Huang-Yao Hong

Knowledge Society Network: Toward a Dynamic, Sustained Network for Building Knowledge

The Knowledge Society Network (KSN) “takes advantage of new knowledge media to maximize and democratize society’s knowledge-creating capacity” (www.ikit.org/KSN). This article synthesizes the principles and designs of this network which were initiated over 15 years ago, and presents an exploratory study of interactions in the KSN over four years, elaborating different network structures and the potential of each for knowledge advancement. Four major sub-network structures for participant and idea interaction are described, as reflected in social network analysis of discourse in the KSN. Strengths and weaknesses of work within each sub-network were identified with suggestions for creating a more dynamic, sustained network for knowledge advancement.

Community knowledge assessment in a knowledge building environment

This study investigates ways of using key terms to represent and assess community knowledge in an online knowledge building environment. Knowledge Forum - an environment specially designed to support advances in community knowledge - incorporates key-term analytic tools. In the current study these tools were used to determine if key-term measures complement conventional online behavioral measures in assessing community knowledge advances. Discourse rated as more reflective and depth-oriented showed higher percentages of shared key terms and higher frequency use of shared key terms than less reflective, shallower discourse. Limitations and possibilities for using key terms for automated assessment and visual representation of community knowledge are discussed.

Schools as Knowledge-Building Organizations: Thirty Years of Design Research.

In this article we review the Knowledge-Building literature, unpacking its conceptual framework, principle-based pedagogy, distinctive features, and issues regarding scalability and sustainability. The Knowledge-Building goal is to reframe education as a knowledge-creating enterprise, engaging students from the earliest years of schooling. Despite a 30-year program of research and development and recognition that there is a close fit between Knowledge Building and efforts to meet knowledge society needs, Knowledge Building is frequently reinterpreted along the general lines of bringing constructivist learning into schooling rather than means to reframing education as a knowledge-creating enterprise. This article aims to clarify Knowledge-Building goals and to make the opportunities afforded by Knowledge Building more accessible.

A survey to examine teachers’ perceptions of design dispositions, lesson design practices, and their relationships with technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)

This study investigates 201 Singaporean teachers’ perceptions of their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), lesson design practices, and design dispositions through a survey instrument. Investigation of these constructs reveal important variables influencing teachers’ perceptions of TPACK which have not yet been explored. The confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis confirm the validity and reliability of the instrument. The structural equation model shows that the teachers’ perceptions of design dispositions (orientations towards design) and lesson design practices (approaches used for lesson design) have direct relationships with the teachers’ perceptions of TPACK. The results of this study show that to enhance teachers’ TPACK perceptions, teacher educators need to help teachers develop lesson design practices that support ideation and iteration. They also need to develop teachers’ design dispositions that are amenable to exploring and resolving conflicting lesson design ideas. Going beyond TPACK, understandings of teachers’ lesson design practices and design dispositions are important for teacher educators to better design professional development for integration of information and communications technology.

Fostering sustained idea improvement with principle-based knowledge building analytic tools

The purpose of this study is to explore the use of principle-based analytic tools to improve community knowledge building in a class of Grade 5/6 students. A flexible design framework was used to engage students in use of three analytic tools-a Vocabulary Analyzer, a Social Network Tool, and a Semantic Overlap Tool. These tools are built into Knowledge Forum technology so principle-based assessment is integral to knowledge work. The primary source of data was discourse generated by students in Knowledge Forum over a school semester (approximately four months). Findings based on a mixed-methods analysis reveal principle-based knowledge building analytic tools to be effective in increasing the frequency with which key terms are used by individuals, in their own productive vocabulary as well as in the shared community space, thus creating a more discursively connected community. Results additionally show a shift from problem generation and breadth of inquiry to increased self-assessment, reflection, and depth of inquiry; also, students report significant ways in which knowledge building analytic tools can increase knowledge building capacity. The effect of principle-based analytic tools to inform knowledge building was examined.Principle-based design (PBD) favors emergent goals and self-organization sustained by adaptive procedures.PBD supports more collaborative and adaptive use of analytic tools.Adaptive tool use is effective in creating a more discursively connected community.

Making thinking visible: growth in graphical literacy, grades 3 to 4

This study provides a new coding scheme to analyze growth in seven components of graphical literacy for 22 students who used an online multimedia environment--Knowledge Forum®--across two years (grades 3 and 4) to advance their theories in science and history. Students received no instruction in graphical literacy and were free to express their ideas in text or graphics. Results show increases in all components of graphical literacy over this time span.

Early Development of Graphical Literacy through Knowledge Building

This study examined growth in graphical literacy for students contributing to an online, multimedia, communal environment as they advanced their understanding of biology, history and optics. Their science and history studies started early in Grade 3 and continued to the end of Grade 4; students did not receive instruction in graphics production, nor were they required to produce graphics. Results show that students spontaneously produced graphics that advanced along seven dimensions, including effective representation of complex ideas, use of source information and captions, and aesthetic quality. On average, the scores for the seven dimensions were higher for Grade 4 students with two years of experience with Knowledge Building pedagogy and technology (Knowledge Forum®) than for Grade 6 students with one year of experience. The overall pattern of results suggests reciprocal enhancement of graphical, textual, digital, and scientific literacy, with students exceeding expectations by available norms, and performance enhanced through extended Knowledge Building experience.

Two tales of time: uncovering the significance of sequential patterns among contribution types in knowledge-building discourse

ABSTRACT As collaborative learning is actualized through evolving dialogues, temporality inevitably matters for the analysis of collaborative learning. This study attempts to uncover sequential patterns that distinguish “productive” threads of knowledge-building discourse. A database of Grade 1–6 knowledge-building discourse was first coded for the posts’ contribution types and discussion threads’ productivity. Two distinctive temporal analysis techniques – Lag-sequential Analysis (LsA) and Frequent Sequence Mining (FSM) – were subsequently applied to detecting sequential patterns among contribution types that distinguish productive threads. The findings of LsA indicated that threads that were characterized by mere opinion-giving did not achieve much progress, while threads having more transitions among questioning, obtaining information, working with information, and theorizing were more productive. FSM further uncovered from productive threads distinguishing frequent sequences involving sustained theorizing, integrated use of evidence, and problematization of proposed theories. Based on the significance of studying temporality in collaborative learning revealed in the study, we advocate for more analytics tapping into temporality of learning.

Exploring the effectiveness of an idea-centered design to foster a computer-supported knowledge building environment

This paper compares the effectiveness of two multimedia environments-- Blackboard Learning System™ and Knowledge Forum™--in terms of their underlying design approaches to support collaborative learning and knowledge work. The two design approaches are (1) a conventional theme-based approach, i.e., to center group collaboration and meaning interaction around themes, and (2) an idea-centered approach, i.e., to center group collaboration and meaning interaction around sustained idea exchange and improvement. Findings suggest that an idea-centered design approach seems more likely to construct an environment that fosters more dynamic group and meaning interactions, thus enabling more sustained collaborative learning and knowledge building.

Design Thinking and Education

This chapter revisits the role of design and design thinking in general and in education in particular. It then suggests a replacement of traditional educational system with a new one where design thinking is integrated as part of the curricular. Acknowledging that the new educational design is a work in progress, this chapter discusses some important dimensions which have surfaced: (1) epistemological concerns with generating useful, practical ideas to resolve real-world problems as opposed to traditional epistemology which takes the view of knowledge as verified truth; (2) based on the three-world ontology developed by Popper (Three worlds. Retrieved 16 Mar 2010 from http://www.tannerlectures.utah.edu/lectures/documents/popper80.pdf, 7 Apr 1978), the new design of education should engage students on all three worlds of reality which allows them to explore different tools and thinking protocols in order to create practical and/or ingenious solutions to resolve complex problems and to fulfill human needs and wants; (3) the need for a review of current pedagogical practices while embracing constructivism where design is deemed as a main pedagogical activity (Kafai, Constructionism. In: Sawyer K (ed) Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 35–46, 2006); and (4) design thinking useful not only for student learning but also for developing teacher professionalism.