Human-Computer Interaction Design of Technology Support for Collective Inquiry

• In Event: 15.015 - The Knowledge Community and Inquiry Model: Synthesizing a Decade's Research for a Widening Audience

Abstract

Objectives
Learning experiences in diverse educational settings - from K12 to university, from formal education to informal or lifelong learning - are increasingly resorting to a growing repertoire of technology supports. The design and development of such technology environments is profoundly consequential to the way the learner perceives and interacts with contents, tasks, and learning goals (Quintana et al, 2004). This study will review and synthesise research on online environments for inquiry-oriented science learning based on the Knowledge Community and Inquiry (KCI; Slotta, 2013) model from the perspective of their Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design.

Theoretical perspective
KCI is a pedagogic model within the ambit of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) in which students collaboratively progress towards well defined learning goals by engaging in collective inquiry (Slotta, 2013). KCI designs usually recur to technology environments to mediate materials, tools, activities, and student and teacher interactions. One fundamental characteristic of KCI environments is the “knowledge base”, that continuously consolidates new collective knowledge, while remains permanently available for the community to make use of such knowledge as a resource (Slotta, 2013; Slotta, Tissenbaum, & Lui, 2013; Slotta & Najafi, 2012).


Method and data sources
This study reviews research ranging from the early efforts to adapt previous technologies to develop a software architecture dedicated to KCI applications, known as the Scalable Architecture for Interactive Learning (SAIL), started on 2003 (Slotta and Aleahmad, 2009). We then analyze a number of advancements of SAIL throughout the years, and diverse examples of applications developed on that architecture to support KCI enactments, such as the Common Knowledge (CK) environment (Fong, 2014). CK was developed to support student observations, hypotheses, and reports on experiments, enabling real-time updates amongst all students devices. Students working on that environment would add notes and other contributions that appear immediately on all other student tablets, as well as on the Smartboard application in the front of the classroom. Finally, the study describes the most recent iterations of SAIL, such as a proposal of a HCI design framework for future applications (Carvalho, 2017), and advancements on the layer of basic software infrastructure.

Outcomes and scholarly significance
By reviewing past iterations, synthesizing the current status of KCI technology, and proposing an HCI design framework for future applications, this research contributes to the continuous advancement of technologies for collective inquiry, and to the understanding of the role of HCI design in this effort.

Author

• Renato Carvalho, University of Toronto