Session Title: From Active Reading to Active Construction: An Investigation of Technology-Enhanced Online Discussion Forums
Session Description: Active reading strategies such as highlighting and annotating have been studied for their effects on understanding complex material and their ability to support writing. Reading and writing are two key activities in online discussion forums. To encourage active reading and knowledge construction, new technical interventions can allow participants to easily recapture ideas and use them to further the dialogue. To this end, we have developed Marginalia, an award-winning* open source Web annotation tool. It is a simple and innovative technology that allows users to highlight passages of text in a discussion, type notes in the margin of a post, and share the note with others. How do people make use of the tool? How does the ability to annotate affect reading and writing? What kinds of conversations or online interaction does the tool encourage? This paper presents our initial findings to these questions based on the analysis of three online classrooms. The results show how the use of the tool leads to enhanced reflection, intellectual engagement, and social interaction.
* Marginalia won the 2008 BC Innovation Award in Educational Technology
Conference Stream: Research
Session Format: Paper Jam
Presenter: Cindy Xin
Presenter Bio: Dr. Cindy Xin is a designer, a researcher, and a consultant in learning and educational technology. She works at Simon Fraser University.
