Collaborative Knowledge Construction in Online Vocational Teacher Education

The purpose of this paper is to build a picture of knowledge construction models in online education. The study describes the knowledge construction process of a group of vocational teacher education students in an online learning environment. In the online studies, a model of progressive inquiry was applied. The students worked in small groups throughout the learning process. The phenomenon in question has not been previously researched very widely. The student group was heterogenic, so the learning strategies were also individual. The students had varied backgrounds with Master’s level or PhD degrees on very different fields. The field of specialisation also has its effect on the preferred learning strategies. The vocational teacher education programme consists of 60 credits and it can be completed within one academic year. The research consists of three phases, in accordance with the hybrid model introduced by Schwarz-Barcott and Kim (2000). During the theoretical phase, information regarding knowledge construction was sought in literature and practical teaching work. In the empirical phase, a narrative approach was applied to compile information regarding the collaborative knowledge construction and knowledge processing of the teacher students during the online discussions of their online teacher education study programme. The narrators are 2