Enhancing Online Collaborative Learning: Designs for Effective In-Situ Discussion and Engagement in Large-Scale Learning Environments

The challenge of scaling online discussions in education persists, with many platforms struggling to maintain meaningful engagement and effective moderation as course sizes increase. This often results in diminished discourse quality, making it difficult for students to identify relevant threads and...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Almahmoud, Jumana
Other Authors: Karger, David R.
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2024
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156300
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author Almahmoud, Jumana
author2 Karger, David R.
author_facet Karger, David R.
Almahmoud, Jumana
author_sort Almahmoud, Jumana
collection MIT
description The challenge of scaling online discussions in education persists, with many platforms struggling to maintain meaningful engagement and effective moderation as course sizes increase. This often results in diminished discourse quality, making it difficult for students to identify relevant threads and for instructors to guide conversations. The new Nota Bene (NB) platform introduces a curated reading experience to tackle these issues by leveraging the design affordances of social annotation tools. Designed to curate and elevate meaningful discourse, NB aligns established pedagogical theories with innovative technology, enhancing collaborative learning through annotations and discussions. It encourages an environment of inquiry and community among students. NB addresses specific educational challenges by integrating features such as multi-layered visibility, real-time interactions, and curated comment prompts. Findings suggest that improving the user experience on NB with these features significantly improves students' engagement with each other, the reading material, and discourse quality, supported by pedagogical principles such as social constructivist learning theories.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1563002024-08-22T03:08:24Z Enhancing Online Collaborative Learning: Designs for Effective In-Situ Discussion and Engagement in Large-Scale Learning Environments Almahmoud, Jumana Karger, David R. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science The challenge of scaling online discussions in education persists, with many platforms struggling to maintain meaningful engagement and effective moderation as course sizes increase. This often results in diminished discourse quality, making it difficult for students to identify relevant threads and for instructors to guide conversations. The new Nota Bene (NB) platform introduces a curated reading experience to tackle these issues by leveraging the design affordances of social annotation tools. Designed to curate and elevate meaningful discourse, NB aligns established pedagogical theories with innovative technology, enhancing collaborative learning through annotations and discussions. It encourages an environment of inquiry and community among students. NB addresses specific educational challenges by integrating features such as multi-layered visibility, real-time interactions, and curated comment prompts. Findings suggest that improving the user experience on NB with these features significantly improves students' engagement with each other, the reading material, and discourse quality, supported by pedagogical principles such as social constructivist learning theories. Ph.D. 2024-08-21T18:55:02Z 2024-08-21T18:55:02Z 2024-05 2024-07-10T13:01:24.210Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156300 0000-0002-5482-2232 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Almahmoud, Jumana
Enhancing Online Collaborative Learning: Designs for Effective In-Situ Discussion and Engagement in Large-Scale Learning Environments
title Enhancing Online Collaborative Learning: Designs for Effective In-Situ Discussion and Engagement in Large-Scale Learning Environments
title_full Enhancing Online Collaborative Learning: Designs for Effective In-Situ Discussion and Engagement in Large-Scale Learning Environments
title_fullStr Enhancing Online Collaborative Learning: Designs for Effective In-Situ Discussion and Engagement in Large-Scale Learning Environments
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing Online Collaborative Learning: Designs for Effective In-Situ Discussion and Engagement in Large-Scale Learning Environments
title_short Enhancing Online Collaborative Learning: Designs for Effective In-Situ Discussion and Engagement in Large-Scale Learning Environments
title_sort enhancing online collaborative learning designs for effective in situ discussion and engagement in large scale learning environments
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156300
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