Constructing a Conversational Learning Community: A Case Study

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Constructing a Conversational Learning
CommunityA Case Study
Transforming Learning through Technology_at_HKU
June 5, 2008

• by
• Adams Bodomo Yuxiu Hu
• School of Humanities
• The University of Hong Kong
• abbodomo_at_hku.hk

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Introduction

• Interactivity in learning situations has
  attracted considerable attention (Brogan, 1999
  Parker, 1999 Bodomo, 2006, 2008).
• How can instructional interactivity be enhanced?
• The Conversational Learning Community (CLC)
• In the age of IT, web-based teaching in a course
  plays a crucial role in enhancing interactivity.
• WebCT, a web-based platform for course design, is
  the platform for implementing this.

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Outline

• The model of CLC and three main types of
  instructional interactivity
• Constructivist theories
• A case study comprising a report of activities on
  the WebCT
• Conclusion

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The Conversational Learning Community (CLC)

• CLC is a model of learning that projects the idea
  that learning is most effective in an atmosphere
  of interactive communication between learners,
  teachers and modern digital resources (Bodomo,
  2001 Bodomo, Luke, and Anttila 2003 Bodomo,
  2006 Bodomo, 2008).

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The theme of the model

• Knowledge and meaning are constructed out of the
  learners own experience.
• One of the tenets of CLC is to gradually
  encourage students to frenetically work
  themselves into a community of partnerships for
  learning based on activities both in the
  classroom and online (information mining,
  competitive group debates, etc).

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Main types of instructional interactivity

• Instructor-learner
• Learner-learner
• Learner-resource

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Instructor-learner

• Interaction either via physical face-to-face
  activities (at lectures, tutorials,
  demonstrations, and consultations) or via digital
  ICTs (email enquiries, bulletin board enquiries
  and clarifications, and very rarely chat rooms)
  or a mixture of both

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Learner-learner

• Interaction within or without an ICT
• medium, where students are involved in
• communication with each other in the
• classroom, in the corridors, on web-based
• bulletin boards, in chat rooms, and
• through email

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Learner-resource

• Interaction which involves learners actively
• communicating with textbooks, hard-copy
• hand outs, lecture notes, and with ICT-
• based current and remote resources such
• as online lecture notes and outlines, CD-
• ROMs, glossaries, calendar of activities,
• progress reports, quizzes, and links to
• experts and more resources

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Figure1 diagrammatic illustration of the model
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Constructivist theories

• The CLC outlined above is based on a group of
  theories known as Constructivist theories of
  learning which require that students be helped to
  construct their own knowledge.
• Two distinct types of constructivist theories
  include cognitive constructivism as espoused by
  Piaget (1973) and social constructivism as
  espoused by Vygotsky (1962,1978).

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Main tenets of Constructivism

• The learner plays an active role in the learning
  process (Bruner, 1966, 1990)
• Learners build their own knowledge through
  experience, but not through given information
  (Piaget, 1966, Bruner, 1966 1990)
• Instructors should only serve as facilitators and
  encourage students to discover new knowledge by
  themselves. (Bruner, 1966, 1990)
• Learning is a social activity that takes place in
  an environment that stresses the role of the
  cultural context. (Vygotsky 1962, 1978).

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More on Constructivism

• According to Blurton (19999), Modern
  constructivist education theory emphasizes
  critical thinking, problem solving, "authentic"
  learning experiences, social negotiation of
  knowledge, and collaboration - pedagogical
  methods that change the role of the teacher from
  disseminator of information to learning
  facilitator. It involves self-paced,
  self-directed problem-basedlearning processes

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Our arguments/contentions

• The core features of this learning model must
  involve strategies to enhance instructional
  interactivity.
• The Discussion Forum is the best part of WebCT to
  implement interactivity.

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Case study

• WebCT design of the course
• The Language and Information
• Technology course aims to create a
• more explicit awareness of the
• growing importance of information
• processing methods available in
• linguistic analysis.
• A major objective of the course is an
• exploration of the interface between
• language, linguistics, and information
• technology

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Main features of the WebCT platform

• Course content

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Main features (contd)

• Announcements
• On this board, instructors and teaching
  assistants can make announcements out of class to
  the students about the course.

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Main features (contd)

• Assessments
• This section makes online quiz, survey, and self
  test possible and available to students. We
  posted an online survey which mainly investigates
  the phenomenon of mobile phone usage, from which
  students could learn how to design a survey in
  this area.

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Main features (contd)

• Discussion Forum
• This module provides a useful discussion platform
  for students to ask questions on different
  aspects of the course and to post comments and
  general messages to the class. On the other hand,
  the instructor can send information to the class,
  make clarifications about specific points, answer
  questions, and inspire more discussions to arouse
  students interest in the course so that they can
  learn more.

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How interaction was achieved in the course?

• Instructor - learner
• Through WebCT, instructors can interact with
  their students just like in class, and sometimes
  it is even more effective through WebCT than in
  class, as some students are just too shy to ask
  questions and participate actively in class.

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How (contd)

• Learner - Learner
• WebCT allows students to communicate online after
  class and discuss specific topics on the course
  that havent been discussed in class/tutorials
  because of the time limit for each class/tutorial

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• After her suggestions, 17 follow-up messages were
  posted on the board.

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How (contd)

• Learner - resource
• WebCT makes different resources accessible to
  students. We can upload reading materials,
  tutorial arrangements, lecture notes, etc. to
  different sections of WebCT. Students can read
  and download them at any time they want to do so.
  For example, students did an exercise on
  information mining in this course.

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Observations

• The Discussion Forum was the most patronized by
  the students.
• The Discussion Forum is the best part of WebCT to
  implement interactivity.
• Students posted more messages than the instructor
  and the teaching assistant.

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Observations (contd)

• The amount of discussion decreased at the end of
  February, and then increased around the mid-term
  quiz. After the notification of no end-of-term
  quiz, the amount decreased again.

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Observations (contd)

• Some facilitative measures could enhance the use
  of WebCT for achieving an interactive learning
  community. For example
• 1. Posting encouraging messages
• 2. Requesting technical workshops

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Conclusion

• WebCT provides a platform for enhancing
  instructional interactivity. Our observation,
  description, and the empirical evidence presented
  above show that within the WebCT platform, the
  Discussion Forum is the most important feature
  that can be exploited for achieving
  interactivity.
• However, facilitative measures should be taken to
  intervene at appropriate times to promote student
  initiative and innovation. These include constant
  technical support and constant monitoring by
  teacher and tutors involving constant
  intervention during periods of low interaction
  and minimum intervention during periods of
  intensive debates.

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Acknowledgements

• The 34 students in the Language and Information
  Technology course whose activities were the
  basing of this study.
• The HKU WebCT team, especially Ms Agnes Chau for
  assisting us with our technical questions and
  even for organizing a special WebCT workshop for
  our Research Team The Linguistic Theory
  Technology Research Group.

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References

• Blurton, C. 1999. New directions of ICT-use in
  education, UNESCOs WorldCommunication and
  Information Report 1999. URLhttp//www.unesco.org
  /education/educprog/lwf/d1/edict.pdf
• Bodomo, A. B. 2008. Instructional interactivity
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  Applications, IGI Global Books, 131 - 146.
• Bodomo, A. B. 2006. Interactivity in web-based
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• Bodomo, A. B. 2005. Constructing knowledge
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• Bodomo, A. B., K. K. Luke, and A. Anttila. 2003.
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• Bruner, J. 1966. Toward a Theory of Instruction,
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• Vygotsky, L. S. 1978. Mind in Society, Cambridge,
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• Vygotsky, L. S. 1962. Thought and Language.
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Thank You !