BetterBlether: The Design and Evaluation of a Discussion Tool for education

Communication skills play a prominent role in the primary school curriculum. Children are first expected to acquire these skills within a supervised group environment in which the teacher guides and sets the pace for the discussion, and later transfer them to a less dependent setting. This paper describes BetterBlether 1 , a computer mediated educational communication tool designed to facilitate and promote effective group interaction skills. BetterBlether uses a sentence opener approach (McManus & Aiken, 1995) in order to scaffold the use of a range of discussion skills. In so doing, it provides support for the move from teacher dominated discussions to ones in which the pupils play a more active part. We first provide an overview of BetterBlether before going on to describe an empirical evaluation which was carried out in a local primary school. Finally, we compare these results with outcomes of research on both supervised and unsupervised group discussions (Harwood, 1995). FOSTERING GROUP DISCUSSION SKILLS In recent years the Scottish National Curriculum has highlighted the important role which talking and listening skills play in the teaching of English Language. Communication skills are essential for effective learning, cultivating an awareness and knowledge of language, and play an important part in every child's adult life. Children are required to participate in small group discussions as part of an integrated programme to develop these skills (Scottish Office Education Department, 1991). The attainment targets of the "talking in groups" strand of English Language development include asking and answering questions, showing awareness of the ideas and feelings of others, and making relevant comments on the ideas of group members. There are corresponding targets for the listening in groups strand: offering and supporting opinions, questioning other opinions and suggesting other points of view. It has been shown that children benefit from group discussions if the class teacher takes an active part in the group interaction (Harwood, 1995). Harwood observed that children as young as eight can conduct fruitful group discussions without the presence of a teacher, but group discussions in which the teacher actively participated and encouraged the pupils to use certain collaborative skills were more successful. In particular, children working in unsupervised groups were unlikely to use questioning and listening skills during the discussion, their discussions tended to lack continuity, and they experienced problems with group relations. The participation of the teacher prompted group members to elaborate on and justify their opinions. For these reasons, Harwood states that "in the early stages with young children the teacher's presence and support in modelling group work skills can be crucial. " (Harwood, 1995, p. 1). Yet Harwood acknowledges that children need the experience of working in an unsupervised group so that they can develop for themselves the skills of managing group relations. Such discussions also provide an opportunity for pupils to learn to formulate and test their own ideas. Further analysis of Harwood's results suggests that the presence of the teacher decreases the opportunities for children to take the initiative in the discussion, or to ask questions.