Thesis (BA.(Hons))--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Lehigh University, 2000. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 198-221).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-124).

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

This study examines the design, processes and instructional effects of principle-based, student-directed reflective assessments on students’ conceptual understanding and collaborative inquiry in a computer-supported knowledge building environment. Premised on socio-constructivism, knowledge building and classroom learning theories, this study (1) designs a knowledge building environment, informed by knowledge building principles and reflective assessments, and evaluates its effects on students’ conceptual understanding, approaches to learning, and conceptions of collaboration; (2) investigates the role of engagement in Knowledge Forum on students’ conceptual understanding; (3) examines the role of portfolio assessment and other reflective assessment strategies in facilitating deep learning and knowledge building; and (4) characterizes the socio-cognitive dynamics of collaborative knowledge building. Participants of the study were 60 first-year Chinese tertiary students enrolled in a Sino-British joint educational program at a university in Shanghai, China. In a quasi-experimental design, one group of students experienced a knowledge building environment which was informed by knowledge building principles and highlighted concurrent, transformative assessment (reflective assessment strategies). The other group was exposed to a technology-based environment without the mediation of knowledge building principles. Multiple source of data were employed, including surveys, domain tests, academic performance assessments, Knowledge Forum engagement indices, e-portfolio notes, online inquiry threads, student classroom reflective presentations, and end-of-program interviews. Major findings include (1) students in the principle-based environment outperformed their peers in terms of conceptual understanding and deep approaches to learning; (2) student online participation and community connectedness increased over time, and contributed to students’ conceptual understanding over and above their prior domain knowledge; (3) qualitative e-portfolio analyses identified different kinds of student reflection strategies that were correlated with academic performance; (4) analysis of online inquiry threads showed students’ different levels of engagement with four knowledge building principles and suggested knowledge building might be manifested by meta-discourse; (5) Student reflective presentation and interview study further addressed the role of epistemic reflection and collective assessments in scaffolding collaborative knowledge building. This study addresses the problem of aligning social-constructivist theories of learning and assessment. Assessment takes on a new meaning of both assessing and scaffolding group learning and knowledge building. This study may advance current literature on how socio-cognitive principles and social-constructivist assessment can be designed and aligned with learning, collaboration and instruction to promote conceptual understanding and knowledge building. This study also has pedagogical implications for how computer-supported knowledge building inquiry can be designed in the context of 21st century Chinese tertiary classrooms. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study aimed to develop a holistic understanding of knowledge-building discourse supported by Knowledge Forum among primary-and secondary-school students in Hong Kong. It is argued that prior studies of knowledge building did not adequately address the important question of how ideas are progressively improved because these studies employed cognitively oriented approaches that discarded the sequential, structural, and situational information about the process of group interactions. To better understand this question, the author applied methods from qualitative traditions to the study of knowledge-building discourse. The study was part of a five-year professional development project, “Developing a teacher community for classroom innovation through knowledge building”. The author and other project members collaboratively analyzed more than hundreds of Knowledge Forum views to gain an initial understanding of productive group interactions. The selection of data set for the study utilized purposive sampling. The author evaluated the online discourses of several dozens of classes, with the criteria of productive group interactions. Three classes from different schools were selected: Grade 5 Science, Grade 10 Liberal Studies, and Grade 10 Visual Art. These classes offered diverse examples to enhance the transferability of the findings. The data set comprised 764 Knowledge Forum messages, which were examined in great detail by a four-stage qualitative method. The first stage was a thematic analysis at the thread level to pre-process the online discourses for the subsequent analyses. The second stage was a qualitative coding at the action level to characterize the discourse components of the threads. The coding utilized 7 main codes that were adapted from van Aalst (2009): community, information, question, idea, linking, agency, and meta-discourse. This coding scheme formed a foundation of the data analysis, and this study extended the scheme in two ways. First, it gave the main codes a more theoretically solid foundation by conducting a literature review to further conceptualize or re-conceptualize the main codes. Second, it went beyond conducting the qualitative coding to seek for general patterns of interactions in the third-stage analysis. The third stage was a narrative analysis at the episode level to identify discourse patterns. Eleven patterns were identified to demonstrate productive and unproductive group interactions. The findings from the three stages of analysis were then interpreted to provide a comprehensive profile of the class discourses in the final-stage analysis. The relationship between the discourse profiles and idea improvement was explained. Finally, a validity check was conducted and the findings suggested that the discourse patterns could be used as a heuristic device to provide a basis for understanding other discourses. The implications of this study are threefold. Methodologically, the study has identified eleven discourse patterns that can be conceived as an extensive classification scheme allowing researchers to understand different types of group interaction in asynchronous online discussion forums. Theoretically, the discourse patterns contribute to the literature concerning the process of computer-mediated group interactions. Pedagogically, it is hoped that the discourse patterns can be used as conceptual tools for scaffolding students toward productive group interaction and can be used in teacher professional development. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Reva Joshee. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2008. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-67). Also available online in Scholars' Bank; and in ProQuest, free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-73).