Collaborative Meaning-Making in Online and Hybrid Classroom Contexts

• In Event: 42.082 - Reimagining Online: Fostering Inclusivity, Engagement, and Participation in a Digital Age

Abstract

1. Objectives and Theoretical Framework
The age of Web 2.0 has seen a rapid proliferation of pedagogical tools and strategies that facilitate multimodal content creation and the co-construction of knowledge (Ornellas & Muñoz Carril 2014, Dohn 2009). In this paper we take a sociocultural perspective to literacy and learning in order to examine students’ collaborative multimodal composing and meaning-making practices within an online platform. Specifically, we analyze undergraduate students’ engagement with a digital “Whiteboard” tool using the frameworks of (1) multimodality, which expands the notion of “writing” toward the design of digital, multimodal artifacts (Kress 2005), and (2) connected learning, which emphasizes the social processes and peer networks that enable students to collaboratively make meaning (Ito et al., 2013). However, notions of what constitutes “collaboration” in media production are varied. Recent interest in what has been called “collaborative media” has been limited to the study of individual contributions to user-generated archives (Lowgren & Reimer 2012; Harrison & Barthel 2009), while a connected learning framework assumes a pedagogical orientation, foregrounding the co-construction of media artifacts (Ito et al., 2013).

Hybrid and online classrooms have the potential to capitalize on the social aspects of learning by setting up information networks and engaging students in collaborative, multimodal work with their peers. This study extends the work of scholars focusing on digital practices in out-of-school environments into the academic context. We address the following questions: (1) How do students engage with social dimensions of learning, either via direct collaboration or by drawing on content generated by fellow students? (2) How do students integrate multiple modes to create meaning within an online platform?

2. Methods
From a total of 1344 whiteboards, we chose those that met the following criteria: (1) required students to work collaboratively, and (2) incorporated elements of text, image, color, and layout. We focused on whiteboards created in response to two assignments from the beginning and end of the semester that stimulated the greatest activity. From this initial sample we mapped whiteboards onto a matrix that identified the level of attention paid to design, content, synthesis/connections, and collaboration. Using log data, we focused our final level of analysis on students’ collaborative process of knowledge production.

3. Findings
There was evidence of a strong social dimension to whiteboard production and design, with students’ social participation varied, from “remixing” (Edwards, 2016) by drawing on each other’s content and design to directly collaborating on content creation. Collaboration around whiteboard design ranged from synchronous to asynchronous, with some groups of students engaging in meaningful co-construction of knowledge via the whiteboard chat feature and others dividing tasks.

4. Significance
The multimodal, collaborative whiteboard tool offers students opportunities for aesthetically-engaged knowledge construction and meaningful social participation in online environments. This suggests that Web 2.0 social practices can be leveraged in online and hybrid academic environments toward personal meaning-making and collaborative knowledge production.

Authors

• Glynda A. Hull, University of California - Berkeley

• Sophia Sobko, University of California - Berkeley

• Devanshi Unadkat, University of California - Berkeley