Workshop paper presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS '06, Bloomington, IN. Retrieved July 18, 2007 from  http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/pub/icls2006eloc.pdf.In this interactive session, participants will think together about “live” issues in the study of online communities as environments in which engaged learning can take place. Specifically, (a) What can we learn from contrasting cases of engaged learning in online communities? (b) Given differing methods, questions, timescales, grain sizes, philosophical orientations, and site contexts, how might generalizability of findings be ensured? (c) What do researchers need in order to develop a coherent theory of learning

Derry, S.

Marlino, M.

Renninger, K. A.

Stahl, Gerry

Suthers, D.

Weimar, Stephen

Drexel Libraries E-Repository and Archives

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
College of Information Science and Technology
 
 
 
Drexel E-Repository and Archive (iDEA) 
http://idea.library.drexel.edu/   
 
 
Drexel University Libraries 
www.library.drexel.edu
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The following item is made available as a courtesy to scholars by the author(s) and Drexel University Library and may 
contain materials and content, including computer code and tags, artwork, text, graphics, images, and illustrations 
(Material) which may be protected by copyright law. Unless otherwise noted, the Material is made available for non 
profit and educational purposes, such as research, teaching and private study. For these limited purposes, you may 
reproduce (print, download or make copies) the Material without prior permission. All copies must include any 
copyright notice originally included with the Material. You must seek permission from the authors or copyright 
owners for all uses that are not allowed by fair use and other provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law. The 
responsibility for making an independent legal assessment and securing any necessary permission rests with persons 
desiring to reproduce or use the Material. 
 
 
Please direct questions to archives@drexel.edu  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Proposed Pre-Conference Workshop, ICLS 2006 
 
 
Studying Engaged Learning in Online Communities 
 
Brief Description 
 
In this interactive session, participants will think together about “live” issues in the study 
of online communities as environments in which engaged learning can take place.  
Specifically, (a) What can we learn from contrasting cases of engaged learning in online 
communities? (b) Given differing methods, questions, timescales, grain sizes, 
philosophical orientations, and site contexts, how might generalizability of findings be 
ensured? (c) What do researchers need in order to develop a coherent theory of learning? 
 
 
Proposal (theoretical perspective, rationale, goals- 600 words 
  
The richness of interactions fostered by the Web and efforts to leverage that 
potential have resulted in the building and study of network-based services with the aim 
of fostering online communities that promote learning (Renninger & Shumar, 2002a; 
Barab, Kling, & Gray, 2004).  These attempts to define innovative spaces for learning in 
small and large collaborative groups have yielded new potential for furthering 
understanding of learning and thinking in both formal and informal contexts, especially 
in the domains of science and mathematics (Stahl, 2006; Suthers, 2005a, 2005b).  For 
example, since 2002, students’ evaluative ratings of the activities and tools provided by 
the Socio-Technical Environments for Learning and Learning Activity Research 
(STELLAR) Lab have been stable and positive, underscoring students’ preferences to 
work collaboratively rather than individually on activities (Derry, et. al., 2005, in press).  
Similarly, in-depth semi-structured interviews with 43 teachers using Math Forum 
(mathforum.org) resources over a three-year period reveal sustained engagement, as well 
as changed activity and sense of possibility—e.g., teachers who do not like or think that 
they can teach mathematics, finding out that they do and can (Renninger & Shumar, 
2002b). These teachers both liked working with others on the site and deepened and 
developed their understanding of mathematics and mathematics pedagogy through 
various types of collaborations (dyads, small groups, and the community of the site, or 
community of the site, as a whole). 
 
It appears that the online context may support learners to ask questions and seek 
resources to learn mathematics and science content (Marlino, Sumner, Fulker, Manduca, 
& Mogk, 2001).  The online context may support learners to overcome barriers based on 
geographic location, time constraints, gender, initial interest, self-confidence, minority 
status, age, disability, or skill level (Shumar & Renninger, 2002).  However, there are a 
wide-range of online contexts (e.g., collaborative chat environments, interactive virtual 
communities, digital libraries).  The methods that have been used to study these vary, as 
do the research questions that have informed them, the timescale, the grain sizes, and 
philosophical orientations.  How can the researchers who study online communities 
develop a coherent (generalizable) theory of learning such as NSF assumes is possible?   
  
The goals for this interactive workshop include a thoughtful and inclusive 
discussion of three “live” issues for those studying the online community as an 
environment in which engaged learning can take place: (a) What can we learn from 
comparing and contrasting cases representing different methodological approaches, 
addressing questions such as whether different methods (e.g., discourse analysis, 
cognitive ethnography, ethnomethodology, interaction analysis, controlled 
experimentation) are more or less suitable for addressing classes of question and working 
at different grain sizes (ranging from small conversational segments to development of 
communities over long periods of time)? (b) Given the range of methods, questions, 
timescales, grain sizes, philosophical orientations, and site contexts, how might 
generalizability of findings (e.g., is engagement the same phenomena in a collaborative 
chat environment, an interactive virtual community, and a digital library?) be ensured? 
(c) What do researchers need in order to develop a coherent theory of learning? How can 
we seed community among researchers who study engaged learning in online 
communities?  What are the barriers (and what affordances might be designed) to help 
researchers become a professional online learning community themselves?  
 
 
Audience 
 
Participants who want to think with others about the proposed questions of the session are 
encouraged to enroll in the workshop.  All participants should prepare a short (2-page) 
statement introducing themselves, their experience working with/studying online 
communities, and their goals for workshop participation given the session questions. 
These statements should be emailed to Ann Renninger (krennin1@swarthmore.edu) by 
June 15. They will be put on a wiki and made available to all session participants. These 
statements will also be used to guide facilitation of the workshop. 
 
 
Syllabus (structure of the session) 
 
The goals of the proposed interactive workshop include a thoughtful and inclusive 
discussion of three “live” issues: (a) What can we learn from comparing and contrasting 
cases of engaged learning in online communities? (b) Given the range of methods, 
questions, timescales, grain sizes, philosophical orientations, and site contexts, how 
might generalizability of findings be ensured? (c) What do researchers need in order to 
develop a coherent theory of learning?  The workshop will consist of a mix of activities: 
introductions, jig-sawed groups, and whole group discussion. The goals and experience 
of all participants will be used to make final decisions about the timing, particular focus, 
and groupings for the break out groups.   
 
 A wiki consisting of 2-page statements submitted prior to the workshop will be 
used to provide participants with information about each other, and will be used to further 
refine the structure of the workshop.  
 
Steve Weimar, an experienced workshop facilitator, will serve as moderator for 
the session.  He will provide an overview of workshop goals and format. He will also 
point to data driven examples of the questions of the session and their importance to both 
theory and practice.  The workshop will begin with brief self-introductions of all 
workshop participants that will allow people to link faces with the texts on the wiki.  
Steve will lead off, followed by each of the workshop “presenters” who will model the 
brief self-introduction format. (9-9:30 am) 
 
A modified jigsaw format will be used to involve all workshop participants more 
directly in thinking about the given question. Concurrent discussions of each of the three 
questions will be the focus of the first grouping (9:30-10:30 am). At the close of the first 
grouping, discussion will turn to how to effectively share this discussion with others. 
 
Following the break (10:30 –11 am), group participation will be jigsawed.  In the 
second grouping (11-12 am), participants will report on the discussion of the question 
taken up in the first and hear about the discussions of each of the other questions.  
 
Following the jigsawed grouping, the workshop participants will re-group as a 
whole group.  In the remaining half hour, they will identify what they know and what 
they would like to know/or think still needs to be figured out about each of the session 
questions (12-12:30 pm).   
 
 
Presenter Contact Information  
 
K. Ann Renninger, Organizer and Presenter 
Krennin1@swarthmore.edu
Department of Educational Studies 
Swarthmore College 
Swarthmore, PA  19081-1397 
P: 610-328-8347 
F: 610-690-6892 (mark: attention, Ann) 
 
Ann is trained as a developmental and educational psychologist.  She has been 
conducting research on learning and motivation on the Math Forum@Drexel site since its 
beginnings in 1992.  
 
Renninger, K. A., & Shumar, W. (2002b). Community building with and for teachers: 
The Math Forum as a resource for teacher professional development. In K. A. 
Renninger & W. Shumar (Eds.), Building virtual communities: Learning and change 
in cyberspace (pp. 60-95). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.  
Renninger, K. A., & Shumar, W. (2004). The centrality of culture and community to 
participant learning at and with The Math Forum. In S. A. Barab, R. Kling, & J. H. 
Gray (Eds.), Designing for virtual communities in the service of learning (pp. 181-
209). New York: Cambridge University Press.  
 
Stephen A. Weimar, Moderator 
The Math Forum@Drexel University 
steve@mathforum.org
 
Steve is the Director of the Math Forum@Drexel site, a large interactive virtual resource 
center. Prior to his work with the Math Forum, Steve facilitated workshops for teacher 
educators and was a mathematics teacher. 
Giersch, S., Klotz, E. A., McMartin, F., Muramatsu, B., Renninger, K. A., Shumar, W., 
Weimar, S. A.,  (2004, July/August). If you build it, will they come? Participant 
involvement in digital libraries. D-Lib Magazine, 10(7/8). Retrieve from 
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july04/giersch/07giersch.html
Renninger, K. A., Weimar, S. A., & Klotz, E. A. (1998).  Teachers and students 
investigating and communicating about geometry: The Math Forum. In R. Lehrer & 
D. Chazan (Eds.), Designing learning environments for developing understanding of 
geometry and space (pp. 465-487). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 
 
 
Sharon J. Derry, Presenter 
University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Center for Education Research 
derry@education.wisc.edu
 
Sharon is trained in cognitive science and educational psychology.  She manages several 
curriculum and instructional technology projects that focus on individual and 
collaborative problem solving, critical thinking, literacy, and basic mathematics.  
Derry, S. J., Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Feltovich, J., Nagarajan, A., Chernobilsky, E., & 
Halfpap, B. (2005). Making a mesh of it: A STELLAR approach to teacher 
professional development. In Proceedings of Computer Support for Collaborative 
Learning (CSCL) 2005, Taipei, Taiwan. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 
Derry, S. J., Schunn, C., & Gernsbacher, M. A. (Eds) (in press).  Interdisciplinary 
collaboration: An emerging cognitive science. Mahwah, NJ, Erlbaum. 
 
Mary Marlino, Presenter 
UCAR, Digital Library for Earth System Education Program Center 
marlino@ucar.edu
 
Mary is the Director of DLESE, a large digital library of earth science resources.  
 
Sumner, T., Marlino, M., Custard, M. (2005). Developing a computational model of 
“quality” for educational digital libraries.  ECDL.  541-542. 
Marlino, M., Sumner, T. R., Fulker, D., Manduca, C., & Mogk, D. (2001). The Digital 
Library for Earth System Education: Building Community, Building the Library. 
Communications of the ACM, 44 (5), 80-81 
 
Gerry Stahl, Presenter 
Drexel University, Virtual Math Teams Project at the Math Forum @ Drexel 
Gerry.stahl@drexel.edu
 
Gerry is trained as a computer scientist and philosopher.  The editor of IJCSCL, he 
studies group cognition and collaboration in the Virtual Math Teams Project.  
 
Stahl, G. (2006). Group cognition: Computer support for building collaborative 
knowledge. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Retrieved from 
http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/mit/. 
Stahl, G. (2005). Group cognition in computer assisted learning. Journal of Computer 
Assisted Learning. Retrieved from 
http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/publications/journals/JCAL.pdf
 
Wesley Shumar, Presenter 
Drexel University, Department of Cultural Anthropology 
shumarw@drexel.edu
 
Wes is a cultural anthropologist who conducts research and evaluation for the Math 
Forum. His research focuses on community building and group learning online and 
higher education. 
  
Renninger, K. A., & Shumar, W. (Eds.) (2002a). Building virtual communities: Learning 
and change in cyberspace. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 
Shumar, W., & Renninger, K. A. (2002). Introduction: On conceptualizing community. 
In K. A. Renninger & W. Shumar (Eds.), Building virtual communities: Change and 
Learning in Cyberspace (pp. 1-19). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 
 
Daniel D. Suthers, Presenter 
University of Hawaii, Hawaii Networked Learning Communities 
suthers@hawaii.edu
 
Dan is trained in computer science and cognitive psychology.  He directs the Hawai-i 
Networked Learning Communities site and conducts research on the affordances of 
technology and collaborative learning online.  
 
Suthers, D. (2005). Technology affordances for intersubjective learning: A thematic 
agenda for CSCL.  In T. Koschmann, D. Suthers, & T.W. Chan (Eds.), Computer 
Supported Collaborative Learning 2005: The Next 10 Years! (pp. 662-671).  
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 
Suthers, D., and Hundhausen, C. (2003). An Empirical Study of the Effects of 
Representational Guidance on Collaborative Learning. Journal of the Learning 
Sciences, 12(2), 183-219. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Studying engaged learning in online communities

https://idea.library.drexel.edu/islandora/object/idea%3A1734/datastream/OBJ/download/Studying_engaged_learning_in_online_communities.pdf

Studying engaged learning in online communities

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Drexel Libraries E-Repository and Archives