Group Project:

Collaborative Knowledge Construction Environments

Presentation by: KNOWLEDGE CREATION GROUP

By: Arne Valen, Elena Stamatova, Shazia Mushtaq

Friday, 9.06.06

UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

TOOL5100

COMPUTER SUPPORTED COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Introduction of the Project Given project problem: Collaborative knowledge construction environments

– Make a survey of key systems in this category– Identify what learning experience they create for the users and

to what extent they integrate learning and working– Organize the findings– Documenting the process– Writing the report

Collaborated Concept Definition

According to Wikipedia : • Collaboration

refers to all processes where people work together, applying both to the work of individuals as well as larger collectives and societies. As an aspect of human society, the term is used in many varying contexts such asscience, art, education, and business.

• Knowledge Building/Creation: Is a phrase, created by Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia, to describe the process which expert groups went through, when they created knowledge. Knowledge building refers to creation of new cognitive artifacts as a result of collective discussion and synthesis of ideas.

• Collaborative Knowledge Creation Environments should be built on asynchronous, persistent collaborative technologies and be deployed on the Internet as a Web-based environment. (from lecture slides)

Our Concept Definition During the semester we have been introduced to several definitions and explanations of the

concepts presented below. Here we choose to present our understanding of them based on our experience during the project work:

• Collaboration is not so much dependent on face-to-face communication, but is a joint activity where the

participants of the group gather together to work on a common goal.

• Knowledge Building/Creation is a learning process where the participants share their understanding and during their

discussion, they get better idea about the phenomenon, or in other words they ”see the light”.

• Collaborative Knowledge Creation Environments allows participants of a collective to share their understanding, experience and questions in order

to exhale higher level of understanding. Introduction of new information affects the collective's understanding, as does the factor when

key members leave the group.

• The two examples for Collaborative Knowledge Creation Environments are:– Wiki– FLE

Practical Project WorkAs mentioned in the beginning the given project problem was redefinedbased on our group discussions:• We will look into systems that will help or which can be used as a platform to build up knowledge

and allow the participants to exchange/interchange ideas and experiences.

• We will try to include people with different levels of understanding, with possibility to exchange information not only textual, but also facilitate audio and /or visual communication. We will also include possibilities for real meeting rooms (eg. in Hospital, factory, schools etc.)

• A system that invites the participants to use it in physical environments, such as in a meeting room, therapy environment etc. 

• We choose to write our project in connection to the metaphors of Wiki. We will look into Wiki as a tool, explore its possibilities and areas of use, future development of the system.

• The research questions that we will address are:1. Which parts of Wiki are suitable for various learning environments?2. How can Wiki be integrated into social settings? 

The Three Case Scenarios

• Scenario 1: http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/brennpunkt/5531017.html

• Patient group: ADHD.

An open environment

• User of forum will be: Cross age (children and relatives)

various family background (level of education, social status etc.)

Professionals (doctors, practitioners, teachers, researchers, pharmacists),

Other people who have interest

• Content: Medical, research, exchange of experiences

The Three Case Scenarios

• Scenario 2:

The Three Case Scenarios

• Scenario 2:

• Reception centre for unaccompanied underage asylum seekers :

Closed environment, high level of security

• User of forum will be: Unaccompanied underage asylum seekers

Cross cultural, multi lingual, possibility for illiteracy

• Observers, monitoring: Milieu workers, teacher, administration

• Content: Personal experiences, chat, text, audio and visual

• Complexity: Additional to physical environment

• Ownership: Operator of the reception centre

The Three Case Scenarios

• Scenario 3:

• Guest Workers with Families: Partially closed and open Environments

• User of forum will be: Cross cultural, mainly English

• Content: Personal experiences, chat, text, audio and visual

• Observers, monitoring: Administration, colleagues, families

• Complexity: Additional to physical environment, administrated

• Ownership: Employer, company

Methods

• We have done survey on Internet (Wiki and FLE).

• Used Confluence Wiki to get experience about the functionality of Wiki.

• Participated in the selected wikis(by registering), as for example posting messages, testing out the access (i. e. editing of pages, calendar, etc. in wishwiki & allotments4all).

• Looked into theoretical articles to gain understanding of the challenges and relate them to the findings of wiki.

Wiki

• What is Wiki? wiki is a type of website that allows users to add, remove, or edit all content, sometimes without the need for registration.

• Why we wanted to use Wiki? - blogs, wiki, and RSS are getting popularity. (see the survey)- Sucess of wikipedia and proclamation of wiki as collaborative tool

makes it as interesting research object.

• Is Wiki suitable for various learning environments?- Joint writing facility- Free movement of users on the site- Combination of existing tools into one environment; use of forum, chat, calender, editing

functionality

 " ...the use of computer as a medium or resource for collaborative learning ...The computer can help ...to communicate and collaborate on joint activities, providing assistance in the coordination process“

 Sitation from Liam J. Bannon, 1989

Wiki

Analysis Document

• AIDS dissident wiki: http://www.reviewingaids.org/awiki/index.php/Main_Page AIDS Wiki is a community gathering place for AIDS dissidents to assist and foster activism

• Allotment4All wiki: http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_mambowiki/Itemid,37/ Allotment and Gardening discussion forum using Joomla, SMF, and mediawiki

• Wiki site about wishes: http://wishwiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

• Wiki page for juggling: http://www.psconclave.com/wiki/Thumbaround_Normal#Thumbaround_TXY_Normal

• Wiki about Educational Technology and related fields: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Main_Page

• Wiki providing help to learn wiki: http://www.eduwiki.info/HelpContents

• CollectorsWiki: http://collectorswiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Findings for Wiki

• The way participants use the Edit functionality of wikis:- provide collaborative knowledge building function BUT is it enough? 

• The different access functionality (password-protection) for registered and guest users contributes in upholding the restrictions/limitations for

editing (making changes, access for various level of information). 

• Blocking certain IP address - problem for other users from the same site to get access. (ex. Arne’s school)

• ”fight” for acceptance of your comments so they can be included in the text which is being written. (ex. Wishwiki)

• About visual story telling (ex. Juggling Wiki)

 

Story Telling

Critical Evaluation

Of project work process- collaboration (e.g work division) positive: mutual understanding

negative: dependency on persons

- coordination (e.g. installation)access to mediates and artifacts

Conclusion

• The answers of the three research questions:1. Which parts of Wiki are suitable for various learning environments?

2. How can Wiki be integrated into social settings? 

• Answers:1. The decision which wiki one can use depends on the type of setting and the

requirements for functionality which he/she has.  

2. ‘Is wiki the only way to build a social setting?’ Here is an example for an alternative community which is called 'community server':

http://communityserver.org/ .

It can be an interesting topic for further research. We have not looked into this matter. An example of its use is on the following page: http://dandyvibe.com/

Discussion

• Discussion on definition of the terms Collaboration and Cooperation

• Discussion about the term ’collaboration’ in Germany• Discussion on a topic connected to the project (How can

you create knowledge if it is something you have? We think that it is more shared understanding than

knowledge, it is not necessary something new that you build, ex. Definition of Collaborative Knowledge Creation Environment is not available in Wikipedia )

• Questions?