Analyzing the organization of collaborative math problem-solving in online chats using statistics and conversation analysis

Paper presented at the 2005 CRIWG International Workshop on Groupware, Racife, Brazil. Retrieved July 18, 2007 from http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/pub/criwg2005zemel.pdf.In this paper we describe how a statistical test on a hypothesis regarding collaborative math problem solving using online chats showed an unexpected result, whose understanding required the use of qualitative methods. The phenomenon behind the result is identified using Conversation Analysis. This paper demonstrates the importance of using qualitative methods to describe the perspective of participants as a way of interpreting statistical results, revising hypotheses and developing alternative coding schemes and procedures. The combined approach of quantitative and qualitative methods is applied on real data coming from Virtual Math Teams research project (Drexel University) and is identifying issues not addressed so far in the analysis of online collaborative group activity

Methodological issues in developing a multi-dimensional coding procedure for small group chat communication

In CSCL research, collaboration through chat has primarily been studied in dyadic settings. This article discusses three issues that emerged during the development of a multi-dimensional coding procedure for small group chat communication: a) the unit of analysis and unit fragmentation, b) the reconstruction of the response structure and c) determining reliability without overestimation. Threading, i.e. connections between analysis units, proved essential to handle unit fragmentation, to reconstruct the response structure and for reliability of coding. In addition, a risk for reliability overestimation was illustrated. Implications for analysis methodology in CSCL are discussed

Sustaining group cognition in a math chat environment

Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning (RPTEL), 1(2)Learning takes place over long periods of time that are hard to study directly. Even the learning experience involved in solving a challenging math problem in a collaborative online setting can be spread across hundreds of brief postings during an hour or more. Such long-term interactions are constructed out of posting-level interactions, such as the strategic proposing of a next step. This paper identifies a pattern of exchange of postings that it terms math proposal adjacency pair, and describes its characteristics. Drawing on the methodology of conversation analysis, the paper adapts this approach to investigating mathematical problem-solving communication and to the computer-mediated circumstances of online chat. Math proposals and other interaction methods constitute the collaborative group as a working group, give direction to its problem solving and help to sustain its shared meaning making or group cognition. Groups sustain their online social and intellectual work by building up longer sequences of math proposals, other adjacency pairs and a variety of interaction methods. Experiences of collaboration and products of group cognition emerge over time

Systemic intervention for computer-supported collaborative learning

This paper presents a systemic intervention approach as a means to overcome the methodological challenges involved in research into computer-supported collaborative learning applied to the promotion of mathematical problem-solving (CSCL-MPS) skills in schools. These challenges include how to develop an integrated analysis of several aspects of the learning process; and how to reflect on learning purposes, the context of application and participants' identities. The focus of systemic intervention is on processes for thinking through whose views and what issues and values should be considered pertinent in an analysis. Systemic intervention also advocates mixing methods from different traditions to address the purposes of multiple stakeholders. Consequently, a design for CSCL-MPS research is presented that includes several methods. This methodological design is used to analyse and reflect upon both a CSCL-MPS project with Colombian schools, and the identities of the participants in that project

In Search of Conversational Grain Size: Modelling Semantic Structure Using Moving Stanza Windows

Analyses of learning based on student discourse need to account not only for the content of the utterances but also for the ways in which students make connections across turns of talk. This requires segmentation of discourse data to define when connections are likely to be meaningful. In this paper, we present an approach to segmenting data for the purposes of modeling connections in discourse using epistemic network analysis. Specifically, we use epistemic network analysis to model connections in student discourse using a temporal segmentation method adapted from recent work in the learning sciences. We compare the results of this study to a purely conversation-based segmentation method to examine the affordances of temporal segmentation for modeling connections in discourse

Interaction & learning in chat environments: A workshop with data sessions

Workshop paper presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS 2006, Bloomington, IN. Retrieved July 18, 2007 from http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/pub/icls2006chat.pdf.Research groups around the world are using approaches inspired by Conversation Analysis to explore the processes of sense-making peculiar to textual exchanges mediated by chat technology. Such Chat Analysis allows researchers to observe the opportunities for and barriers to collaborative learning created by chat environments with various functionality. This day-long workshop will consist primarily of group data sessions analyzing chat logs, but will also consider theoretical and methodological implications for the study of computer support in the learning sciences

Analyzing and designing the group cognition experience

nternational Journal of Cooperative Information Systems, 15(2), 157-178.More than we realize it, knowledge is often constructed through interactions among people in small groups. The Internet, by allowing people to communicate globally in limitless combinations, has opened enormous opportunities for the creation of knowledge and understanding. A major barrier today is the poverty of adequate groupware. To design more powerful software that can facilitate the building of collaborative knowledge, we need to better understand the nature of group cognition—the processes whereby ideas are developed by small groups. We need to analyze interaction at both the individual and the group unit of analysis in order to understand the variety of processes that groupware should be supporting. This paper will look closely at an empirical example of an online group problem-solving experience and suggest implications for groupware design

Blended Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: An International Perspective

Blended learning is not a new topic for educational research in Higher Education (HE). However, before the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, blended learning was studied by a "niche" of researchers and educators interested in technology integration in teaching and learning. It was not difficult to meet HE professionals who had never or only poorly reflected on the topic of how to integrate digital technology in teaching and learning before March 2020. All in all, this special issue provides a deeper understanding of what Blended Learning will be in the near feature, encompassing not the simple combination of online and physical presence, but a combination of delivery tools and media used to provide information and to support interaction, a combination of different methods of instruction and teaching/learning, and a combination of learning contexts

Examining Active Learning in an Online Synchronous Train-the-Trainer Mathematics Professional Development Initiative

High quality teacher professional development has been linked to increase in student achievement. Active learning is a characteristic of effective professional development (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Gulamhussein, 2013). Additionally, there was a positive impact on student achievement in studies where active learning was incorporated in teacher professional development. Active learning occurs when learners interact during the learning process with the content and with one another (Learning Forward, 2011). As such, school districts should examine professional development learning environments to determine if active learning is transpiring. This study examined active learning in one school system’s online synchronous mathematics teacher leader train-the-trainer professional development initiative. The study sought to identity what instructional strategies were incorporated and how did the mathematics teacher leaders actively engage. The school system in this study adopted new more rigorous college and career mathematics standards. To support implementation, the school system instituted a professional development (PD) initiative and contracted external facilitators to provide train-the-trainer professional development to mathematics teacher leaders. The mathematics teacher leaders in turn redelivered the PD in-person to teachers at a school. The PD sessions were conducted online synchronously using the Zoom platform. The study used qualitative research methodology. Symbolic interactionism, constructivism and the Online Synchronous Active Learning Professional Development Framework based on Moore’s (1989) Three Types of Interaction and Grooms’ (2000) Learner Interaction Model were used to guide the examination of active learning. Data were collected and triangulated from the recorded videos, the transcribed videos, transcripts of the chats, and small breakout group documents completed by the participants. The following themes emerged (1) modeling strategies; (2) collaborative conversations; (3) questioning to deepen knowledge; and (4) using online technology tools to convey ideas. The findings indicate active learning is fostered through interaction, facilitators must design learning environments conducive to active learning, mathematics teacher leaders must be provided opportunities to develop their own knowledge base, and facilitation strategies should promote the understanding of mathematics standards and pedagogical practices