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Descriptors:
Artificial Intelligence; Computer Simulation; Computer Mediated Communication; Intelligent Tutoring Systems; Pretests Posttests; Instructional Effectiveness; Learning Processes; Feedback (Response); Metacognition; Science Education; Scientific Concepts; Concept Mapping; Middle School Students; Scaffolding (Teaching Technique); Grade 8; Computer Assisted Instruction; Instructional Design; Comparative Analysis

Abstract:
Betty's Brain is an open-ended learning environment in which students learn about science topics by teaching a virtual agent named Betty through the construction of a visual causal map that represents the relevant science phenomena. The task is complex, and success requires the use of metacognitive strategies that support knowledge acquisition, causal map construction, and progress monitoring. Previous research has established that middle school students struggle at such tasks without proper scaffolding and feedback. In Betty's Brain, this feedback is provided by Betty and Mr. Davis, another virtual agent designed to provide guidance and suggestions as students work. This paper discusses our implementation of contextualized conversational (CC) feedback, and then presents the results of an experimental study exploring the effects of this feedback in two 8th-grade science classrooms. The results illustrate some advantages of the CC feedback in comparison with a baseline dialogue mechanism that presents similar strategies in a non-conversational, non-contextualized form. While both groups showed significant pre-to-post test learning gains, the difference in learning gains between the groups was not statistically significant. However, students who received CC feedback more often performed actions in accordance with the advised strategies, and they created higher quality causal maps. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Middle School Students; Interaction; Problem Solving; Mathematics Instruction; Synchronous Communication; Visual Aids; Computer Mediated Communication; Discussion; Computer Assisted Instruction; Multimedia Instruction; Multimedia Materials; Content Analysis; Discourse Analysis; Cooperative Learning; Instructional Effectiveness; Learning Processes

Abstract:
In this paper we examine how two groups of middle school students arrive at shared understandings of and solutions to mathematical problems. Our data consists of logs of student participation in the Virtual Math Teams (VMT) system as they work on math problems. The project supports interaction both through chat and through a virtual whiteboard. We have examined in detail, the sequential work these students do to constitute and specify "the problem" on which they are working in the ways they produce whiteboard objects and text postings. Solutions emerge as students come to understand the problem on which they are working. This understanding is achieved through gradual respecification of the math problem on which they are working. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Computer Mediated Communication; Discussion; Internet; Computer Uses in Education; Blended Learning; Instructional Effectiveness; Comparative Analysis; Content Analysis; Learning Activities; Learning Processes; Notetaking; Health Education

Abstract:
This article reports a theory-driven experimental study that evaluates the effects of an annotation functionality on online social interaction and individual learning outcomes. The central hypothesis of this study is that directly addressing a part of a text by annotating it and then connecting each annotation with its related discussion can decrease coordinative interaction costs and result in a higher-quality discussion that favors greater gains in individual learning outcomes. To reach our objective, we carried out a theory-driven experimental study that compares two versions of an anchored discussion system: one with annotation functionality and one without it, both displaying the learning material side by side with its associated discussion in one window. Participants were 106 students enrolled in two sections of a blended-format course in health education. We assigned each section to a software condition. The examination of students' online social interaction centered on a fine-grained content analysis of coordination and knowledge construction activities as well as sequential analysis of knowledge construction activities. The results indicate that annotation functionality decreased coordinative interaction costs and stimulated more elaborated discussions that favored greater gains in individual learning outcomes. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Motivation; Behavior Theories; Ethnic Groups; Migrants; Psychological Characteristics; Young Adults; Group Membership; Citizen Participation; Internet; Correlation; Immigrants; Goodness of Fit; Peer Groups; Parent Child Relationship; Guidelines; Minority Groups; Computer Mediated Communication; Ethnicity; Foreign Countries

Abstract:
Levels of civic engagement are assumed to vary according to numerous social and psychological characteristics, but not much is known about online civic engagement. This study aimed to investigate differences and similarities in young people's offline and online civic engagement and to clarify, based on Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (TPB), associations between motivation for civic engagement, peer and parental norms, collective efficacy, and civic engagement. The sample consisted of 755 youth (native German, ethnic German Diaspora, and Turkish migrants) from two age groups (16-18 and 19-26; mean age 20.5 years; 52% female). Results showed that ethnic group membership and age moderated the frequency of engagement behavior, with Turkish migrants taking part more than native Germans, who were followed by ethnic German Diaspora migrants. Analyses based on TPB showed good fit for a model relating intention for offline and online civic engagement to motivation for civic engagement, peer and parental norms, and collective efficacy. Ethnic group moderated the findings for offline civic engagement and questioned the universality of some model parameters (e.g., peer and parental norms). This study showed the utility of the TPB framework for studying civic engagement but also reveals that the predictive utility of peer and parental norms seems to vary depending on the group and the behavior under study. This study highlights the importance of including minority samples in the study of civic engagement in order to identify between-group similarities and differences. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Females; Computer Mediated Communication; Self Concept; Social Networks; Human Body; Teaching Methods; Privacy

Abstract:
In this paper I examine how young women construct their identities with others in online communities. I argue that the proliferation of social networking and its popularity among young people means that performed identities are increasingly collaboratively constructed, with the individual having less control over their public image than was previously the case. This has implications for how young women can understand themselves. In some ways this leads to an increased visibility and a blurring of public and private, frontstage and backstage arenas. It also, however, makes it possible for girls to gain support for alternative, more marginal, identities through interaction with online communities. I investigate the impact of these communities and the possibility that some may not be entirely benign. I also consider issues of authenticity and performance, and the impact of these on young women's understanding of and feelings about their bodies. Finally, I discuss possible pedagogic responses to these phenomena. (Contains 2 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Reflection; Web Sites; Electronic Publishing; Social Distance; Nationalism; Self Concept; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Language Role; Cultural Awareness; Role; Computer Mediated Communication; Language Usage; Language Variation; Semiotics; Teaching Methods; Intercultural Communication; Secondary School Students

Abstract:
The rise of English as an international language (EIL) has brought to light the needs of those who speak it as an additional language. This has in turn radically reshaped the role of culture in the EIL classroom, which may now aim at developing critical transcultural awareness. By reporting on a joint initiative undertaken by three schools in two countries, the "EIL in Poland and Spain" blog project, this article explores how a transcultural curricular approach could be implemented in the EIL classroom with particular reference to computer-mediated communication (CMC) that might lead to the creation of virtual "third spaces". Results show that, upon task-induced reflection, participants (1) overwhelmingly acknowledge the power of the othering discourses which are central to national identity; (2) bond together through (2.1) widespread usage of the same register in English and CMC-standard non-verbal semiotic codes and (2.2) similar subcultural (yet transnational) affiliations; and (3) may be seen to develop some critical awareness of their place in the world beyond their respective national borders. Finally, the pedagogical implications of a tool through which youth appears as a meaningful cross-cultural experience, bringing both Polish and Spanish participants together as critical thinkers through EIL, are discussed. (Contains 1 table and 7 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academic Libraries; Reference Services; Information Science Education; Librarians; Library Schools; Library Services; Electronic Libraries; Computer Literacy; Internship Programs; Volunteers; Computer Mediated Communication

Abstract:
The ability to navigate the vast ocean of available information and perform reference services in digital environments is an essential component of the job for most of today's reference librarians, especially those working in academic libraries. Reference librarians face a challenge: they must be highly skilled at searching for, locating, and interpreting information in a constantly changing landscape of online databases, catalogs, and free Web technologies while also possessing the skills to be competent instructors and being personable enough to interact face-to-face. Library schools contribute to some foundational skills that a librarian builds, but digital competency is built through longer term on-the-job or internship training. That is why to be competent at their jobs, today's librarians must seek out opportunities to foster and build upon the skills learned in their library programs. One way to build these skills early in a librarian's career is to intern or volunteer at a reference desk. New York University, which partners with Long Island University's Palmer School of Library and Information Science, takes the experience of the physical reference desk and brings it into the digital realm with guided mentoring in their virtual "chat" reference program. In this article, the author discusses her experience with the program and the ways in which it improved her competency as a reference and instruction librarian. (Contains 1 table.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Computer Assisted Instruction; Immigrants; Intervention; Feedback (Response); Control Groups; Instructional Effectiveness; Cooperative Learning; Educational Technology; Computer Mediated Communication; Foreign Countries; Comparative Analysis; Outcomes of Education; Quasiexperimental Design; Pretests Posttests; Multiple Regression Analysis; Elementary School Students; Predictor Variables; Measures (Individuals)

Abstract:
This study examined the effects of guided elaboration on students' learning outcomes in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. The programme provided students with feedback on their elaborations, and students reflected on this feedback. It was expected that students in the experimental (elaboration) programme would show better learning gains and that students from immigrant families would especially benefit. Two hundred primary school students of 9 different schools participated. The research can be characterized as a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test, control group design. In a multilevel regression analysis, no main effect of the intervention was found. However, there was a significant differential effect of the intervention; students from immigrant families in the experimental programme outperformed their counterparts in the control group. It can be concluded that guided elaboration in a CSCL programme through feedback and reflection is a promising approach. (Contains 5 tables, 1 figure, and 1 note.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Cooperative Learning; Computer Assisted Instruction; Learning; Computer Mediated Communication; Learning Processes; Metacognition; Comparative Analysis; Interpersonal Relationship

Abstract:
Despite intensive research in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) over the last decade, there is relatively little research about how groups and individuals in groups engage, sustain, support, and productively regulate collaborative processes. This article examines the role of regulatory processes in collaborative learning and how CSCL environments can be used for shared regulation of learning. First, we establish the importance of regulation processes and introduce three types of regulation contributing to successful collaboration: self-, co-, and socially shared regulation of learning. Second, we illuminate two strands of seemingly diverse research that lay an important foundation for supporting and researching regulation in CSCL contexts establishing that (a) computer-based pedagogical tools used to successfully support regulation in individual learning contexts can be leveraged for collaborative task contexts, and (b) computer-based tools for supporting collaborative knowledge construction can be leveraged for supporting regulatory processes. Finally, we draw on emerging research in our own programs of research to demonstrate how regulation can be supported and researched in CSCL environments. The article concludes by charting a course for future CSCL research focused on supporting regulated learning in collaborative task contexts. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Learning Processes; Computer Mediated Communication; Team Training; Computer Assisted Instruction; Teamwork; Cooperative Learning; Models; Expertise; Context Effect; Evaluation

Abstract:
There is a wealth of research on computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) that is neglected in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) research. CSCW research is concerned with contextual factors, however, that may strongly influence collaborative learning processes as well, such as task characteristics, team formation, team members' abilities and characteristics, and role assignment within a team. Building on a critical analysis of the degree to which research on CSCW translates to CSCL, this article discusses the mediating variables of teamwork processes and the dynamics of learning-teams. Based on work-team effectiveness models, it presents a framework with key variables mediating learning-team effectiveness in either face-to-face or online settings within the perspective of learning-team development. (Contains 2 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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