fostering collaborative reflection - cscl@work, cscl 2013

Fostering Collaborative Reflection in an Asynchronous Online Reflection

The use of Prompts

Cress, Ulrike; Renner, Bettina; Bokhorst, Franziska; Herrmann, Thomas & Prilla, Michael

Cress et al.: Fostering Collaborative Reflection in an Asynchronous Online Reflection Tool by Using Prompts

Overview

• Reflection at the Workplace• Collaborative Reflection – Pros and Cons• Laboratory Experiment

• Theoretical Assumptions• Method• First Results


Reflection process (Boud, Keogh & Walker, 1985)

What is Reflection ?

Returning to experience

• Utilizing positive feelings

• Removing obstructing feelings

Re-evaluating experience

New perspectives on

experienceChange in behaviour

Readiness for applicationCommitment

to action

BehaviourIdeasFeelings

Experience


Individual vs. Collaborative Reflection

Individual reflection vs. collaborative reflection

Advantages:- sharing of experiences and solutions- broader spectrum of experiences


Collaborative Reflection with SharedDatabases

• collecting experiences

• enables asynchronous reflection

• time-independent sharing of experiences, solutions

• re-usability; transferability of outcomes

Talk Reflection APP


Problems

Motivational Problem:

• sharing knowledge as social dilemma (e.g., Cress at al., 2003, Cress et al., 2005, Cress & Kimmerle, 2012, Cress, Kimmerle, Hesse, 2006)

Sharing knowledge: costs time,

effort…

Recievinginformation

costsnothing..

But what, ifeverybodyjust wantedto recieve?


Cognitive Problem: extract structural features

Problems

•Person A reportsexperience

•Person B needs toextract structuralfeatures of the problem

•Person B searches mental representations for a fittingexperience by matchingstructural features

A B B

•Person B contributes ownexperience to thedescription of Person A


Use of promts

1. Promts motivate users to contribute

2. Prompts help to extract the structural problemfeatures and make it easier to find analogiesbetween the experience in the database and one‘sown experiences even


Experimental Setting

• laboratory study

• forum (talk Reflection App)

• topic: problems in studies at university and work

• 75 participants students


IV 1: Prompts

• specific prompt : ‘Which problem pattern is reflected here, which possible way to react comes to your mind?’

• control condition 1: unspecific prompt : ‚What comes to your mind?’

• control condition 2: no prompt


IV 2: Typicality of experiencetypical experience :

‚At the end of the last semester I had an exam. I had prepared for that really good […] I had a good feeling afterwards and was sure: I would get quite a good grade. Today I got my results. I failed! What should I do now?’

• nontypical experiene:

‚Since a few weeks I‘ve been working in the control room for robots in the car bodyarea. […] I was sure that I had understood how everything worked and could now takeover by myself. But right on the first day I programmed something wrong and the wholeproduction stopped. […] Of course I want to avoid something like that happening again. Do you have a hint for me?‘


Design

• NP = no prompt• UP = unspecific prompt• SP = specific prompt

3 x 2 Between: PromptW

ithin

: ty

pica

lity

NP, typical situations

UP,typical situations

SP,typical situations

NP,untypical situations

UP,untypical situations

SP, untypical situations


Hypothesis

(1) Main effect typicality

(2) Main effect prompt

(3) Specific prompts lead to more abstraction


First Results – Number of Comments

• Main effect of typical/untypical situation (F(1,72)=27.30, p<.001)

• No main effect of prompt (between factor) (F(2,72)=1.18, p=.31)

• Specific promts seem to hinder!

M (SD)

No prompt Unspecificprompt

Specificprompt

Typical situation 0.99 (0.19) 1.04 (0.34) 0.90 (0.23)

Untypical situation 0.74 (0.29) 0.78 (0.43) 0.68 (0.48)


Unspecific Prompt:

“Does anything occur to you on that?”

Specific Prompt:

“Which problem pattern is reflected here, which possible wayto react comes to your mind?”

Reactions to the Prompts

‚inviting‘

‚practical because you can directlystart to write‘

‚okay‘‚stimulative nature‘

‚irritating because I wouldn‘t have thought

of presenting the problem pattern but rather approaches to solve the problem‘

‚sometimes helpful – sometimesrather unnecessary‘

‚didn‘t know how to connect the problem

pattern to my posting in the forum -ignored it‘


Qualitative Analysis

Hypothesis: Specific prompt lead to deeper reflection

Example: Student failed the exam

• ‚A lack of self-confidence and of confidence in the own competence isexpressed.‘

• ‚Don‘t concentrate too much on certain people, be open, easy andflexible.‘

Vs• Go to the post-exam review.‘

fostering collaborative reflection - cscl@work, cscl 2013

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