A Summary of a Decade of Computer Conferencing Research

1
A Summary of a Decade of Computer Conferencing
Research

• Curtis J. Bonk,
• Indiana University
• http//php.indiana.edu/cjbonk
• http//cowbonk.educ.indiana.edu/COW/
• cjbonk_at_indiana.edu

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Introduction

• presentation will cover
• Theory behind online conferencing
• My journey in evaluating that theory
• Research questions we have raised
• Summaries of 10 research studies
• Where we are headed
• Recommendations

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What Are the Goals?

• Making connections through cases.
• Appreciating different perspectives.
• Students as teachers.
• Greater depth of discussion.
• Fostering critical thinking online.
• Interactivity online.
• Understand different ways to foster interaction.

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New Theories

• Situated Learning--asserts that learning is most
  effective in authentic, or real world, contexts
  with problems that allow students to generate
  their own solution paths (Brown, Collins,
  Duguid, 1989).
• Constructivism--concerned with learner's actual
  act of creating meaning (Brooks, 1990). The
  constructivist argues that the child's mind
  actively constructs relationships and ideas
  hence, meaning is derived from negotiating,
  generating, and linking concepts within a
  community of peers (Harel Papert, 1991).

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Learner-Centered Learning Principles
From American Psychological Association, 1993
Developmental and Social Factors 10.
Developmental influences on learning 11.
Social influences on learning
Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors 1. Nature
of the learning process 2. Goals of the
learning process 3. Construction of knowledge
4. Strategic thinking 5. Thinking about
thinking 6. Context of learning
Individual Differences 12. Individual
differences in learning 13. Learning and
diversity 14. Standards and assessment
Motivational and Affective Factors 7.
Motivational and emotional influences 8.
Intrinsic motivation to learn 9. Effects of
motivation on effort
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Sociocultural Ideas

• Shared Space and Intersubjectivity
• Social Dialogue on Authentic Problems
• Group Processing and Reflection
• Collaboration and Negotiation in ZPD
• Choice and Challenge
• Mentoring and Teleapprenticeships
• Instructional Scaffolding Electronic Assist
• Assisted Learning (e.g., task structuring)
• teacher as facilitator, co-learner, consultant.
  Interdisciplinary Community of Learning
• Portfolio Assessment and Feedback

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Taxonomy Level of Collaborative Tool(Bonk,
Medury, Reynolds, 1994)

• Level 0 Stand Alone Tools
• Level 1 E-mail and Delayed Messaging Tools
• Level 2 Remote Access/Delayed Collab Tools
• Level 3 RT Dialoguing and Idea Gen Tools
• Level 4 RT Collaboration (text only)
• Level 5 Cooperative Hypermedia
• Level 6 Tools That Dont Fit Nicely

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Electronic Conferencing Quantitative Analyses

• Usage patterns, of messages, cases, responses
• Length of case, thread, response
• Average number of responses
• Timing of cases, commenting, responses, etc.
• Types of contributors/session
• e.g., percent of instructor contribution
• Types of interactions (11 1 many)
• Data mining (logins, peak usage, location,
  session length, paths taken, messages/day/week),
  Time-Series Analyses (trends)
• Surveys on attitudes

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Electronic Conferencing Qualitative Analyses

• General Observation Logs, Reflective interviews,
  Retrospective Analyses, Focus Groups
• Specific Task Phase Semantic Trace Analyses,
  Talk/Dialogue Categories (Content talk, qing,
  peer fdbk, social acknowledgments, off task)
• Emergent Forms of Learning Assistance, Levels of
  Questioning, Degree of Perspective Taking, Case
  Quality, Participant Categories

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Forms of Electronic Teaching

• 1. Social Acknowledgment
• 2. Questioning
• 3. Direct Instruction
• 4. Modeling/Examples
• 5. Feedback/Praise
• 6. Cognitive Task Structuring
• 7. Cognitive Elaborations/Explanations
• 8. Push to Explore
• 9. Fostering Reflection/Self Awareness
• 10. Encouraging Articulation/Dialogue
• 11. General Advice/Scaffolding/Suggestions
• 12. Management

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Asynchronous Possibilities

• 1. Link to peers and mentors.
• 2. Expand and link to alternative resources.
• 3. Involve in case-based reasoning.
• 4. Connect students in field to the class.
• 5. Provide e-mail assistance.
• 6. Bring experts to teach at any time.
• 7. Provide exam preparation.
• 8. Foster small group work.
• 9. Engage in electronic discussions writing.
• 10. Structure electronic role play.

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Web Conferencing Tools

• VaxNOTES
• NiceNet
• WebCrossing
• Sitescape Forum
• COW
• FirstClass
• WebCT, Blackboard, Virtual U, etc.

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Conferencing On Web (COW)

• Three Basic Levels
• 1. Conference (public or private)
• 2. Topic (e.g., special education)
• 3. Conversation (e.g., reading rewards)

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Research on Electronic Cases

• 1. RT vs. Delayed Collab
• Groups Preset by Major
• Tchr Generated Cases
• Local/Univ. Networks
• Limited Instructor Mentoring

• 2. Web-Based Conference
• Grps Formed on Interest
• Student Gen. Cases
• World Wide Web
• Extensive Instructor and Peer Mentoring

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Study 1 1993/1994(Bonk, Hansen, Grabner,
Lazar, and Mirabelli, 1998)

• Two Semester VAXNotes vs. Connect
• Two Conditions (1) Real-time vs. (2) Delayed
• Subjects 65 secondary ed majors
• (5 grps PE, Foreign Language, Social Studies,
  English, Math)
• Mentors limited instructor commenting
• Procedures
• (1) Respond to 4 cases in small groups
• (2) Respond to peer comments

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Research Questions Study 1

• 1. What social interactions occur in real-time
  delayed?
• 2. How code electronic social interaction
  patterns?
• 3. How do case size complexity affect grp
  processing?
• 4. Do RT or delayed foster gt discuss depth
  quality?
• 5. Do shared experiences stimulate grp
  intersubjectivity?

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Some Findings From Study 1

• Delayed Collab gt Elaboration
• 1,287 words/interaction vs. 266 words/interaction
• RT Collab gt Responses
• 5.1 comments/person/case vs. 3.3 comments/person
• Low off-task behaviors (about 10)
• Rich data, but hard to code
• Students excited to write publish ideas
• Minimal qs and feedback
• Interaction inc. over time common zones
• Some student domination

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Example of real-time dialogue

• Come on Jaime!! You're a slacker. Just take a
  guess. (October 26, 1993, Time 110857, Ellen
  Lister, Group 5).
• How might he deal with these students? Well, he
  might flunk them. He might make them sit in the
  corner until they can get the problem correct...I
  don't know. (Um...hello...Jaime where is your
  valuable insight to these problems?) (October 26,
  1993, Time 111937, Ellen Lister, Grp 5).

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Example Continued...

• I agree with Ned to have the students compare
  their two answers. They can learn how to
  estimate better and that is useful in real life
  in shopping for groceries, etc... (October 26,
  1993, Time 112023, Jaime Jones, Group 5.)
• I'm impressed Jaime. Does this mean that you are
  too good for us? (October 26, 1993, Time
  113408, Ned Mercle, Grp 5.)

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Example of Delayed Dialogue

• Joyce's new system offers a wide variety of
  assessment forms. These different forms
  complement the diverse learning and test taking
  abilities of her students. Joyce seems to cover
  the two goals of classroom assessment with her
  final exam--to increase learning and increase
  motivation. Students will increase their
  learning because they will not just remember
  information to regurgitate on an exam, but
  instead they will store these items in their
  long-term memory and later may be able to make a
  general transfer. Joyce will increase student
  motivation because she has deviated from the
  normal assessment method expected by her
  students.
• Joyce's test will probably be both reliable and
  valid considering that she implemented three
  different forms of tests. Joyce's test also
  might reduce test anxiety. If her students know
  what to expect on the test (they even wrote the
  questions) they more than likely will be less
  anxious on exam day... (January 31, 1994, Time
  1928, Sarah Fenway, Language Group.)

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Larry

• Entertaining,
• Creative and controversial,
• Indirectly intimidating,
• One who set own agenda,
• Very articulate and witty.

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Sample of Larrys Comments....

• Peace, dude, hop off the return key, save me
  some stress.
• I am currently preparing my anti-groupwork
  support group.
• Ive noticed several people writing and saying
  that they would have done this or that brilliant
  or intuitive thing. I personally am brilliant or
  intuitive and I think other could use a little
  humility. This Karens made some mistakes, but
  we all make mistakes, and when (dare I say), we
  are in her shoes, we should expect to make some
  of the same ones that confound her.

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Jeremy (Larrys protégé)

• So come on. Someone take me on and tell me that
  my ideas on case study 1 are so much trash!
  Lets go! Im waiting. (February 28, 1994,
  Time 1823, Jeremy Phelps, Social Studies Group.)

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Conferencing on the Web(1996-2000)
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Purpose of COW Project

• Students in field experiences write cases
• Teachers and students from around the world
  provide electronic mentoring
• Authentic cases and mentoring transform learning
  environment
• Helps preservice teachers understand the role of
  technology in education

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Problems Solved By COW

• Student isolation in field experiences
• Lack of community/dialogue among teacher
  education participants
• Disconnectedness between class and field
  experience
• Limited reflective practices of novice teachers
• Need for appreciation of multiple perspectives

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Quantitative Methods

• Average results for prior to TITLE (TITLE)
• Participants per semester 130 (gt300)
• Cases per semester 230 (624)
• Cases per student 1.75 (same 1.80)
• Average responses per case 4.5 (3.9)
• Average words per case 100-140 (198)

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Relevance Interest, intrigue, hot topic,
connection, controversy Quality Complete,
Details, Coherence, Grammer
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Frequent Case Topics
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Frequent Case Topics Continued...
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Bonk, Malikowski, Supplee, Angeli, 1998
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Transcript Results

• A. Peer Content Talk
• 31 Social Acknowledgments
• 60 Unsupported Claims and Opinions
• 7 Justified Claims
• 2 Dialogue Extension Qs and Stmts
• B. Mentor Scaffolding
• 24 Feedback, Praise, and Social
• 24 General Advice and Suggestions
• 20 Scaffolding and Socratic Questioning
• 16 Providing Examples and Models
• 8 Low Level Questioning
• 8 Direct Instruction Explanations/Elab

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Qualitative Methods

• 10 students interviewed
• 6 Web class students, 4 regular class students
• Interview length 45 min
• Interview format semi-structured

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Qualitative Themes

• COW was good because
• it involved real-life scenarios
• it connected textbook concepts
• feedback from multiple sources was available
• COW wasnt always a priority because...
• other assignments had earlier due dates
• it wasnt always emphasized
• lengthy submission time procrastination

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Still More Qualitative Themes...

• Mentor feedback could be better by
• having more of it
• having it more frequently
• using it to prompt and push
• The international perspective was
• intriguing and interesting
• a way to see cultural differences
• a way to see how technology can be used

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Overall Major Findings

• COW enhanced student learning
• provided a link between classroom and field
• encouraged learning about technology
• COW extended student learning
• students got feedback from outside their
  immediate community
• students saw international perspective
• COW transformed student learning
• students took ownership for learning
• students co-constructed knowledge base

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Qualitative Themes Continued...

• Students were attracted to cases that
• had interesting titles
• were on familiar topics
• were on controversial topics
• they had opinions about
• Peer feedback was appreciated but not deep
• Mentor feedback was apprec. motivating

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Study 4 COW, Spring 1998(Bonk, Malikowski,
Supplee, Dennen, 2000)

• Two Month Conference (One Condition)
• 3 discussion areas (IU, Finland, and Cultural
  Immersions)
• Subjects 110 students
• (80 US and 30 Finnish students)
• Mentors 2 AIs, 1 supervisor, 4 coop tchrs, 3
  conference moderators.
• Videoconferences Web Conferences

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COW Data Collected

• 1. Log Files
• a. of Postings (1,127 666 US, 461 Finn)
• b. Number of Cases (173) (140 IU 33 Finnish)
• c. Words/Post (139 words)
• d. Responses (3.7 per/case US 14.0 Fins)
• 2. 67 Case Threads (33 Finnish, 34 US)
• 3. 65 Student Attitude Surveys
• 4. 6 Student Interviews so far (3 female, 3 male)

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Finnish Cases Were Longer and more Reflective and
Often Co-Authored

• Do not leap ahead, do not lag behind
• 1. Author Maija
• Date Mar. 4 500 AM 1998
• Do not leap ahead, do not lag behind
• Marya Ford Washington has stated that "I often
  find some children leaping and flying ahead and
  others dawdling and lagging behind. At times I am
  faced with the unhappy decisions whether to
  abandon the slower end or ignore the other. If I
  must face this decision regularly in a group of
  seven 'like ability' students, how often, I
  wonder, must regular classroom teachers be forced
  to "lose" one end or the other."
• (Gifted Child Today, November/December 1997)
• Is it possible that the pupils could progress
  with their own speed so that only the minimal
  level would be set by the teacher? Often, in
  school there are situations when a pupil has
  already done what is required, and s/he wants to
  go on but the teacher prevents it by saying
  "Wait, until I teach it first! Otherwise you
  might learn it in a wrong way." In small classes
  it is easier for the teacher to let the children
  progress at their own speed and s/he is able to
  guide them even though they would be at different
  stages. In big classes it is much more difficult
  to carry out this kind of teaching method. Can a
  teacher handle the class and be sure that
  everybody progresses if the pupils are at
  different stages? Is it possible for a teacher to
  somehow handle a classroom without constantly
  saying "Wait"?

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Continued...

• Lets consider a math class in an elementary
  school as an example. Often a teacher teaches the
  new subject area and after that pupils practice
  counting those exercises. When a pupil has
  finished s/he receives extra exercises, or s/he
  is asked to do some work in other subjects but
  s/he is not allowed to continue further in the
  math book. Should the pupil be allowed to
  continue further on her/his own if s/he wants to?
  There is a danger that if s/he continues s/he
  will make more mistakes than if s/he waits until
  the teacher has taught the next step in the
  subject area. However, is it dangerous to do
  mistakes? Do teachers suppose that outside school
  there is always someone to tell what to do and
  how to do it in a right way?
• Marya Ford Washington states in her summary "It
  is painful to consider that a good portion of
  America's gifted and talented students spend most
  of their elementary and middle school careers
  learning to be average. It is even more painful
  to admit that they usually succeed." The same
  seems to apply to Finland. How could we solve
  this problem? Maarit Maija

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Vertical Mentoring Examples

• 9. Author Jerry Cochey ( Mentor) Date Mar. 11
  146 PM 1998
• To shift from teacher centered classrooms to
  child centered classrooms and learning takes
  time, patience and a commitment to the idea that
  students are responsible for their own learning.
  Even in this age of enlightenment(?), we think
  that a quiet, teacher controlled classroom shows
  learning, while research shows that active,
  talking, sharing of learning experiences with
  peers is more productive. Be patient, it takes a
  long time to have students change to being
  responsible for their own.
• 8. Author Jerry Cochey ( Mentor) Date Mar. 11
  154 PM 1998
• As each of you have noted, teachers need to
  continue to supervise/coordinate learning. How
  much freedom is given to students depends on what
  you know they can accomplish without direct
  supervision. Master teachers select what methods
  are appropriate and effect for a given student or
  group of students.

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Sample Finnish Case

• 1. Author Satu Date Feb. 25 407 AM 1998
• It is very positive that new learner-centered
  teaching methods are tried out throughout the
  educational system, for example in teacher
  training. However, sometimes we wonder if we have
  gone from one extreme to another.
• It takes time before the students/learners learn
  to take responsibility of their own learning and
  even when they do it should not mean that
  teachers/tutors are completely released from
  their responsibilities.
• It happens too often that teacher/lecturer comes
  and tells us to go to the library and find some
  material about the subject s/he was supposed to
  teach us. After 45 minutes, meanwhile the
  lecturers enjoy a nice cup of coffee, we are
  supposed to come back with a nice mind map and
  share our deep understanding about the subject
  with others.
• If this is the best that learner-centered
  teaching methods can offer then we think we have
  failed. Too often these fancy words are just used
  to let the teacher out of hook. Of course it is
  easier for them, but we feel that it is awful
  waste of time, resources and expertise.
• Satu, Päivi, Johanna, Hanna

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Horizontal Finnish Mentoring

• 12. Author Leena Date Mar. 30 1152 AM 1998
• This case is something I feel very close to. I
  have been trying struggle with finding ways to be
  a teacher in a new way, trying to think
  everything from the students' perspective, to
  challenge my own old traditions of teaching and
  try to seek ways which the I could find ways of
  studying things together with the students. What
  really puzzles me is that these different
  "projects" have had such extremely different
  lives. I definitely loath the idea that a teacher
  would "send the students to the library and come
  back with a mind map" with the only purpose of
  having an easy time. But, the problem is that
  even the simplest thing such as a mind-map, which
  I've used quite often myself, can lead to so many
  different kinds of results. I've learnt during my
  short stay in the Department of Teacher
  Education......What I really don't know yet is
  how to be a proper supporter of these processes
  for students. I have succeeded in many contexts
  but feel that there are so many areas to achieve.
  In the end, finding the "right" path is really a
  matter of mutual understanding between students
  and teachers, open discussion, with mutual trust.
  Without such dialogue, nothing can be developed.
  - Leena

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Vertical U.S. Mentoring

• 14. Author Jerry Cochey (Mentor) Date Mar. 30
  139 PM 1998
• Leena,
• You are right about finding the "right" teacher
  in you with the help of students and discussion.
  But remember that being a teacher is not setting
  on a style the first year and keeping it for
  30-40 years. The outstanding teachers continually
  grow, develop and change as they find new/better
  ways to teach. And of course, teaching should
  change with the students needs too. So, Leena,
  continue your quest!

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Horizontal/Vertical Back

• 15. Author Leena Date Apr. 22 1031 AM 1998
• Jerry - you are quite right about pointing out
  the term "right teacher" in my comment. I did not
  mean that it would equal a particular style for
  life, but, in fact, exactly what you also write,
  being sensitive to different kinds of students,
  different kinds of contexts, different kinds of
  subjects, themes, goals etc. and finding ways to
  guide students and organize teaching in a way
  that students find sensible and meaningful. This
  is an extremely difficult job to do, but, on the
  other hand, very very interesting. When you think
  you "know" something you suddenly notice that
  there is very little that you "know". So, really
  you can never say that you have reached the point
  when you are "ready", that you have reached the
  goal. - Leena

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Justified Statement (Finnish)

• 3. Author Kirsi
• Date Mar. 6 811 AM 1998
• Why not let the student study math further by
  himself and the teacher could help him whenever
  the teacher has time. At least some of the math
  study books are so designed that one page has
  examples that teach you how to solve the problem
  and then on the next page there are exercises. I
  personally hate being said 'wait' since when I'm
  interested in something I want to go on and learn
  more and not wait. This way I think the child
  learns to be responsible of his own learning. If
  I quote dear mr Vygotsky here again, the teacher
  should be sensitive to see where the child's
  proximate zone of development is and to help him
  'over' it. The teacher's task is not to try to
  keep the child on the level he has reached but to
  help him learn more if he is interested

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Unjustified Statements (US)

• 24. Author Katherine
• Date Apr. 27 312 AM 1998
• I agree with you that technology is definitely
  taking a large part in the classroom and will
  more so in the future with all the technological
  advances that will be to come but I don't believe
  that it could actually take over the role of a
  teacherbut in my opinion will never take over
  the role of a teacher.
• 25. Author Jason Date Apr. 28 147 PM 1998
• I feel technology will never over take the role
  of the teacher...I feel however, this is just
  help us teachers out and be just another way for
  us to explain new work to the children. No matter
  how advanced technology gets it will never be
  able to...
• 26. Author Daniel Date Apr. 30 011 AM 1998
• I believe that the role of the teacher is being
  changed by computers, but the computer will never
  totally replace the teacher... I believe that the
  computers will eventually make teaching easier
  for us and that most of the children's work will
  be done on computers. But I believe that there
  will always be the need for the teacher.

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Cross-Cultural References

• 1. Author Maija Date Mar. 20 712 AM 1998
• (Case Away from classroom for a week)
• In Finland a phenomenon called 'campschool' has
  become very popular. We do not know any
  corresponding term in English for 'leirikoulu',
  therefore we translate it to 'campschool'.
  Campschools are different from normal camps in
  the way that they are part of school. E.g. a
  class spends a week away from normal surroundings
  in order to have a break from normal classroom
  studying and have an authentic and exciting
  school week.
• There are many different aims for campschools.
  The main aims of a campschool mentioned at a
  magazine (Leirikoulu 4/97)..
• You might wonder why we are talking about
  campschools under the heading 'Multicultural
  Education'...

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Caseweb Visions

• Intros, Expert Commentaries, Reviews
• Expanded and Shrunken Case Views
• Hyperlink Options
• Conceptual Labelschapters, themes, ideas
• Role Taking Options
• Mentoring Scaffolds/Questions
• Forced Counterpoints
• Sample Mentor and Peer Feedback
• Case Comparison Statistics

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A Vision of what we need...

• Innovative Expert Mentoring
• Sample Mentoring Programs
• Success and Failure Books
• Sharing and Story Telling Tools
• Collaboration and Mentoring Sign Up
• Ways to Build Common History
• Discussion and Dialogue Tools
• More Pedagogical Experimentation
• Experiment with Videoconferencing and Web

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Spring of 97Content Analysis of Online
Discussion in Ed Psych Course(Hara, Bonk,
Angeli, 2001, Instructional Science)

• Purpose and Questions of this Study
• To understand how graduate students interact
  online?
• What are inter patterns with starter-wrapper
  roles?
• What is role of instructor in weekly
  interactions?
• How extensive is social, cog, metacog commenting?
• How in-depth would online discussions get?
• And can conferencing deepen class discussions?

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Research Methodology

• Graduate educational psych course
• traditional class FirstClass online discussion
• students play roles of starters and wrappers
• Analyses
• Quantitative analysis for 12 weeks
• Qualitative analysis for 4 randomly chosen weeks
• -- Content Analysis Interactivity map

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Dimensions of Learning Process(Henri, 1992)

• 1. Participation (rate, timing, duration of
  messages)
• 2. Interactivity (explicit interaction, implicit
  interaction, independent comment)
• 3. Social events (statements unrelated to
  content)
• 4. Cognitive events (e.g., clarifications,
  inferencing, judgment, and strategies)
• 5. Metacognitive events (e.g., evaluation,
  planning, regulation, and self-awareness)

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Graduate Course Findings

• Participation
• Most participated once/week
• Student-centered depend on starter
• Posts more interactive over time
• Lengthy Cognitively Deep
• Ave post 300 words over 18 sentences
• From 33 words to over 1000 words
• Some just satisfied course requirements

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Findings Continued (see Henri, 1992)

• Social (in 26.7 of units coded)
• social cues decreased as semester progressed
• messages gradually became less formal
• became more embedded within statement
• Cognitive (in 81.7 of units)
• More inferences judgments than elem
  clarifications and in-depth clarifications
• Cog Deep 33 surface 55 deep 12 both
• Metacognitive (in 56 of units)
• More reflections on exper self-awareness
• Some planning, eval, regulation self qing

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Surface vs. Deep Posts

• Surface Processing
• making judgments without justification,
• stating that one shares ideas or opinions already
  stated,
• repeating what has been said
• asking irrelevant questions
• i.e., fragmented, narrow, and somewhat trite.

• In-depth Processing
• linked facts and ideas,
• offered new elements of information,
• discussed advantages and disadvantages of a
  situation,
• made judgments that were supported by examples
  and/or justification.
• i.e., more integrated, weighty, and refreshing.

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Week 1
Starter Centered Interaction
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Week 4
Scattered Interaction (no starter)
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Week 8
Synergistic Interaction
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General Findings Concerns

• Online Read gt 6,000 words/week
• Starter role is more impt than wrapper.
• Hard to assume role discuss chapter
• Need less structure, still need dates/pt
• Students comments were fairly deep
• Instructor encouraged interactions
• Few heated debates

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Recommendations

• Structure online discussions
• e.g., get them to use subject line better.
• Try out various pedagogical strategies
• pedagogy before technology!
• Encourage student interaction and debate
• When done, have them print out transcripts!
• Can take the class with them when done!
• Realize that diff conferencing software and
  features serve diff instructional purposes
• Try other analyses e.g., retrospective.

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Conferencing Work(2001-2002)
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• Just how smart are Starter-Wrapper discussions in
  the Smartweb?
• Wisconsin Distance Teaching and Learning
  Conference Proceedings, August 2001
• Brian Beatty, Indiana University, UNext
• Curtis Bonk, Indiana University, CourseShare.com

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Starter-Wrapper Discussions

• Student-centered discussion
• Multiple roles for students
• Starting a discussion
• Contributing
• Wrapping a discussion
• Instructors role
• Facilitate
• Model

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Research Questions

• How often do social cues occur?
• How often do expert references occur?
• How often do peer references occur?
• Does discussion depth vary between elementary and
  secondary pre-service teacher groups?
• Does discussion depth vary between teacher groups?

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Study Methods

• Thirty undergraduate preservice teachers
• Class meets online, with two exceptions
• Students read cases, text--then discuss online.
• Participate once per week
• Five weeks of discussion (2, 4, 6, 8, 10)
• 165 student posts
• Two discussion groups elem and secondary
• N15 for each
• Content analysis
• Modified framework (Henri 1992)

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Content analysis

• Five dimensions
• Participation simple count
• Depth of of cognitive processing - Surface vs.
  deep
• Social cues - presence
• Interaction referencing peers
• Referencing experts text citations
• Multiple coders

91
Social Cues

• Post openings Wow, all of this psychology
  stuff just blows right over my head fancy
  mumbo-jumbo eek!
• Personal statements Im feeling great
• Apologies Sorry everybody, I am the discussion
  starter and I didnt realize it! Oops!
• Jokes, compliments, emoticons, verbal support

92
Referencing Peers

• Melinda mentions that its easier to
• I agree with George that incentives can
  definitely do
• in reply to Nancys comments about teachers
  jobs

93
Referencing Experts

• Formal citations
• Learners must individually discover and
  transform information if they are to make it
  their own (Slavin, 270)
• They are listed and explained in depth on pages
  278-279.
• Informal references
• the different teaching techniques as described
  in Slavin, but
• I dont think teachers should as the Slavin
  book pointed out.

94
Findings Participation
95
Findings Cognitive Depth
96
Findings Social Cues
97
Findings Referencing Peers
98
Findings Referencing Experts
99
The Pedagogical TICKIT Teacher Institute for
Curriculum Knowledge about the Integration of
Technology

• Curt Bonk
• Lee Ehman
• Emily Hixon
• Lisa Yamagata-Lynch
• Indiana University
• Presented at AERA, 2001, in review, Technology
  and Teacher Education

100
Overview of TICKIT

• Year-long school-based program
• 25 teacher in 5 rural schools
• Thoughtful infusion of technology
• Builds teacher cadres in schools

101
Overview of TICKIT (cont)

• Two classroom technology projects taught
• Action research and reporting
• Asynchronous conferencing in Virtual U
• Critical friends
• Reading reactions
• Online debates

102
Research Questions

• Frequency of discussion categories
• Dialogue content
• Dialogue depth
• Justification (support of claims)
• Scaffolding and apprenticeship
• Attitudes toward dialogue

103
Critical Friend Post Example

• Beverly Before I forget, I want to thank you
  again for your invaluable help at the ICE
  conference. I get used to using a particular
  piece of equipment or program, and its hard for
  me to adapt quickly. You saved the day. One
  thing I have learned from using technology is
  that we need to depend upon each other for
  support. We are all in this boat together.

104
Findings Overall Frequencies of Online Assisted
Learning

• Most frequent
• Feedback Praise 28
• Social Acknowledgement 25
• Encouraging Articulation 13

105
Forms of Learning Assistance
106
Findings Peer Social Discourse

• Focus 50 on teaching and school experience
• Off Task 7 total nearly all in critical
  friends
• Referencing 50 more peer praise in critical
  friends
• Referencing to own teaching 3 times more than
  others
• Justification 77 claims unsupported 20
  referenced classroom other experience
• Depth 80 surface level

107
Findings Summary

• Feedback, praise, social acknowledgement most
  frequent
• Critical friend dialogue involved more peer
  support, help requests, social acknowledgement
• Reading reactions debates involved more content
  focus
• Critical friend postings perceived more
  beneficial to classroom practice
• Reading reactions debates viewed as just
  another task

108
Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Online
Collaboration Among Pre-Service Teachers in
Finland, Korea, and the United States (In
Review, Computer-Mediated Communication)

• Kyong-Jee (KJ) Kim
• Curtis J. Bonk, Ph.D.
• School of Education
• Indiana University, Bloomington
• (to present at AERA, 2002, New Orleans)

109
Why study multicultural issues in online
collaboration?

• Online learning is going global in terms of its
  diverse student population.

• Use of computer conferencing tools to negotiate
  and construct meanings through learner
  collaboration.

• Lack of research on multicultural dimensions of
  learner collaboration in online environments.

110
Purpose of the Study

• To investigate online collaborative behaviors
  among preservice teachers from three different
  cultures, and to ferret out cross-cultural
  differences in their online collaborative
  behaviors.

111
Research Questions

• Are there cross-cultural differences in learners
  online collaborative behaviors?

• If cross-cultural differences are found, what
  factors seem to cause such differences?

• What are the implications of such cross-cultural
  differences for designing, developing, and
  delivering online learning?

112
Sample Data Sources

• An undergraduate level ed psych course taught on
  COW. Create 2 cases and reply to 6-8 peer cases.
• In Spring 1998, 30 students and 5 instructors in
  two Finnish universities and 88 students and 7
  instructors from one American university
  participated in COW.
• In Fall 1998, 21 students and 1 instructor in a
  Korean university were added to COW.

113
Data Analysis

• Descriptive statistics.
• A content analysis using Curtis Lawsons coding
  scheme to describe utterances in online
  collaboration.
• A qualitative analysis using data from
• Student discourse in COW
• Post collaboration questionnaire
• Student interviews
• Videoconferencing

114
(No Transcript)
115
Online Postings Summary (1)

• Finland and US conferences

116
Online Postings Summary (2)

• Korean conference

117
Student Instructor Participation
118
Students Participation in Own and Other Groups
119
Online Collaboration Behaviors by Categories
120
Online Collaboration Analysis (Korea)
121
Findings from the Quantitative Analysis

• Low participation rate of instructors across all
  the groups.

• A majority of utterances fell into the
  contributing category.

• Cross-cultural differences in Seeking Input,
  Reflection/ Monitoring, and Social
  Interaction behaviors.

• Differences in the intercultural participation
  levels across cultures.

122
Differences in Reflection Behaviors

• A Finnish case on student motivation (ME)

As a result of this discussion so far, we have
made some conclusions dealing with students
motivation to learn. We agree that it is
impossible to motivate students deliberately.
There is not any specific act that can be used to
increase students motivation. According to
McCombs, almost everything that teachers do in
the classroom has a motivational influence on
students Intrinsic motivation and
self-regulation strategies are also important and
these can be supported by successful external
supports. Contextual conditions and teachers
beliefs and practices are essential in fostering
students intrinsic motivation.
123
Differences in Feedback Seeking Giving

• A U.S. case on disciplinary problems (FBS)

One day I come into teach the class and one of
the twenty students is very quiet. He seemed
alright at the time of teaching, but towards the
end he just starts crying for no reason. Then, I
asked him if there was a problem at home. That is
when he starts to really cry. The questions
that were raised in my head were 1. How involved
should I get?, 2. Should I call the family and
tell them what happened?, 3. Should I tell the
other teachers and see what we all can do?
124
Differences in Feedback Seeking Giving (cont.)

• A U.S. case on disciplinary problems (SK)

One way to manage time and memories is by using
planners and hall passes. I am familiar with a
high school where students are required to carry
their planners with them at all times. They have
a certain number of passes, hall, bathroom,
whatever, to use during the school year. At the
end of the year, there is a reward for having
passes remaining in their books. No one is
allowed out of class without proper
documentation. If they forgot something in their
lockers, they had to use a pass. After a while,
they begin to realize that those are wasted
moments in their school days. This teaches them
responsibility for their actions.
125
Differences in Social Interaction Behaviors

• Social Interactions Among Korean students

- Well, like a cup of coffee, may this new thing
be relaxing (I am praying now). It must be the
beginning, so I am happy now. I wonder whether
someone would reply to me. I am a little bit
nervous cause I am not so familiar with Web
conferencing. - Sister Sunny, take care of
yourself, and I hope your health will be good
soon. Im not accustomed to Web conference,
either, but it is a good chance to participate.
Please, cheer up! - Thank you for your interest
in my health, but Im all right now. Just
before, my long message to you has gone by my
slight mistake, so I am sad (crying). And, sorry
for my late reply to you.
126
Communication Styles Culture

• Low context communication
• Focuses on explicit verbal message
• U.S. Finland, and most of the Western cultures
• High context communication
• emphasizes how intention or meaning is conveyed
  through the context (e.g., social roles,
  positions, etc.)
• Korea and most of the Asian cultures
• Importance of social interaction in the high
  context communication culture

127
Findings from the Qualitative Analysis

• U.S. students more action-oriented and pragmatic
  in seeking results or giving solutions.
• Finnish students were more group focused as well
  as reflective and theoretically driven.
• Korean students were more socially and
  contextually driven.

128
Communication Barriers to Cross-cultural
Communication

• Exchanges between two Korean students

• To Sung-in, as a group member, lets try to be
  active in every process during this class. And,
  Id like to know more of the problem on geometry
  education with some examples (if possible). FBG
• To Hara. Thanks for your advice, but Im doing
  my best for this conference. I will study hard
  in the class and will show nice attitude. SI
• To Sung-in. We have some misunderstanding to
  each other probably owing to language gap. I
  didnt intend to judge or insult you, but you
  seemed to be too serious. SI

129
Implications

• Instructors have a key role in facilitating
  effective cross-cultural communication (e.g.
  social interaction activities for students from
  high context cultures).
• Instructional designers and software developers
  need to build learning tools that address
  learner needs from different cultures (usability
  tests in different cultures.
• Online learners need prior examples or case
  transcripts highlighting cultural differences in
  communication styles.

130
Problem-Solving Exercises in Military Training
Communication Patterns During Synchronous
Web-based Instruction Computers in Human
Behavior, Special Issue on Computer-Based
Assessment of Problem Solving Orvis, Wisher,
Bonk, Olson, in press
131
(No Transcript)
132
Three Phases of AC3-DL

• Asynchronous Phase 240 hours of instruction or 1
  year to complete must score 70 or better on
  each gate exam
• Synchronous Phase 60 hours of asynchronous and
  120 hours of synchronous
• Residential Phase 120 hours of training in 2
  weeks at Fort Knox

133
(No Transcript)
134
Teams Collaborate on Mission Analysis

• Information and critical reflection on
• terrain and weather,
• enemy forces,
• facts, assumptions, limitations,
• specific tasks, implied tasks,
• assets available, and
• additional considerations,

135
Results(Bonk, Olson, Wisher, Orvis, in review)

• All had access to technology
• Enjoyed the course, excellent technologies
• Favored sync over asynchronous
• All pointed to ways to address high attrition
• Perceived training transfer
• Learned to work as a team

136
Overall frequency of interactions across chat
categories (6,601 chats).
137
Sample Social Interactions

• Good Morning
• what up hows the kids
• Kids are great we made breakfast for Mom (wife)
• Did you go out for a run last night?
• tell her I said happy mothers day
• 3 miles in 24 mins all hills
• If God had meant for us to run, he wouldnt
  have given us tanks

138
Social, mechanics, and on-task behaviors in the
chat interactions over time.
139
Some Electronic Learning Research Results

• Participation patterns change from reg class.
• Distinct cultural differences in participation.
• Minimal off task behaviors, but social is impt.
• Delayed collab more elaborate, R-time lurk.
• E-mail partic decreases, exam prep partic inc.
• Students are too nice on the Web.
• Students need incentives and structure.
• Student can quickly generate 100s of cases.
• Mentor fdbk, structuring, qing, no model.
• Student comments lack justification.

140
Still More Results...

• 11. Technology changes class contributors.
• 12. Results and interaction patterns vary.
• 13. Increased group cohesion over time.
• 14. Role can help multiple roles possible.
• 15. Start discussion more impt than wrapping
• 16. Minimal disruption Some st. domination
• 17. Conference expectations must be explicit.
• 18. Students need guidance and some choice
• 19. Controversy spurs the most discussion.
• 20. Students excited to publish ideas.

141
Other Lessons Learned

• Student benefit from confirmation of ideas
• Connect with others in same experience
• Instructors can provide valuable mentoring
• More reflection time for class discussions
• Quiet/shy students now participate/share
• Less political who participates
• Activities are student-centered
• Student discussion is mainly conversational.
• Every week is wearing and a burden.
• Higher expectations, more guilt since class never
  over
• perhaps alternate Web discussions and live
  meetings.
• Discussions will not happen automatically.

142
Still Other Findings

• Most ideas worked!
• Tools are easy to use.
• Plenty of real-world problems to discuss.
• Enjoyed candid feedback. Discussing daily items.
• Finnish students more responsive and reflective,
  US pragmatic and task driven, Korean social.
• First response and subject title important.
• Higher quality cases do not promote higher levels
  of dialogue.
• Few explicit course links.
• Did not feel more connected.

143
Some Final Reflections

• Computer logged data can be reanalyzed
• Control over own data is valuable
• Diff tools serve diff purposes
• We still lack adequate tools
• There is a need for a summary of online research
  methodology

144
Questions?Comments?Concerns?