Creating and Sustaining Collaboration and Learning in Asynchronous Online Environments

Online learning has the potential to be highly constructivist and collaborative in nature. This session will give participants the opportunity to delve into the results of a case study that investigated the knowledge construction process of 24 graduate students in an asynchronous online environment when various instructional strategies to foster quality discussion were employed. The study, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, investigated the use of three treatments in the form of varied facilitation strategies in order to determine which method produced the highest levels of knowledge construction per knowledge construction categories developed by Pena-Schaff and Nicholls (2004). In this session, study results will be shared, and members will be asked to reflect upon and discuss varied methods employed to facilitate collaboration and learning in online environments. Also provided will be opportunity to learn how content analysis of online discussions can provide valuable information about teaching and learning. Attendees will participate in a mock discussion format in order to practice the types of analysis noted above. This session will provide a forum for reflecting upon, discussing and practicing the development of strategies that facilitate collaboration and learning