Using Discussion Webs to Develop an Academic Community of Learner

Abstract

The World Wide Web has made possible an entirely new form of communication in the classroom: asynchronous, public, non-sequential, and selective (Windschitl, 1998). However, it is unclear how discussion webs can contribute to educational processes. Our research investigates the role of instructional interactive webs in promoting among preservice teachers an "academic community of learners," defined as an academic community that grounds inquiries and dilemmas emerging in their practice in an academic discourse based on considering alternatives and providing argumentation and evidence for their claims (Wells, Chang, & Maher, 1990). Based on this definition of a community of learners and concerns raised by fellow instructors, we created categories and analyzed one class discussion web, coding a total of 1,124 web entries of undergraduate students and their instructor to examine references they used, topics, genres, and relationships with other messages. Our findings suggest that students' web postings were mostly very sophisticated in that students were able to integrate outside references with new and enriching discussion topics, thereby providing viewpoints alternative to and sometimes critical of those expressed by the instructor and other students. These findings suggest that instructional interactive webs can be a useful tool for promoting and building an academic community of learners.