Supporting undergraduate students’ acquisition of academic argumentation strategies through computer conferencing

Executive Summary Background This research grows out of work on the importance of argumentation in developingstudents’ critical abilities. It focuses attention on how students argue in computer mediated conferences as opposed to traditionalwritten assignments, investigating the way in which argumentation is realised within the relatively new context of computer conferencing which allows extended written discussions to take place overa period of weeks. Such text-based asynchronous conferencing is typically characterised by features of both spoken and written modes. Aims The main aims of the project were: • to investigate the argumentation strategies used in asynchronous text-based computer conferences; • to compare the argumentation strategies developed through conferencing with those used in the writing of academic assignments; • to examine the strategies used by tutors to encourage and facilitate argumentation in text-based computer conferences. Methods Data was collected over two years for the distance undergraduate course ‘Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine’ at the Open University.Qualitative data was obtained through interviews with the course chair, tutors and students, and through a student questionnaire. Assignments and computer-mediated tutorials were collected for textual analysis, although the timing of the assignments meant that analysis has only just begun on the essay data. To analyse the argumentation in the computer conferences and assignments a method of categorising, coding and tracking argumentative discourse was developed building on earlier work by the authors. In addition, computational searches were carried out to compare linguistic features across conference and assignment data. Results In tutorial conferences, student discussion tended to take the form of collaborative co-construction of an argument through exchanging information and experience to substantiate a position. However, students were also prepared to challenge other viewpoints. In both cases, they frequently drew on personal and professional experience to support argument claims. The use of these strategies suggests that text-based conferencing lends itself to the collective combining of diverse sources of information, experiences and ideas. Conference discussions were often personalised with fewer explicit logical links marking argument structure. They were also marked by complexity of argument strands, many of which reached no conclusion. Preliminary analysis of argumentation in assignments suggests that this did not, however, adversely affect students’ ability to create a more traditional, linear argument in their essays. Further analysis will be undertaken to compare argumentation strategies across the two sets of data. Tutors expressed concern about levels of participation in the tutorial conferences, which varied quite considerably. They also felt uncertain about their own knowledge of appropriate pedagogic strategies which would encourage students to participate in a collaborative yet critical way, and tended to rely on strategies from face-to-face teaching. Analysis of the conference discussion showed that tutors made fewer claims than students and were also less likely to provide information in support of their claims. There was, therefore, little modelling by tutors of the basic type of argumentation that would be expected in formal written assignments.Despite these concerns, student responses indicated that having a tutor and a group of peers to interact with, or just to observe, was valued as a supportive feature of this form of distance learning. No clear picture arose of how to make conferencing more interactive for more students, and this reinforces the sense gained from the tutor interviews of the difficulty of proposing a model of tutoring in computer conferences that will necessarily engage all students or raise the level of discussion and debate. Conclusions Our study suggests that text-based conferencing has an important role to play in developing students’ argumentation strategies and understanding of academic discourse and conventions. In view of its hybrid nature, somewhere between spontaneous speech and formal academic writing, course designers and tutors should aim to take advantage of both aspects – on the one hand, the informal dialogic exchange of opinions and co-construction of knowledge, and on the other,the opportunity for consolidation, reflection and re-positioning. Our findings reinforce the view that students’ willingness to exchange ideas freely and openly is partly a consequence of how personally engaged, at ease and confident students feel with one another and their tutor. In particular, it seems that there is a role for the interpersonal and, to some extent, the chat and the frivolity, which in some other studies discussed in the literature review have been regarded as negative influences. Recommendations To facilitate students’ development of argumentation and learning more generally,tutors need greater awareness of the ways in which academic argumentation operates in computer conferencing as compared to written assignments. Since pedagogic strategies developed in other contexts may not transfer well to computer conferencing, there is a need for targeted professional development, focussing in particular on: • Choosing topics for discussion and designing effective task prompts; • Supporting weaker students; • Encouraging challenging of ideas; • Finding the right tone to facilitate peer discussions. Some specific suggestions are made within the report, but our recommendations at this stage remain tentative as we still have to complete the analysis of the assignment data and draw conclusions about the impact of the computer conferencing on the quality of written argumentation within this more formal context

Complete Issue 53(1)

Complete digitized issue (volume 53, issue 1) of Speaker & Gavel

Teaching Data Driven Innovation – Facing a Challenge for Higher Education

In the era of digitization, data has become a very important resource for competition. To generate value from these constantly growing amounts of data and to create innovative services and business models based on the data, organizations need to rely on well-trained data scientists and analysts. The required skill set for such experts is complex and challenges higher education in the information systems discipline. Despite some first and promising efforts, there is still a lack of novel teaching approaches for data driven innovation. In this paper we design a morphological box providing a solution space for teaching data driven innovation at universities. For the systematization we analyze the submissions of an academic analytics contest and combine our findings with the existing knowledge base. Furthermore, we present our learnings from two teaching cases and reflect our experiences when applying them in class

Expectations eclipsed in foreign language education: learners and educators on an ongoing journey / edited by Hülya Görür-Atabaş, Sharon Turner.

Between June 2-4, 2011 Sabancı University School of Languages welcomed colleagues from 21 different countries to a collaborative exploration of the challenging and inspiring journey of learners and educators in the field of language education.\ud \ud The conference provided an opportunity for all stakeholders to share their views on language education. Colleagues met with world-renowned experts and authors in the fields of education and psychology, faculty and administrators from various universities and institutions, teachers from secondary educational backgrounds and higher education, as well as learners whose voices are often not directly shared but usually reported.\ud \ud The conference name, Eclipsing Expectations, was inspired by two natural phenomena, a solar eclipse directly before the conference, and a lunar eclipse, immediately after. Learners and educators were hereby invited to join a journey to observe, learn and exchange ideas in orde

Distance Education MBA Project Management Program: A Case Study

Athabasca Universit

Educating critically : challenging the familiar contours of literacy teacher education.

The shifting cultural ecologies of U.S. classrooms emphasize acknowledging difference, accepting diversity, and sustaining both cultural and linguistic plurality (Banks & Banks, 2009; hooks, 1994; Paris 2014). Teacher education programs play an integral role in preparing Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) with skills, knowledge, and dispositions necessitated by a growing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) student population (Cruz, Ellerbrock, Vasquez & Howes, 2014). To enact equitable teaching practices reflective of 21st century students, PSTs need to demonstrate a level of cultural awareness that acknowledges the racially, socially, and politically charged societal structures that shape education for CLD students (Hall & Carlson, 2016). However, for Teacher Preparation Programs (TPPs), this task is complicated by the racial, cultural, and linguistic divide amid CLD students and their White teacher counterparts (Ball & Forzani, 2009). Research suggests cultural dissonance can result in a lack of knowledge and understanding about diverse students and how socio-historical oppression can affect their achievement (Brock, Case, & Taylor, 2013; Grossman & McDonald, 2008; Lazar, 2007). Thus, if White PSTs are expected to cultivate equitable classrooms, responsive of the socio-cultural, linguistic, and educational needs of CLD students, then TPPs need radical alterations in curriculum and instructional design to not only deliver practical applications of classroom pedagogy, but also provide a critical understanding of literacy as “a cultural resource that can be used to challenge systems of domination” (Janks, p. 35, 2000). This idea is amplified through the current study, through exploration of three strands of curricular inquiry: critical pedagogy, literacy education, and intersectional positionality. Specifically, the researcher examines how teacher candidates conceptualize curriculum that blends elementary literacy methods content and critical perspectives that critique, resist, and re-design traditional literacy practices. Utilizing a qualitative case study, multiple forms of data analysis reveal that critically oriented instruction must be taught explicitly and in multiple formats to support teachers in taking anti-hegemonic stances

Teaching Students How to Make Their Dreams Come True: An Autoethnography of Developing and Teaching the Dream Research Methods Course

How to make students’ dreams come true is the central focus of this autoethnography that chronicles the story of the transformation of a traditional undergraduate communication research methods course into a new and creative dream research methods course. Pedagogical and institutional issues in teaching the traditional methods course join personal influences in my life story to birth the new dream research methods course. The content and format of the new course are described chronologically using personal stories, student perspectives, advice to teachers, and reflection questions. I encourage teachers, by experimenting with the ideas in the dream research methods course, to serve as midwives for helping bring their students’ dreams to birth

Argumentation, Eureka and emotion: An analysis of group projects in creative design training

Creativity training has been generally based on avoiding critique during idea generation, although benefits of argumentation have been shown during idea selection and elaboration. The research reported here aims to understand how argumentative interactions involving role-play, with subsequent group reflection on them, contribute to collaborative creative design projects. The study was carried within a specialised Masters course at the Royal College of Art (London), organised jointly with Imperial College London, and focuses on analysing group reflection sessions of two groups of students whose on-going project was initially defined as “communication by touch”. Results showed that although students reported difficulties in playing argumentative roles that were not aligned with their personal views, their debates enabled them to arrive at“Eureka!” moments with respect to better grounded and precise definitions of their project concepts. We highlight the complex ways in which emotions circulate with respect to “Eureka!” moments, role-play and grounding. Given differences in ways that groups played out their assigned argumentative roles, we conclude that role play debate and group reflection on it need to be applied and considered as a whole in creative design training

Expert Teacher Contributions to Argumentation Quality During Inquiry Dialogue

The purpose of this study was to examine how expert teachers facilitate inquiry dialogue to contribute to argumentation quality during group discussions in elementary school classrooms. “Argument Literacy,” or the ability to comprehend and formulate arguments, is an important learning outcome identified by the recent Common Core State Standards. Given the value placed on argument skills, we need to know how teachers can support the development of argumentation in their students. This study examined the facilitation of three expert teachers as it related to the quality of argumentation generated by fifth-grade students engaging in inquiry dialogue. To do this, I analyzed six discussion transcripts from three teachers and conducted follow-up interviews with each teacher. First, I used the transcripts to track the development of student-generated argument threads, or sequences of argument features evoked to respond to a contestable question. After isolating each thread, I developed a record of teacher moves during the same discussion. I analyzed the relationship between the teacher moves and argument threads to explore how teacher moves related to argumentation quality. Following the identification of teacher moves, I interviewed teachers to explore their underlying beliefs concerning facilitation and how those related to specific facilitative interventions. The findings from the analysis of transcripts suggest that the use of argument threads can enhance existing frameworks for assessing argumentation quality. The use of thread length provided a more nuanced and contextually sensitive picture of quality and helped highlight teacher moves related to quality. The findings also revealed a set of seven commonly used moves that teachers use to support student argumentation. These moves generally focus on clarifying the process of the inquiry and the content of student statements. Teacher interviews offered additional insights into the underlying beliefs and principles that guided the teacher’s strategic use of moves. I identified three guiding principles, common among the teachers. These principles were shown to align with the more general teacher beliefs about inquiry dialogue and the role of argumentation. Finally, I explored the possible influences of the teachers’ background knowledge on their facilitation and discussed implications for future research and teacher professional development