Pepper Project

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/1807/42294

We are at a pivotal moment globally in the evolution of educational technologies where increased financial pressures on educational institutions makes potential savings offered by online courses particularly attractive. We therefore need to carefully identify the most promising opportunities for maximizing learning in online learning environments rather than allowing online course design to be guided by financial and technological imperatives. We have both the research tools and the research program to carry out that task.

The project's core technology is a web-based collaborative workspace offering specialized knowledge-building features and social networking tools to support learners in building learning communities promoting both social trust and idea

Research using PeppeR has generated promising results within three key online learning areas:

The importance of interaction (peer to peer; student to instructor) to learning outcomes.
Students' sense of social presence and cultural identity online, especially in an increasingly multicultural environment which requires equitable pedagogical approaches to help everyone cultivate the social capital for online success.
Using online performance measures such as reading, revisiting, and revising and social media tools that support social presence and community development to examine relationships between such measures and learning outcomes.

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Keywords:

online learning

interaction

postsecondary education

educational technology

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 71

Rethinking analysis of progressive discourse in online learning: an activity theory perspective
(International Society of Learning Sciences, 2008) Fujita, N.; Brett, C.
This paper describes an innovative approach to analyze the progression of dialogue in asynchronous online forums. Although schemes analyzing the content of individual messages exist, they fail to capture the subtle relationships between messages that constitute progressive discourse for knowledge building. We present a group-level discourse analysis based on cultural-historical activity theory that characterizes the unfolding collaborative learning and knowledge construction processes in context. The application of the mixedmethod approach is illustrated in the context of two online graduate courses. The analysis highlights connected sequences of discursive actions that multiple students make to advance shared understanding. The mechanics of the approach offered in this paper can be used as an analytic and transformative tool for enhancing online learning, research, and instruction.
The Relationship Between Social Presence and Social Capital in Online Learning Communities
(AACE, 2012-02-07) Oztok, Murat; Zingaro, Daniel; Brett, Clare
For many years, social presence has been deemed important for communication and collaboration in online learning environments. Yet, the specific types of interactions fostered by social presence have been ignored. In this paper, we propose the use of social capital theory as a means of distinguishing interaction patterns. We urge researchers to study social presence with the appreciation that not all types of interactions are equally valued by participants and that social presence does not necessarily lead to all types of such interactions.
Towards understanding knowledge construction in online learning
(AACE, 2014-06-23) Oztok, Murat
Learning scientists have indicated that one way to support knowledge construction in asynchronous threaded discussions is to provide means by which critical discourse can be supported. However, studies that seek to understand critical discourse in online learning tend to focus on the outcomes of threads or examine threads in aggregate. In order to understand the pedagogical processes by which knowledge construction can be initiated and sustained, I examined patterns of social, cognitive, and teaching presences influencing the development of pivotal notes (notes that trigger knowledge construction). Evidence suggests that exhibiting high levels of cognitive presence tends to lead quickly to knowledge construction, whereas the other presences do not. Research directions are suggested to better understand these processes.
Self-representation in online learning environments
(AACE, 2014-06-23) Oztok, Murat
Learning scientists Online learning literature has documented how students self-represent their identities as they interact with each other and studied the relationship of identities to learning. However, our understanding may be incomplete since the online learning literature tends to oversimplify the dynamic relationship between identity and learning. Employing simplified cultural markers to explain humans, much online education research disregards how different identity traits come into play and affect learning practices. To more comprehensively address the relationship between identity and learning, we explore how individuals self-represent their identities and how they make sense of the subject-matter. The results show that identities do manifest themselves and play an important role in individuals’ online learning practices.
#Hashtags: Towards Understanding The Student Experience In Online Discussion-based Learning Environments
(International Technology Education and Development, 2019-03) Avery, Teresa; Sarguroh, Wafa; Sheehy, Andrea
This is an interpretive study focusing on participation in an online graduate-level teacher-education course in a Canadian University. We examined discussion tools within a constructivist framework and reviewed the literature and our own reflective practice around learning management system (LMS) tool use of hashtags. A hashtag is one word or a group of words that begins with the # or pound sign and has no spaces between the words, creating searchable links. Whenever a hashtag is added to a post on PeppeR, our LMS, it is indexed and becomes searchable/discoverable. This study uses an online platform, PeppeR, which was developed at the University attended by all three researchers.. PeppeR was created within the University to support a discussion-based community for collaboration in this and similar higher-education courses within a socially constructed learning environment. This study is meaningful to the microcosm of this Curriculum, Teaching and Learning (CTL) course and also to the wider macrocosm of educators and asks: How do students experience the use of hashtags in asynchronous text-based online discussions? Ostensibly, an LMS allows students to engage in creating and even co-creating knowledge relevant to themselves and their community. Yet, the reality is that students may sometimes find themselves overwhelmed by the mechanics of participating meaningfully in an online academic conversation. Participating online in addressing challenging topics and deciding how to add one’s own voice may seem too ‘loud’, with too many competing voices. Common themes that emerged included finding ways to use hashtags to organize course materials and additional information for follow up later by participants. Also, hashtags associated with discussion posts become learner-driven information and knowledge repositories. This allows for additional forms of participation and user-content creation, including adding potential for meaningful discourse and increased engagement in the learning community.
Keep it Positive!
(Canadian Society for Studies in Education, 2017) Avery, Teresa; Brett, Clare; Hewitt, Jim
As online course offering proliferate, helping online instructors create a positive learning context is increasingly important in encouraging online engagement. This study found that in asynchronous online discussions of in-service teachers in graduate courses in Education, positive emotional language by an instructor, in both private entries and public messages, results in similarly positive messaging in notes by students. An analysis of the discussion entries from 20 graduate level online courses, with a total of 573 students and 43,640 separate entries, used large grain sentiment analysis, and found significant correlations between the tone of teacher messages and the tone of student responses. This study illustrates the social constructivist-based understanding that both teachers and learners play a part in iteratively developing a positive, and potentially more collaborative, online environment, that can be more conducive for both teaching and learning. Instructors have the opportunity to more proactively nurture positive engagement in the online learning community through positively orienting their online discussion communications.
At Face Value: Why do individual students use emoticons within text-based online academic discourse?
(International Academy of Technology, Education and Development (IATED), 2017) Avery, Teresa
This paper will focus on ways in which students use emoticons in text-based online academic discussions to add context. A literature study of the use of emoticons reveals common themes around user-defined functions. Emoticons are more than words alone, making it easier to convey feelings by allowing emotional distance and still showing vulnerability. Emoticons clarify meaning; a smiley face can transform an apparently negative statement into something more approachable, or a winking face may hint at sarcasm with a statement that is overtly positive. In online discussions, emoticons are being used more often, yet few studies deal with the reasons individual students use emoticons within text-based online academic discourse. In a virtual discussion, emoticons convey social presence and conventions of politeness which humanize discourse and increase positive engagement. Emoticons also serve academic functions, such as allowing the user to indicate agreement or willingness to share resources, or introducing a new perspective. Students are not haphazard when they use emoticons; emoticons are used deliberately for an intended effect.
Everyone's Space: Creating Inclusion In Academic Online Discussion Through Stories
(International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), 2017) Avery, Teresa
Creating inclusion in academic online discussion through multiple stories.
At Face Value: Why do individual students use emoticons within text-based online academic discourse?
(2017) Avery, Teresa
Notes from poster: strategic use-users are not haphazard, emoticons are used deliberately for an intended effect; semi-conventionalized: high level of agreement around broad categories; Creative--not a simple one-to-one relationship. An overview of relevant literature.
Everyone's Story: Becoming Culturally Collaborative by Using Hermeneutics fo Equity in Blended Learning Discussions
(2017-02) Avery, Teresa; Cooper, Karyn
The findings suggest that as graduate students become critical agents of their own online experience, they bring a wealth of cultural diversity into the forum. An online discussion based classroom which seeks to encourage a culturally collaborative environment enables personal expression and self-expression by providing a forum for participants to become connected to their own learning objectives.
My T.O.: Make the City Your Own
(2016-12) Giannace, Tiana; Li, Allen; Chan, Bertha; Avery, Teresa
Design challenge: how can open data, made available by the government of Ontario, be used to improve citizen engagement?
Everyone's Story: Using Hermeneutics to Foster Classroom Interaction, Group Discussion, and Collaboration in Blended Learning Environments
(Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, 2017-10) Avery, Teresa; Cooper, Karyn; Hughes, Rebecca
Online education has the potential to provide an ideal forum for providing equity of access for students. Grounded in hermeneutic philosophy, this study highlights significant factors that promote a culturally relevant and collaborative online learning environments. Research methods include a thematic content analysis of interviews, emails, journal reflections, as well as face-to-face and online discussions. The setting of this study is one blended-learning, graduate level qualitative research course in a Canadian university. The overall aim of this study is to provide information regarding graduate students’ priorities for managing their own learning. Findings suggest that as graduate students become critical agents of their own online experience, they bring a wealth of diversity into the forum. Further, online discussion-based classrooms that encourage culturally collaborative environments inevitably also promote personal expression and self-expression.
The Interplay Between Students’ Usage of Pronouns and Community Levels in Online Courses
(2017) Demmans Epp, C.; Phirangee, K.; Hewitt, J.
This study examined the relationship between sense of community and pronoun usage in online courses that utilized computer mediated communication (CMC) to enable discussion. Using Rovai’s (2002) Classroom Community Scale (CCS), we compared pronoun use in three High CCS courses to that in three Low CCS courses. Results revealed students in High CCS courses used proportionally more pronouns, made proportionally more self-references, and used a higher proportion of collective pronouns. Instructors from High CCS courses encouraged students to share personal perspectives, which appears to have promoted a greater sense of connectivity amongst learners. This behaviour explains the differences in pronoun usage and suggests that pronoun-based analytics may be a useful indicator of students’ sense of community.
The Impact of a notification system on student behaviours in a collaborative online learning environment
(American Educational Research Association, 2015) Makos, A.; Zu, Z.
This study examines the use of a notification system that makes students aware of interactivity in their online learning community. There are many opportunities for learners to interact with each other in online discussions, but whether or not students are aware that these interactions have taken place is problematic. The system is studied in a hybrid graduate course. Social constructivism and social cognitive theory are used to frame our understanding of the way various interactions with student-produced content can lead to higher engagement. Correlation and ANOVA analyses are used to understand how student contribution behaviours are influenced by the notification system. Findings suggest that activation of the notification system positively influences student contribution behaviours. Suggestions for significance are provided.
Examining the Qualities of Liked Notes versus Non-Liked Notes in a Collaborative Online Learning
(American Educational Research Association, 2014-04) Makos, A.; Oztok, M.; Zingaro, D.; Hewitt, J.
This study explores studentsʼ use of a “Like” button feature on community discussion boards in three graduate-level distance education courses. Three analyses were conducted. First, students were surveyed about their use of the “Like” feature. Second, the contents of Liked and non-Liked notes were rated on a cognitive complexity scale. Third, a quantitative analysis of note metrics was conducted. The findings suggest that students highly value receiving Likes, viewing them as indicators of peer support. Thus it is proposed that “Liking” served to enhance a sense of social cohesion. At the same time, liked notes appear to be more complex than non-liked notes as indicated by quantitative comparisons and a first round of qualitative analysis.
Towards Understanding Threads as Social and Cognitive Artifacts for Knowledge Building in Online Learning
(American Educational Research Association, 2014-04) Oztok, M.; Zingaro, D.; Makos, M.; Hewitt, J.; Brett, C.
Learning scientists have indicated that one way to support knowledge construction in asynchronous threaded discussions is to provide means by which critical discourse can be supported. However, studies that seek to understand critical discourse in online learning tend to focus on the outcomes of threads or examine threads in aggregate. In order to understand the pedagogical processes by which knowledge construction can be initiated and sustained, we examined patterns of social, cognitive, and teaching presences influencing the development of pivotal notes (notes that trigger knowledge construction). Evidence suggests that exhibiting high levels of cognitive presence tends to lead quickly to knowledge construction, whereas the other presences do not. Research directions are suggested to better understand these processes.
Capitalizing on social presence: the relationship between social capital and social presence
(2015-07) Oztok, Murat; Zingaro, Daniel; Makos, Alexandra; Brett, Clare; Hewitt, Jim
Online learning literature espouses the benefits of social interaction for meaningful learning and deep processing of course material. Yet, our understanding of the types of interactions that lead to these benefits may be limited by our current understanding of social presence. In this paper, we employ social capital theory to help understand the social presence experiences of students in online learning environments. We find that social presence relates more to communication between weak ties rather than within strongly-tied subsets of participants, and offer hypotheses and implications for our findings.
Lively Discussions: Using Linking to Enrich Threaded Discourse
(2014-04) Phirangee, Krystle; Hewitt, Jim
In recent years, distance education has grown rapidly in popularity. One of the more common instructional strategies in online courses is to provide an asynchronous threaded computer conference, where students can share ideas and discuss course concepts. However, asynchronous discourse is limited in some respects. Over time, threaded discussions can become large and unwieldy, branching off in many different directions. The current research investigates an effort to provide students with a linking tool for drawing together ideas. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research examines two courses in which students used hundreds of links to connect notes in dozens of different threads. The research examines students’ experiences with this tool and the culture of linking that emerged in these courses.
Polysynchronous: dialogic construction of time in online learning
(2014) Oztok, Murat; Wilton, Lesley; Lee, Kyungmee; Zingaro, Daniel; MacKinnon, Kim; Makos, Alexandra; Phirangee, Krystle; Brett, Clare; Hewitt, Jim
Online learning has been conceptualized for decades as being delivered in one of two modes: synchronous or asynchronous. Technological determinism falls short in describing the role that the individuals' psychological, social and pedagogical factors play in their perception, experience and understanding of time online. This article explores the history of synchronous and asynchronous concepts and argues that an examination of students' perception of time in online contexts is required if we are to move past asynchronous-synchronous dualities toward a more nuanced understanding of how time manifests itself and affects pedagogical practices. Bakhtin's concept of the dialogic is used as a framework to explore how time in online learning has been reshaped through dialogue. A new description of time online as being polysynchronous is suggested and the illustrations provided explore the educational implications of this time shift on online discussions.
Student actions and community in online courses: The roles played by course length and facilitation method
(Online Learning Journal, 2017) Demmans Epp, C.; Phirangee, K.; Hewitt, J.
Fostering a strong sense of community among students within online courses is essential to supporting their learning experience. However, there is little consensus about how different facilitation methods influence students’ sense of community or behaviours. This lack of understanding means instructors do not have the information they need to select an appropriate facilitation method when teaching online. This challenge is further complicated by a poor sense of how community building is influenced by the length of an online course. To better understand the relationship between these factors, we explored students’ sense of community across four graduate-level online courses. Two of these courses employed an instructor-led form of facilitation and two employed a peer-led form of facilitation. For each facilitation method, one course lasted an entire term (12 weeks) and the other lasted half a term (6 weeks). This two-by-two between-subjects design enabled the study of both variables and possible interaction effects. The findings revealed students in instructor-facilitated courses experienced a stronger sense of community. Longer courses were also associated with a stronger sense of community, although the relationship was weaker than that of facilitation. No interaction effects were detected between facilitation method and course length. Follow-up analyses examined the relationship between facilitation style, course length, and a set of twelve student behaviors (e.g., note writing, note reading, and replying). The results revealed that both facilitation style and course length were associated with differences in the length of students’ notes, the grade level of their text, and the frequency of their replies. Collectively, these findings offer evidence that both facilitation style and course length are related to students’ sense of community and the behaviors they exhibit online.

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