A Study on the Influence of Blog Learning Communities on Undergraduates’ Knowledge Constructions in Arts General Curriculum

Author: Pei-Chi Lu(Department of Visual Arts, Taipei Municipal University of Education)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 56, No. 2
Date：June 2011
Pages：137-174
DOI：10.3966/2073753X2011065602005

Abstract：

The purposes of this study were to investigate how blog learning communities have been applied in an arts general education for undergraduates, as well as their impact on students' "knowledge construction." The research subjects included 86 students participating in a university general curriculum of art appreciation. The blog learning community herein, a web-based learning community that applies constructionist-based theories as its core concept, integrates a model of Web 2.0 knowledge-sharing and co-construction, in addition to applying a blog platform with the aim of assisting students with their learning in the arts general curriculum. This study categorized the students into the “TA participating” experimental group and the control group, based on different models of interaction in blog learning communities. In the "TA participating" experimental group, the TAs implement online teaching based on the five-stage e-moderating model advocated by Salmon (2003), and join in the interactive discussions in the blog learning community. The Interaction Analysis Model (Gunawardena, Lowe, & Anderson, 1997) was used as the coding tool for analyzing the contents of the TAs' and students' interactions on the blogs, to explore how teaching that incorporates blog learning communities affects undergraduates’ knowledge construction. The results indicate that the blog learning communities and TAs' online teaching present positive influences on the knowledge construction developed by students. Furthermore, TAs' inquiry skills and teaching strategies are the main factors that enable students to produce high-level knowledge construction. However, students' motivation for participating in an on-line group, advancing feedback opinions, and employing critical thinking must be strengthened. Finally, the study proposes suggestions for the future development of Web 2.0 and web-based learning community education.

Keywords：blog, Web 2.0 knowledge co-construction, general arts curriculum in universities, blended curriculum, web-based learning community

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