Marcy P. Driscoll

Collaborative knowledge building: A case study

What learning conditions are necessary to effectively support the knowledge-building enterprise in a learning community? To answer this question, the case-study method was employed to investigate collaborative knowledge building in a graduate level course designed to incorporate specific constructivist learning principles. These principles included (a) having a collective and authentic community goal to facilitate collaboration and engagement in the community, (b) using cooperative groups to provide for social negotiation and to promote multiple perspectives, (c) personally selecting of course readings and group decision-making to encourage ownership in learning, and (d) employing an integrated set of technology tools to archive the work of the community and facilitate communication. Results indicated that the instructional strategies designed into the course promoted collaborative knowledge building and the acquisition of key concepts through self-directed learning strategies. Results also pointed out the types of technological support required to implement an effective community of learners. A proposed set of guidelines is discussed to assist instructional designers in the design and development of collaborative, knowledge-building environments.

The Past, Present, and Future of Research in Distance Education: Results of a Content Analysis.

The articles published in four prominent distance education journals between 1997 and 2002 were categorized and the references cited were tallied. The study provides an opportunity to examine research topics, methods, and citation trends. The results can be used to review current research trends and to explore potential research directions.

New Research Paradigms in Instructional Technology: An Inquiry

In this paper, we review the current state of research paradigms in the field of instructional technology from the perspective of research standards and paradigms recommended by Leslie J. Briggs in the early 1980s. Our analysis of articles published in Educational Technology Research and Development from 1992 to 1996 revealed that relatively few research paradigms were used and that studies did not, for the most part, adhere to Briggss (1984) Culture Four standards. Perhaps the most startling result was that more than half the articles published were not empirical studies at all. We discuss some reasons for these findings and suggest that instructional technology (IT) researchers make a renewed commitment to Briggss standards. IT researchers can again advance knowledge in the field in significant ways by collaborating with partners in the field and focusing on questions related to instructional design processes, questions that require the use of more developmental research methods.

A New Model of Concept Teaching and Learning.

Current models of instructional design assume that concepts are (a) classifying rules, (b) components of a more complex network or schema in memory, and (c) evaluated/taught by classification performance. Based on current research and theory, however, concepts should be viewed as conceptual tools rather than classification rules. Concepts may be schemas or networks in themselves, as a complex arrangement of declarative, procedural, and inferential knowledge. Concept learning may be measured by concept use and inferences as well as classification and taught via analogies, learning strategies, use/inference practice, and rational-set generators.

Effects of a diagrammatic display of coordinate concept definitions on concept classification performance

This study investigated the effect of an innovative method for presenting coordinate definitions on learning defined concepts. A text that arranged definitions and examples of seven coordinate concepts in a tree-like diagram was contrasted with a text that arranged these same definitions and examples in a standard textbook format. In addition, this study examined a method of creating concept examples that required different levels of discrimination and generalization, called a rational set generator. Forty-six junior and senior high school physics students participated. Results confirmed the predicted interaction between text method and reading ability, with the lower ability students benefiting more from the diagram method than their counterparts exposed to the textbook format.

Error and Feedback: Relation between Content Analysis and Confidence of Response

Prior studies using science concepts and rules have indicated that learners spend twice as much time studying feedback after fine discrimination errors as they do after gross errors. Likewise, other researchers have suggested that learners had longer feedback study times after errors for which they had a high confidence that the response was correct. The purpose of the present study was to see if a relationship between discrimination error (based on content analysis) and confidence in response (based on self-report) could be established. Analysis indicated that, as in prior studies, the correlation between fine discrimination error and feedback study time was positive. The correlation between fine discrimination error and confidence in response, however, was negative. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.

Measures of cognitive structure: Do they assess learning at the level of comprehension?

Abstract One purpose of this study was to determine whether cognitive structure, assessed by psychometric measures of concept interrelatedness, can be developed when the students initially do not know what concept relationships exist and what they mean. The second purpose was to apply those measures to a learning situation that has produced a nonspecific transfer effect, i.e., the facilitative effect of concrete examples on learning abstract passages, to attempt to explain this effect more completely. Five groups of 20 students each read two prose passages and took recall and structure assessment tests on the second passage. Results (1) indicated that the nonspecific facilitative transfer effect was replicated and (2) offered some support for the contention that the cognitive structure which proximity measures assess can be trained to correspond to content structure, but that related recall remains low. With resolution of some of the methodological issues surrounding these measures, however, clearer explanation of transfer effects and assessment of higher order learning may be facilitated.

Training Students to Conduct Instructional Systems Research.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a series of university research courses designed to prepare students to plan and conduct high quality instructional systems research. These courses serve to introduce students to some important research questions facing the field and to some of the traditional and non-traditional methodologies used to examine them. The courses also provide students with an opportunity to plan, conduct, and describe their own research projects under carefully supervised conditions. The goals of each course, as well as the instructional methodologies employed, are described. Methods of evaluating the success of the courses are also presented.

The Past, Present, and Future of Research in Distance Education

Abstract The articles published in four prominent distance education journals between 1997 and 2002 were categorized and the references cited were tallied. The study provides an opportunity to examine research topics, methods, and citation trends. The results can be used to review current research trends and to explore potential research directions.

The Effects of Various Mastery Criteria on Student Performance and Attitude in a Mastery-Oriented Course.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of various mastery criteria on student performance and attitude in a course in which mastery learning strategies were employed.Undergraduates in an introductory course in educational psychology were randomly assigned to one of three treatments—one in which mastery criteria gradually increased from 70% to 90%, a second in which mastery criteria gradually decreased from 90% to 70%, or a third in which mastery criteria remained constant at 80%. Results indicated that although the high mastery criterion (90%) had a positive effect on some aspects of quiz performance, it did not have an effect on final examination performance. Results also indicated that students preferred that mastery criteria remain constant during a semester. These findings, when examined in light of previous research, call into question some prior notions regarding the levels at which mastery criteria should be set.