain why group awareness tools were found to affect group member participation in the studies conducted by Michinov and Primois (2007) and Janssen , Erkens, Kanselaar et al (2008), but not in Jermann and Dillenbourg's (Barron, 2003;Slof et al, 2010) study. It may be possible that students in the studies by Michinov and Primois and Janssen, Erkens, Kanselaar et al used the group awareness tool more frequently or more appropriately than students in the study by Jermann and Dillenbourg.…”

“…Some problems however, may be unique to CSCL environments or may be exacerbated in these environments, such as difficulties coordinating one's actions with other group members' actions (Baker, Greenberg, & Gutwin, 2001;Ellis, Gibbs, & Rein, 1992;Erkens, Jaspers, Prangsma, & Kanselaar, 2005). These coordination problems, whether they occur in the content space (i.e., efforts aimed at problem solving, such as exchange of information or discussion of answers and alternatives) or the relational space (i.e., efforts to establish a positive group climate and to ensure effective and efficient collaboration) of collaboration (Barron, 2003;Slof, Erkens, Kirschner, Jaspers, & Janssen, 2010), may be caused by a lack of group awareness Janssen, Erkens, Kanselaar, & Jaspers, 2007;Jermann & Dillenbourg, 2008). Recently, researchers have begun to examine how group awareness tools can be used to enhance group awareness and to study whether group awareness tools affect collaborative learning and group performance (Dourish & Bellotti, 1992).…”

A cognitive prosthesis for complex decision-making

“…It is possible to externalize individual mental models; moreover studies show this may support their construction and maintenance by promoting a more focused search, organizing information into coherent structures, and associating with prior knowledge (Khalifa and Shen, 2005;Liu, Chen, and Chang, 2010;Stull and Mayer, 2007). Positive effects of knowledge representation have been observed in several domains of application, notably in reading comprehension (Liu et al, 2010;Ruddel and Boyle, 1989), classroom education (Jegede, Alaiyemola, and Okebukola, 1990;Trowbridge and Wandersee, 1994) and complex business problem-solving tasks (Slof et al, 2010).…”

Online discussion compensates for suboptimal timing of supportive information presentation in a digitally supported learning environment

“…However, simply putting learners in a group to work together on an authentic and complex problem in an online learning environment is not always beneficial for learning, knowledge construction and problem solving (e.g. Kirschner et al 2008;Kreijns et al 2003;Slof et al 2010). Empirical findings show that online collaborative learners generally encounter communication and coordination problems (e.g.…”