K3 – an e-Learning Forum with Elaborated Discourse Functions for Collaborative Knowledge Management

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K3 - an e-Learning Forum with Elaborated Discourse Functions for Collaborative Knowledge Management.pdf

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Description

The e-learning platform K3 realizes a constructivist learning model augmented with collaborative properties. K3 courses, mainly offered since 2004 at the University of Konstanz, follow the blended learning model. K3 collaborative discourse work is organized in virtual groups. All group members have to choose a role (moderator, summarizer, etc.) for a certain period and their role performance is part of their evaluation. Discourse takes place in an electronic (asynchronous) forum. Each contribution/comment must be specified according to its discourse function. These specifications structure discourse and allow selective retrieval of discourse objects. Students are encouraged to augment their contributions informationally by reference objects. A graphic interface facilitates navigation through complex discourse structures and makes them transparent. The technical basis of K3 is an open source, object-oriented client-server system for the management of the different types of K3 data.

1.  Learning in K3 is primarily committed to the constructivist learning model. This is appropriate for electronic environments, and accommodates students´ information and communication behaviour with respect to the Internet.
2.  Constructivism does not mean a didactical laissez faire. Therefore K3 courses have both strong instructional elements and advanced monitoring, coordinating and evaluation tools.
3.  Learning in K3 does not primarily support individualistic knowledge acquisition, although, of course, it is also a K3 goal to establish individual competence (both with respect to information and communication and with respect to the course content).
4.   Combining the constructivistic, virtual and collaborative elements, learning in K3 can be considered an extension of Vygotsky´s socio-constructivistic learning to electronic environments.
5.  Collaborative work not an end in itself. But under a sustainable perspective communication competence can turn out to be more important in later professional situation than the domain-specific content of the course.
6.  Nevertheless, the success of a K3 course in higher education cannot be measured only in terms of content-independent creativity and communication skills but also with respect how much knowledge students have acquired according to the curriculum´s objectives.

Author

Rainer Kuhlen, Joachim Griesbaum, Tao Jiang, Jagoda König, Andreas Lenich, Peter Meier, Thomas Schütz & Wolfgang Semar. Department of Computer and Information Science. University of Konstanz. Germany.