The effects of a visible-annotation tool for sequential knowledge construction on discourse patterns and collaborative outcomes

Abstract

This study aimed to explore learners’ discourse patterns and outcomes while using a visible-annotation tool as a collaborative representation tool. The tool used in this study introduced two types of sharing activities before the problem-solving phase to support sequential knowledge construction. Forty participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups according to two variables: type of sharing activities (meaning sharing activity (M) and opinion sharing activity (O)), and type of representation function to guide sharing activities (word-based function (W) and sentence-based function (S)). All three groups performed sharing activities during the same period. After completing these, the participants carried out a lesson-planning task in pairs during the problem-solving phase. All annotations across three learning phases were categorised to investigate discourse patterns. The findings revealed that Group MWOS, provided with M based on W and O based on S, had the most effective knowledge construction process, showing sequential discourse patterns. In addition, differences in discourse patterns among groups positively influenced the level of collaborative outcomes.