Promoting academic literacy in CSCL environment for Chinese tertiary business students

Abstract

This study aims to examine a design of computer-supported collaborative learning environment featured by Knowledge Forum with embedded teacher-student codesigned scaffolds and group portfolios as an assessment tool for Chinese tertiary business students and to further investigate how academic literacy develops in the designed environment. Four intact classes with 127 Year 1 students participated in a 12-week project learning in two different learning environment, namely Knowledge Forum and non-Knowledge Forum environment. Data were obtained from exam results, essay writing, portfolio, learning reflection, interviews, and KF discussion notes. Four dimensions of academic literacy were identified and rated. MANOVA analyses showed significant main effects of environment indicating that KF groups have significant higher gains in argumentative development. Both quantitative analyses of KF notes and qualitative data analyses show that use of KF scaffolds is likely to facilitate collaborative conceptual understanding and argumentative construction.