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Dissertation
Constructing Productive Student-Student Online Discussions
University of West Florida Libraries
Doctor of Education (EDD), University of West Florida
2012
Abstract
This experimental design-based research study was conducted to compare three instructional protocols designed to facilitate productive student-student interaction in online discussion forums. The SEE-RQ Protocol, Concept Weave Protocol, and Weave So Far Protocols were all grounded in Vygotsky's (1978) Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). All three of the protocols offered statistically significant differences in the students' knowledge of seven academic concepts when comparing their pre-assessments with their post-discussion tests as measured by Biggs and Collis' (1982) SOLO Taxonomy (for Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes). The protocol that facilitated the social constructivist learning process the best was the Weave So Far Protocol. The students who acted according to the Weave So Far Protocol attained a level of knowledge that was statistically significant for three of the seven concepts discussed in comparison to the SEE-RQ Protocol. A comparison of the number of activities the students conducted in the forum to achieve the levels of knowledge attainment were 1.8 times higher for the students following the Concept Weave Protocol compared to the Weave So Far Protocol. Further, the students who were following the Weave So Far Protocol included 8.5% more citations of peers derived from the team discussion in their chapter test responses compared to the students who followed the Concept Weave Protocol. Moreover, the Weave So Far Protocol received the highest ratings from the students regarding how it worked for personal knowledge construction, construction of knowledge on part of the team, and relationship building. As expressed by one of the students regarding the Weave So Far Protocol, "It was just right." In accordance with these results, the researcher chose the Weave So Far Protocol to be used for future editions of the course.
Details
- Title
- Constructing Productive Student-Student Online Discussions
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Publisher
- University of West Florida Libraries
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 440
- Copyright
- © 2012 Jennifer Petra Ehrhardt
- Identifiers
- 99380090845806600
- Academic Unit
- School of Education
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Doctor of Education (EDD)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Education (EDD), University of West Florida