Students’ understanding of collaborative discourse in a computer-supported knowledge building environment

This paper reported an exploratory study that examined secondary school students’ understanding of collaborative discourse in a computer-supported knowledge building environment in characterizing and scaffolding their engagement in productive online discourse. The participants were thirty-eight secondary school students in a visual arts course. A designed computer-supported knowledge building environment supported by Knowledge Forum®, an online discussion platform, was applied to the class, and knowledge-building talk was integrated into the classroom. The knowledge-building talk in the classroom involved the students’ reflections on their online participation through the explicit discussion of knowledge-building principles to scaffold the students’ understanding of collaborative discourse. Quantitative analysis indicated that the students’ views and understanding of collaborative work and discourse were related to their engagement in online discourse and domain knowledge. Qualitative analysis showed how the Knowledge Forum and the classroom knowledge-building talk supported students in developing an understanding of collaborative discourse. The implications of examining students’ understanding of collaborative discourse in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment are discussed.