Leena Laurinen

Students Evaluating Internet Sources: From Versatile Evaluators to Uncritical Readers

The Internet is a significant information resource for students due to the ease of access it allows to a vast amount of information. As the quality of the information on the Internet varies, it is important that students are able to evaluate such information critically. The aim of the study was to investigate how students evaluate Internet sources in an authentic learning task. Upper secondary school students (n = 25) were asked to look for source material on the Internet in order to write an essay. They were asked to verbalize their thoughts during the material gathering process. Their verbalizations and actions on the Internet were recorded and analyzed. The five evaluation profiles emerged: 1) versatile evaluators; 2) relevance-orientated evaluators; 3) limited evaluators; 4) disorientated readers; and 5) uncritical readers.

Working on Understanding During Collaborative Online Reading

This study examines how students in Finland (16-18 years of age) constructed meaning and knowledge in a collaborative online reading situation. Student pairs (n = 19) were asked to write a joint essay on a controversial issue. First, the pairs discussed the topic freely to activate their prior knowledge. Next, they gathered source material on the Internet. Finally, they composed a joint essay. The data were collected using an interaction approach to verbal protocol data, along with video screen captures. In the analysis, three units were employed: episodes (n = 562) for describing online reading practices; utterances (n = 944) for identifying collaborative reading strategies; and collaborative reading patterns (n = 435) for clarifying how the student pairs constructed meaning and knowledge. Collaborative reading patterns were categorized according to a four-part model. A hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted to identify students’ collaborative reading profiles. Five collaborative reading profiles emerged: co-constructers (two pairs), collaborators (two pairs), blenders (six pairs), individually oriented readers (four pairs), and silent readers (five pairs). Overall, it appeared that some students were capable of working in pairs, whereas others had a stronger preference for working alone. Collaborative profiles might offer teachers both an evaluative and an instructional tool to support collaborative interaction in their classrooms.

Argumentation Skills as Prerequisites for Collaborative Learning among Finnish, French, and English Secondary School Students.

Argumentation skills of secondary school students were evaluated in Finland (n = 290), France (n = 54), and England (n = 41). The data were collected from 4 tasks comprising 7 variables. The results indicated that most of the students had correctly justified arguments and conclusions, and composed clear claims and relevant arguments. However, many students had difficulties in recognising the main claim and arguments for it in an expository text, and in commenting analytically on an argumentative text. Thus the students possessed the prerequisites for argumentative reasoning and writing but need further practice in analytical and critical reading.

Collaborative Learning through Chat Discussions and Argument Diagrams in Secondary School

Abstract This study clarifies whether secondary school students develop their argumentation skills through reading and collaboration. The students first constructed an individual argument diagram on genetically modified organisms, read three articles, and improved their diagrams. Next, they engaged in a chat debate, reflected on their debate by constructing a collaborative argument diagram on it, and finally finished their individual diagrams. The analyses compared the diagrams students finished after the debate and reflection with the diagrams they constructed before the debate. Collaboration not only encouraged students to elaborate their previous arguments but also helped them to recall and create ideas and arguments.

Computer‐based and Face‐to‐face Collaborative Argumentation in Secondary Schools in England and Finland

Abstract This article focuses on the analysis of secondary school students’ argumentative interactions in England and Finland, within specific face‐to‐face and computer‐based environments. We propose that a combination of learning environments, in conjunction with teacher input and support, is important for developing argumentation skills in the classroom. Face‐to‐face argumentation, in particular, offers ample opportunity for concentrating on the quality (through deeper exploration) of arguments; such learning can enhance the construction of well‐structured arguments often associated with some computer‐based environments, such as synchronous computer chat.

Inducing Socio-Cognitive Conflict in Finnish and German Groups of Online Learners by CSCL Script.

Collaborative learners are often meant to be guided by collaboration scripts to identify, discuss, and resolve differences of opinion and knowledge. How learners engage in and resolve conflict, however, may be highly dependent on learners’ cultural background. In this article, we examine the extent to which a peer-critique collaboration script induces socio-cognitive conflicts within Finnish and German groups of online learners. In a 2 × 2-design (Finnish/German × without script/with script), we analyzed online discussions in a problem-based learning environment of 16 German and 28 Finnish groups of three (132 participants in total) with or without script support. Trained coders rated the extent to which learners engaged in socio-cognitive conflicts, by indicating either agreement or disagreement. The results show that the peer-critique script could develop socio-cognitive conflicts. The German groups were affected more strongly by the script, even though the interaction patterns of unscripted German groups were already more conflict-oriented than those of unscripted Finnish groups. Agreement in Finnish groups mostly indicated that learners integrate arguments of learning partners into their own line of reasoning. Agreement in German groups, however, served coordination and continuation of discourse, e.g., by indicating comprehension of others’ ideas. The results showed that learning environments and collaboration scripts need to be designed with respect to culture. Furthermore, the findings emphasized that findings on computer-supported collaboration scripts cannot simply be generalized across different cultures.

University Students as Composers of a Digital Video

This paper introduces a university course in which digital video composing was used as a study method. The aim of the course was to empower future teachers to use digital and multimodal literacy practices in their own teaching. Students in education, 13 in total, participated in the course on digital literacies. The course achievement was measured with the task in which students composed a video in small-groups. The students’ videos were supposed to convince a pedagogical target group about the usefulness of a teaching method or need for a reform. In the last meeting, student’s videos were watched and the contents of the videos were discussed. The experiences on composing a digital video were also shared. In the last meeting, the students answered to a questionnaire on their experiences on video composing. After the course the students wrote a self-evaluation about their own learning. This paper seeks to clarify students’ experiences on learning of multimodal literacy practices, ICT use and course content. Most of the students reported that they learned to create and interpret multimodal texts. New ICT-tools were also learned to use. The study showed that video composing can be used to study content knowledge at the university course.