TY - GEN
T1 - Grassroots open, online, calculus help forums
AU - van de Sande, Carla
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The emergence of free, open, online, help forums has transformed tutoring from a private and individual activity into a public and collective endeavor. These forums support asynchronous exchanges between individuals from around the world. Students visit these forums seeking help on specific queries from coursework and receive help from anonymous others. In contrast to help forums designed and supervised by educational researchers, these forums have a grassroots origin. This paper investigates one such calculus help forum for evidence that forum tutors are scaffolding students to contribute to the successful solution of the exercise they posted. An analysis of 200 exchanges on limit and related rates revealed the presence of effective guided problem solving (marked by leading questions and hints), albeit to a limited extent. This work points to the need for discovering ways to augment constructive interactions in popular help forums that have become part of the student learning experience.
AB - The emergence of free, open, online, help forums has transformed tutoring from a private and individual activity into a public and collective endeavor. These forums support asynchronous exchanges between individuals from around the world. Students visit these forums seeking help on specific queries from coursework and receive help from anonymous others. In contrast to help forums designed and supervised by educational researchers, these forums have a grassroots origin. This paper investigates one such calculus help forum for evidence that forum tutors are scaffolding students to contribute to the successful solution of the exercise they posted. An analysis of 200 exchanges on limit and related rates revealed the presence of effective guided problem solving (marked by leading questions and hints), albeit to a limited extent. This work points to the need for discovering ways to augment constructive interactions in popular help forums that have become part of the student learning experience.
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U2 - 10.3115/1600053.1600060
DO - 10.3115/1600053.1600060
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84858387473
SN - 1615841377
SN - 9781615841370
T3 - Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Practices, CSCL 2009 Conference Proceedings - 9th International Conference
SP - 43
EP - 47
BT - Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Practices, CSCL 2009 Conference Proceedings - 9th International Conference
PB - International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS)
T2 - 9th International Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 2009, CSCL 2009
Y2 - 8 June 2009 through 13 June 2009
ER -